When Ovaries Attack! Image from Mayo Clinic
Last week, with only one day left to wrap-up week 6 of my beginner’s running program, my body had different plans. My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for the last two years. For a few months now I’ve been following a regimen of fertility drugs: clomid, estrogen, and progesterone. One of the risks involved with these drugs is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. It seems that I am one of the rare lucky ones to get this and it put me in the hospital after causing me pain so intense I was unable to stand up straight.
Needless to say, I had to put that planned run on the back-burner.
I was in the hospital for a day and grateful I didn’t need surgery. Since I was released last week, the pain has waned and I haven’t taken any percocet for two days. Yesterday I had a follow-up appointment to check on my progress. I had a feeling I knew what the answer was going to be, but had to ask about when I could run again. I’m really missing the routine and bored with sitting around. The doctor said that I need to hold off on running because the jostling could just add to the problem and bring the pain on again. All I can do now is continue to rest and hope for the cyst to shrink on its own. I have another follow-up next week and I am very hopeful I’ll get the green light to get back to my running routine. Now I know how it must feel to be injured!
Pretty much how I'm feeling being on the DL.
As I anticipate my comeback I’m left wondering how much of a setback this is. I would love to just pick-up where I left off and do that last day of week 6 that I was planning to do before cyst-ageddon. But, that may be more idealistic than realistic. Being on bed rest and then having to just take it easy has made my legs feel weak and shaky. Also, my knees are starting to get stiff. I am up and moving a bit more these days, so I don’t think my legs have regressed to jiggly gelatin despite how they feel.
When I get the go-ahead, where should I start? If I have to start all the way at the beginning, then I’ll have to accept that. I can’t give-up all together and throw-up my hands. I know how good I was feeling before all this happened. Feeling that way again is not impossible. Getting back out there has to happen. I’m in desperate need of some endorphins!
Patience has never been a strong suit of mine. I know I need to be, especially with something like this. The anxiousness is not going to help the healing; it may even hinder it. Who wants that??? As eager as I am to get back into the swing of things, giving my body the time it needs is important. If I jump in too soon or too intensely, I could make things worse. Why would I want to take the chance of being on the DL longer than I have to be? So, I will take this time to plan a safe and healthy return to the routine. Oh, and maybe I can design some kind of protective gear for the ovaries to protect them from the jostling running can bring. An internal jockstrap of sorts.
How about some ovary sized athletic protection? Image courtesy of sports.espn.go.com
So Salties and Salty Readers, how would you recommend I go about figuring out where to begin when the doctor says I’m ready to run again? Do I have to start back at square one?
Every runner, newbie and vet, experiences setbacks. It’s part of the sport. I am not patient by nature either, but running has provided me with an excellent venue to practice the fine art of not being an anxious maniac control freak at all times :) Accept your downtime and accept now that you will not be where you left off. That first run back should be a week 1 run and then based on how that goes you can maybe progress to a week 2 run within one or two runs after that and so on and so forth. It won’t take you the full 6 weeks to get back to where you left off, but it might take more than 1, 2, 3 or even 4 weeks. It’s ok. In the scope of your lifetime it’s insignificant. When I was starting back out in 2004 and I’d feel impatient about my progress I’d remind myself that I’d rather run when I’m 70 and slow today than run a little further and faster today and only run for a few months. That’s basically the trade-off! So hang in there. We’ve all been there and we’re rooting for you!!!
So sorry to hear it, but am very glad you are okay. I hate to say it, but I am a little skeptical of the doctor’s advice. Jostling? Reminds me of long ago when they said women shouldn’t run because their uteruses would fall out. In my experience, there are a lot of doctors who love to say don’t run when that really isn’t necessary. Not saying that is your case (I am certainly no doctor), but it does sound strange. I would at least keep walking and stay active if I were you. Sending healing vibes and patience vibes your way! :)
I thought the same thing about the doctor’s advice, but I’m also no doctor! I would second the idea of walking for half an hour on your run days this week. Just go as easy as you need to. It will definitely help your transition back to running!
It wasn’t really uterus-falling-out kind of advice. Since I was feeling every slight bump in the road while riding in the car, I think he hit it right on about the running. Even now, that I’m trying to get up and moving more, I can feel that something is going on down there. It isn’t a strong pain, just enough to make me realize I’m not 100%.
Once I went to my doctor for a cold/sinus infection that stopped me from running, and she walked into the room with a cast/boot on her foot. Come to find out it was a stress fracture from running. Nice! Find me a doctor who says ‘if you aren’t icing something you aren’t running hard enough’ any day.
Of course, a few days or weeks off our feet beats a few months or more, and you don’t just have a sinus infection.
Take it slow, take it slow, take it slow…a few weeks back I managed to snag a strain. While this is no where near quite what you experienced, as my usual hard-head self, I tried to get back to running fully before I was totally healed…well, guess what? I hurt it more, laying myself up even longer.
Walking is a good place to start. Your body will know when it’s time to get back into it!
I am sorry you have to deal with this :( But I agree that you should definitely try to keep 30 minutes of light walking in your daily regime so that when you go back to the running you don’t have to stat at square one!