One glass of wine and two Advil.

[mrissa]

I did nothing to make my back this apocalyptically bad. I swear. I behaved myself much better than usual today, mostly limiting computer time to before noon and not doing anything obviously funky to my back for the rest of the day. But sometime between calling Ceej about dinner and Ceej arriving for said dinner (about 45 minutes elapsed), my back went out. Without me. It may have gone out dancing and drinking and carousing. It may have gone out to run errands. But out it went, and in I stayed.

Here's the plan:
1. One glass of wine (because yes, I am a total lightweight), then a pause
2. Two Advil
3. Fuzzy socks and flannel nightgown
4. Nothing horribly back-demanding all evening
5. Sleep
(if it's still nasty in the morning)
6. More Advil
7. Massage if the place on Denmark can get me in before seagrit gets here (they usually have vacancies, especially early in the morning)
(if still necessary)
8. Chiropractor call

So far we're in the middle of step 4. Reading Moonwise, watching some of "Monsters, Inc.", talking to Andrew on the phone. That last was probably not the back-easiest thing ever, but it was good anyway, and I'm going to go away from the computer and not talk on the phone for the rest of the evening.

(For those of you who still need a scorecard, markgritter and I were in a U-Haul accident a little over five years ago. It did nasty things to my back. Sometimes they are more actively nasty than other times. I usually have a bit of tension in my back; I often have some badly aligned bits; it's rarely this bad. This is a consistent level of pain and motion impairment (though I'm trying to keep moving it anyway, because I know freezing up back pain is bad bad bad). This is nauseating pain. And to add insult to injury, it's in a region of the back that makes me feel as though I am a truly bad person. If you ever doubt that physical pain can affect your sense of self, stop doubting. I have a Good Mrissa Button on the back of my neck (v. useful) and a pair of Bad Mrissa Buttons on my back. The pain this time is centered right over the right-hand Bad Mrissa Button. It is through freakin' willpower that I am maintaining the sense that I am not pure evil but merely feel really nasty.)

(And aside from that I'm in a really great mood. Go figure. People are very strange things to be.)

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how demoralizing back-pain is.

I hope your back comes back in soon. (And I hope it will be properly repentent, but I expect it won't.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

And I hope it will be properly repentent, but I expect it won't.

No, it is a wretched little hussy, limping in the back stairs at three in the morning with its makeup smeared and a rip in its fishnets and a general smell of debauchery. Without me.

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Well, if neccessary, we can modify or cancel our plans for tomorrow (although I still want to pick up my necklaces...) I know you have email addresses to reach me, and probably (?) phone numbers for here, or for Jeff directly (grrr, cell phone...). I will make sure to check my email before I leave. The only other thing we have planned for tomorrow is time with the niece and nephew in the afternoon/evening.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Today should be fine. Even if I call the massage place (in 5 minutes) and find that they're all booked up, I'm going to need to eat lunch at some point, and it might as well be with you.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I really sympathize with the back pain. Anyone who thinks physical pain doesn't affect your personality has never had any for any length of time.

[roane.livejournal.com]

Oh man. After last week, you KNOW I understand exactly what you're talking about. You managed to put your finger on why I felt vaguely guilty and down on myself last week. I didn't get it, but now I do. I hope you feel better soon!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks. And remember that. If you just feel like a horrible human being, ask yourself to list concrete reasons why, and if you can't, see if your back is all right. Sometimes when I have knots in this particular region of the back, it doesn't actually manifest as pain unless somebody pokes the knots. It just shows up as feeling really down on myself. But now I know better and refuse to give in and believe it.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

You go for chiropracty and massage... are you at all interested in pursuing alternative methods beyond that? My aunt (not that I'm saying go to my aunt, since it's a bit of a drive) does cranio-sacral therapy and I always feel better for weeks after she works on me. I'm also keen on rolfing.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

One of my past chiropractors did cranio-sacral therapy in addition to chiropractic work, and it didn't do much for me. I mean, it was nice, but in terms of actual help for my back...meh.

I haven't any idea what rolfing is, except that my family occasionally used to use it as a synonym for throwing up. "Ma! The dog rolfed on the floor!" "Well, clean it up!"

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Rolfing is deep tissue manipulation which theoretically re...trains? your muscles to hold the bones in "better" configurations.

Given that detailed explanation, aren't you sold?! :) Anyway. There are lots of websites on it, and rolfers have to get certified... My mum was our rolfer's practice subject (for advanced certification) for a year, and the before and after pictures were fairly amazing. She just holds herself completely differently afterwards. I spent the greater part of my teen years cracking her back on a daily basis until she did this thing.