Thursday, February 26, 2009

When It Rains It Pours and When It Pains It Roars

Some people say that pain is 'weakness leaving the body'.  Others say 'no pain no gain'.  Some love it and some hate it.  Right now pain seems more like a message to me, and my body, who started with whispers, has recently resorted to roaring!  Is pain your body's way of trying to tell you something?

Tuesday the 17th
7:30am: I wake up in extreme pain.  I can't turn my head from side to side and my back feels like I was dropped off the edge of a building.  I get ready for work, leave the bike, take the bus and pop about 400mgs of ibuprofen.

By 2pm, when my co-worker arrives, (about 1200mgs  of ibuprofen later) I realize this isn't just a little soreness and it's not going away.  Another co-worker books me an appointment with the chiropractor around the corner and I'm off.

2:30pm:  I'm on a table being popped and poked.  A "SEMG scan" is taken of my back.  Apparently there is vertebral subluxation and high levels of muscle tension and improper electrical impulses are being sent which can lead to "poor health" and different areas of the nervous system are being adversely affected.  OK, I'm jacked up, years of waitressing, old injuries, sports, etc, bla bla bla...

Wednesday the 18th
Bedridden and absolutely stir crazy.  I hate slowing down, changing gears in the middle of the week, it's the worst!  But not being able to move kind of forces you to slow down.  So I'm stuck in bed.  Ugh.

Thursday the 19th
Still stuck, but starting to relax.  I start to think to myself, this is a good thing, this is a chance for a little reflection, my body is trying to tell me to slow down, take it easy, heal yourself, yeah!  I'll heal myself.  OK, I can do this.

Friday the 20th
Back to work, but with a headset instead of the regular phone.  That's better!  I'm on this Holistic healing plan, no painkillers, no drugs of any kind, stay away from coffee, OK, no coffee, I can do this, this is easy.  No alcohol.  Alright, a mellow weekend.  Chiropractic visits 3 times a week for the next 8 weeks.  OK.  Here I go.

7:30pm:  I make it to meditation.  The topic of the discussion following is chronic pain and meditating with pain.  Cool, it must be a sign.  And wow, I'm feeling so much better.  So centered and, yeah!  I think I'm pretty much back to normal.  The pain is still there but I can deal with it.

Saturday the 21st
I work all day and pretty much rest all night.  Sunday is a day of and I decide I'm allowed to go out and have a little fun.  A little fun that maybe breaks a few of my "Holistic Healing Plan" rules.

Monday the 22nd
Wake up pretty sore.  A little fun is now feeling a little stupid.  Oh whatever, I'll be fine.  Who can be totally healthy for that long anyway!

3:00pm:  I tell my therapist how I've been reflecting and how I'm really starting to realize how I physicalize the different stresses in my life, I'm trying to be present... all that jazz.

Tuesday the 23rd
I wake up feeling a little under the weather.  A little sick and a little stressed, then the stress starts to build and build.  I can't miss any more work this pay period, I'm already spending so much on the chiropractor and I missed two days last week!  The voices in my head start an all out battle and I drag myself to work anyway trying to tune it out.

4:00pm  I leave work feeling tense and fatigued.  My neck is stiffening back up again and even the chiropractor notices the new swollen tissue.  She tells me to practice "release" and to "have faith" and everything will be fine. Faith in WHAT? OK, breathing, breathing...

Wednesday the 24th
Everything is not fine!  I wake up in a sweat, I'm sick!  No!  I can't be sick!  And it's not "go-to-work-and-just-block-it-out-sick".  It's "get-every-possible-symptom-known-to-man-sick" and oh, here, start your period too at the same time.  Complete with debilitating cramps, headache and the feeling that your guts are literally falling out of you.  The joy of being a woman.  I cry and call in to work.  Last week was one thing, but another day off!!!  I can't afford this let alone deal with the way I feel right now!  I'm pissed, and I'm pissed at me!  My own body!  How DARE you do this to me, ME!

Today:
Home again in bed.  Release.  There it is.  I don't have enough money this month.  I don't have insurance.  I don't have total health, I look like this and I don't have a choice.  I have to rest.  I have to try to heal and I have to let go.  Breathe in and breathe out.  And it's OK.  And I'll be OK.  What I'm starting to realize; what goes on in my mind comes out in my body.  When it rains it pours and when your body pains it roars, it wants to be heard and I'm going to try not to block out it's messages to me.  I surrender body.  Do your thing.


4 comments:

cookie said...

i hate the feeling of, "oh shit, because of x y and z i don't have enough money this month..." i feel like i live in that constantly. i'm sorry shikka, keep your head up- sounds like you already have a good attitude about everything.

STILL need a girl's night. a 100% free no money needed girl's night.

One-Taco Josh said...

Don't blow your body off! Stay positive, stay proactive. You'll heal - our bodies are amazing at that. Take a moment here and there to ask if you're holding stress anywhere. Then shift your weight a little, drop your shoulders a little, take a deep breath and smile. And when you relax, really relax. You'll make it out of this.

Shakti said...

Thank you both. All the advice and help I can get is always appreciated. I feel refreshed and on the mend... still dealing with a few things but it's neat to just sort of be with it. And a girl's night sounds great! And Josh, you rock. :)

krista said...

physical manifestations never ceases to amaze me. and i hate it when the "practitioners" tell us to relax and release the stress. because, clearly, if we knew how to do that, we wouldn't have these problems in the first place.
i will practice breathing and releasing in your honor.
(and this may sound silly, but have you tried yoga? i find it's one of the few ways of releasing stress and getting in tune with my body that actually works for me)
hope you're feeling better soon :-)