Joy in the setting out, joy in the journey....

[usha93]

The majority of folks on my F-list met me after I'd already been diagnosed with M.S., although I discovered a few of them had no idea I had M.S. -- not something I talked a lot about back in the day, unless it was somehow relevant, ie, "Love to come to your party, but I'm having a relapse" or something

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[usha93]

Penny, you know what's ironic -- I've managed, within the last few days, to actually get a pinched nerve -- LOL!! It's most annoying, but I'm used to "annoying." ;-) Since my right side is my "bad" side, the left side of the old bod often has to do double duty. I'm RHD (as well as RDS, LOL), but when I use my right hand, I have to brace it with my left; my left leg is the one that can take proper strides without my having to plan and check and think about it, so I guess it takes most of my weight when I "walk," as well. So I've got this pinch caused by stiff muscles bunched up and pushing against the bones, which press on the nerves, which....annoys the hell out of me, heh! Then I've got to "tightrope" the right leg -- leave "enough" spasticity to strengthen it, or I won't be able to stand or walk -- or control the spasticity to the point where it doesn't hurt or pull on other muscles or bones, and turn my right leg into a limp noodle.

I took a few days off. :-) I've been using generic Zanaflex along with medpot -- something I try not to do, if cannabis does the job, then I'd prefer not to take physically addictive, OD-potential substances, natch. I've known for a while that it doesn't do as much for the neuropathic pain -- "nerve burn" and such -- when that gets really bad, I take generic Tegretol, but I hate that stuff! Better a drooling zombie than a shrieking shade, tho. If the neuropathic stuff isn't too bad, I'll stick with the medpot anyway. It doesn't take it away, but it seems to give me more of what I've called a "Buddhist" attitude: "This body has pain." Many times, that's enough.

This is the first time medpot hasn't been sufficient to deal with something related to spasticity or spasm, though, so it's kind of a drag. I figured it'd be better to get this current problem under control, and the Zanaflex, pot, acetaminophen, and YOGA seem to be helping. I tried pot plus yoga for a while, but it wasn't cutting it -- I was actually physically unable to complete the stretches without bigger pharmaceutical guns. Bummed me out, but now that it's working, I can tell that my bod is trying really hard to "normalize" itself, the muscles are loosening, the vertebrae are snap-crackle-popping, and I'm straightening up with less pain all the time.

Whenver I take one or more "days off," for whatever reason, I'm listening to punk music -- old school punk, neo-punk, Cali-punk. Oi! Oi! Oi! I'm thinking this is a Ramones day: Just put me in a wheelchair and get me to a show! Hurry-hurry-hurry, before I go loco! I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes! Oh no, oh oh oh oh! };-)

[pennyann]

And this is the very example of why I love you. Level headed punks are a rare breed you know?

I have a bulging disk in my neck. Nothing to do with MS, more to do with inheriting my father's penchant for disk issues in my back/neck. It isn't totally out of line, just enough to push on the spinal cord and cause me to feel that pinched nerve feeling in my neck pretty often. Like when you whip your head around too fast and your neck complains about it with a little sting? Sting usually turns into a burn and tingle with a nice little knot the size of a monkey fist. I feel you... pinched stuff sucks.

Sounds like you're handling it, as you always do, with the tools in your arsenal. That's my girl. When ya wanna be Sedated, you wanna be Sedated. Yay for the Ramones! *hugs*

All healing and light to you my friend! Any plans for the 4th?

[usha93]

No big plans for the 4th. Hel gets the day off, and he'll be BBQing -- SAFELY, we're on high fire advisory. Which means it's HOT! I told him, maybe it'd be too hot to fire up the grill, but he said nah. Don't think I'm quite up to taking a ride for a firework show yet, so we'll probably just go take a seat at the park up the hill from the house, and watch 'em from there. :-)

When it's clear, a nice place to watch fireworks locally is from the top of Mount Soledad -- you can see fireworks shows from all over town, and look down instead of up! My former boss -- the very same one who had the colleague drive me to the hospital all those years ago! -- has a house right at the top of the mountain, and since we've remained friendly with him, we've watched from his roof deck before, as well as congregating up by the cross -- center of a huge legal church/state battle, but for me, it's been "Party Mountain Landmark" since I moved here, LOL. "Let's meet at the cross on Soledad, and we'll get high," dontcha know. ;-)

IOW, I'm letting other folks do all the work, while I sit back and eat and watch 'em explode stuff during Fire!Alert!Season! ;->