The shoulder pain did not go away.
The latest is that the doctor thinks I have Lupus. He put me on an anti-malaria drug: hydroxychloroquine. He said I would feel better in 2-3 months.
Surprisingly, my shoulder pain abated within a couple of weeks. I still feel very tired, and the medicine tends to upset my stomach. But my shoulder pain is definitely better; not gone, but better.
I wonder if I should convert this blog to a blog about Lupus?
Showing posts with label physical issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physical issues. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Bad shoulder
Something happened to me.
My left shoulder has been no good lately.
Usually I sleep on my left side, but I have been unable to do that for a few weeks. Yes, weeks.
I'm tired. Also sore. Also, if this turns into something as chronic as my neck and shoulder pain, I am going to get fat. Because it hurts to move.
Sorry I haven't been posting. If anybody stops by, please leave a comment and tell me what position you get into to fall asleep...
...and, please tell me, what do you do when you can't sleep in that position?
My left shoulder has been no good lately.
Usually I sleep on my left side, but I have been unable to do that for a few weeks. Yes, weeks.
I'm tired. Also sore. Also, if this turns into something as chronic as my neck and shoulder pain, I am going to get fat. Because it hurts to move.
Sorry I haven't been posting. If anybody stops by, please leave a comment and tell me what position you get into to fall asleep...
...and, please tell me, what do you do when you can't sleep in that position?
Friday, March 23, 2012
Sleeping with a bad back
This is not a panacea, so don't get the wrong idea. It's just one small idea.
When my back hurts a lot, sometimes it helps to sleep on a sofa.
Ordinarily, I cannot sleep flat on my back. It hurts my stomach, for one thing. And I find it generally uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, when my back and neck are in spasms, all of my regular sleep positions exacerbate the pain. At the same time, the one position that offers some relief for my back (flat on my back) is not a position in which I can sleep.
However, I can sleep on my back on a sofa if I pull up my knees and lean them gently against the back of the sofa.
Do you suffer from back pain? If so, what sleep positions have you found helpful?
When my back hurts a lot, sometimes it helps to sleep on a sofa.
Ordinarily, I cannot sleep flat on my back. It hurts my stomach, for one thing. And I find it generally uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, when my back and neck are in spasms, all of my regular sleep positions exacerbate the pain. At the same time, the one position that offers some relief for my back (flat on my back) is not a position in which I can sleep.
However, I can sleep on my back on a sofa if I pull up my knees and lean them gently against the back of the sofa.
Do you suffer from back pain? If so, what sleep positions have you found helpful?
Monday, March 5, 2012
Dealing with a non-ideal night.
Last night I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep.
I was exhausted because we had a HUGE day, my son David's Junior Saxophone Recital. Technically, it started at 8 p.m. (although we'd all been preparing our separate parts for days, David for weeks and months). The music finished at 9:30, and the reception was over a bit after 10:30. By 11 p.m. we were driving home, and by midnight we had unloaded the van and put most of the leftover food away.
There is still a giant cooler containing a few cans of soda, sitting between my mudroom and my kitchen table. A bin full of unidentified dry goods graces the family room.
There's only so much you can take care of when you are that tired. I was tired enough to simply drop, but once I hit the sheets, I could not get to sleep.
No matter how I lay, one or the other of my arms was bent awkwardly and would go numb and tingly within a few moments. I couldn't get comfortable.
I know I do not wish for an arm amputation. I know that. I had to keep reminding myself that.
My mind was so full of all the events of the night, I couldn't even focus on the attributes of God.
And this was after two cups of nice, hot Valerian tea.
Some nights you just have to give in. You can't get too bent out of shape about it. You have to let your mind spin, and lie there in the dark trying to be still and warm. If you don't freak out and panic, you will eventually fall asleep.
At about 1 a.m. when we were all trying to go to bed, I told my younger son, Jonathan, "I'm too tired to get you up for school tomorrow morning. You can get yourself up. Or if you can't, I'll just get you up when I wake up, and I'll take you to school then. You need your sleep, too. It's a Monday for goodness' sake."
I fell asleep at about 2:23 a.m. I woke up shortly before 8 a.m. without an alarm clock. I took Jonathan to school after we'd sort-of-breakfasted*, arriving a little before 9 a.m.
And life continues.
I was exhausted because we had a HUGE day, my son David's Junior Saxophone Recital. Technically, it started at 8 p.m. (although we'd all been preparing our separate parts for days, David for weeks and months). The music finished at 9:30, and the reception was over a bit after 10:30. By 11 p.m. we were driving home, and by midnight we had unloaded the van and put most of the leftover food away.
There is still a giant cooler containing a few cans of soda, sitting between my mudroom and my kitchen table. A bin full of unidentified dry goods graces the family room.
There's only so much you can take care of when you are that tired. I was tired enough to simply drop, but once I hit the sheets, I could not get to sleep.
No matter how I lay, one or the other of my arms was bent awkwardly and would go numb and tingly within a few moments. I couldn't get comfortable.
I know I do not wish for an arm amputation. I know that. I had to keep reminding myself that.
My mind was so full of all the events of the night, I couldn't even focus on the attributes of God.
And this was after two cups of nice, hot Valerian tea.
Some nights you just have to give in. You can't get too bent out of shape about it. You have to let your mind spin, and lie there in the dark trying to be still and warm. If you don't freak out and panic, you will eventually fall asleep.
At about 1 a.m. when we were all trying to go to bed, I told my younger son, Jonathan, "I'm too tired to get you up for school tomorrow morning. You can get yourself up. Or if you can't, I'll just get you up when I wake up, and I'll take you to school then. You need your sleep, too. It's a Monday for goodness' sake."
I fell asleep at about 2:23 a.m. I woke up shortly before 8 a.m. without an alarm clock. I took Jonathan to school after we'd sort-of-breakfasted*, arriving a little before 9 a.m.
And life continues.
*There is an odd phenomenon that when you are getting a ton of food ready for a holiday or special event,
the normal cooking and shopping doesn't happen,
and in the end you are often at a loss for, say, eggs...
and bread that could be toasted for breakfast.
the normal cooking and shopping doesn't happen,
and in the end you are often at a loss for, say, eggs...
and bread that could be toasted for breakfast.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Warming a cold, winter bed
Shawn has been in Boston, but he's coming home tonight.
In the past, I could never sleep when he was gone, and even if I could get to sleep, my neck and back always went out so that I was crippled in pain by the time he'd come home.
It took me forever to figure out why this was, but I finally figured out it was two things:
(1) I could not get warm when I was by myself in the bed.
I figured this out first, and I began taking a hot water bottle to bed with me, thrusting it down to the mysterious bottom of the bed, by my feet. The problem was, it only warmed a very small part of me, which ultimately led to the second issue...
(2) If I could get warm at all, I could only warm the exact, immediate area where I was lying, and if I moved even an inch, I would be in Cold Sheet Territory. This caused me to sleep still, in one crunched position all night long, which made my neck and back go into spasms.
So... he stopped traveling.
I wish.
No, he did not stop traveling. He bought me an electric mattress warmer.
You put this on the bed over your mattress pad and below your fitted sheet. It's better than an electric blanket because heat rises.
If you leave it on high all night long, you wake up feeling rather like a crispy raisin.
So you really need to turn it on before you get into bed, and then turn it off.
Except, when I am all by myself (lacking that other body, the one that can actually produce and radiate heat), if I turn off the electric mattress pad, then halfway through the night I am once again stranded on my exactly-body-sized island of warmth. Out go the neck and back, again.
But... I found a solution! Our electric mattress pad has dual controls for each side, so...
I suppose the radiation is a potential carcinogen. You have to weigh your consequences: sleeplessness and guaranteed neck spasms vs. potential cancer...
Short term certainties are hard to bear for the sake of long term possibilities.
In the past, I could never sleep when he was gone, and even if I could get to sleep, my neck and back always went out so that I was crippled in pain by the time he'd come home.
It took me forever to figure out why this was, but I finally figured out it was two things:
(1) I could not get warm when I was by myself in the bed.
I figured this out first, and I began taking a hot water bottle to bed with me, thrusting it down to the mysterious bottom of the bed, by my feet. The problem was, it only warmed a very small part of me, which ultimately led to the second issue...
(2) If I could get warm at all, I could only warm the exact, immediate area where I was lying, and if I moved even an inch, I would be in Cold Sheet Territory. This caused me to sleep still, in one crunched position all night long, which made my neck and back go into spasms.
So... he stopped traveling.
I wish.
No, he did not stop traveling. He bought me an electric mattress warmer.
You put this on the bed over your mattress pad and below your fitted sheet. It's better than an electric blanket because heat rises.
If you leave it on high all night long, you wake up feeling rather like a crispy raisin.
So you really need to turn it on before you get into bed, and then turn it off.
Except, when I am all by myself (lacking that other body, the one that can actually produce and radiate heat), if I turn off the electric mattress pad, then halfway through the night I am once again stranded on my exactly-body-sized island of warmth. Out go the neck and back, again.
But... I found a solution! Our electric mattress pad has dual controls for each side, so...
- I turn both sides on while I am getting ready for bed.
- After I get into bed, I turn my side off, but I leave Shawn's side on all night.
I suppose the radiation is a potential carcinogen. You have to weigh your consequences: sleeplessness and guaranteed neck spasms vs. potential cancer...
Short term certainties are hard to bear for the sake of long term possibilities.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Bedtime stretches
One of my biggest problems at bedtime: aching legs.
I can be just fine... until I slip under the covers and try to find a comfortable position. All at once my legs, particularly my knees, start to ache. If I try to hold them still, I end up twitching. If I wiggle them around and rub them, I keep my husband awake. Actually, when I try to hold still and can’t, the twitching disturbs him, too. The poor guy is just about as cursed by this as I am, because of the secondary effects.
Over the years I have tried many things:
All of these things help sometimes and none of them helps every time.
I finally went to the doctor because of my fibromyalgia. If you have fibromyalgia, you know how much help it is to go to the doctor. Ha. Anyway, the family practice doctor referred me to a rheumatologist who referred me to an endocrinologist. None of them really helped the overall issue...
But when I was at the rheumatologist, she mentioned to me that... I might try stretching out my hamstrings before I go to bed.
Why had this never occurred to me?
Now I like to spend the evening stretching in front of the fireplace while the family is watching TV. It helps if I do this in front of the fireplace, because heat increases flexibility. On nights when nobody has time to watch TV, I just stretch in my bedroom, but it’s nicest when I can do it in the middle of family time.
The best stretch I’ve found is the old V stretch where you sit on the floor with your legs in a V and...
Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds, working up as you become more flexible. Repeat through the stretches three times or more. Be sure to stretch both sides equally!
I’ve found that when I spend a tidy little chunk of time stretching in the evening, I spend a lot less time tossing and turning with leg cramps after I go to bed.
Do you have any hints for getting your muscles ready for sleeping?
I can be just fine... until I slip under the covers and try to find a comfortable position. All at once my legs, particularly my knees, start to ache. If I try to hold them still, I end up twitching. If I wiggle them around and rub them, I keep my husband awake. Actually, when I try to hold still and can’t, the twitching disturbs him, too. The poor guy is just about as cursed by this as I am, because of the secondary effects.
Over the years I have tried many things:
- rubbing my knees with arnica gel before I go to bed
- taking two extra strength acetaminophen pills
- drinking milk (calcium) and eating a banana (potassium) for a snack in the late evening
- drinking tonic water (quinine)
- taking a calcium/magnesium/zinc supplement at bedtime
All of these things help sometimes and none of them helps every time.
I finally went to the doctor because of my fibromyalgia. If you have fibromyalgia, you know how much help it is to go to the doctor. Ha. Anyway, the family practice doctor referred me to a rheumatologist who referred me to an endocrinologist. None of them really helped the overall issue...
But when I was at the rheumatologist, she mentioned to me that... I might try stretching out my hamstrings before I go to bed.
Why had this never occurred to me?
Now I like to spend the evening stretching in front of the fireplace while the family is watching TV. It helps if I do this in front of the fireplace, because heat increases flexibility. On nights when nobody has time to watch TV, I just stretch in my bedroom, but it’s nicest when I can do it in the middle of family time.
The best stretch I’ve found is the old V stretch where you sit on the floor with your legs in a V and...
- Stretch to the left, touch your head to you knee (or as close as possible).
- Stretch to the right, touch your head to you knee (or as close as possible).
- Stretch to the center, touch your head to the floor (or as close as possible).
Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds, working up as you become more flexible. Repeat through the stretches three times or more. Be sure to stretch both sides equally!
- Afterwards, I like to stand up and bend over and touch my toes a few times.
- Following that, I do a neck stretch from side to side (like the first picture you see in this link).
I’ve found that when I spend a tidy little chunk of time stretching in the evening, I spend a lot less time tossing and turning with leg cramps after I go to bed.
Do you have any hints for getting your muscles ready for sleeping?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)