Tag Archives: random pain

Summary of A Pilot Study Using AVS for Insomnia in Adults and Chronic Pain Patients

Here is my paper. I had to write a summary of the article that I read. At the bottom is the reference, which includes all of the information for the article if you are interested in finding it for yourself.

Summary of A Pilot Study of Audio-Visual Stimulation as a Self-Care Treatment for Insomnia in Adults with Insomnia in Chronic Pain

Chronic pain and sleep disturbances are comorbid conditions, meaning they are often diagnosed in the same patient. It is estimated that one in three Americans suffers from chronic pain, and as many as 88% of those suffering from chronic pain also suffer from some sort of regular sleep disturbance (Tang, Vitiello, Perlis, Mao, & Riegel, 2014); that equates to about 78 million American adults suffering from chronic pain, with about 68 million also suffering from sleep difficulties (Howden & Meyer, 2011). These statistics show a shockingly high level of comorbidity, and a need for a solution. It has also been suggested that the relationship between pain and sleep may be bidirectional, meaning that increased sleep disturbances increases pain levels and increased pain levels increases sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances have also been linked to other physical and psychiatric problems, which have also been shown to cause chronic pain problems, suggesting that treatment for chronic pain should focus on sleep disturbances.

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Chronic Illness “Uniform” Sweatshirts

I was thinking of making some generic chronic illness warrior designs, for those of you without dysautonomia or fibromyalgia. Since it just snowed another foot here (yup, I just more than a foot of snow this weekend), I decided to start out with the standard “official uniform” design on the sweatshirt! I’ve just been doing women’s clothing so far, since most of my readers are women and the majority of chronic illnesses seem to primarily impact women (sadly). Let me know if you there is an interest in male designs though and I’ll get right on it! Here are the basic sweatshirts and hoodie designs I got together you other chronic warriors 🙂

 

 

 

 

I’ve also been growing the art portion of my Zazzle shop significantly: I’ve added throw pillows, coaster, art pieces, postage stamps, and many other items. Please check out my entire shop and let me know what you think!

Day 3 of Digestive Distress and I am so Far Out of My Element – Please Help!

When I was trying to determine what “severe diarrhea” was defined as, medically, I couldn’t find anything. Seeing as how I have suffered from the exact opposite problem my whole life, I don’t exactly have a reference point. The Linzess says to stop taking it and contact your doctor if you have severe diarrhea. It’s to treat IBS-C. I see problems with this, in that most people that need medical intervention for constipation probably don’t really understand what qualifies. However, while I was trying to find a definition, I did find that you should seek medical help for diarrhea lasting for more than 3 days in an adult.

Today, I woke up completely exhausted, and decided to skip classes to recover my strength (my stomach didn’t hurt at 6am). Then I woke up again at 11a, and realized that my stomach hurt again and I was still exhausted. Sadly, I seem to once again have very watery diarrhea. Tuesday, when I had the watery diarrhea, was a Linzess day, and so is today. But I seemed to have adjusted to the Linzess and it wasn’t causing any problems for a week or two so I don’t know if that’s causing it or if it’s a coincidence? Ugh.

Tuesday, I had one non-watery diarrhea episode, and three watery diarrhea episodes. Yesterday, I had one non-watery diarrhea episode but could barely eat anything at all so nothing was in my system to pass through my intestines anyway. Today I have so far had one and I can tell in about two minutes I will need to rush to the restroom again for another episode of watery diarrhea. Does this count as three days? Why is medical intervention necessary after that long? I don’t have any signs of dehydration above anything that is normal for me (my lips are chapped, but they are almost always chapped; my skin isn’t dry and it is still completely elastic). I’m doing my best to drink fluids, but my belly is upset so I can’t do it too quickly or I feel like I’ll vomit. I see my GI doc on Wednesday. I just need to know  if I should be calling my doc tomorrow morning or if I might be okay over the weekend. My Urgent Care centers can give IVs, so I don’t think I’ll have to end up in the ER if i get dehydrated. I’m just worried and very confused. Any advice?

Burn Out

My house is burning out: both Dan and I are burning out, actually. We’re both pushed pretty far towards our limits and both our burn outs are feeding into each other. It’s not a good situation really, but luckily we have each other and the little strength we each have left is stronger together. Dan is really busy with school, and work, and the stuff around the house that I can’t do, and the home improvement stuff that I can’t do, and taking care of me. I’m busy with school, and the stuff around the house that I can do, and trying to get the stuff done for making money that I want to do, and trying to figure out how not to be in so much pain, and all my doc appointments, and dealing with side effects, and getting over a head cold, and trying to figure out what I can actually do around the house, and trying to make sure I have the spoons I need for the commitments in the coming days.

The burn out is really why I haven’t been on here. I’ve just been trying to survive right now. It’s been harder than it sounds. Hopefully, things will start to equal out soon.

I Feel Like the Sky Looks

It’s very cloudy outside. Normally, I love cloudy and overcast weather… but the sudden cold that has accompanied it isn’t making me too happy.

Yesterday, I slept until after noon. The “Reformer for Recovery” class that I normally do on Wednesdays starts at 12:30. Obviously, I didn’t go to that. At about 4:30, however, I decided that the cold was messing with my hips too badly to skip Pilates entirely for a whole week (Joleen was booked solid for this coming Monday). I decided to do the beginning level “Core Training” class, which is a hybrid between mat and reformer.

I did alright during class. My arms, neck, and shoulders are definitely messed up though. Today, I’m paying for it. The class did help from the waist down, but it feels like my upper body has been run over by a large truck. My depression isn’t helping, and the pain isn’t helping my depression. Hopefully, I can have a good day for my birthday (Saturday the 19th). Please, Universe?

Neurology Results – More Detail

Yesterday was absolutely exhausting. I slept horribly because of nerves, so I was already exhausted when I woke up to get to my 9:50am appointment. Well, and some of that was due to my odd inability to adjust to daylight savings time (for those that don’t know, in spring we move our clocks forward one hour, and in fall we move them back one hour… not every state does it, and it’s an antiquated concept we just haven’t abandoned)… normally, I adjust just fine, which is why I say it’s an “odd inability.” At 9:50am, I had my neurology appointment, then at 3:30pm I had an appointment with my ENT. In between the appointments, Dan and I went to Sam’s Club for some prescriptions and garden stuff. The ENT was really behind, so I actually didn’t leave until 5pm. Needless to say, after that, I was so exhausted I didn’t do anything at all the rest of the day.

On to the neurology stuff, the real reason I know ya’ll are reading this post 😛

First, he listened to all my complaints and asked some basic questions. Then he pulled up the MRIs and showed them to Dan and I. MRIs are SO COOL!!! It was so interesting getting to see what was happening inside of me and what I looked like in so many different layers. He showed us the brain one (from top to bottom and then from side to side). My brain is 100% normal! This is fantastic news. My headaches are also not due to Chiari malformation, which is a condition where part of the brain is protruding from the skull into the spinal canal, thankfully. Then, he moved on to the scan of my neck. Click here for the results

We All Have Limits

Over the years, I have surprised myself by being able to continue on past what I thought was my limit. It really is amazing. I don’t really know what the alternative is… I guess crawling into bed and never coming out again? Trust me, there are definitely days where that is all I want to do, but I have two lovely little kitties that require feeding and loving.

Pain LevelThis neck/shoulder/back stuff, however, seems to be pushing it. I think I finally found a limit. A hard and fast limit.

I’ve been debating posting this because… well, because. This is going to be a very frank discussion on hitting limits and depression. I don’t like to discuss my depression, at least not the part of it that’s active. Depression tends to gain a lot of pity, and I hate pity. Depression is a part of who I am, it’s something I live with daily, it’s something that is always going to be a part of me. However, depression does not define me, and usually I have a pretty good grip on it. Usually.

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What is With This Pain?!

Seriously.

Yesterday, especially last night, I was in a lot of pain. I was in so much pain that I couldn’t get to sleep until after 4am. Obviously, that meant there was no way I was going to try to wake up at 6am to get to my classes.

I slept until after 11am, and I am not really feeling better. My neck really hurts, which kind of makes sense after the MRI results, and my entire back hurts. The nerve pain in my right arm refuses to go away, and it will no longer pop (which would give it temporary relief at times). There is now nerve pain in my left arm that won’t go away either. My head is killing me (for two days). And, on top of everything else, my hips hurt.

I don’t really know why this is happening… but I suspect it might actually have to do with my neck. My neck and back pain and stiffness have been getting steadily worse for weeks. I’d always written the neck pain off as being from weak muscles and bad posture, so I never thought anything of it. Apparently, I should have mentioned it at some point. I’m wondering if my recent uptick in pain could be due to something in my neck getting worse? I guess I’ll find out on Tuesday (I had the wrong day, but the right date, in my head). Hopefully, the results won’t be anything bad…

MRI Results – Preliminary

I know many of you have been waiting for the results with me (which means more to me than I think you realize). I heard from a nurse at my doctor’s office today.

Straight to the point: my brain is NORMAL! This is definitely good news 🙂

relief

My spine, however, is not. Continue reading →