Pain Management With

Working Through the Pain

Once again, I sit at my computer, fingers on the keyboard, with nothing of value to say. I suspect my lack of inspiration is directly related to the drastic reduction in social interactions due to the pinched nerve in my neck. I’ve learned from painful experience I’m no fun when I’m in pain. No matter how much I try to behave like a civilized adult, my whiny, cantankerous toddler comes out when my body won’t stop hurting, no matter what I’ve tried.

Granted, the SalonPas is fairly effective in bringing the pain down to a tolerable level, as is regular icing. But if I’m out in public, I choose not to reek of menthol, and I can’t exactly carry an ice pack around with me. My solution is to stay home, cuddling my cats, icing my back and neck, applying SalonPas abundantly to the afflicted areas, and binge-watching Amazon Prime movies. I’ve actually found a few that took my mind off the whiny toddler, if only for an hour or two.

Although I did manage to get out for a couple of hours this week, I made sure it was somewhere close enough to home I could tolerate the drive when it became necessary to give in to the toddler, and do something to mitigate the pain. It’s not so much the pain is intense, as it is that it’s a constant throb in my shoulder and arm. I do feel bad mentioning it to my walking buddy, as the one time I did, he said it was much like the fibromyalgia he deals with every day, but unlike my current condition, his won’t go away with physical therapy.

Temporary Pain is Still Debilitating

My herniated discs will eventually return to their normal, resting state, thereby removing the pressure on the nerves affecting my left shoulder and arm. His pain has been constant since he was young, and doctors, knowing little about their fallback diagnosis of fibromyalgia, offer him little help or hope of relief. Our daily walks are actually offering us both some relief from the pain, not to mention fresh air and exercise. Though the stretches I do, and the pacing he does at home keep things from getting worse, at the end of the day, I know mine is temporary, even if it recurs every 2-3 years. His is lifelong unless the medical profession gets around to realizing there’s more to this catch-all diagnosis of fibromyalgia than they’re willing to admit.

Staying home with my cats isn’t the worst option. In fact, their purrs and snuggles help ease the pain, and distract me from focusing too much on it. I do miss the extra dance nights I’d added to my schedule, but they were all at least a 30-minute drive, and some were closer to an hour. I’m not sure I could last even an hour once I reached the venue before wanting to head for home, my cats, my ice packs, and my smelly but effective SalonPas. Taking the chance I’d subject others to my pain-induced, cranky toddler is not an option.

The good news is, my first PT appointment is only 3 weeks away now. Meanwhile, daily walks, and weekly personal training remain on my schedule. My trainer, aware of my current situation, is doing her best to work around, and help me work through those recalcitrant discs until they go back to what constitutes normal given my aging, and abused body. Thankfully, the strength in my arm remains constant, and most movement helps rather than hurts.

Small Blessings

Meanwhile, my legs are growing stronger, and, thankfully, my knees and hips have chosen to behave so only one part of my body hurts in the morning right now. Having dealt with waking up all creaky for so long, it reminds me even my neck and shoulder respond well to movement, be it my daily stretches, or simply getting up and moving around the house. Even chores help more than harm, and I was able to do a load of bedding yesterday.

Today is for kitties though. I’ll be doing my usual, Sunday shift at ERF with a whole passel of kittens to cuddle, and older cats to love on until they all find their forever homes. Last week, there were 22 kittens, though all but about 7 were spoken for, and 6 of those were too young to even come out of the crate their mama keeps them contained in.

Distraction from the Pain

It’s funny. Sitting here typing, and talking about kitty cuddles, while Ishtar sits on my desk purring has caused the pain and numbness to dissipate. It explains why I was able to do my 3-hour shift last Sunday with minimal discomfort. Even if I had been in pain and whiny, the cats don’t really care as long as they get their cuddles and for some, treats.

Perhaps it explains why I’m often more comfortable in the company of cats than I am people. I don’t have to pretend to be OK, or mask pain with cats. As long as I respect their space, and give them the attention they want, they don’t really care if I’m feeling social or in hermit mode. My hermit mode is only in regards to humans anyway. Cats and dogs are always welcome inside my hidey hole.

Utilizing Gratitude

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful for dance events that are close to home.
2. I’m grateful for my volunteer time which allows me to enjoy more kitty purrs and cuddles while helping socialize cats so they’ll find homes like mine where they’re spoiled and loved forever.
3. I’m grateful for my cats who know when I’m hurting, mentally, physically, or emotionally, and are simply there for me with purrs and snuggles.
4. I’m grateful for learning movement is my friend when I’m hurting.
5. I’m grateful for learning there are times I need to absent myself from most human contact rather than alienating people with my grumpiness.

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful. In her spare time, she’s also an accountant with extensive experience in Government Contracting.

Stubbornly Healing Myself

Stubbornly Self Healing

I admit it. My patience is about the size of a gnat. Some might say it’s part of my charm, though I suspect most would use less complimentary descriptions. Either way, it’s what’s kept me moving instead of sitting on the couch, eating my troubles away (or unsuccessfully trying) while feeling sorry for myself. Frankly, I don’t have time for that nonsense, no matter how freed up my time might be right now. I have far too much living to do.

Instead, I’m doing everything I can to get those herniated discs in my neck to calm the heck down and stop pressing on the nerves that impact my left arm and shoulder. Whether it’s the daily stretches I’ve learned from several rounds of physical therapy, the rotating ice packs on my back and neck, daily walks, dance nights, or chores, I’m applying what I’ve learned from over a decade of managing this intermittent issue to improve the current status of my life absent the afore-mentioned physical therapy.

What surprises even me is I’ve learned when to push it, and when to (gasp!) ask for help. When the sandboxes needed dumping, scrubbing, and refilling, I knew lifting an awkward sandbox filled with about 20 pounds of sand was ill-advised so I engaged my walking partner to do the carrying. Not only did I spare myself the pain and perhaps, backsliding from the progress I’ve already made, but we got the job done in half the time it would have taken me, going back and forth 4 times.

Improvement Through Consistency

Using my head instead of my oh-so-stubborn heart, I was even able to sleep in my bed for part of the night for the first time in over a week! Sure, I woke up achy again this morning, but as I age, I’ve learned it’s part of my morning routine until I move around a bit, and stretch. Often it’s my knees, which have been surprisingly cooperative lately! After morning stretches, cat feeding, and another liberal application of Salonpas, the aches are mostly gone, and I’m able to go about my regular, daily business, if not in complete comfort, at least most of the way.

Knowing movement eases most of the pain incurred from sitting, or lying still for too long gives me the momentum to unkink the creaky parts (some days, more slowly than others) and move my increasingly less lazy self through my morning routine, and even into extra things like washing bedding, vacuuming, and mopping up more cat vomit.

Though I may, at the moment, be disinclined to travel to more distant dance venues in case the pain becomes less manageable, I’m beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, simply because I’ve once again taken my healing into my own hands. The years when I’d sit on my butt feeling sorry for myself, and failing to see improvement are long behind me. Perhaps knowing I have less years ahead of me are the inspiration and motivation I need to avoid wasting what I have left in that manner. Still, applying what I’ve learned about managing intermittent pain plays a huge part in my current methodology.

Healing Lessons Learned and Applied

Some of those lessons include:

• Move as much as possible
• Avoid doing things which might exacerbate the issue (aka ask for help)
• Revisit my list of anti-inflammatory and inflammatory foods, and focus on the former
• Add a night time dose of Turmeric to my regimen
• Provide ample opportunities for cat cuddles and purrs
• Use ice, heat, or both to help relieve the symptoms
• Take Aleve as necessary (I learned the hard way, no matter how bad the pain, avoid Tylenol with Codeine, aka Norco as it does nothing for my nerve pain, and gives me insomnia.
• In the event of sleeplessness, use the Ambient Music station on my Pandora account. Rest is as essential to healing as movement.
• Apply SalonPas, BenGay, or similar non-Lidocaine containing products as needed

Utilizing all of these lessons has moved me from counting the days until my first PT appointment, to trying to decide which heavy household chore I’ll tackle today even if I’ll approach whatever I decide slowly and carefully, and stop if I feel like it’s making things worse. As such, I’ll probably give it a few more days before I tackle mopping, but vacuuming is definitely a consideration.

Moving Intelligently

Knowing there are times my movements will be limited, I’ve even invested in a few devices to make my chores easier. I currently have 2 robot vacuums, one with a mopping attachment that seems to work best on clean-ish floors, and a long-handled, battery operated scrubber which makes it easier to scrub things like tubs, and dried on cat barf.

I know I could, like many of my friends, hire someone to clean house for me, I’ve resisted even if it would mean a much cleaner house than I’ve been willing or able to achieve on my own. In the first place, there are areas I’d be embarrassed to let someone who’s profession is house cleaning see. In the second, I don’t really trust strangers in my house, especially after the incident with the plumber who didn’t close the door to the garage securely, allowing some of my cats to go on an adventure.

Besides, having the chores to do myself means I have one more way to remain active, at least until I resume the online ballet classes I subscribed to many months ago when the Zoom ones no longer served me. For now, I’ll move more, and sit less, knock a few chores off my list, learn a new line dance or two, and move ever closer to being pain free again by healing myself slowly but surely.

Grateful for Progress

My gratitudes today are:

1. I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned about pain management and movement.
2. I’m grateful for knees which are keeping themselves out of the current equation.
3. I’m grateful for being too stubborn to sit around and wait until my physical therapy begins.
4. I’m grateful for being my own best health advocate.
5. I’m grateful for noticeable improvements.

About the Author

Sheri Conaway is a Holistic Ghostwriter, and an advocate for cats and mental health. Sheri believes in the Laws of Attraction, but only if you are a participant rather than just an observer. Her mission is to Make Vulnerable Beautiful. In her spare time, she’s also an accountant with extensive experience in Government Contracting.