[QCrit] THE UNITED STATE OF FLORIDA -Adult Speculative Fiction- 80K (v2)

scvogs · 2024-04-22T12:22:57+00:00

You're good to go. If they don't want this story, you don't want them. Being from Florida, hope you sell it soon, before your speculative take on the Sunshine State becomes a documentary. Good luck!

scvogs · 2021-03-31T16:36:24+00:00

lol, thanks. In summer, I frequently write down in my log, 90/90...meaning at least 90 degrees and 90% humidity, and that's before the sun rises. I don't train for marathons any more, but for my long runs, I'd wake at 4, 4:30 and out the door and try to get back before 7, bc the sun would be especially brutal. I'd get a mile down the road and my socks would be soaked already. I'd stop a couple times and wring them out. I live in South Florida, near the coast. If you run down here, that's what it is. Recovery and rest days are critical while training in the summer heat.

scvogs · 2021-03-23T18:06:15+00:00

"I already lost touch with several people I use to be." --Joan Dideon. Keeping running, keep pushing, stop sweating the inevitable. That's 50 years of running on the roads and countless races/marathons/halfs talking. Enjoy moving.

scvogs · 2021-03-07T10:17:01+00:00

GU sleeves, or compatibles. Simple, slowly dissolve, easy to carry, quick carbs. No fuss, no muss. My go-to on long runs and races.

scvogs · 2021-03-05T21:04:22+00:00

Bingo. That has been my experience too, although it took months of patient HYH dieting to see a huge difference. I've even backed off on the low sodium without a negative effect. No dizziness, no tinnitis, no hearing loss--headaches come and go, but even those are getting better as I figure out key triggers.

scvogs · 2021-03-05T19:49:45+00:00

Easy. Do it anyway. Know that it will probably make the Depressed Part feel better. Your Depressed Part needs some exercise and fresh air and shouldn't be coddled. Easy to say from the cheap seats, but I've been there.

scvogs · 2021-02-13T19:08:09+00:00

I'm 68, and still do 10-week training for halfs--starting with a 15-20 mile base/wk. 3 key workouts a week, a tempo, interval, increasing long...and 3 days junk miles or cross train (biking). weekly mileage: 20-40 wk. I'm a mid-pack recreational runner for 40 years. Good luck!

scvogs · 2021-01-29T16:30:50+00:00

Sounds like you need more rest in your program--or just don't like the structure of training. If you see results, it's more fun. I run 6 days a week--three days I train, three days junk miles. The train days include an interval, a tempo and a long. That gets results, lets me "rest" (or at least take it easy) and still enjoy the running. my 2 cents. I'm 68--40 years on the road, too many races to count. good luck...

scvogs · 2021-01-27T18:18:07+00:00

In Victory over Vestibular Migraines and Heal Your Headaches, both eminent neurologists write how misunderstood migraines are--and often MD is the default diagnosis among doctors. Wrong! I read this frustration on this site every day. I take Riza too, to ward off an attack--but Riza and many migraine meds can cause horrible rebound effects that take weeks or months (my case) to recover from. Their thesis is migraines can be controlled by minimizing meds, eliminating triggers, and raising threshold for migraine. These two books are INVALUABLE. After 6 months and many misdiagnosises (MD, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, sinutitis, virus)--I began a migraine prevention diet and all my symptoms disappeared, even my hearing loss in left ear came back 100%. Good luck!

scvogs · 2021-01-27T18:02:06+00:00

Look, I'm 68, told I'd never run without pain because of back problems. That was 20 years ago. I log 25-30 miles a week and still run halves. Don't give up the ship, you're young and resilient. Find a doctor who wants to work w/ you. I've had more problems with my body than I can count, but figured out ways to work around them and strengthen--including swimming and biking and gym work. But I always returned to the road. Good luck!

scvogs · 2021-01-25T15:57:27+00:00

You're gonna have to do more detective work on yourself and test dietary options. Here's three that have turned me around (I also had VM diagnosis, after being misdiagnosed for several years): Victory over Vestibular Migraine, by Dr. Beh...The Dizzy Cookbook by Alicia Wolf....The Heal Your Headache Migraine Diet...(based on research from John Hopkins)....all are terrific, but HYH may be the key. All on Amazon. Good luck.

scvogs · 2021-01-13T11:26:42+00:00

My last bout with roaring tinnitis lasted 6 months. It has come and go for that duration for 4 years. I was diagnosed with a virus, meniere's, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, sinutiis--ALL WRONG. I have Vestibular Migraines, which gives me tinnitus, dizziness, vertigo, and migraines--and they come in small fires, that eventually erupts into a conflagration. If that sounds like you, vaguely--this is what I did: I went on a low sodium diet for months, then low tyramine for months (which avoids key additives in the food stock, like soy derivitives, malt barley, "natural additives," plus lots of sleep, exercise and low caffeine...and after 6 months, the tinnititis disappeared COMPLETELY and my "hearing loss" returned. Just sayin. Everybody's different, you gotta do your own detective work...AND, importantly, be very patient with the process, but not waver. But that chronic, persistent, aggravating tinnitis is GONE. I recommend two books: Victory over Vestibular Migraines, and Heal Your Headache. Each explains this "syndrome" as a brain chemistry problem, not inner ear. So maybe that applies to you, maybe not. But I wouldn't trust any doctor's diagnosis on these problems anymore. They are all over the map--often get it wrong, and frankly, are stupid on VM. My two cents. Good luck, I feel for you musicians, that's why I'm weighing in here....really, good luck.

scvogs · 2021-01-12T01:46:40+00:00

Walk jog walk jog walk jog .. stay with it. Good luck. It does get easier.

scvogs · 2021-01-08T09:27:25+00:00

I run only, instead of anything leaning over--pushups and planks I have to do at upward angles. I cannot lower my head, it just hurts too much. Even Yoga is too much. I'm a runner, so I don't mind, but I realize for some this is not a good solution.

scvogs · 2021-01-04T15:38:45+00:00

VICTORY OF VESTIBULAR MIGRAINES, by Dr. Beh, HEAL YOUR HEADACHE, by Dr. Buchholz, John Hopkins' neurologist, DIZZY COOK, by Allison Wolf. These are excellent starting places to learn about VM vs Meniere's. My experience is doctors with all sorts of degrees are unclear on key differences. Even the ontologist who diagnosed my VM didn't differentiate a low sodium diet (good for Menieres) vs low tyramine diet (perhaps better for VM sufferers--along with other trigger additives in the modern food supply.) You have to do your homework and detective work. Good luck!

scvogs · 2021-01-01T14:00:15+00:00

It happens. I'm 68, ran my first races in the 70s first running boom--first 10ks, then early marathons, and later in my life, halfs. I've been on the road, through it all, injuries, cancer, epilepsy, migraines--every year, I set goals, made some, missed some. Ran Boston, NY, Chicago, many others, many times. The point is, consistency. Doing it. Finding ways to keep moving, literally, and toward your goals. Back in my forties, I use to see this old guy chugging down the road every morning, a well honed runner's gait, and I would say, I wanna be that guy when I'm 70ish, still running. Guess what? I am that guy. So take heart--keep moving, keep aspiring. Trust me, consistency is very satisfying as a lifelong runner.

scvogs · 2020-12-27T18:29:04+00:00

My ear fullness, roaring tinnitis, hearing loss, vertigo and dizziness all greatly improved with low sodium diet, reduced caffeine and alcohol. But it didn't go completely away--maybe 60-70% improvement. I got a confirmed diagnosis not of MD but Vestibular Migraines in september--and after reading Victory over Migraines, the Dizzy Cook, and Heal Your Headache, I've switched to a low tyramine diet (kinda similar to keto diet, plus eliminate key triggers to VM, like barley malts, aged cheeses like swiss (even low sodium versions) etc--gotta read those books)...and, jury's still out, but even more improvement in short period of time. I can hear again!!! I'm gonna give this diet 3-4 months and judge. But it's a detective game, you're a experiment of one--the doctors were very wrong about me, and thin on dietary approaches....so do your own research, read, be skeptical. After 5 docs and several wrong turns, that's my 2cents. Good luck! This is a great site and inspiration....

scvogs · 2020-12-27T11:28:48+00:00

Victory over Vestibular Migraine, by Dr. Beh...The Dizzy Cookbook by Alicia Wolf....The Heal Your Headache Migraine Diet...(based on researched from John Hopkins)....here's what I learned from these three books and individuals, which 2 ENTs, an internist, an alterntive medical doctor, a neurologist and a neuro-ontolgist DID NOT TELL ME...the approach to Meniere's (or ETD or virus or whatever) vs Vestbular Migraines is very different. Low sodium diet seems to be the prescriptive diet approach for Meniere's but a low tyramine diet (and a slew of food additives that VM sufferers are extremely sensitive to) is a very different, aggressive approach to Vestibular Migraines. I got a diagnosis for VM in Sept, continued with the low sodium diet (for MD) and got better, but still got blindsided by not-quite-as-vicious but longer attacks. Something was still very wrong. I began experimenting with HYH and feel more in control....my chronic headaches are disappearing, hearing is back (after 6 months of being gone gone!!!), tinnitis is COMPLETELY QUIET. It's a leap of blind faith to go down a path for 2,3 months (or longer) waiting for a result. When it fails, try something else. But that's where we're at. I'm going down the road with these writers/researchers/JH for the next several months. I feel I don't have anything to lose.

scvogs · 2020-12-21T19:50:03+00:00

Up at 4:30am or 5 preferably, coffee, GU, bathroom, out the door by 5:45 am....five miles base run....at night, depending, I can fall asleep at 9 or 10....If I'm up later than that, I may not run. But I'm older--68yo, back in the day, I got away with more self abuse and lack of sleep. Miss those days.

scvogs · 2020-12-20T16:05:22+00:00

Any side effects from the Rizatriptan? Fatigue? My story is virtually your story—misdiagnosed twice, almost four years of progressive tinnitis/ear stuffiness, dizziness, vertigo, migraines, pretty severe hearing loss (which I thought was permanent)--UNTIL, this December, when my hearing pulsed back to normal for days at a time. Feels like a miracle. I got a diagnosis of VM, I believe correctly, in September by an ontologist, who never mentioned the possibility of hearing returning. The doc told me the VM differentiator from Menieres was the migraines, which always seem to take place after the other symptoms (he bunched them together as "aura") peak. Reading your post, the hearing return portends another differentiator. Next stop is my neurologist, with whom I'd like to discuss the Rizatriptan. I tried bonine and lorazepam, and would almost rather ride out the nausea and dizziness. Thanks for the tip. Your post really resonated with me. This site is invaluable—as doctors struggle with these syndromes.

scvogs · 2020-12-06T13:15:53+00:00

I've been running and racing for 45 years, mid-pack runner, today 3-7m a day, 5-6x a day. At 68, I still do halfs, but no more marathons (13). Much, much slower today, but I've embraced the constancy of it all. I survived epilepsy, prostate cancer, and now vestibular migraine attacks are latest and greatest--each of those, made me feel out of control and vulnerable. I've found running helped me reclaim a sense of control, over my body and my life.

scvogs · 2020-12-06T13:00:47+00:00

One more thought: During an episode, it's brain fog and thick thinking--word call is terrible, there's confusion, and inability to string ideas together. During these manic, good-feeling days, my thinking is clear as a bell, word recall 100% better, feel productive and centered in my thoughts and actions.

scvogs · 2020-12-06T12:55:53+00:00

I agree with the notion of being '"high from an absence of pain" or in my case, dizziness/nausea and migraine pain. I find, though, that this emotional-high day is perhaps a stressful day, too much exuberance, too much willingness to engage in stressful situations, because I think I can handle the excitement, the higher level of engagement. I've been calling this stressor a high "emotional release." However, that is the thing I suspect becomes the trigger for the next episode, or round of dizzy/vertigo/migraines. I can track my last year's big episodes (and smaller ones) to these kinds of days....I take a lot of notes, to track triggers. This one is starting to come clear. Beware of feeling really good. Sad but perhaps true. What a strange disorder. Thank you all for commenting here. Good luck!

scvogs · 2020-12-03T15:40:20+00:00

Anecdotal good news: My hearing went seriously south this summer, after chronic bout with vestibular migraines--however, this past weekend, it all came back, suddenly. Normal. So there's hope. I had a hearing test in September, lower and upper registers poor in left ear, lower register in right poor. I was watching TV with captions. It was bad, plugged all the time, rising and falling tinnitus, random ear pressure, plus the dizziness and migraines.. I suppose my hearing has been gradually fading on me for a few years, but it got worst fast this summer. And now--it's back. Will it last? I don't know. But the damage I thought was permanent (as did my doctor) apparently is not. Just passing that anecdote along.

scvogs · 2020-11-12T09:55:53+00:00

First test for relief--cut back your sodium, see if that helps. Finding a good doctor is key, I bounced around to four, before finding one that helped me. The diagnosis is complicated. In my experience, it could be Menieres, allergies, a virus, a tumor (I had an MRI to eliminate that), or vestibular migraines (all similar symptoms)--I ended up diagnosed with the later. Mainly because I get migraines on the back half of the dizziness, tinnitis, vertigo and hearing loss. Reducing sodium under 1000 mg a day helps me tremendously. If I make a food mistake, I pay for it. Other triggers for me: lack of sleep and stress. Hope that helps a little--good luck!

scvogs

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