An update after a long trip
In an effort to keep you up to date, and without having to repeat myself, I am simply posting here for you to read… if you want.
In all honesty the trip down from Washington to Florida, just about was my undoing.
Before leaving WA I had really not kept to my special diet as much as I should have. Also just putting my mattress down without the base of the bed started putting tremendous strain on my knees. And even though I would put the tiens machine on my legs in the afternoon, it actually was just systematically getting worse.
The 3 days from WA to CO was not as bad as I thought it would be, and the area behind my one leg, where the blood clot burst was just badly bruised (bruise is still there) and tender to the touch. The driving took the strain off my knees and even though it should have not been the best thing to be doing – the position of my car seats height, actually helped a ton.
But both my legs below my knees were beginning to be more and more painful. To make matters worse my wrists, hands, ankles and feet feel as if they swell up and become immobile during the night when I sleep.
Then I hit the second part of my trip. The part I guess I was not ready for. The thing with my hands and feet systematically started getting worse. But my knees were killing me and I could not sit in a chair and get up without having to have something to press on. I started walking like an old woman just shuffling along.
The pain in my lower legs was unbearable and my feet were both killing me. At night when I sleep, I constantly have to wake up to move a leg or reposition my hands so that they don’t swell up and start pounding.
Anyway, I arrived in FL all messed up on the Wednesday afternoon. Could barely walk and in extreme pain. But still kept my mission of walking my dogs if they needed to go because I kept on telling myself it forces me to ‘move’.
By Friday I knew I was in trouble, I had a severe pinch in my right leg just below my knee – as if I had a pinched nerve. I also decided that my Birkenstocks – which I had worn since leaving WA – was really not helping. So I landed up going to a specialty shoe store and did different tests on my feet, only to realize that actually, my Birkies were part of the problem.
Because of the way my feet were making contact on the ground, I needed something to push up the middle part of my foot, and this I made worse by wearing my Crocks and the Birkenstock relentlessly and for so long since the RA tests. This really helped mess up my feet, legs, knees even more. So walked out with a really pretty pair of Taos shoes, which are WAY better for me, but has been a process retraining my feet into a more normal shape.
However, shoes were not enough for the pain I was in so I went to a Walk-in Clinic and they took x-rays to make sure that there was nothing in my knee or leg that was causing the pain that I was in. Which of course showed up nothing. The doctor also gave me an injection for RA which was supposed to help me for an extra boost for a couple of days for my immune system. I was also lucky enough to get a prescription for Oxy – if it was in the days when I still took drugs for fun – this may have been a good thing.
But it wasn’t – and I don’t – so I only drank one, and did not like the chemical taste in my mouth the next morning. So basically it was just a waste of money to buy them in the first place.
During the night last Sunday, while I was sleeping I started having these really imaginative dreams. You know the kind of dreams you have and wake up in the morning and remember everything? Well part of my dream was telling me that my blood is not circulating through my body like it should, and my wrists/hands and feet/ankles, were not getting enough blood flow during the night, which is why they were so very bad in the morning and after subsiding a little during the day would go back to feeling really bad once I went to sleep.
Well there we were – in my head, I found the problem.
So I woke up on Monday and put myself onto a new program of Wobenzym as well as Brommelin which helps with all that. But in typical organic/non-meds fashion, will still take a couple of weeks before it really starts working. (Even though truthfully I am beginning to feel a change – but more about that below).
So on Tuesday F decides I need to go and see a Chinese doctor again, because I did so well in the past, with the Doc I saw in Boulder. While looking for one (found and made an appointment) we discover a community acupuncture place and I call up and they say they are walk in.
Wednesday morning I decide that’s it I could not wait to see the doc on Friday and drove over to the community acupuncture place. So off I go and this person sticks a million needles in me. After an hour I get up and walk off to my car. By the time I got back and took my dogs out, I realized I had movement back and was in wayyyyy less pain.
Wednesday night I had my sleep and Thursday morning when I woke, although my legs are not as functional as they should be I was in less pain – like major-less pain. Which was awesome. Also, don’t forget in the meantime I am still taking all the pills etc that for some reason I think are beginning to kick in.
Friday comes along and I go and see the doc – really nice woman – long chats and tons of additional supplements etc – she gave me a second acupuncture session with even more needles.
Well to bring you into today – it’s Sunday – I am in less pain. Still adjusting to the new shoes – and have to revert back to the Birkies every now and again. I have more movement and slept my ass off last night. Fewer dreams – less pain – more movement.
I have also noticed that my face seems a little lighter and I don’t want to burst out in tears every time I step. I am feeling less and less like a cry baby. I also believe that all these additional supplements, and making a larger effort to eat right is beginning to help.
Well, that’s about it. Till later.
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