Join the Club
Today was not a good day, and I could tell from the moment I tried to get out of bed.
It took me half an hour of gently moving, gently stretching, to be able to get my feet on the ground and my body upright out of bed. On the walk to work, my right hip did something funny and I almost fell over. My left hip and left ankle have also decided that today they would "join the club".
I got arthritis in my right ankle when I was 13. I just woke up one day and it was an intense pain like I had never had before. Imaging revealed it as arthritis. I got my first rheumatologist at the tender age of 14. I remember it well, as his name was Dr. Fiddler.
Why on Earth did no one stop and wonder why a 14 year old had arthritis? As if finding the cause of the pain was enough, no need to look into this extremely weird situation?
Anyway, my right shoulder went next. It's been buggy since I was about 16.
I'm 26 now and I feel miserable during these flareups. My energy is so low I can't really do anything beyond going to work. I have a busy schedule which requires exercising two large dogs, going to work, and being an active musician in the evenings and weekends. I applied to join the RCMP and while I passed the first tests, I highly doubt I'm going to pass the physical to allow me to run their physical abilities test.
It's like being in Limbo right now. My neurosurgeon saw something very strange and wanted to double check my SI joints and lumbar spine some time after I was healed from my fall, to see what was the fall and what was there from before. I've been waiting the better part of this year for my MRI.
In the mean time, I wake up extra early just to get my body working and, exhausted, haul myself to work, then haul myself home and once I'm sitting down after work, everything just catches up with me between the pain, the stiffness, and the fatigue. This flareup has already lasted a month and it's not giving any sign of giving up.
I signed up for a beginner's yoga class which starts next week. I'm really hoping that this will help with my range of motion. I had my boyfriend lift each of my legs, straight, one at a time while I was laying down. The left one had no issues (when I had 3 herniated discs there were a lot of issues like crying every time someone did that to me). The right leg came to a halt at about 60 degrees. No pain, no feeling of stretching, just no more motion.
Swimming needs to happen too. I did quite a bit of it over the summer (you know, after overcoming a life-long anxiety in the water and inability to swim), and it comes as no surprise that I am immobilized after a period of not swimming. The weather turned cool back in August and being on EI I just couldn't afford to go to the pool. I'm still not in a great financial circumstance but there's a tiny bit more money coming in than there was and if swimming can offer me respite, I'll give it all.
All in all though: BODY! WORK! STOP BEING USELESS I'M TIRED AND IN A LOT OF PAIN! AND I WALK FUNNY AND IT'S HARD TO DO LIFE AND STUFF!
Ugh. Where's the off switch???
It took me half an hour of gently moving, gently stretching, to be able to get my feet on the ground and my body upright out of bed. On the walk to work, my right hip did something funny and I almost fell over. My left hip and left ankle have also decided that today they would "join the club".
I got arthritis in my right ankle when I was 13. I just woke up one day and it was an intense pain like I had never had before. Imaging revealed it as arthritis. I got my first rheumatologist at the tender age of 14. I remember it well, as his name was Dr. Fiddler.
Why on Earth did no one stop and wonder why a 14 year old had arthritis? As if finding the cause of the pain was enough, no need to look into this extremely weird situation?
Anyway, my right shoulder went next. It's been buggy since I was about 16.
I'm 26 now and I feel miserable during these flareups. My energy is so low I can't really do anything beyond going to work. I have a busy schedule which requires exercising two large dogs, going to work, and being an active musician in the evenings and weekends. I applied to join the RCMP and while I passed the first tests, I highly doubt I'm going to pass the physical to allow me to run their physical abilities test.
It's like being in Limbo right now. My neurosurgeon saw something very strange and wanted to double check my SI joints and lumbar spine some time after I was healed from my fall, to see what was the fall and what was there from before. I've been waiting the better part of this year for my MRI.
In the mean time, I wake up extra early just to get my body working and, exhausted, haul myself to work, then haul myself home and once I'm sitting down after work, everything just catches up with me between the pain, the stiffness, and the fatigue. This flareup has already lasted a month and it's not giving any sign of giving up.
I signed up for a beginner's yoga class which starts next week. I'm really hoping that this will help with my range of motion. I had my boyfriend lift each of my legs, straight, one at a time while I was laying down. The left one had no issues (when I had 3 herniated discs there were a lot of issues like crying every time someone did that to me). The right leg came to a halt at about 60 degrees. No pain, no feeling of stretching, just no more motion.
Swimming needs to happen too. I did quite a bit of it over the summer (you know, after overcoming a life-long anxiety in the water and inability to swim), and it comes as no surprise that I am immobilized after a period of not swimming. The weather turned cool back in August and being on EI I just couldn't afford to go to the pool. I'm still not in a great financial circumstance but there's a tiny bit more money coming in than there was and if swimming can offer me respite, I'll give it all.
All in all though: BODY! WORK! STOP BEING USELESS I'M TIRED AND IN A LOT OF PAIN! AND I WALK FUNNY AND IT'S HARD TO DO LIFE AND STUFF!
Ugh. Where's the off switch???
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