Draggin'

Well, I haven't meant to be away from the blog so much lately but I haven't had a whole lot going on.  Or at least, not much that I thought would be of interest.  I scraped out another load of pottery for the stores and got that delivered.  And we've been piddling around the house with a few more things but not much. I've continued to work on the counter tops for the kitchen. 
Here you can see that I did get around to forming and pouring one of the bar counter tops.  I was not really going to be able to form this one in place so opted to pour it in the basement, so that I would not be constrained by the weather in any way.  After it has cured for a week or two I'll move it outside on a nice day and grind a nice finish on it.  I did hard trowel it but did not put near as much effort into slicking it off as I did the one in the kitchen, since I knew I could finish it better with the diamond pads.  I may even seal it outside and then just set it once it's completely finished.  I'll do a good post when it comes to all that so ya'll can see just how fantastic those wet-use, diamond finishing pads are.

So, I haven't been posting a lot lately because I've had a little bit of a set back on feeling better also, and have been really, really tired.  I've also been struggling every day with anxiety and that's not something I've talked much about.  I still believe that it all started with those damn steroids but I've been off those long enough that I think it's something else causing it now.  I've even had to kinda suspend my gym workouts because I was getting so tired and sore I just couldn't go.  And, oddly enough, the workouts seemed to be making the anxiety worse instead of better, as exercise is supposed to do.
I finally just sat down and started doing a lot of research and reading any information I could find on fatigue, anxiety, exercise and anything related.  I know a lot of you would be saying, just go back to the doctor but I've kinda got to the point I can't really afford to go any more unless it's really needed and I thought I might could figure this one out myself.  My insurance has stopped covering a number of blood tests and I just now paid off a bunch from last year that took me by surprise when they didn't cover them.  Not doing that again.

Anyway, it seemed to me that I was building up a lot of lactic acid in my system and muscles from the workouts (which is normal) but it was not dispersing like normal.  (Excessive lactic acid can cause anxiety even in people not prone to such).  I tried all kinds of stuff like upping my water intake etc. but it still didn't help.  Then I finally came on some information that indicated my iron might be low.  Had many, many of the symptoms; irregular heartbeat, fatigue, dizziness, anxiety, leg pain and cramps etc.  I also noticed after taking a few days off from working out that I felt better but that didn't cut it.  I'm not that old and out of shape!  Some yes, but not that bad.  I should be able to do a reasonable workout for an hour.  Got so bad I was getting sore and out of breath just walking up from the chicken house!  Since you need iron to carry oxygen through your blood to all your muscles and tissues, thus relieving the lactic acid and fatigue, it seemed logical that I might be a tad short.  And I found out you can be low in iron but still not be considered anemic.  Also, people who have RA or other types of arthritis-like conditions (like me), who use nsaids for pain and who also use Tums or similar products because the nsaids tear your stomach up! (like me) are more likely to be low of iron or not able to absorb iron as readily through your food.

So!  I've been carefully trying a low dose iron supplement to see if there is any improvement.  I know if the BFD is reading this he is probably cursing me for trying to diagnose myself, and I guess you really shouldn't, but I figure, 'what the hell?' and all of the above mentioned reasons.  I'm trying it anyways.  I felt a fair bit better today and had no pain in my legs after doing some moderate walking around here but we'll see.  If the anxiety goes away then I think I'll know for sure.