Shoulder Pain Update
Last Tuesday, I was really beginning to worry that in a few days, the sometimes excruciating (but usually just uncomfortable) pain in my shoulder would have been going on for two weeks.
There did not seem to be any sign of it leaving any time soon.
The night before it seemed to be getting worse. The pain was so bad it woke me up. The only way to describe it is, that raw, down to the bone pain. It felt like someone took an axe to my shoulder. The pain was so deep, the actual bone was hurting. No amount of Theragesic or vibrations was going to do anything for that. No amount of Tylenol was going to either, and that is the only pain killer I can take with my medication. Not even Ibuprofen.
It was not comforting knowing that going the doctor would be useless. He would want to do an Xray, but without insurance, I couldn't let him. I would just waste both of our time and still have to pay for an office call. Maybe he could suggest some drug free ways to aleviate the pain, but nothing that I probably couldn't have Googled on my own. I doubt I could even take Tylenol 3 because of the codeine.
If I was in that much pain, a massage clinic might not want to mess with it.
Luckily the pain didn't last through the day, but it still concerned me because two weeks in, this was getting worse not better.
nocturnalneed suggested it might be the tendon. With as long as this was lasting, and the way it felt that night, it seemed very possible.
Finally I felt desperate enough to try exercise.
I remembered when my Dad's knee hurt so much he could hardly get up and down the stairs. The doctor told him to do leg lifts with a weight twice a day, if that did not work, they would have to operate.
Incredibly just doing his exercises in the morning and before bed saved him from surgery, and cured the pain.
He could walk again.
I figured it was worth a try.
When this first started, I was only doing a little gentle motion in bed to loosen things up enough to get up.
I still did that, but also started doing sets of shoulder rolls and motions throughout the day. I did it at least 3 times, and whenever the thought crossed my mind. It is much easier to move it during the day.
The results were almost immediate. The next day I felt an improvement. By Thursday, there wasn't a problem to worry about anymore.
I still feel a little stiff in the morning, but nothing like before. I can move fine through the night, without waking up. Naturally without using my arms to roll over. My full range of motion is back.
The first few times I did the shoulder rolls I heard and felt things popping and it felt so good!
That was what I really needed all along.
One thing I can say about not having insurance or a lot of money to go to the doctor, you're forced to rely on other resources and yourself a lot more.
Simple exercise was all my muscles really wanted. And I didn't need an X ray, narcotic pain killers, or an expensive but wonderful massage for that.
That says a lot about modern medicine as well as me personally.
As much as I believe in the natural healing principle of solving the actual problem, instead of covering up the symptoms, that's just what I was doing. Trying to make the pain as livable as I could, while waiting for it to go away.
I didn't know what else to do.
Only as a last resort, did exercise come into my head.
The most natural thing for the human body was the last thing I thought of.
That shows the severity of my inactivity level, right there! A more physically active person would have thought of it immediately.
Generally I take pretty good care of myself. But my main weakness is exercise. The second would be getting enough fruits and vegetables, regularly.
I eat a mostly grain based diet. I love cereal, noodles, rice. This is what I crave and love. I eat a little meat, mosty what my landlord cooks. But the bulk of it is grain foods.
But yeah, exercise is my biggest health weakness. It is a lot harder to crave that than a delicious mouth watering apricot or a fresh strawberry.
My shoulder expressed its desperate craving pretty painfully.
It's one of those hard changes outside my nature that I need to work on. Most of the time, don't want to if I don't absolutely have to.
This definitely made me think. I should take it as a wake up call or at least a strong message.
But even after this, my lazy ass doesn't want to change.
I'm just being honest with myself, as bad as it sounds!
It isn't easy when you have depression, love your bed, prefer exercising your mind, and have trouble leaving the house.
Imagining things I could do is easier than making myself do them. It looks better in fantasy. Let's pretend I did, even though I didn't.
However, that isn't going to help anything.
There did not seem to be any sign of it leaving any time soon.
The night before it seemed to be getting worse. The pain was so bad it woke me up. The only way to describe it is, that raw, down to the bone pain. It felt like someone took an axe to my shoulder. The pain was so deep, the actual bone was hurting. No amount of Theragesic or vibrations was going to do anything for that. No amount of Tylenol was going to either, and that is the only pain killer I can take with my medication. Not even Ibuprofen.
It was not comforting knowing that going the doctor would be useless. He would want to do an Xray, but without insurance, I couldn't let him. I would just waste both of our time and still have to pay for an office call. Maybe he could suggest some drug free ways to aleviate the pain, but nothing that I probably couldn't have Googled on my own. I doubt I could even take Tylenol 3 because of the codeine.
If I was in that much pain, a massage clinic might not want to mess with it.
Luckily the pain didn't last through the day, but it still concerned me because two weeks in, this was getting worse not better.
nocturnalneed suggested it might be the tendon. With as long as this was lasting, and the way it felt that night, it seemed very possible.
Finally I felt desperate enough to try exercise.
I remembered when my Dad's knee hurt so much he could hardly get up and down the stairs. The doctor told him to do leg lifts with a weight twice a day, if that did not work, they would have to operate.
Incredibly just doing his exercises in the morning and before bed saved him from surgery, and cured the pain.
He could walk again.
I figured it was worth a try.
When this first started, I was only doing a little gentle motion in bed to loosen things up enough to get up.
I still did that, but also started doing sets of shoulder rolls and motions throughout the day. I did it at least 3 times, and whenever the thought crossed my mind. It is much easier to move it during the day.
The results were almost immediate. The next day I felt an improvement. By Thursday, there wasn't a problem to worry about anymore.
I still feel a little stiff in the morning, but nothing like before. I can move fine through the night, without waking up. Naturally without using my arms to roll over. My full range of motion is back.
The first few times I did the shoulder rolls I heard and felt things popping and it felt so good!
That was what I really needed all along.
One thing I can say about not having insurance or a lot of money to go to the doctor, you're forced to rely on other resources and yourself a lot more.
Simple exercise was all my muscles really wanted. And I didn't need an X ray, narcotic pain killers, or an expensive but wonderful massage for that.
That says a lot about modern medicine as well as me personally.
As much as I believe in the natural healing principle of solving the actual problem, instead of covering up the symptoms, that's just what I was doing. Trying to make the pain as livable as I could, while waiting for it to go away.
I didn't know what else to do.
Only as a last resort, did exercise come into my head.
The most natural thing for the human body was the last thing I thought of.
That shows the severity of my inactivity level, right there! A more physically active person would have thought of it immediately.
Generally I take pretty good care of myself. But my main weakness is exercise. The second would be getting enough fruits and vegetables, regularly.
I eat a mostly grain based diet. I love cereal, noodles, rice. This is what I crave and love. I eat a little meat, mosty what my landlord cooks. But the bulk of it is grain foods.
But yeah, exercise is my biggest health weakness. It is a lot harder to crave that than a delicious mouth watering apricot or a fresh strawberry.
My shoulder expressed its desperate craving pretty painfully.
It's one of those hard changes outside my nature that I need to work on. Most of the time, don't want to if I don't absolutely have to.
This definitely made me think. I should take it as a wake up call or at least a strong message.
But even after this, my lazy ass doesn't want to change.
I'm just being honest with myself, as bad as it sounds!
It isn't easy when you have depression, love your bed, prefer exercising your mind, and have trouble leaving the house.
Imagining things I could do is easier than making myself do them. It looks better in fantasy. Let's pretend I did, even though I didn't.
However, that isn't going to help anything.