I've been in and out of good health and good fitness since I was a kid. I was diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome at age 12, and it completely changed life as I knew it. CRPS makes your peripheral nerves forget how to function, so the affected area senses every stimulus as pain. Swelling, change in temperature and color accompany the pain. It can be brought on by trauma/injury, by inactivity, or just plain come on out of the blue. The only treatment that worked for me was physical therapy. Trust me, they tried plenty of meds that didn't work!
From that point on, I was banned from sports that might involve contact or injury for fear of another 3-6 months in PT just for the CRPS, not to mention any underlying anatomical injury. Middle and high school became bitter times for me, fighting depression and migraines without a real physical outlet.
In college, I took swimming as my PE elective and learned to swim properly. I joined the club team and swam a few hours each week. I also picked up ballroom dancing and did that for a few hours each week, started learning to lift weights, and got back into running a few miles each week. I fell in love with exercise and all the good it does the body and mind. I changed my major from Bio for PT school to Kinesiology for exercise physiology.
In grad school, my health took another poor turn as stress, sleep deprivation and severe plantar fasciitis in both feet set in. After my first year, I couldn't walk without a limp, running was cut out, swimming was only manageable if I did arm pulls with active dorsiflexion in my ankles to stretch the plantar fascia. Life was tough, diet and exercise went out the window, and I lost a bunch of weight from atrophy and undereating.
After grad school, I finally got into a good PT program for my feet, and after 4 months of intense PT I was back to running. Fast forward another year, health took a turn for the better after moving out of an apartment where the neighbors vented their marijuana plants into our ducts, and things are looking up again.
I've got my husband and our good friend back on the meal prep game and I'm back in the gym everyday M-F. Praise God for resilient bodies and minds, and for the support of loving family and friends!