Primal Journal (sbhikes) page 79

[Greensprout]

I have serious mushroom envy. We're under a few feet of snow now, so no fresh wild mushrooms for quite a while yet!

I wholeheartedly second this thought. I looooove mushrooms.

Most excellent progress in the gym, I'm very impressed.

[sbhikes]

Well, that 2nd picture of the mushrooms were not tasty at all. Yes, I actually tasted poorly-identified wild mushrooms. In my defense, I was not able to identify them as any of the poisonous ones in the Bolete family. I simply couldn't be sure it was one of the tasty ones. I cooked up a few on Sunday and took a taste and no, they were not good.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was really super sick after dinner. I laid awake all night worried the mushroom maybe poisoned me and I'd be dead in the morning. Well, I'm still here but I feel like death warmed over. I don't think it was the mushroom, though. I think it's because I tried sprinting yesterday.

I gave sprinting up many months ago because it seemed to do more harm than good. I thought, hey, let's try it again, what the heck. The strength training certainly made it feel easier. I felt like I was running away from myself, running faster than my ability. But I was really sick last night (dead-smelling things emerged from me with violence), had trouble sleeping because of pain and worry, and today I am very sore so I have trouble walking around.

I just can't seem to adapt to any exercise anymore. If I don't do something for a while and then go do it, I end up so sore I have trouble rolling over in bed. Not just sprinting, but a strenuous hike can do it, too, and I am a hiker. I am having trouble recovering from weight lifting (all the while having other females on the weight lifting board tell me I'm being a wuss, that women can do just as much as men, that if I don't think I can do as much as a man it's because I'm too lazy to pay for decent coaching, so I feel really bad about myself). After deadlifting last Friday I felt like I had been hit by a bus all weekend. I felt worse on Sunday than on Saturday. It's like the longer I rest, the worse and more fallen apart I feel.

I am starting to suspect adrenal fatigue. I read somewhere on the exrx.net site that weight lifting causes a release of adrenaline. That explains why sometimes the first set is more difficult than the 2nd. And caffeine causes adrenaline to be released, too, and I notice that after a mug I feel less pain. Sometimes I wake up wondering how on earth am I going to do any lifting, then have a cup of coffee and feel good enough to lift. I think I'm burning out.

Not sure what to do. Next week the gym is closed so I will get some rest then. I suppose I could try taking the recommended supplements for adrenal fatigue and see if that helps. I have considered seeing a naturopath or an integrated medicine clinic doctor, but the fact that some of these folks do homeopathy and sell supplements makes me feel like it would just be woo-science.

[lucy1984]

Hey, reading the start of your latest post, I was thinking in my head 'adrenal fatigue' before you even mentioned it. Taking forever to recover from exercise is a sign.

Obviously lab tests can tell you if your cortisol etc is out, but as a quick check you may want to check your temps? I recently found out I have mild adrenal fatigue, and I noticed that after exercising my temperature plumments. And this is even just from going for a walk. Which is odd, because exercising should increase your body temp right? But I was told when a normal person (i.e. not adrenal fatigued) exercises, they can produce enough cortisol to deal with it. But those with fatigue can't produce enough cortisol - hence they feel exhausted after, and temps can drop because the body needs cortisol for thyroid hormones to reach the cells effectively.

[sbhikes]

Well, I'm trying to figure out what to do about it if it is adrenal fatigue. I drank a hot toddy (fresh lime, local honey, water, cinnamon and whiskey--something like this was recommended on some site, minus the whiskey) before bed and that seemed to help some. I woke up later in the middle of the night than usual to go pee and I feel not so much like being hit by a bus today. I'm still very sore from the sprinting. Even my feet muscles are sore! I'm not sore or tired this morning from deadlifting, but I am thinking maybe I made a math error on the plates yesterday and didn't lift as much as I thought I did.

[sbhikes]

The other night I had a dream where I beat my partner with a stick and told him over and over while beating him that he has to start talking to me nicely and stop being mean to me. I felt really good after this dream. My relationship is my big source of stress.

[Owly]

Wow, that sounds like a huge red flag to me.

[Finnegans Wake]

Wow, that sounds like a huge red flag to me.

Nahhhh, Mrs. FW has those dreams all the time... ohhhhhh, wait...

[sbhikes]

He's such a jerk sometimes. He is the kind of person who takes his anxiety/anger out on other people. Bad things are happening to him at work so he's taking it out on me. They really are very shitty to him at work, but he's such a sucker and falls for their traps every time.

[sbhikes]

I made steak for dinner last night. It came from Trader Joe's. There was a big piece and a little piece. I ate the big one. It was perfectly done and oh so tender. I don't know why, but when I eat a perfectly done rare steak I feel a jolt of energy within me. I think today I'll stop off at the meat market and buy a bunch more steak.

I'm still trying to figure out what to make for Christmas dinner. I'll have steak for Christmas Eve. I'll be alone then. But Christmas Day? Maybe I'll get a turkey breast.

[Finnegans Wake]

SB, hope your partner pulls his head out of his arse. That sucks, taking out work stress on you. I know that a lot of people do, but you have to leave work at work.

And Christmas Eve alone? That ain't right...