Sometimes I think I would forget my head if it wasn't screwed on. This week has been a particularly bad one for losing stuff. First I misplaced a cycling glove on Tuesday. Then I manged to leave my fleece and my shorts at the pool yesterday.
I swung past the pool on my way to work this morning and thankfully the fleece and shorts where still there. Next to the pool where I had left them. But I still haven't tracked down the glove. If anyone finds a rather beat up, quite manky, right hand cycling glove, it is probably mine. Trust me, you don't want it.
In other news, I had an interesting revelation about Voltaren yesterday. My back/ligament/hip is improving but still sore. On the physio's advice I have been taking some anti-inflammatories. My anti-flam of choice is Voltaren 25. Voltaren 25 and I formed a good understanding of each other when I had my bulging disc in 2011 and they have been my first port of call for injuries since then. However, when this current injury came along, I found that I was out. When I went to get some more I got the usual chemist question of, 'would you like to try the Pharmacy brand version'? Sure, why not, I thought, they have the same stuff in them. I started taking them a few days ago and had some of the expected reduction in pain etc, but not much and not all the time. Yesterday morning was a good example. I took some generic Voltaren on Tuesday night, but when I woke up on Wednesday morning I was in quite a bit of pain. From past experience I was expecting to feel pretty good on Wednesday morning. That wasn't the only time that sort of thing happened.
It started raising all sorts of questions in my mind. The active ingredient is the same so why isn't this working, why do I still have inflammation and pain? Perhaps the injury isn't what the physio thought, or perhaps it is worse than we thought etc. Yesterday morning was the last straw. 'If these are doing anything, I shouldn't be feeling like this' was my thought process. So yesterday morning I went out, bought and then took some proper Voltaren 25. The difference was chalk and cheese. Once enough time had passed for my system to absorb them I had reduced swelling and significantly reduced pain. Same thing this morning. I took some last night and woke up this morning feeling the way I would expect.
I was chatting to a mate about it, thinking it was perhaps all in my head, and he said he had found exactly the same thing with some other generic medication. His theory was that the cheaper pills perhaps use a cheaper binding that doesn't break down as well when swallowed, hence not releasing the drug. I am not a chemist, so I have no idea, but whatever the reason, what I felt yesterday was a very real difference. Quite frustrating thinking that I may have been 'treating' my injury for a couple of days, when really I possibly wasn't. But at least it is something I am aware of now, genuine Voltaren for me from now on.
On the trainer this morning for a very good solid spin. It went quite well, but I pulled up a bit sore afterwards. I was supposed to have a run off the bike, but my hip wasn't up for that. However, the pain has decreased nicely over the course of this morning, which I am happy about. I am hoping that I perhaps might go for a bit of a jog/walk this afternoon to give it a bit of a test. Either that or I might do that tomorrow night instead (gain another day of rest for the hip). I am keen to give it a try out before I head out and do some full on running. It is definitely getting close, particularly since I started taking medication that actually seems to be doing something.
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