Well, it’s been a hot minute since my last Blog (Fuck, I really loathe this new Urban Slang used by today’s generation almost as much as I loathe the idiotic initialisms “LOL” “OMG” and “BRB”.

Ugh STFU!!!!!!!

In all honesty these past few months have been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride for me. With the occurrence of my Grand Mal Seizure back in March, combined with our Business becoming increasingly busier, I’ve barely had time to breathe, shit and/or mock the Social Media Superstars for their scantily clad photos, meaningless motivational quotes and filtered ass selfies.

But now, after two months, I’m back! And I’m back finally with a diagnosis!

Crib Notes

For those of you that don’t know, don’t care or may have forgot, I had a Grand Mal Seizure on my gym floor during my own workout back in March. Every action and every event that I remember and was told about what happened during and after my seizure, are documented in two of my most recent blogs (enter shameless plug-ins here) “My First Seizure” and “The Seizure That Knocked Me Off Social Media”.

Since this time, I have been in and out of the hospital on a weekly basis for multiply CT Scans, MRIs, and EEG Tests. The reason for all these continued tests was due to the fact that I had continued to experience multiply uncontrollable hand tremors approximately a week after my initial seizure had occurred. This was something I told very few people about until now, as I wanted to find out why these tremors were occurring before sharing this news.

The News

The good news is that I don’t have a brain tumour (personally this was my most feared thought). I was not diagnosed with Epilepsy nor was I told that I was experiencing any symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). On a side note, I have so much admiration and respect for those people that do battle these disorders and still manage to live a normal and productive life. The bad news (if you can call it bad news) is that my brain doesn’t know how to turn itself off. And because of this, I had a seizure. 

Now bare with me here as I’m not Neurologist, but I will try my absolute best to explain why my seizure occurred in English terms rather than Medical terms as it took me a few days to fully understand myself.

I had my first EEG test in the middle of the afternoon. I was well rested and felt great. My results showed that the electrical activity in my brain was normal. However after speaking with my Neurologist and explaining to him how I normally function on 3-5 hours of sleep each night and work 7 days each week, he ordered a second EEG test. But this time the only difference was that the test was to be taken after 36 Hours of Sleep Deprivation. I was still allowed to sleep during this time but for no more than 3 hours total. Well, let me tell you that I walked into that EEG Test feeling like crap. I was tired, irritable and moody. But at the same time I was excited/nervous to find out what my second batch of test results would be.

The results? After 36 Hours of Sleep Deprivation, the electrical activity in my brain was normal…….For someone who IS NOT sleep deprived.

WHY THIS IS NOT GOOD

When we go to sleep our brains still remain active. The brain’s patterns of activity change during different sleep stages. And in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, brain activity ramps up to a level that shares similarities with when we are awake. The problem for me though is that my brain becomes overly active while I sleep which never fully allows my body to go into what the Medical Community calls a “Slow Wave Sleep” and what we normal people call a Deep Sleep. The analogy that I was given was that it’s like driving a car on empty for as far as you could until the engine eventually stops. Well my engine (brain) was believed to have stopped from over-exhaustion which is what triggered my Grand Mal Seizure.

THE SOLUTION

Now I know you’re probably thinking that the obvious answer to my problem would be to just sleep more. However as my Neurologist explained to me, it’s not the quanitity of sleep that I receive in my particular case that’s important, but more so the quality of sleep that I receive that’s of utmost importance.

With that said, after all is said and done (for now anyways) I was recently given a prescription to allow both my body and my brain to properly shutdown during the evening while I sleep. I have been taking this medication for the past two weeks and I am happy to report that since that time I have not experienced a single hand tremor. My body feels rested when I wake up in the morning and my mind feels fresh and alert. Ofcourse I don’t want to become overreliant and/or dependent on these drugs, and therefore my plan is to slowly taper off them as my brain readjusts itself to normal sleep patterns once again.

THE FUTURE

Moving forward, the future looks bright for me. Our clients, my friends and my family, have all been so incredibly supportive to me while I’ve gone through this mini health scare. I’ve also learned a valuable lesson and that is to SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY LIFE. I no longer work on the floor 7 days a week. I no longer respond to emails at 2am in the morning. I no longer sleep for only 3-5 hours each night. I’m now out there enjoying my life. The past week alone I’ve been Hiking, Biking, Rollerblading and Boating (all Social Distancing Activities I might add). Later on this week I plan on Jet Skiing. Life truly is short and I don’t plan on spending the remainder of mine working constantly.

My initial goal was to semi retire by the age of 40 and live primarily off my passive income. And even though I’m still on track to achieve this goal, I no longer have any desire to put my body and my brain through the excessive and somewhat demanding hours that it requires to own and operate a small business that is slowly becoming a large business.

It’s ironic actually. All these years I’ve always been perplexed as to why so many people work so hard and for so long, yet don’t take anytime to actually enjoy their own lives. Yet, the common phrase “I’ll wait until I’m retired to enjoy my life” is something that I’ve always practiced and preached myself. Therefore all this time, I was actually one of these people myself and didn’t even realize it! Well given my past two health scares this year (appendix removed back in August and Grand Mal Seizure in March) I’m no longer waiting to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Instead, I’m just going to go enjoy them now.

“We’re not promised tomorrow, so don’t waste a moment living in the past.”
J.Osteen

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance