Tag: complex regional pain syndrome

fearful bad thoughts will return

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, cauda equina syndrome, chronic physical pain, depression

In a somewhat elated mood today. My blog views reached 18,000 today. That means 18,000 people have read my blog since it started in July 2012. Thank you all for reading!!

I had therapy today, again. I see my therapist twice a week, sometimes more if I am having a hard time. I don’t know how we got to twice a week but it did. At one point I was seeing her four times a week. But that hasn’t happened in a long time and mostly happens when I am in the throws of a suicidal crisis. I don’t remember what we talked about even though it was several hours ago. We talked about yesterday’s blog that I wrote. I told her it was garbage but she disagreed. She said that it reminded her of the works of Janina Fisher, the consultant that I think is bogus. She has a weird sense of what trauma is and thinks the self is made up of different parts. That I can believe. But this Fisher character also believes that my voices are not real, that they are just a “part of self”. If that were truly the case, then why does medication make them go away?? My therapist really believes the bullshit this therapist portrays. At first I was accepting but then things got really hairy in the consult appointment with her. I got really mad and expressed it, calling her stuff bullshit in the process.

The point I remember my therapist was making was that she was agreeing with what I wrote about the weird feeling about not feeling suicidal 24/7. She thinks that it is normal for me to feel this way because I have been suicidal for so long and what I wrote made sense. I wish I felt the same but I don’t. I fear that like my depressions, it will come back with a fierce blow. And who is to say that when it does, I don’t act on it? I know this is why I see my therapist twice a week, just as a sort of maintenance and stabilization. Plus, I have been seeing her so long more than once a week that it is weird when I see her less than that. But I am in unknown territory right now. Don’t get me wrong, I feel good that I am not suicidal but it is weird not planning my death or thinking about killing myself all the time. And weirder still, I don’t know what changed to make this happen. I think it is because I have more confidence in myself than I have in the past. But I am still fearful that the bad thoughts will return.

I also think we talked about my father for a bit and his anger issues. I have to deal with him next week as I got the lovely task of taking him the doctor yet again. He isn’t sick, just needs to meet his doctor because he (doctor) moved to a different location. I am not looking forward to it. And because of it, I had to reschedule my appointment with my therapist because of it.

My ankle started feeling hurtful yesterday in a different way. It hurt when I bared weight on it in a spot I normally don’t feel pain. I thought the feeling was gone but soon as I got to the bus stop today it flared up as the bus was arriving. I then decided to get my coffee and do a little food shopping. BIG MISTAKE! I am hurting big time now. I am really kicking myself for doing such a stupid thing. It really annoys me because I wanted to take a shower today and didn’t before going out. Now I am really stinky and need a shower but I don’t think I can stand long enough to get the job done. I have to wait to see if the pain meds calm it down. I will hopefully take one before going to bed tonight. I don’t remember the last time I showered but I know it has been more than a few days time. I hate that I have to keep track of when I shower because my memory sucks lately. It also stinks that because I don’t go out every day, I don’t usually shower on days I don’t go out. It’s just that the depression gets the better of me and I just say fuck it. It costs me too much energy to shower and I just figure why bother. No one notices or comments about my bathing habits but me. So even though I say I stink, my family doesn’t notice it or just doesn’t say anything.

I still am feeling the lower level depression as I was the beginning of last week. I don’t know when it will end. I think it will when I get more sleep. I woke up around six thirty again this morning. I think I need to go to bed later but it’s so hard because by eight, I am exhausted and take my meds to go to sleep. I try to stay up but I get so sleepy.

Today is…

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging, chronic physical pain, depression

Today is…

Today my high school friend is being laid to rest as her son watches idly by. I went to the wake yesterday to pay my respects and to say goodbye. No one knew who I was but that was ok. I had hoped to see some former classmates but I guess I was too early for them. I didn’t cry as it was a closed casket. Seeing her would have made it more real. I hope that she is no longer suffering and that she is at peace. After paying my respects, I left. It was good timing as I was tired from walking down several blocks to the funeral home and the bus came a few minutes after I left. I didn’t have to stand and wait too long. The reception line was long and I had to stand for more than twenty minutes. It took it’s toll on me but it was worth it.

Today is my therapist and I thirteenth year anniversary. I won’t write a “back to history blog” like I did for my niece. I don’t remember most of what we talked about this week let alone thirteen years. It has been a long thirteen years but I wouldn’t have chosen any other therapist to help me along the way.

Today is also my mother’s birthday. I feel bad because I normally get her some flowers on her birthday and then an idea struck of getting her a sub from her favorite sub shop. That scored me points. LOL. Granted the sub isn’t as pretty as flowers but she was happy just the same.

Depression as struck me hard this week. It happened Monday night while I was in severe pain. It hasn’t let up since. I woke up in pain this morning, which is always “lovely”. It’s more like a cramp that won’t go away. I hate it. Dealing with the pain and depression together is very challenging. The depression just swooped in on me because god forbid the lucky feeling that I was feeling on Monday should last. God forbid if I should have any positive feelings. That is why when I do, I don’t trust them to stay around. I might not be in a pit of depression but I’m close to it. I’m hoping it’s just the grief of the loss of my friend but I was down before I found out she passed away. But at least I am writing again. There were two days this week I didn’t write or blog at all. It was the first time in more than a year that I skipped a blog post for two consecutive days. I just didn’t care. I had no motivation to get out of bed let along write. Usually I force myself to write something everyday as it helps me but I was too exhausted, mentally, to do that. I just said the hell with it. Nothing was coming to me anyways. It would have been painful to pull something out and I hate it when that happens. How is it painful? It’s like trying to pull out a tooth with no anesthesia. To force myself would have hurt me. I hate writing under that type of pressure. I want my writing to be free flowing, not forced.

I wish I could have that feeling back, that feeling of being lucky and happy. It seems so fleeing now. I can barely remember what it was like. I know that I felt good. Seems like every time I have a good day it’s always followed by depression. At least the depression isn’t the “walk in the mud” type. It’s more of a sleep type where I don’t want to get out of bed and all I want to do is sleep. Trouble is that the sleep isn’t restful. It just makes me more tired and useless. Like everything else I do, it takes so much effort and energy to do something. I’m not going to get my coffee today. I really need to rest my ankle today. When I went out to get my mother her sub, I can feel that it didn’t like me walking, even with the AFO on. The AFO is an ankle/foot orthotic that makes me walk correctly. If I had gotten it way back when, I might not have been on the road to disability. Course the way things are now, I doubt I would still be on the road to being an author if I was still working. Those are the “what ifs”.

My pain seems to have lessened since early this morning. As usual, I am wicked exhausted. Pain just takes a lot out of you and you don’t even realize it until it is gone, or at least simmered down. I really want to take a nap but am afraid that I will be up all night if I do.

Ankle Chronicles 5

by Midnight Demon, posted in chronic physical pain, medical, physical pain

Ankle Chronicles 5

I overdid things today, big time. My foot has been throbbing since I came home at two. I knew after I went downstairs to get the mail it would be the last trip I would make for the day as my ankle just said a big fuck you. I am feeling out of sorts and just maybe going a little nuts as I keep thinking my foot is talking to me. It is really angry at me and I keep wondering why the hell didn’t I sit down more today while waiting for the stupid bus. I had a half hour to kill. I was bored. So I walked to the meat market thinking I would get some steak tips for dinner but they were really expensive. It’s just my mother and I. I don’t need like fifteen pounds of tips. That was all they had and they were like twenty bucks. I suppose I could have frozen them now that I think about it. But I knew I would forget about them and I would be the only one to eat them as my mother doesn’t like steak anymore.

I have been writing in my journal about how angry my foot is at me and I keep thinking why. I know it is because I stood for a long time, but I am wondering why I had to have nerve damage in this foot. Compared to my right, it’s like it is louder than my right. I hardly notice that I feel my foot. My left is constantly screaming hello, I am here!! But that is it. I can’t talk back to it. I can’t tell it to shut up. I can’t tell it to go shove off. At times, I feel like it isn’t my own, that it belongs to someone else. I am not feeling that way now. I just want it to stop throbbing and burning. From my ankle bone down to my toes is a constant, heated throb. And I don’t mean heated as in upset. I mean heat as in hot fire. My ankle and foot feel like it is on fire. It’s not, I can assure you but it just feels like it is. I so want to take some Neurontin tonight and I might. Now the stabbing pains start. Someone is stabbing me with a knife in between the bones on the top of my foot. I can’t breath. The pain is really bad. I can’t move my toes anymore and that has set off some PTSD symptoms for me so I am in a hypervigilant state. I need to take some Ativan to calm me down. I would take some more pain meds but it’s too early. I just took my last dose about three hours ago. I am supposed to take the pills every six hours. I might be passed out from the pain but that is unlikely to happen with my anxiety being high. I have been listening to Mary Chapin Carpenter the past few hours to try and keep my mood even keel. I need to take something but I don’t know what to take. I am so distraught and the hopelessness has started to fill my soul. I need sleep. I need something to distract me from this pain.

I remember what my life was like before pain hit me. I was an active person. I was working. Now I have just become this hobbled person. I just can’t stand it. Every night it is the same thing. Every day I have to put my foot out of the blankets only to put them back in a little while later. No matter what I do there is no pleasing it anymore. I can’t even ice it because it just makes it very cold and screws up the nerve pain even more. I wish it was a clear case of CRPS but no, it’s got to be half a fricken case. A mild case. Or maybe not a case at all. Maybe this pain is all in my fricken head and I am crazy. I just know that I want to stop hurting. I want to be able to do stuff for more than a few minutes. I want to be able to walk without restraint. But that isn’t going to happen anymore. Hasn’t happen in three years and every time I push myself to go farther, it always backfires. Which sucks because the depression is lifting and I have all kinds of energy but no place to put it. I feel like such an imbecile.

Fuck it, I am taking my meds early. To hell with the consequences. I am in deep and serious pain that is driving me fucking nuts and I don’t care anymore.

Feeling like a lucky SOB

by Midnight Demon, posted in cauda equina syndrome, depression

Feeling like a lucky SOB

I saw my psychiatrist today. We had a good chat about things. I told her that I got the consent from the two guys that wrote the Building a Therapeutic Alliance book. She was happy and can’t wait to get my autograph when my book comes out. She said she is going to buy it so I can sign it. That kind of sealed how much confidence she has in me and my writing. I told her I hope that my book is as successful as we are thinking it to be. But I keep holding myself in check and tell myself that if I sell 100 copies, I will be happy.

As I was walking to the station, I was thinking about Dr. Michel and realized, I am a lucky SOB to have these wonderful suicidologists from around the world interested in my work and not only that, to wish it success. I really can’t believe it. But I have the emails to prove it. I told my psych today that I think the summary that I wrote to Dr. Michel is going to be the blurb on the back.

Right now my foot is throbbing really bad. It was raining today so the benches that I normally sit on to wait for the bus were nice and wet. I had to stand and walk around a bit while waiting for the bus. To say that I stood too long is an understatement. I had more than a half hour’s time at the Square waiting for the bus and there were no seats available until one of the buses came. My bus didn’t come for another twenty minutes. Plus, when I got there, there was a homeless or other mentally disturbed person laying on the bench and cops were around him. I don’t know what the deal was but they carted him off in an ambulance. Later when I walked over because it was the only space vacant, I saw what the guy did. He burned circles in the wooden bench. Jerk.

I still feel upbeat though not in a euphoric kind of way. Just in a content kind of way. I am hoping to work on my second book today. I really want to get something done while my mood and energy levels permit it. I can’t stand and clean my office. I think I am done going up and down the stairs today, well, only if I don’t have to use the bathroom, then I can stay in my room with my foot up. I was telling my psych about the PTSD I was experiencing after the fall I took and how terrified I was that CES was happening again. I asked if that is ever going away and she said probably not. Great. I guess if I had it the one time, I might have been ok in recovering from it and not have PTSD so bad. But having CES twice and in the same leg really did a number on me mentally. Even as I was talking about it, I was getting all wired up and had to focus to stay grounded. She asked if I was still taking the Ativan and I told her I was. I had to because I am still experiencing side effect from the abilify. I need this med to keep the voices away. And I rather deal with my arms and legs feeling like stretched out elastics than to hear voices and be paranoid and delusional.

I finally got my hair cut today. The stylist didn’t cut my hair the length I wanted. I didn’t realize that until I came home. I am going to need another cut in two weeks time now, rather than four. No matter, I will go to my barber’s shop by then rather than back to Supercuts.