Dang, I hate that all I seem to post about these days is my physical condition but here it goes - I think I mentioned in the past in addition to this crazy wrist surgery I had two weeks ago, I have been dutifully going to physical therapy for a lower back/pelvis/hip issue, and dutifully doing all the home exercises almost everyday for months. That problem is actually giving me more pain lately than the healing wrist!
I've been in PT since mid-September, so that is about 12 visits in which I have been poked and prodded and yanked and stretched and folded to no avail. I wake up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in the sides of my hips that travels down the sides of my thighs, so bad that I can't stand sleeping on my sides at all. A few weeks ago I ended up in Urgent Care because the back spasms were that bad.I toss and turn and get up and take muscle relaxers, 800 of Ibuprofen, put my head at the foot of the bed, use ice, try heat, try the pain killers they gave me from the surgery, etc, etc. I wake up so stiff and sore and I do my exercises, and I go on a walk for 20 mins. My hips start hurting and locking up after about 50 yards. They say it is a faulty SI joint, weak core muscle, yada, yada, yada.
Over the weekend I decided to try not to take any more drugs for the pain because after the wrist surgery, my body feels like it is on a toxic overload with all things pharmaceutical. I am going back to trying CBD oil, some CBD salve and some other herbal remedies (I already have them anyway so I'll see if any of it makes any difference). I also decided that it is time to go to a spine specialist and get a new work up - I haven't had spine x-rays since 2009 so maybe there are some changes on that front. I am also doing some more internet research - the nearest I can self-diagnose is that my gluteus medius and my IT bands are either torn or inflamed and all that PT is doing is further damaging them. My last PT appointment the woman was trying to "move" the fascia of my left quad using her elbows and forearm to sort of "iron" out the knots but the pain from the extreme pressure actually made me cry, right there in the PT room it hurt so bad. But they seem to think that is the recommended course of action. I ended up with bruises the next few days (not the first time that has happened either). I don't fault the PT people, as I think they are going with what they are trained to do (and I like the clinic and the clinicians who work there), but after a solid six months of chronic, debilitating lower back and hip pain it is high time to explore another course of action. And if it means x-rays and an MRI of my back as a diagnostic tool, so be it. I have health insurance and I can pay the co-pays for now.
I am just so sick of being in pain from all fronts - sometimes I wonder if I have fibromyalgia, or some other weird muscle disease . I really didn't expect to be this debilitated at age 57. The pain and stiffness effects every single part of my day from working, to exercising, to my intimate life with my boyfriend.
Thank you for reading-listening. I am really trying to be matter-of-fact about it (the back pain portion of my life) so I don't fall into a depression over all the stuff I am going through. Very few of my friends know that I have this separate issue going on; they only know about the crazy wrist surgery I just had. I really try not to broadcast to the world all my aches and pains but sometimes you just got to tell it like it is...
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