Pain and Pain Again
An Important Lesson My Body Is Teaching
Behind the scenes here at WPR lately, I have been in a lot of physical pain.
About a month ago, I started to feel a sharp tenderness at the bottom of the heel of my right foot. It felt worse when I got up to walk, forcing me to limp. The sensation would come and go often enough to feel like a legitimate problem. (I have been wearing a special boot on my right foot when I sleep at night to address this.)
Two weeks ago, I was in my garden shoveling out some river rocks into buckets. At one point, with a full shovel in my grasp, I stood up after bending down and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I should have stopped there, but after a short break, I continued for a few more minutes. I was doing fine until I stopped to pick up my cat Chopin, of all things. I froze mid-lift as the pain flared up.
I have been having lower back pain ever since. It is a low-grade pain that gets aggravated by sitting down for long periods of time. Standing up, reaching for objects, getting in and out of my car, and picking anything up from the ground have all been challenging endeavors. (Acupuncture, heating pads, Aspirin, and some stretching exercises have helped.)
Last Sunday night, I started to feel stomach pains. I dismissed it as the occasional indigestion one might get from secretly snacking on a stash of food I probably hide from my husband. Then, within a few hours, I discovered that it was worse.
I got diarrhea—lots and lots of it, in addition to nausea, a low-grade fever, a headache, and painful throbbing stomach cramps. If you could imagine me limping as I walk, with my back and shoulders hunched over a little bit due to back pain, with a throbbing headache, making hasty forays to the toilet, this is when I truly hit rock bottom. (I was literally moaning in bed from the stomach pains.)
I spent most of this past Monday and Tuesday horizontal and slept for many many hours.
So, funny thing, on Wednesday, I was feeling much better.
My back pain was barely a blip. The heel of my right foot was not bothering me. Of course, the diarrhea still kept coming, but less so. The stomach cramps and my headache were the only foes left to battle.
It is now early on a Friday morning. One dose of two sinus/allergy headache pills cleared my headache almost instantly last Wednesday.
The diarrhea is gone, and the stomach cramps are a lot less frequent.
Two days of solid rest seems to have done the trick. It’s what my body wanted all along, and it took more debilitating pain to get me to finally do it.
It is times like these when I wonder why I ever bothered with all my education and introspection. The most obvious, effective, and simplest solution was clearly unbeknownst to me.
Moving forward, I am making simple changes in my life to help my body sustain itself. I have started 30–45 minutes of stretching and light yoga in the morning, with an emphasis on gentle back extensions.
I am going to give myself full days of rest as regularly as I can, even if I do not feel all that tired or if I have too much to do otherwise. My body will be better off for it.
It is easy to take for granted the painless, ease of movement we all enjoy when we are in good health. This last month made it glaringly clear how precious a gift it is.
I am now cautiously, gently on the mend, trying to listen to my body more closely.
An abundance of rest will now always be the first line of defense.
This is a lesson I do not need to learn again.
P.S. I have a couple of performances coming up with my music ensemble Ancestral Tongue. Hear us play if you are in Middle Tennessee.
MaxZine’s 60th Birthday Bash
Liberty, TN
Saturday, May 31
8 PM
New Heights Brewing Company
Nashville, TN
Shoes Off Writer’s Night PRIDE Edition (Outdoor Stage)
Tuesday, June 3
7:30 PM (Featured Artist)