Posted on 24 June 2010 @ 17:56 in Health
No, this is not a post about the 2010 World Cup.
Following mother’s recent brush with diabetes, I’d asked for a blood glucose test at my last lupus consultation. That was 2 months ago. At this morning’s consultation, Dr Y, my rheumatologist, told me that my level was 5.8 from that test (to be honest, I’d forgotten about this). I asked what it meant.
She said it depended on whether I was in the States, or in England and Europe. In the States, 5.5 is the upper limit which means if I were there, the alarm bells would’ve gone off. In England and Europe, however, 6.1 is the upper limit, so I am still alright. She then asked me if I wanted to be English or American.
I turned to look at the trainee nurse. “What’s 5.5 plus 6.1?” I asked her.
Dr Y started to say something but I explained that I just wanted to take an average of those two numbers. It turned out to be 5.8. So I’m on the borderline. The upper borderline.
When I got home, I got online and googled for blood glucose. I wanted to know how to avoid staying on the upper limit. One of the googled articles talked about the 4 Common Causes of High Glucose Levels.
Turns out exercise is an important factor to managing blood glucose. When I took that test two months ago, I was an irregular walker (2 walks in March and 1 in April). Since then, I’ve made a commitment to my morning walks so I think I’m headed in the right direction. And now I have even more reason to keep walking.
Dehydration is another factor. I know I’m still not drinking enough water, so I will aim to drink more from now on, until I reach the target of eight glasses, or 2 litres, of water per day.
As for the other 2 factors – well, I need to cut down on carbohydrates (bye-bye Mr Potato and Pringles), plus I need to make sure I don’t get stressed out.
And that’s it for this health report.
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Posted on 4 June 2010 @ 08:56 in Health, My Faith
To be honest, I didn’t even think of either this morning. I just wanted to go for my walk as per schedule. The sky looked overcast and for the first time, I walked out to the balcony to check. The road below didn’t look wet and I had to look closely to see the vertical lines falling down.
I thought of a hat, even a raincoat, but the latter would make me sweat (not the way I would sweat on my walks; my way is natural, adding a raincoat would not be, but I digress). Then I decided to just go, at least to the ground floor and if the rain was heavy, to maybe use the gym.
Downstairs, the road looked wet but without any raindrops. So I started on my walk, activating the Nike+ Sportband, holding it down until it told me to “walk”.
It was still drizzling a little. I’d thought of doing an old route, where there would be trees to ward off the rain. But on the curb, I decided to turn left (new route) instead of cross the road.
It was still drizzling and I found myself asking “What if it doesn’t stop?” And immediately, another voice answered.
“Hello? Who is in charge of the rain?”
God is. And I’d already told Him when I was on the balcony looking out that I wanted to go for my walk.
So I continued walking. And the drizzle stopped. Across the road, someone under an umbrella closed it, tentatively, head lifted to make sure it really had stopped.
And I went on to complete my walk. And to enjoy it, too.
So was it test or trust? It was a mix of both. And it will continue to be a mix of test and trust in most situations – not God’s fault, but completely mine. Because I still cannot believe I am worthy of His attention, and care, and love. But I am.
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Posted on 5 May 2010 @ 10:18 in Health, Personal
After three months of occasional walks, I have completed a total of 54.4km which, according to the nikerunning.com site, qualified me to move forward one level, from yellow to orange. Of course, I’ve walked more than that, but the usual stuff such as from car to lobby lift, or from car to front door of sister’s house, or even my frequent mall meanderings do not count. The 54.4 kilometres were on set walking routes mapped at the aforementioned site.
This morning’s 5.39km walk was 36.8% further than my very first walk of 3.94km back in late January. That first walk was also the shortest I’ve done these past three months. The longest walk I ever did was 5.98km. Walking pace has always been below 10 minutes, which both pleased and surprised me the first time I saw the number.
Seeing the orange on my NikeRunning profile page has given me a renewed purpose to keep going for my morning walks. Previously, it was “I don’t feel like walking this morning, my joints hurt … ” but from now on, I want to meet my 3-walks-a-week commitment. Unless it rains. Heavily.
Here’s the plan – to walk at least 3 times a week, to maintain a minimum of 5km per walk, to keep my walking pace below 10 minutes, and to move to the next level, green, within three months.
The above plan will be achieved with the help of my Nike+ Sportband and the nikerunning.com site. The Sportband has proved to be a good investment. Some of my motivation has come from seeing my walks visually represented. Here’s the one from this morning.
Having walking buddies and seeing their achievements also help to motivate me further. Thanks, Nazley.
Related Post
RTFM!
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Posted on 29 January 2010 @ 12:37 in Gadgets, Health
Except in this case, it wouldn’t have helped. The manufacturer had expected the buyers to buy the complete kit, so that everything would work together.
About a week ago, I’d bought a Nike+ Sportband to help with my morning walks. While it won’t help me walk better or more often, it is a cool gadget that’s a few steps up from my previous pedometer and handphone.
The Sportband is one part of a two-piece kit that is worn on the wrist and has a detachable electronic counter (like a pendrive). The other part of the kit is a tiny sensor (Nazley describes it as the height of a stack of three 50 sen coins) which goes inside one of the shoes. After calibration, the sensor communicates information to the counter on the wrist (the most important being distance) which is unplugged after each workout and plugged into the computer to send the information to the Nike Running site where the user has previously set up an account.
There is actually a third part to the two-piece kit. Actually, it’s more like an accessory. It’s a pair of Nike+ shoes that has a slot in the inside sole of one of the shoes to place the sensor during workout.
Before buying, I’d checked with my cousin’s son who has been using the gadget for a while. He said the shoes were not compulsory, the sensor works fine with any workout shoes, just slip it inside one of the shoes. And that was where the problem laid.
Because Nike expected everyone to buy the special Nike+ shoes to complete the kit, they did not include information on how to place the sensor inside a regular pair of shoes. The first time I used the Sportband and sensor, it showed I’d walked a measly 0.34 km. I knew that was not right, as I’d previously mapped the route online and saw that it was 0.7km, which I walk 4 times. The second time was even worse – 0.02km!!
Had I purchased a faulty sensor?
So I went to the Nike forums and did a search. And found that I was not the only user with a “faulty” sensor. I found that it was not the sensor that was faulty. The problem was in the way the sensor is placed in the shoe.
Apparently, this was a problem Nike had not anticipated because someone from Nike participated in one of the discussions (yes, there was more than one discussion) at the Nike forums and helped to figure out what was wrong.
This is how the sensor should be placed in a non Nike+ shoe:
parallel to the road and face up, with the Nike Swoosh logo “facing the sky”
I’m guessing that this placement problem never came up with the proper Nike+ shoes. I’m guessing if a user had placed the sensor “upside down” in the slot, it would not have been a perfect fit, so the user would’ve simply taken it out and placed it correctly. After all, there are only two ways to place the sensor in the slot – the logo side facing upward or inside the slot.
So, after finding the solution on the Nike forums, I placed the sensor correctly this morning and recalibrated it with the recommended 0.4km walk. I then did my usual walk and was glad to see the distance toting up nicely as I walked. By the end of my walk, the distance shown was an encouraging 3.94km.
To stop the sensor from slipping and sliding inside the sock, I’d placed a bit of Blu Tack on the bottom of the sensor and stuck it to the top of my right foot before putting on the sock.
No more problems. Well, not exactly. I’d like to get a holder for the sensor. Nazley has a DIY holder, but I’m a lousy DIYer so I googled and found various products. All well and good, except they’re not available in Malaysia. I know, because I’d gone into four sports shops (including Nike Women) at a shopping mall to ask, and all I got in return were funny stares like I’m not from this planet.
Now I need to figure out how to get one from the States.
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Posted on 28 August 2009 @ 08:36 in Health
It’s raining. If not, I would be out there on my morning walk. If I were, this would be the first time I achieve the three-times-a-week routine I’m supposed to do. So far, it has been either twice or even just once a week, usually the latter. Some weeks, there were none.
Of couse, I could go and use the walking machine in the gym on the ground floor of my apartment block. I’ve used that before. But ever since I got into the semi-habit of walking outdoors, the indoor alternative has not seemed attractive at all.
This is for my own good. For my health, in general, but specifically, for my bones. It’s what my rheumatologist says I have to do.
Back in March this year, I took the bone mass density test. The last time I had it done was maybe 2 years ago. The results, when compared to the last set of tests, showed that my bones had deteriorated about 8% over the last 2 years.
I could immediately think of the reason for it. Steroids. Prednisolone. It’s one of the two main meds for my lupus condition. Not a big dose, just one 5mg tablet every other day, but over 15 years (with higher doses some months during those years due to a flare in my lupus), it adds up.
But there is another reason for the bone deterioration. Menopause. This is supposed to be a major milestone for women, complete with mood swings, hot flushes and whatnots. For me, it was a quiet transition to the next stage of my life. Actually, I’m assuming I’ve gone thro menopause. There is one less item on my shopping list, which accounts for this assumption. But I digress …
Rheumie also said bone changes are at the highest in the couple of years after menopause. Couple that with my long-term prednisolone use, and that explains the 8% bone deterioration.
Was there anything I could do to put a brake on this?
Yes, there were two items. One was imposed from the outside, the other from the inside, requiring self-discipline.
The outside imposed item was an addition to my meds in the form of a weekly Fosamax dose. I was familiar with Fosamax, having helped to give it to my mother quite a few years ago when she needed it. It’s used to treat postmenopausal osteoporosis, and according to the official website, “the only treatment with Vitamin D, which helps absorb calcium and build strong, healthy bone”.
Prior to this, I had been taking Caltrade to maintain my bone’s health, supplemented with Rocaltrol for the Vitamin D to absorb the calcium. Apparently, the combination was not enough.
Taking Fosamax requires some self-discipline. It’s a once-a-week dose to be taken on the same day, and to be taken first thing in the morning, before food, and after it’s taken, I cannot eat and must remain in an upright position – no going back to bed – for 30 minutes. So far, I’ve been good with this, I even brought along the required dose for my trip to see my pandas in May. I only managed to forget once. When I did, I checked the instructions and found that I could take it the following morning. But I forgot to take it the following morning, and was in a bit of a dilemma until I realised that the following-following morning would still be another 5 days to the next official dose, so by my own reasoning, was still okay to take, better than not taking at all.
The second item ordered by my rheumie was more exercise, particularly a weight-bearing exercise that would get me moving and my bones acting, or re-acting. The easiest weight-bearing exercise, believe it or not, is walking. It is also the least likely to cause injury. I can’t run, or even jog, because the impact would affect my weakened bones. So, I had to walk. And I had to want to walk. That’s where the self-discipline comes in.
It took a while before I settled on my current routine. Initially, I used to go for evening walks around the school field near my sister’s house. But it was a difficult routine to keep; some evenings, I would be late getting there, and if the rest of the family were already home, I couldn’t very well say, wait, let me go for my walk and then we can have dinner. So it was an erratic walking schedule.
Next, I tried indoor walking, inspired by a short story by Preeta Samarasan in the MPH collection, Urban Odysseys. It was fun because I got to look at the window displays as I walked past the shops. But indoor walking just didn’t cut it for me.
Finally, I decided to try the path across the road from my apartment complex. So simple. It was right there in my own “backyard”, but I’d resisted it, mainly out of embarrassment – what would people think? Actually, what do I care what people think – my health is more important.
So now, my walking routine is established, and just needs to be boosted and maintained at three-times-a-week. I even have a little side-routine to get the most out of each walk. I’d read up about it, and have learned to check my pulse before and after each walk, to see if my walking rate is sufficient to keep my heart pumping within an acceptable range – it is. I also wear a simple digital pedometer to help me count my steps on each walk. There’s one more thing I do – I use the stopwatch function in my handphone (mobile / cell) to time each walk. So far, I’ve averaged 35 minutes and 4,000 over steps each walk. Oh yes, there’s one more thing I do – I keep a walking log on my Evernote account, so at a glance, I know how many times I walked each month, and how I fared each time.
Walking. It’s so simple. And inexpensive. And I can say it’s made a difference to my previous sedentary lifestyle. Especially when done in the morning before the rest of the day catches up and drags me down. It may not be much, especially when there are lots of other more exciting ways to keep and stay fit – swimming, jogging, running a marathon, hiking, mountain climbing … But different ways to keep and stay fit for different people, and for me, walking is my way.
Tree-lined and with a rocky side on the left, this walking path across from my apartment complex is shaded against the sun and helps keep my lupus in check
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