december readjustment
if you don’t follow my twitter feed or aren’t my friend on facebook, it might seem like not a lot has been happening in my online world, but i am here. it seems i’m less inclined to write here than in those two places, and so this blog is left for the things that don’t go there.
i’ll not repeat too much, but the most dominant recent personal item is that i declared December “Focus on My Body Month”, as it is now going on 4 straight weeks that i’ve been experiencing non-stop back, neck and shoulder pain, and i’m doing everything i can to a) soothe (saunas, hottubs, massages), b) correct (chiro) and c) prevent (cleaner living, more exercise, etc). and it’s not so much that these are huge adjustments for me in my life, i’m already a pretty healthy person who eats well and exercises and all that, but the mental space it has been taking up to ACTIVELY observe and correct my physical posture and habits has been incredibly unexpected. it’s also been hard to gather and weigh all the advice, online and offline, from friends and doctors, as on paper it SEEMS to me that i am already doing all of the things anyone might suggest to correct such a problem, yet it is not going away. chiro. massage. exercise. ergonomic adjustments. supplements. therapies. doing them. ALL. and so then there’s the mental space taken up by depressed thoughts that this might be a condition i suffer for the rest of my life, although everyone assures me it is reversible/curable, but as i said, i have been DOING ALL THE RIGHT THINGS and not a lot is changing, so this is hard to accept and sometimes i will admit i am despondent. and then this leads to more chain linked thoughts about aging, etc. and the mood just spirals from there.
so for the past 10 days or more i’ve upped all my physical regimens and i’ve been getting deep massages and seeing the chiro and making doctor appointments and going to the gym daily and eating an almost perfectly vegan whole food diet and abstaining from alcohol etc., and all of these things, combined with the aforementioned mental energy just THINKING about all of these things, has left very little room to think or do much else, not to mention that i have been irritable, grumpy, and not in the best of moods because of the constant chronic pain, lack of sleep due to pain/discomfort, and oh also THE DARKNESS outside. and i am tired of it. tired of thinking about it, talking about it, doing things about it. so i am focusing as best as i can at resolving this for 1 month. i can take this for one month. but if i spend all this time and energy focusing on this and nothing changes i don’t know what the hell i’m going to do in 2010.
Filed in autobiographical, food, health & vegetarianism | Tagged with pain management | Comments (5)5 Responses to “december readjustment”
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maybe it’s not stricter regimentation that will ease your pain, but more relaxation? I know “be relaxed” is one of those things that is easy to say and more difficult to do, but sometimes just letting go and not focusing so intensely on something allows it to go away.
in any case, I hope you’re feeling better soon.
Many years ago I was having chronic shoulder and back pain (and not from any traumatic injury or anything)and I began to see a chiropractor. It took probably a year of regular treatment to get back to normal but in the end, I was so glad I did it without the aid of painkillers and all that. I don’t know why I felt compelled to delurk to tell you that but I guess I just wanted to say that sometimes these things take (a crazy amount of)time, so don’t be discouraged. The body is pretty miraculous!
I had chronic back pain for over a year…made numerous trips to the orthopedist and chiropractor (who also performed acupuncture) and physical therapists, all to no avail. I was in such horrific pain that I often questioned if there was any end in sight. I couldn’t sit, stand or lay down without pain. It was CONSTANT. Painkillers didn’t help, cortisone shots didn’t help, chiropractic adjustments didn’t help and then I started Bikram yoga and my pain is gone (I’ve been going for 4 months, but began feeling the benefits from the first day).
One year after severe, chronic pain, I have my life back as well as many other benefits that I wasn’t even looking to achieve. It’s not your typical yoga http://www.bikramyoga.com
i’m glad yoga worked so well for you, amy. it is part of my workout/health schedule also, but hasn’t been quite as beneficial. plus, i need to make sure i’m not putting to much stress on muscles that are trying to relax, and no matter what they tell you about it being all meditational and whatnot, YOGA IS HARD.
‘so i am focusing as best as i can at resolving this for 1 month. i can take this for one month. but if i spend all this time and energy focusing on this and nothing changes i don’t know what the hell i’m going to do in 2010.’
oh, the resonating; it is happening.
i hope this goes well for you…