When Health Interferes

Writing is a glorious and enjoyable pastime for me. It's also terribly sedentary, which for me is no different than when I worked in IT or practiced law. It means taking breaks to prevent repetitive stress injuries, eating right, and exercising on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, I also have several chronic conditions that make keeping the health balance a little more difficult. The last two and half months have been especially so. I chalked the severe exhaustion up to my (relatively) mild seasonal affective disorder (SAD). I mean, we only had three days of sunshine for the entire month of January.

In the meantime, I was trying to finish the last three novels of the Bloodlines series. I'd been delayed a month thanks to my own freakin' mistake. Then the exhaustion set in, and it became a struggle thinking straight, much less writing a page or two each day. I figured as long as I kept moving forward, things would get better.

Then we started getting a little more sunshine, and I felt a little better. My days were a little more productive, but definitely not where they should be.

Time for the family's annual check-ups rolled around, and I started making the calls and appointments. My general practioner had an opening for me a couple of months early, and I took it.

I'm glad I did. My numbers were all over the place. Basically, the hormonal changes of menopause were playing havoc with my careful balance of the last two decades. It means experimenting with my drug formulas again to strike the right notes.

On top of the physical effects is a healthy dose of frustration and anger that my body is still making me pay for the choice to have a child. But that's what my personal journal and this blog is for, dealing with those feelings.

As I write this, it's been fours days with the new formula. I already feel the difference. The question is how this new condition will play out over the next couple of weeks.

But if you're a writer and you're healthy, please, PLEASE maintain that health as long as you can. Take good care of your body because it has more of an affect on our minds than we realize.