Gym sessions were progressing well given I had turned up each day of the weekend for a workout.  I was off to a great start to the week, presenting a 2 day Ausmed diabetes conference to update the participants in their diabetes care skills. Consequently I was on my feet all day and on Monday night those feet were sore but by Tuesday night every one of the 33 joints in my feet ached and I could hardly stand up.

I live with my own chronic illness, having had autoimmune arthritis since my early twenties. It is a bit like rheumatoid arthritis and mine (predictably!) has been difficult to manage. I took methyltrexate tablets, then daily injections, to decrease the joint inflammation, however the headaches the medication caused outweighed the benefits. I was changed to a monthly injection of a biologic agent to dampen down the autoimmune response and recently it had been changed to weekly. The upshot was I went to bed Tuesday night in tears from the pain in my feet.

People will often start-off being positive about their ability to live a healthier lifestyle  and something goes wrong to make them question their ability to continue. Why would it be any different for me? This pain could well prove to be a barrier to my new commitment to exercise, especially if it is the exercise causing the pain!

Do I think it was the exercise? Who knows … I’d also recently changed to injecting a new biologic weekly and had delayed the 2nd week’s injection because I had a virus – you can’t take it when you’re sick. Stress commonly triggers a flare and life seems to have a fair bit of that … plus I’d started at the gym so I suspect it was a combination of all of the above!

Fortunately things improved in the following couple of days and I pushed myself to get to my dance class Wednesday night and Thursday went for a walk at Coogee Beach, Sydney after doing a presentation; even pushed myself to walk up the hill to start the walk!

It would have been very easy to give up, thereby reinforcing a perception that it is too hard for me to exercise. I’m so glad I didn’t because my foot pain did improve and I’m back on track with my weekly injections. Exercise will give me ‘more  bang for my health buck’ including weight loss, feeling more alert, improving those sluggish insulin receptor sites to prevent me getting diabetes in the future AND improving my mood and arthritis.

Wish me luck as I continue to manage the mental side of keeping me moving towards a healthier future!