Tag: Chronic health tag
Wanna know something wild? The chiro managed to adjust my neck today and I have somewhat more mobility than I’ve had for some years, (hurts like a bitch but that’s nothing new) and one thing I can now do is tilt my head all the way back on my shoulders.
And do you know what that motion does? It triggers tooth pain, for a tooth that no longer exists.
Aren’t bodies fucking weird?
Bodies are SO FUCKING WEIRD. SO, September 21st I had a large amount of dental work done at once—the whole left half of my face. Two wisdom teeth extractions and some fillings, two of them fairly large.
For over a MONTH I have been dealing with pain that comes-and-goes, I kept going back to the dentist to try to figure out the source of my pain. Everything was normal. They smoothed out the biting surface of one tooth’s filling thinking it was causing the pain, and while it made the pain less awful, weeks later? Still hurts!
Was getting bad ear aches so I visited a clinic, diagnosed with allergies and started taking medicine for them, that stopped most of the ear pain, yay, but the teeth still hurt very annoyingly. Ibuprofen could control the pain but I couldn’t figure out why my pain was worst at night in bed and at the office at my desk.
I finally put two and two together last night when I got cold and turned off the fan in my bedroom and turned the temperature up… and my tooth ache stopped in a few minutes. So, at work, I got one of the office space heaters, aimed it at the area in front of my face, and was basically pain free all day, breathing in warmed air.
So, my CURRENT leading theory is that it’s my sinuses, and breathing in cold air is triggering tooth aches, and warm air is countering them.
wtf body
This never happened to me until I got my teeth fixed. I hope the other half of my face doesn’t follow suit when I get the work done for that half.
I too deal with the temperature sensitive sinuses, plus I get the phantom tooth pain/sensation in a tooth that I have never had.
This tooth just never formed, and now I have a bridge to keep the other teeth in place.
I think what non-spoonies tend to forget is that chronically ill people do not just get ill more often than other people, but are ill all the time. When we miss school or cancel appointments, it is not because we ‘felt a bit peaky again’ and decided to not go – we feel bad most of the time, but still do things anyway. A lot of us feel ill, in pain etc. all the time, and we cancel plans/take time off when we physically or emotionally cannot cope with the day or the things required of us. Our ‘good’ or ‘okay’ is a healthy person’s ‘awful’. We are consistently making more effort than ‘normal people’ in order to live and make a living, and we often make that effort at the expense of our health. And it is so hurtful and offensive when people we know/ friends/ family/ teachers etc. get frustrated and annoyed because they think we are not trying hard enough. We are always trying. We are always fighting. Sometimes it’s too much.
I want to reblog this a million times.
I have a bunch of health problems, including chronic pain and C-PTSD. I’ve been told I should be having body work done regularly to help manage both, but the thought of being face-down and vulnerable for a total stranger (never mind the “naked” part) kickstarts my panic response. (Currently DIYing, but that only goes so far.) If you have any advice on how to get past that, and the time+spoons, I’d appreciate any help I can get with this. If not, thanks for listening & I hope you have a good day
The good news is you neither need to be naked or laying down to receive good body work.
So the first thing to Google is clothed massage in your area, or phone around a couple of places and ask if it’s an option. For chronic pain, you’re going to want more rehab than geneal relaxation massage, so a good way to narrow that search down would be to look at places that offer sports massage or chiropractors who also offer massage in their offices.
Key words to look for are also acupressure (not puncture), deep tissue massage, mysofacial release and shiatsu, to name a few. Those are just ones I’ve found to be very good at helping to relieve pain and help my physio to be more effective. You might also find reflexology useful too for general well being.
If you’d prefer to be sitting for these, you will most likely find most places are able to accommodate this with a sitting massage chair, you just need to make sure and maybe let them know in advance that you prefer to sit than lie down so they can set it up. There are days when I absolutely cannot lie flat (I feel like I’m suffocating under the weight of my own chest a lot) so I will call ahead and let them know I need the upright table. Or if I suddenly need to sit up, we continue with me sitting on the edge of the table with the therapist kneeling behind me. So it’s really not a big deal if you don’t want to be laying down 🙂
When it comes to establishing trust, you may need to shop around before you find someone who puts you at ease. I went through maybe 2-3 people before I found the people who jive well with my mentality as well as my physical needs. This includes being able to explain to them “hey I have panic attacks, please don’t do x without warning me first”, because there is absolutely a difference between “I know you’re about to palpate my upper back” and “it feels like you’re holding me down and I am not okay”.
Magic physio man basically narrates what he’s doing to me, both so I know what muscle groups he’s targeting, but also so I know what to expect next and I’m never surprised by a sudden shift in pressure or touch. It’s been very helpful, and trust building. Makes it way easier to go lax and let him twist me about like human origami and come out feeling better on the other side.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you. And I wish you luck in finding relief 💖
Most massage therapists will tell you to undress down to your comfort level, so if your comfort level is taking off your shoes, we can roll with that. It’s also completely okay to tell your therapist that you’d prefer to start out face up or that you’d like to be face up the entire time. You can also ask about side-lying positions, where you’re on your side facing away from the therapist while they work on your back. It can help with vulnerability issues because you’re not entirely face down.
When it comes to modalities, gentler might be better for you as you’re easing into receiving bodywork. Look in cranio-sacral work, zero balancing, ask for a lot of jostling and rocking. All of those can be done fully clothed, and can have a profound effect on the body. Also, it’s okay to ask for a 30 minute session at first. That will help you decide if you like the therapist, if the modality works for you, if you’re interested in receiving more work, etc etc.
Some of us actually specialize in trauma work, so always feel free to ask. <3
if I don’t get bit by a vampire and turn into a gorgeous immortal woman with questionable morality, irresistible charm, and enthralling mystique then what’s the point
Precisely.
Aside from the immortality, isn’t that already you, Joy?
You flatterer you.
You accidentally created a semi-cult (with healthy emotional boundaries, so not really a cult, but still) through social media, with mostly two posts (CNN and the dick vice), in a few months, while violently ill in like eight different ways, and half out of your mind on pain medication. And that was *before* you started writing the wildly popular despite being unpublished polyamorous-multi-paranormal-beings-pun-based-romance-slash-social-satire trilogy on a bet. That’s not flattery. That’s… I don’t have a word for that. Due to my job using the word “reverence” feels wildly inappropriate.
When you put it like that, 2016-2017 seems a lot wilder than I remember it. Although granted, I don’t remember most of it.
I remember having a distinct feeling of “waking up” sometime late last year and going “what do you mean I’ve written a book. WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT HAS PRE-ORDERS?!”
And I’ve been attempting to keep up with myself ever since.
?????????????
If the ????? is for an explanation about my health, it’s a long story involving a complete immune system collapse, two near death misses I can remember (one of them while in hospital) and also discovering I had a major bone infection … basically the full length of my jaw and encroaching up my cheekbone and the rest of my skull. From contaminated dental work. And several years of medical neglect and abuse.
They also found high levels of mercury in one of my old fillings, which were also found in a few other old fillings done by the same person (now under investigation), which were leaking. So those had to be removed asap. My dentist was wearing the equivalent of a hazmat suit.
I had to undergo a lot of surgeries, and still need four more. (And then a lot of reconstruction and rehab).The CDC also got involved because apparently the bacteria found in my extracted tooth was like, patient zero nonsense. But it may help to unlock some autoimmune stuff for other people so, there’s that.
Basically I was out my skull from pain a lot of the time, and drugged up the rest of it. My memory is … hazy at best. And I’ve never really recovered from the exhaustion this has caused. Not to mention my mental health and other ongoing physical problems which I cannot get a solid diagnosis for.
So you can imagine my surprise after the last of the infection was cleared out, and I was able to start tapering off the antibiotics and all the other drugs, and I clawed my mind back together … and found out I’ve got over 20,000 followers on tumblr (now nearly 30,0000) and I’d written a book that needed editing.
Like, I knew I had some idea of what I was doing, and apparently I held coherent conversations with people, but it’s a bit like a dream. Specifically, you know the dream where you think you woke up and got dressed and went to work? But you were actually just dreaming that you got up and went to work, and you wind up sleeping in late and wake up in a startled panic?
It’s like that. My whole present existence is that feeling.
If the ???? is over the book, a summary page of what I am doing is here:
Wow. I thought I had a rough year…
You very likely did! Good job on making it this far!
Just because the last two years of my life sound like missing scenes from the SAW franchise, doesn’t lessen the struggles of anyone else. Do not demean what you have overcome, or what you will overcome. You are doing great, and I mean that from the bottom of my still-somehow-beating-heart.
I am under no illusions that the only reason I survived was because of the kindness and generosity of others. I honestly do not think I would still be here if it wasn’t for the tumblr fam stepping into the void and pulling me back and making sure I could have the medical care I needed. I am very serious when I say the people on this website saved my life. And I will never be able to stop saying thank you enough. I don’t know what I did to deserve such generosity and kindness, but I can only hope to one day be worthy of it, and pay it forward in return.
Hi new friends! I see you all being super nice in the comments and trying to be as supportive as possible, which is so lovely and great, thank you! I would however like to draw your attention to something real quick that I keep seeing in the comments, just while I’ve got you here.
The phrase “wheelchair bound” is something a lot of disabled people are actually not too keen on and are pushing back against, as it’s not a very nice way to phrase the words “this disabled person uses a wheelchair”.
If you are an able bodied person, I could see how perhaps that one time you
spent on crutches or in a wheelchair because you hurt yourself, was not a
pleasant or positive experience. But for many in the disabled community, a wheelchair is an important mobility aid which helps a lot of people to move from place to place with greater ease and freedom.It is a tool that helps us. Owning a wheelchair for many people is felt to be liberating, as it gives them autonomy and the ability to move around, sometimes even unassisted.
It is a positive thing, and should be framed as such.We are not “bound” to our walking canes, they are a mobility aid that provides us with greater stability on our feet and can help alleviate pain. They are super useful tools. Implying that we are “bound” to such devices, implies that they are limiting, when they are in fact the opposite.
To put it in terms more of you might understand:
I wear glasses. I cannot see without them, not wearing my glasses is a hindrance. I lose my balance and suffer from headaches. I cannot work easily without my glasses, and nor can I do the things I enjoy like reading or going to see movies.
Putting my glasses on enables me to see, it lets me not fall over and avoid severe headaches. I am able to work better, and enjoy the things I like when I wear them.
So am I bound to them? Am I caged in by my frames? Does my quality of life seem worse to you because I am wearing them? Of course not, that would be silly! Right?
It’s a small thing. But small things make up the whole, and the language we use about mobility devices and other kinds of aids is important in how we frame disability, and how disabled people are regarded and ultimately treated by society as a whole.
Which I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, is actually not that great at the moment.
This isn’t intended as a scold, or a slap on the wrist. It is intended to let you know that while your support and sentiment are entirely welcome! It would be beneficial to us if you modified your language to reflect a more positive outlook that didn’t imply disabled people are prisoners of the things that actually help to give them a better quality of life. Thank you 🙂
Please note: this is not the same as when able bodied people say things like “can’t is a four letter word” or treat the word “disabled” like it’s a slur. It’s not. Disabled is a perfectly valid and correct term which many of us would rather you use than trying to call us things like “differently abled” or hilariously “can-abled” which I lose my mind laughing every time I see it, because it just sounds like “cannibal” in my head. Please just say the word disabled. It’s not the bad, horrible thing you’ve been taught to think it means. And neither are mobility aids.