Tag: chronic pain

shaving again

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Shaving again

Yesterday I took my beard down to a stubble and then today I used my electric shaver to take it off. It feels good to be clean shaven again. I have two appointments today that are close to one another. I haven’t figured out where I will be for my psychiatrist’s appointment. It is virtual. I am tempted to make my PT virtual but then I don’t get the hands on that I need.

Tomorrow I am seeing my barber to get my mop cut. It is much too long and is annoying me. I’ll have it trimmed a little bit so that it isn’t so long. I think I might go with a side look and bald fade again. My barber does an excellent bald fade.

I slept okay last night but I am still so tired. I feel like I can sleep another couple of hours. Coffee helped wake me up a little bit. I had the belVita biscuits with it. It is my favorite breakfast. I bought different flavors of the biscuits so I wouldn’t get bored. I need to buy more. I plan on going out to the supermarket tomorrow after my haircut.

Therapy went well yesterday. We talked about CBT therapy and how thinking negative thoughts influences behavior. I am to write down my negative thoughts but not ruminate about them. I haven’t done this yet. I have trouble identifying negative thoughts when I have them so this is going to be a tough assignment.

My leg and ankle were hurting me so bad yesterday I just wanted to cry and stay in bed but my mother had a visiting nurse come and I had to stay with her in case there were issues. I think that is why I am so tired today is because of all the pain I was in yesterday. It is a lot to deal with. My ankle is still hurting me today because it is so cold out and windy. The temp dropped like almost 20 degrees. It hurts.

I am trying to keep myself hydrated. I forget to drink during the day and then wonder why I haven’t peed. I am still constipated so need to keep up with the Miralax to keep going. I sort of woke up in pain this morning because I was sleeping on my right shoulder. I hate when that happens because it is nerve pain. I decided to change my in person PT appointment to virtual because I don’t feel like going out. I am in too much pain with my ankle. The pain is throbbing.

waking up in pain sucks!

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Waking up in pain sucks!

I woke up around five this morning in pain. My right shoulder was killing me. I could barely move it, it was so painful. I took some pain meds and some Zanaflex and just waited for it to kick in before going back to sleep. I woke up an hour later having to use the bathroom. I postponed my med alarm to go off at 10 instead of 8 so I could sleep in a little. I still feel like shit. I just had coffee and something to eat.

I don’t know if my mother is coming home today. Doctor hasn’t called my sister yet or talked to my mother. She was in there because her blood pressure was unstable. Then her sugars dropped to the point they needed to give her glucagon. She has been on a sliding scale with her insulin since and her sugars have been more stable. I miss her being home even though it is stressful at times.

I finally was able to put some heat on my side where there are muscle knots. It felt better but then my neck started hurting me and it still continues to hurt. I will try to put heat on later in the day. I really haven’t been doing it the past few days because I have been lazy. I am not sure if I am going to go to the grocery store or not. I need to get Gatorade. I don’t plan on getting more than 10 bottles at a time because that is all I can handle. I do need to get some juice for my mother but that is all.

I feel like all the energy I ever had has been sucked out of me. I feel so lifeless. Everything feels so heavy, my legs and arms especially. I feel so blah and hopeless, like nothing is ever going to change. I have therapy tomorrow and am going to ask her what she meant by saying that I am “in my head”. I really am not looking forward to therapy. She can be such a bitch at times. She wants me to be more collaborative and I am trying. I just don’t think we will ever be on the same side of things. I get she has her experience in the field and knows what may help me. But I don’t think having groups is the answer for me. I am involved in two support groups that have helped me immensely on Facebook, one of which I am the admin for. I haven’t been able to find a mental illness/depression support group that isn’t all about suicide and its members writing how they want to die all the time and no one really supporting them or the members saying they are going to end their life, see ya later type of messages. It really gets me down and makes me feel so helpless because there are so many people suffering like that. I get it because I feel that way too.

I pre-ordered the book Suicidal thoughts workbook by Kathryn Gordon, PhD. I don’t know when it will come out so I just tweeted her. I would love to see if this book helps. Maybe I can get my therapist to get it as well. I’ve been struggling past few days with my suicidal thoughts. I still feel like things would be better if I were dead.

pain, pain, and more pain

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

Pain, pain, and more pain

I have been severely depressed and in a lot of pain with my shoulder and neck the past few days. Yesterday I went to PT for some more dry needling. She checked my progress and I have improved a lot since first going to her but the pain and sleep have not gotten any better.

A psychiatrist I follow on Twitter told me about some Taylor Swift journals so I had to have them. I just got them today and they are purdy. I can’t wait to write in them. I am still writing in a Harry Potter journal. I haven’t been writing lately. Been so hard for me to write down my thoughts lately. I know it has been a while since I last blogged. I have been really struggling with the depression. Pain has been making the depression worse so it cycles. My therapist thinks that I am in my head too much. I don’t know what that means. I got to ask her when I see her Mon. We are going to do the CBT pain workbook together. I hope that this book will help me.

I emailed my neurosurgeon asking him if my weight restriction could be increased to 15 lbs. Right now I am not supposed to lift more than 5 lbs. He gave me the okay as long as I didn’t get a headache from doing so. I feel like I have made some progress. I still am deconditioned as I brought my groceries up the stairs by myself and got really winded. It took me like six trips because there was six bags. I only bought ten Gatorade. It wasn’t the flavor I wanted but that is ok. I will go to the grocery store tomorrow and get the flavor I like. It is supposed to snow tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes. There is supposed to be some good weather next week so hopefully I can go then if this weekend’s weather is shitty.

I am in so much pain in so many body parts it isn’t funny. Mostly the pain is on my left side. I want to cry. But the tears aren’t coming. It has been so hard to cry lately. I feel like I should, I probably would feel better but I just can’t seem to let myself. I feel like watching old baseball games or Sox highlights of the 2004 and 2007 games so I can cry. It will be the same release, except instead of sad tears they will be happy tears. I am such a wimp. I watched the 2007 series DVD and cried throughout it. I swear I went through a box of tissues.

I just tweeted to the psychiatrist that I got the new journals so now we are having a conversation about how to get another lyric printed. This is so fun. Another therapist friend had a predictive text for therapist and this is what mine said “my therapist told me I am not going to be in a relationship because of my favorite country artist”. HA HA. I love it. I can’t wait to show her on Monday.

PT Pain and Torture

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, Chronic pain, chronic physical pain, CRPS, depression, mood disorders

PT pain and torture

I went out in the snow to my PT appointment and I left with being in more pain than I was. But it was a different kind of pain. I am very sore and can barely move my arm but I got to keep moving it. I am putting heat on it right now to try and soothe it.

After PT, I went grocery shopping. I bought a lot of coffee and just a half gallon of half and half. I also bought some burgers that I will make tonight for dinner. I am supposed to wash clothes but I am hurting too much. I am very depressed and feel like crying. The floor guys didn’t come because the helper has Covid. They won’t be able to work on the areas in two weeks. My mother isn’t going to like this. She was looking forward to going back upstairs this weekend.

I had therapy yesterday and it went ok. We talked a lot about safety as my suicidal levels are high right now due to pain. She wanted me to write it down the things we talked about. I was reluctant at first because it is the same thing over and over again. I added to take medication and she was for it. She asked if I will do the things I wrote and I said I will try it. I probably am not going to call a hotline.

I had zoom with my cousins tonight. One of my older cousins still calls me my deadname and “lady”. I hate that at every meeting I need to remind her of my name and pronoun. I even have it in my zoom profile G (he/him) so I don’t know what the problem is. Fuck. I was telling my therapist yesterday that my mother still calls me daughter, especially for medical stuff. It is so hard to bring up. I feel like she is ashamed of me.

Last night I had a hard time sleeping. I kept on waking up every few hours in pain. Then I don’t know what happened but my right foot was under my left foot and it (right) jerked, causing my toenails to scratch me. It hurt pretty bad and there is a long scratch on my ankle. My niece put bandaids on it. It is still painful because I have no skin on the bone of my ankle. I don’t know how it happened. So weird. I hope I can sleep tonight.