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It's getting better

After some false-starts, I'm hoping that this week sees me returning to 100 percent duties on your daily dose.

"Up and down" kind of best describes how I've been over the past week but things are (finally) settling down to more like the normal I've enjoyed for many years.

I arose at 1:50am this morning, pretty normal for me, and have been trying in vain to catch up with the hundreds of new emails that have accumulated during my month or so of absence. This task alone is going to take several more days to complete.

I've ditched all pain relief, except for the evil that is Gabapentin. Oh how I hate this medication -- at 900mg per day it left me in a zombie-like state and I've read horror stories about how difficult it is to get off it. Apparently the withdrawal effects are severe and long-lasting.

So far, over a week, I've dropped from 900mg per day to 600mg per day and have suffered chronic insomnia as just about the only downside. I'll trying to get down to 300mg per day by week's end and I hope I don't see any of the other horrific outcomes that others have had to endure.

Aside from that I'm feeling pretty comfortable, sometimes completely pain-free, for significant portions of the day.

I'm still walking in circles due to a dramatic weakness and numbness in my right leg but I fancy that I've detected an ever-so-slight improvement so fingers crossed.

Dropping the Gabapentin dose and restarting my creatine monohydrate supplementation has significantly cleared my brain-fog and zombie-like state so I'm now thinking straight with hugely improved cognition.

Muscle-wise, I've lost about an inch and a half off my biceps and over 5kg of muscle mass in the past four weeks. My total weight loss was quite a bit more than that at peak but I've started eating and drinking properly again so regained quite a bit before taking this measurement.

I made a video summarising the situation on my BruceSimpson YouTube channel for those who want to see for themselves:

So, today is the start of the rest of my life and I've begun as I intend to continue. An early start, back into my usual routine and a careful and managed return to a regular exercise program -- albeit my long walks may be off the calendar for a good few months.

I'm so pleased to be pretty much pain free and welcoming each new day rather than fearing it.

Now that this bump in the road is hopefully well and truly behind me I'm making plans again for the next six months -- allocating resources and sniffing out things of interest from which to learn and comment.

Stay tuned, it may be a slightly rocky road but I'm here for the duration.

Carpe Diem folks!

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