Pain day impact
I woke up this morning to a wonderful experience: the onset of a painful day.
All plans for the day are instantly scrapped, and you need to be able to function as a secondary thought.
What the hell am I going to do? I am just getting started and need to be able to finish more of the website, launch the YouTube channel, and do some more blogging today.
Well, time to buckle up and enjoy the ride because this is the reason I started this journey in the first place: to help myself overcome my physical and mental issues and to help others who are similar overcome their feelings of desperation and hopelessness and get their sigma back.
I will go in depth over the reasons for everything and my conditions in the about me page for the website and another blog, which should be completed soon, but for today I will give a brief summary and some things I am using to be able to function.
I am going to cheat a bit as I am having trouble keeping my thoughts coherent at the moment, so I will start by including one of my doctor's reports to help everyone understand at least some of the basics of my conditions. I have changed some details to protect the innocent (is this even a real word?) innocent, like my full name
Functional Capacity Report:
Patient Name: Hadrian
Date of Evaluation: Sometime last year
Medical Conditions: fibromyalgia, recurring dislocations of the right shoulder and left knee with cartilage removal, arthritic growths inside the right ankle, back pain, leg cramps, severe depression, and extremely severe anxiety.
Medical History: The patient has a history of fibromyalgia, arthritis, and depression. They report chronic back pain that causes physical sickness and can mimic the symptoms of a heart attack. The patient experiences leg cramps, a recurring dislocating right shoulder, and stabbing pain in the right ankle due to arthritic growths. The patient has also had cartilage removed from their left knee. The patient reports severe depression and anxiety related to their medical conditions.
Current Medications:
Twice daily, 300 mg of Lyrica (pregabalin)
Once daily, take 15 mg of Mobic (meloxicam).
Once daily, 30 mg of Cymbalta (duloxetine)
Panadeine Forte 30 mg or Panadeine as needed
Objective Findings: On physical examination, the patient demonstrated limited range of motion in the right shoulder due to recurrent dislocation. The patient also showed signs of tenderness, swelling, and redness in the right ankle, which is consistent with arthritic inflammation. The patient reports that they cannot stand or sit for long periods without severe discomfort. The patient demonstrated signs of depression and anxiety during the evaluation, including a flat affect, slowed speech, and reported feelings of hopelessness and worry.
Functional Limitations: Based on the patient's medical history, objective findings, and reported symptoms, it is clear that the patient experiences significant physical and mental limitations. The patient has difficulty standing, sitting, walking, and performing daily activities due to chronic pain and discomfort. The patient also experiences limitations in concentration, memory, and interpersonal interactions due to severe depression and anxiety. The patient reports that they experience drowsiness, confusion, and dizziness due to their medications, particularly Lyrica, Mobic, and Cymbalta, which further impair their ability to function.
It is important to note that the patient's conditions are permanent and stable. While ongoing treatment may assist in managing symptoms, it is unlikely that the patient's medical conditions will significantly improve or resolve completely.
Recommendations: The patient requires ongoing medical care and support to manage their chronic pain, arthritic inflammation, depression, and anxiety. The patient may benefit from assistive devices, such as a shoulder brace, knee support, or ankle brace, to help alleviate pain and improve functional capacity. It is recommended that the patient be evaluated for disability benefits, as their medical conditions significantly impact their ability to work and perform daily activities.
Conclusion: Based on the patient's medical history, objective findings, and reported symptoms, it is clear that the patient experiences significant physical and mental limitations that impact their functional capacity. The patient's conditions are permanent and stable, and ongoing treatment may assist in managing symptoms. The patient requires ongoing medical care and support to manage their chronic pain, arthritic inflammation, depression, and anxiety. It is recommended that the patient be evaluated for disability benefits to ensure they receive the necessary support and resources.
Okay, I'm going to take a short break, watch a video, and then return shortly.
30 minutes or so later and we are back, most of my meds seem to be kicking in, and I have taken 2 paracetamol to take the edge off (please note unless things get much worse, I won't be taking any more paracetamol for the day; I am very careful not to become dependent on further drugs, and it is only on extreme pain days that I take any at all; the only medication I take every day without reservation is the mobic, which helps with my joints.) My goals in the short and long terms are to be able to manage extreme levels of pain through other means. I have had a lot of success over the last couple of years reducing my medications with the guidance of doctors, the pain clinic I attend, and my own experiences over the last 50+ years. I believe I am over half way there and well on the way to success.
Okay, so this morning I woke up after a decent sleep (a rare thing) only to find I had lain in the same position for too long. My legs were cramping (I could literally feel the muscles tightening as I lay there and tried to wake up), and my entire left quadricep (left front thigh muscles) was numb.
After getting up and moving around a bit, I realised a headache was forming at the back of my skull and on my forehead. Generally, this is from sinus issues I have and me drinking too much milk. (Note to self: drink less milk in my coffee.)
The rest of the normal aches and pains were there and growing steadily as I watched in horror as I realised the day ahead.
From experience, I know some of these pain signals are being amplified due to my mental state, and my mind is literally telling me, "Oh no, pain day!" The mind is a very powerful thing. It is able to affect your body at amazing levels most are unaware of. I will give a few examples to help everyone understand, if you are not already aware.
Placebo effect: When people receive a treatment that they believe will help them, they may experience a positive effect even if the treatment is actually ineffective or just a sugar pill. This is known as the placebo effect and has been documented in many studies.
Meditation: Meditation is a practise that involves training the mind to focus and calm down. It has been shown to have physical benefits such as reducing blood pressure, lowering stress hormones, and boosting the immune system.
Hypnosis: Hypnosis is a state of altered consciousness in which a person is highly suggestible and can be guided to experience changes in perception or behavior. It has been used for pain management, anxiety, and other conditions.
Mind-body practices: Practices like yoga, tai chi, and qigong involve movement, breathing, and meditation to promote physical and mental health. They have been shown to have benefits for conditions like chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.
Visualization: Visualization is a technique where a person imagines themselves in a desired situation or experiencing a desired outcome. It has been used by athletes to improve performance and by patients to manage pain or anxiety.
Extreme feats of endurance: People have been known to perform extreme feats of endurance, like running ultramarathons or climbing mountains, by using mental techniques to push through pain and fatigue.
Mind-controlled prosthetics: Advances in technology have led to the development of prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by the mind. By imagining specific movements, users can control the prosthetic with their thoughts.
These are just a few examples of how the mind can influence the body and demonstrate the concept of "mind over matter."
One famous example is the Indian yogi Prahlad Jani, also known as "Mataji," who claimed to have lived without food or water for 70 years. In 2010, he was studied by a team of doctors and scientists for two weeks in a hospital in Ahmedabad, India. During this time, he did not eat, drink, or urinate, and yet his body did not show any signs of dehydration or starvation. The researchers were unable to explain how he could survive without water or food for so long and suggested that he may have been able to tap into some kind of "yogic power" to sustain himself.
How am I able to think coherently at this moment and post all this?
I took a quick break and specifically made a point of chillaxing my mind; chillaxing is the technical term I use, so don't judge me, or if you have to, lol, I don't care. Sorry for rambling back on point.
Today I went and sat outside for 5 minutes, listened to the world, connected myself with where I am physically, put on some music on YouTube, and watched a few meme shorts. Anything to disconnect my mind from the pain will help. I often play games online or on my Playstation to help me fully disconnect when my mental state gets really bad, or I use meditation to calm my mind.
I will do a full blog on meditation and how and why I use it, but I understand that it is a truly scary prospect for a lot of people, most of whom don't even know what meditation really is, so I will leave that for later. For now, something that can help dramatically if you can't or don't know how to meditate is to occupy your mind with a passive influence.
You've probably seen many YouTube channels and such that have music for relaxation or meditation or harmony, etc., that run for minutes, hours, or even days. These have a desired effect when used by me in just zoning out, relaxing my mind and body by not thinking even subconsciously about the pain or anything else.
I think this will do for this blog today, I could waffle on for hours. I will run it through a spell checker and grammar thingamajig, then post it and get on with a few of my other tasks for the day.
I really need to start using word or another program to do my blogs today I used quillbot.com to check spelling and grammar guess that is another job for tomorrow.
