I’m so very tired of being in pain. I’m tired of telling people I’m in pain. I first hurt my shoulder lying on my stomach writing an essay last year. One physio session fixed it up. Then I somehow hurt it on January 1st this year. It was weeks until my physio reopened. And while I made small progress, it just wasn’t great. My GP ordered scans, which revealed bursitis and tendinopathy. I tried a steroid shot, which doesn’t seem to have helped much, sadly.
TV Is Currently My Best Friend
Even worse, I’ve found myself somehow suddenly sleeping on the sore side. Or Ben has come in when I’m already asleep and woken me up to tell me to get off the bad side. I don’t really know what I can do to avoid it! I was thinking of wedging a pillow but where and how and we have a double bed so there isn’t really enough room for pillow wedging!
I feel tired out by it because I’ve been doing as many small things as I can to help it. Physio. Stretches. Head packs. Cold packs. Checking with physio that my backpack is set up on me correctly. Wearing sneakers for most support of my body. Using a rolling bag right after the steroid shot, instead of my backpack, to help reduce any pressure on it. Every small thing I can try I’ve done and while I can assume it hasn’t made anything worse, it also doesn’t feel like it has made anything better.
Sitting is uncomfortable. Lying on the bed or couch is ok. Commuting and squishing in with people is awful. Double awful when someone falls on my shoulder on the bus.
Painkillers haven’t helped much. I suffered through a course of prescription muscle relaxants that I hate (awful dry mouth) which sort of helped. I had a day at work last week where the drugs made me so weird that I got two bald middle aged men confused and wondered why the one I was talking to had no idea what I was talking about (they do totally different jobs). I also giggled at an empty table for half an hour.
The thing is, the painkillers may very well help from an internal or anti-inflammatory point of view. But they don’t help with the pain. I can take strong painkillers and be a bit spaced out in the head, but still in pain.
The pain is just constant, rarely bad (unless I’m on a waiting room chair or squished into public transport). But continual pain is exhausting me. I thought only mentally at first, but it’s physically too. As soon as we got a small storm on the weekend, I completely zonked out on the couch. (I like storms. And destruction helps me sleep!) I don’t nap. I can usually only sleep during the day if I’ve got something like bad flu.
Anyway, I woke up yesterday too tired and too in pain to go to work. I managed to get in with a GP that afternoon. Only a 15min wait to see her and I was getting shooting pains across my back from waiting room chairs. I was nearly crying as I tried to explain all of this to her. She looked through my test results and prescribed me a stronger anti-inflammatory drug to take three times per day, and also gave me a prescription strength painkiller to take as needed/up to three times a day. I don’t like it but I’m conceding that I need it. I need to keep going to physio but I forgot my car rego was due so physio won’t happen this pay for me!
The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that I am getting to watch a lot of TV. I had noticed that our local library seemed to have every season of JAG on DVD and I had watched it back in its day on TV, but never seen the entire series (and it doesn’t seem to be on any streaming platforms). I skipped season one because I can’t stand the idea of watching it, but I’ve been borrowing all other seasons (apart from 5, which someone lost). I’ve been getting through nearly a season a week, even taking into account nearly full time work (lots of early finishes for medical stuff recently). I guess that’s because all I can do on weekends is be flat on the couch watching DVDs. Anyway, I’m powering through and nearly at the end of season 8. Coming up to some episodes that I remember being good. JAG is a weird show. Sometimes they are so patriotic it’s nauseating and I want to throw something at the TV, and other times they have these really well thought out and fairly intricate plots.
And of course, planes taking off from ships is cool as it’s the biggest slingshot in the world and I would so freaking want to do that one day.
Has TV ever been your best friend? Would you go in one of the fighter jets slingshotted off a ship?
Oh gosh..writing an essay on your stomach hey! Not doing that again I suppose. I hope that your Dr gave you advice about taking those meds on a full stomach as they can be very unkind to other parts of your body. No I am not a medico,just someone who could no longer take anything other than some pandadol after some gut sensitivity issues. Last thing i ever needed let me say. I just hope, that over time, it will settle. What do you do to relax your body? Have your tried any relaxation techniques? Running away now..too much advice in one comment.
Oh yes, all over the bottles it says “with food”! But I’m good with that side of thing anyway, I’m careful with them. I used to have a good app for storm and rain sounds, which I find relaxing, but I haven’t used it in a while. I should check if it’s still on my phone.
Hope the new drugs give bring you some relief. I know this is a long shot but we got some Epsom Salts cream while we were in the US and it’s like magic. I don’t think you can buy it here but you can probably cobble together your own version with some epsom salts and body lotion? It doesn’t eradicate the pain but really relieves it. In the meantime, keep up with the DVDs, I find a good TV binge enormously therapeutic, and while it may not improve the condition of your shoulder, I hope it aid and abets your mental state. Sending healing vibes…
I’ve been on them less than 24 hours but they seem to be the right level now. It’s a bit hard to time them around driving (mostly cos I need to eat to take them so that’s awkward on the train!) but not too bad. I do have some of that deep heat style cream and that’s helped sometimes.
DVDs are highly therapeutic. If I could swap 2 days working for 5 days of TV and rest it’d be better though haha.
Ouch!! It sounds painful. I have a friend who slipped over at work and hurt her shoulder. She even had an operation on it. I hope you can find some relief for yours soon.
The new drugs seem to be getting me to an appropriate level of pain-free, so that’s a nice change! Seems like it might be the right level finally.
Ouch. Not fun but when you need meds, you need meds. I had to go on a prescription anti-inflammatory for my SI joint and back probs and I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner!
Yep, I think I really did need it. I had been using anti-inflammatories but only over the counter ones.
HOLY SHIT you are not going to believe this but my other half got a diagnosis of bursitis for his shoulder today and is booking a scan so he can get his steroid shot done! Sorry to hear it hasn’t been terribly effective for you though. That’s shit! I’ve seen your FB posts but didn’t realise yours was bursitis.
Creepy timing. Call around a lot – I got the shot bulk billed but one quoted me up to $285 to get it done! Yep, bursitis. I need to go back to physio but… yeah… damn rego!
That sounds really awful. I’m terrible when in pain, I get very angry which is weird.
JAG used to be on Eleven during the day but I’m not sure if it is anymore. You might be able to find the missing series on Tenplay though.
I think I was cranky but now I’m just tired of it all. I’ve caught the odd episode during the day but last I looked it’s not on the catch up site.
Hope you find some relief soon lovely. And how good is the DVD section of the library? It’s the last refuge of hope for those of us who can’t be bothered downloading – now that no video stores exist.
My hubby had bursitis and it’s just awful. So sorry to hear you’re having a bad time. Thank goodness for JAG. I could never imagine being flung off a ship in a fighter jet, unless the Kenny Loggins tune from Top Gun ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ was playing in the background 🙂
Sorry to read about your shoulder. I hurt both of mine a few years ago and with physiotherapy, I have a full range of movement again but no strength. If I don’t do my daily exercises in the shower, they both become very stiff. I hope your shoulder comes good soon.
I liked the first season of JAG, mainly because I liked the Meg Austin character, although there’s nothing wrong with the Sarah MacKenzie character.