Category Archives for Pain Management

Pain Clinic #8: Time For Acupuncture

I’ve been waiting for space to open in the pain clinic’s treatment rooms to start receiving acupuncture since the end of October and I was starting to think they had forgotten about me. The wait for an appointment was worrying my friends and family too, and some suggested that I should seek out an independent acupuncturist or naturopath to receive the treatments. Thankfully, I don’t have to go that route because I received a call yesterday from my pain specialist’s assistant with dates for a series of appointments that start in two weeks. I have four 60-minute treatment sessions booked with my pain specialist who is also a trained acupuncturist. Having her treat me with acupuncture, makes me feel more confident that the treatments will be successful because she knows my history with pain, knows exactly where in my body the pain originated and where it spread to, she has immediate access to all my medical records, and she can adjust my medications if necessary.

The breadth of my pain specialist’s knowledge and openness to alternative treatments for chronic pain, make me feel less anxious about trying something new. Years ago, I went to a naturopathic clinic as advised by a close friend to try something new for terrible migraines. The something new then was acupuncture. The naturopath who treated me would place needles under my skin in three or four areas of my body. After the first pinch of each needle faded, it was almost impossible to feel where they stood. With the needle placement completed, the naturopath would then dim the lights and leave me alone to rest for about 30 minutes. When she returned to remove the needles, I would feel as if I had rested for hours. Unfortunately, acupuncture didn’t rid me of migraines but that rested feeling would stay with me for a few days after a treatment; and the treatments did reduce the frequency and severity of my migraine episodes, which was a big improvement in my life.

The memory of the pain relief I gained because of those acupuncture needles is still with me. And I also remember that those fine, silver needles didn’t only target my migraines; they calmed my entire body, somehow quieted my mind, and even helped me sleep better. I am hoping for similar results from these upcoming acupuncture sessions because my entire nervous system needs calming. The way my doctors explain it to me, my nervous system is now like a hyperactive child who has eaten a bowl of sugar. It has run at that level for almost three years in response to the pain from a benign growth that no longer sits in my pelvis. This overdrive needs to stop, and acupuncture – I say this with fingers crossed – should help to slow it down.

 

David Bowie – Absolute Beginners

Yoga For Healing and Strength: Sun Salutation

I was never what one might call a yoga devotee. Although, I remember the very first yoga class I went to about 15 years ago with a friend from work and how well I slept when I regularly went to classes. I also remember how strong and flexible my body felt. Because of these memories, I’ve attempted to do some yoga since becoming ill to ease the stiffness and soreness all over my body, and improve my sleep. Unfortunately, most of the poses I tried made me feel more pain instead of soothing it. The only pose that helped at all to calm my severe pelvic pain from time to time was child’s pose, which doesn’t require much movement at all.

As part of my decision to be a more active participant in my healing, I’ve decided to try practicing yoga again. I did a bit of research and found the website Yoga Journal. The site doesn’t only provide instructional videos for “doing” yoga; it also includes educational information about the history and benefits, and can help you find the type of yoga and specific poses to practice depending on what you believe your body needs.

Today was the first day I attempted to do a complete yoga sequence: the sun salutation or Surya Namaskar in Sanskrit. I was able to complete three rounds of the basic variation – minus the jumps to transition between poses and deep stretching –, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering what happened the last time I tried, it’s a huge improvement. I used to work through the series of poses that make up a sun salutation without much thought. I can’t do that now.

I’m relearning how to move my body, after almost three years of being sedentary because of pain. I have to be mindful of each movement I make, how fast I make it, and whether it makes me have an intense pain flare up. I also have to remind myself to breathe because while I focus on moving my body I hold my breath, which makes me tense and could cause me to injure myself. I’m hoping that a slow, steady yoga practice will rebuild my strength and increase my healing, even if it means making each movement cautiously and enduring a little extra pain to start.

 

Yoga Journal – Watch + Learn: Sun Salutation

 

Technical Difficulties Are A Pain

As if it’s not tough enough to be stuck at home in pain, this week I’ve been plagued with technology problems. My laptop crashed a few days ago and I did everything I could think of, which turned out to be a lot considering how foggy my brain is most of the time, to get it working again. I tried the easiest thing first: running a virus scan. The scan seemed to run forever and then for reasons unknown to me the anti-virus software interrupted itself. Just like that, without any explanation, it stopped and I couldn’t get it to run again. Then I tried to run a scan with the program built into my laptop that’s supposed to keep your system safe if you don’t buy other security software. Well, guess what… That program froze multiple times and never got very far in any of the scans I started. At this point, over a day had passed and I was on the verge of tearing my hair out.

The thought that occurred next, was that I should buy some new anti-virus/security software. The only problem with that option was my fear that if I had a virus or malware on my laptop, all my banking information would be spirited away and the thief would use my money for unspeakable things. I called a friend to ask if he would buy the software and register it online for me then send me the information I would need to install it on my laptop. My friend had a better, simpler idea that did not require an immediate commitment to a new product: download the trial version. That kind of idea can only come from clear thinking.

I did just what he suggested. I downloaded the trial version of a different anti-virus/security software program. The installation didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked – the first time it was loading my system crashed again – but I finally got it on my laptop. I ran a full system scan, which took a few hours, but it was worth the wait. If I ever had a virus or malware, I don’t anymore. The software identified a list of threats but no actual virus or malware, and my computer is now being monitored by what seems like a more secure program.

Security Software Report

Was it a virus or some vicious malware that decided to rob me of my virtual connection to the outside world? Whatever the cause of my technical issues, the frustration of not being able to use my laptop for so many days was significant. I couldn’t stream TV shows or movies – a favourite pain distraction; no checking email – although that isn’t always a bad thing, but worst of all no writing or reading the blogs I follow. I know, these sound like massive first world problems. However, when you’re stuck at home in agony every day, and you lose the use of whatever tools you have that make your pain bearable, not having them makes things a lot harder.

 

Zapp & Roger Computer Love