Inverted

My next blood test won't be until Jan. 28, so no new numbers today. Feeling better and stronger every day in most ways. Still having colossal headaches from nightime teeth clenching, but I bought some self-hypnosis CDs that help calm the jaw muscles down at night. So do yoga inversions: the inversion sling, headstands, shoulder stands. I never realized you could stretch the sides of your face in a shoulder stand. Plus, it reboots your brain.

Think about it: gravity does a lot of damage. Skin, breasts, testicles, muscles, ears — everything eventually sags under its force. That's happening to your internal organs as well. Spending a few minutes upside down every day reverses the direction.

A lot of people think of yoga as some kind of fringe thing, but to me it's essential. It does more to rejuvenate, strengthen, and calm me than anything else. There's ancient, real knowledge here, about how body and mind connect. And unlike a lot of exercise modes, you can do it all your life. BKS Iyengar is 89 years old and still practices 4 hours a day. Extreme, OK — but I wouldn't mind being able to do what he does when I'm 89.

Monday I had an MRI for possible avascular necrosis in my right hip joint. Amazingly fast — I was in and out in 50 minutes. Man is that MRI machine ever loud. They gave me earplugs but my ears still rang all day afterward. Forgot to take off my two silver rings, so the magnet made my ring fingers quiver, like scared little minnows attached to my hands.

No results yet, and I don't really want them, either. Now that I know the problem is there, I can feel something that might be related — pain at the adductor muscle attachments — but only in extreme hip positions such as certain yoga poses. I'm taking it easy on those, having no problems at all walking, riding a bike, etc. I'll wait for the doctors to evaluate this.

Meanwhile I came across another great HCL resource: Rob's User Friendly HCL Site and Chat Room. Lots of current and former HCL patients, very welcoming, some good information here.