I have pharyngitis and should lift weights more

I drove to the gym this morning at 6:30am. I’m really sick of the drive that I take there, even though today was only the second time taking that route since joining this gym a few weeks ago. The traffic was atrocious. At a particular intersection near my house, it gets really backed up. The main highway gets super busy, and the traffic lights don’t play nice, so people queue across the intersection like complete idiots, meaning no one from the slightly less busy intersecting street can move.

Still, I don’t feel like that gives the guy a few cars in front of me any excuse to have been an idiot himself. The lights were green and we were all good to turn right onto the highway, but he didn’t… move? What the hell, mate.

Waiting, waiting…

So I sat through four runs of lights while I swore at the guy. I was just sitting in my car spitting out some f-words, but still ticked off that I was sitting for such a long time without moving.

On the next round of lights, some drivers grew impatient and turned right from the wrong lane, just to get around this guy. He slowly moved forward, and unfortunately I could not turn around this guy so I just kept following the cars in front of me.

They all sped around that guy as soon as they turned, and I quickly moved left so I could make a left turn at the next road, which was the motorway. (By the way, we drive on the left. And our motorways are like freeways for travelling within the city of Sydney, as opposed to long distance or out-of-town.)

That idiotic guy then tried to cut in front of me. He obviously couldn’t switch lanes fast enough.

I just let him in, let him do his own thing, and then stopped at the red lights behind another vehicle.

The lights had been red for a while but the guy just drove right through the lights.

I wanted to laugh. He should be embarrassed! Embarrassed that he was in such a rush that he chose to drive right through a set of red lights, deliberately, when he had held up so many people beforehand.

I was so ticked off, though, that I missed my exit and I had to take the next one and it took me extra time to drive to the gym. I’m thankful for the person that beamed their lights as an indicator to let me merge into the main road later on, though. :) Some people are nice.

You know who is not nice, though? That person who took forever in the gym shower, I ended up doing an extra run and a rowing workout because they were in there well before Nick used the second shower. They were still in there when I finally went in after Nick.

Back to the topic of this post.

Tonight I went to the doctor because my throat has been acting up big time. I went to a new doctor, but at the same medical centre. When I got sick after San Diego, my cold went away, then a week later my throat hurt and I lost my voice over the weekend. That healed with a good amount of cough lozenges, syrup and tablets, but I just kept getting a dull pain in my throat.

MacBook and stethoscope on a table

Turns out I have pharyngitis. 😷

It’s not the first time, either. I can’t remember exactly, but I either had both laryngitis and pharyngitis, or both within a few weeks of each other, about ten years ago. It was less than pleasant, but funny to tell people. The doctor said my body is still fighting something and hasn’t gotten over it like it normally should. I have to take antibiotics, and if I don’t feel better in five days I have to get some swabs taken from my throat. Eeeew.

We got onto the topic of cholesterol since I needed a new prescription for my medication. The doctor was surprised that I needed medication. This is usually the reaction from doctors, because I’m so thin, it doesn’t sound believable.

My mum and I told him a bit about how my diet changed over the years. For those who read my blog regularly, you know that I struggled with cholesterol issues for twelve years before being put on medication, as I was falsely told that diet was the only thing that could lower my cholesterol, and it was not genetic. After starting to take medication I was so glad that it lowered, I wanted to cry. :)

But! Well! New information has surfaced, and this doctor said that my cholesterol is at a great level now, but what I can do is to exercise more, particularly focussing on lean muscle more so than just “running a marathon”. He said I didn’t have to lift heavy weights, but to work on muscles and high intensity workouts. It explains why my cholesterol started dropping a lot more rapidly in the past couple of years – two years ago I started exercising a lot more than I used to.

This makes me so excited! Hell! I have been loving strength training as of late, and now I have even more reason to keep going. :) 💪

Comments on this post

Oh man, I hate it when people are stupid drivers @___@…. They all deserve to have their license revoked! Glad to hear you made it through that horrible traffic safe and soundly. Ugggg, I always get into a situation where the other loser wanted to cut me off at a merge, but needs a lot of HP to accelerate to that point AnnNNNd when people don’t look over their shoulder when they switch lanes (aka, right next to me).

I’m glad to hear that your cholesterol level is at a good level! Working out is good for the soul. Keep it up, Georgie! It’s a double whammy with helping keep your levels on check ;).

Hope you feel better hugs <3 Nothing worst than being sick with pharyngitis. I hate throat infections..they suck so baad. You'll make it through alright!

This is such good news! I mean, the guy holding up traffic obviously isn’t and needs to be less of a douche, but being able to lower your cholesterol doing something you already like doing is great because you won’t totally hate it…and you’re already doing it. 😘😎💖

Jeeze, what a fuckwit. I don’t drive, but I can assure you that if I were you I would have some SERIOUS road rage, as well.

Sucks about the pharyngitis :( But I am glad to hear that your cholesterol levels are at a great level! Keep it pumping @ the gym, girl 💪

Drivers that don’t follow the rules of the road are the worst. I don’t drive, but as a passenger, I’ve seen the rudest drivers. That commute to the gym sounds like a hassle, but at least you got there in one piece, thank goodness! :) That rude person at the gym though. I can sympathize, which is why I’d rather do the shower thing at home. I get a bit of a panic if I have to shower at the gym. Maybe because it’s a public place.
I really hope you feel better soon, although it is great to know that you are doing well regardless of the pharyngitis. :) Things get better!

I would try to avoid showering at the gym as I hate public showers, but it’s a bit hard not to, when I have to go to work immediately afterwards! Mornings are the most convenient time.