Happy Independence Day
Independence Day seems a good day to start blogging, since I've recently been freed from unrelenting pain that plagued me for about a decade.
I experienced increasing muscle pain and decreasing mobility, even though I had a pretty good lifestyle -- positive attitude, pretty good diet, regular exercise, lots of sleep, and other than the pain, no complaints about my health, and no need to take medication. I was very active, and enjoyed regular running and yoga sessions. Still, the muscle pain and muscle constrictions got worse, for no apparent reason.
I tried to manage the pain myself by changing my running & yoga schedule, sleeping more, drinking more water, changing out my running shoes ... no improvement. In fact, some of what I did to decrease the pain actually seemed to make it worse, especially the stretching of yoga.
Over the years, my complaints led to blood testing for various ailments, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, some other scary stuff I can't remember, nutritional imbalance, and hormonal imbalance.
Major physical problems were ruled out with a couple of MRIs, a handful of ultrasounds, and more x-rays than I can count or care to dwell on.
Then I tried physical therapy, which helped some.
Zero Balancing therapy also helped.
I tried a few different physical therapists to see if that would help, which it did, but I quickly hit a plateau and couldn't maintain the relief. So then there was acupuncture, a consultation with a chronic pain clinic that wanted to keep me in full-time therapy for a month, and more physical therapy.
I got fed up with going to physical therapy and quit for a while, but eventually went back. On the latest go-around with physical therapy, I bought a book about self-treating trigger points, and the rest is history.
Within months of beginning self-treatment and professional treatment for trigger points, my life has turned around. I'm not 100% pain free, yet, but I'm getting there. My horizons are broad again -- like they were a decade ago. I used to sit for long periods, trying not to hurt myself and busying my mind with other topics, but now I'm free to do whatever I want. Happy days are here again!
I experienced increasing muscle pain and decreasing mobility, even though I had a pretty good lifestyle -- positive attitude, pretty good diet, regular exercise, lots of sleep, and other than the pain, no complaints about my health, and no need to take medication. I was very active, and enjoyed regular running and yoga sessions. Still, the muscle pain and muscle constrictions got worse, for no apparent reason.
I tried to manage the pain myself by changing my running & yoga schedule, sleeping more, drinking more water, changing out my running shoes ... no improvement. In fact, some of what I did to decrease the pain actually seemed to make it worse, especially the stretching of yoga.
Over the years, my complaints led to blood testing for various ailments, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, some other scary stuff I can't remember, nutritional imbalance, and hormonal imbalance.
Major physical problems were ruled out with a couple of MRIs, a handful of ultrasounds, and more x-rays than I can count or care to dwell on.
Then I tried physical therapy, which helped some.
Zero Balancing therapy also helped.
I tried a few different physical therapists to see if that would help, which it did, but I quickly hit a plateau and couldn't maintain the relief. So then there was acupuncture, a consultation with a chronic pain clinic that wanted to keep me in full-time therapy for a month, and more physical therapy.
I got fed up with going to physical therapy and quit for a while, but eventually went back. On the latest go-around with physical therapy, I bought a book about self-treating trigger points, and the rest is history.
Within months of beginning self-treatment and professional treatment for trigger points, my life has turned around. I'm not 100% pain free, yet, but I'm getting there. My horizons are broad again -- like they were a decade ago. I used to sit for long periods, trying not to hurt myself and busying my mind with other topics, but now I'm free to do whatever I want. Happy days are here again!
posted by sweetfigs | 3:35 PM
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