last year, a week or so before my 29th birthday, i started having sharp pains in my back. i've had chronic low back pain as just a part of my every day life, but this was different. it was debilitating at times. my back would give out on me when i would lean over to put brady down for a nap and i would end up just dropping him in his crib. i would sit down on the floor and it would take minutes for me to figure out a way to get back up to standing. it was just so much pain like i hadn't experienced. it lasted til the end of the year. about six weeks.
during the spring i experienced it again, but to a much lesser degree and lesser length of time... so that was great. in july, i went to a chiropractor (for the first time in my life) the day before leaving for atlanta/the beach. while i was at the beach, my back went from recovering and sore to the shooting pains again. i talked to my dad about this and he informed me that my story sounded much like his own. at 29, a doctor told him about degenerative disc disease. i was 29 and experiencing disc pain for the third time in a year, when i'd never experienced it before. it was very painful and lasted the full six weeks again before it magically went away. i resolved to make certain lifestyle changes that would ease the burden i put on my back... and i would also start taking aleve for it's anti-inflamatory and painkilling properties. so i've been doing that stuff and feeling fine.
but the tuesday morning i woke up feeling like i was starting to have disc pain again. i texted dad who advised me to start taking the maximum dose of aleve for the next day or two. i was hopeful. i was also let down. wednesday morning was a little bit worse. then thursday morning was very much worse. and today is friday and it is downright bad. painful to sit, painful to stand, painful to walk. i have trouble standing up straight when i get up. my kids keep asking why i'm gasping or wincing or saying "oh crap" or "holy cow" "yikes" when i'm trying (ever so slowly) to move. brady has already informed me multiple times that his back also hurts and that he needs medicine for it. i'm just waiting for him to ask to use my ice pack.
so, while the pain is obviously not that fun... it's enough to take my breath away, but not enough to make me cry. what does make me want to cry is the thought of this lasting for six weeks... which means it should resolve a week before my birthday. that will be four times in the course of exactly one year. typically lasting six weeks. it's seemed annoying but not like it's taking over my life... but doing the math... it's over 20 weeks... over a third of my life this past year.
so, my new plan is to do back exercises morning and night, continue trying to minimize stress to my back, continue taking aleve, ice my back as often as life permits (klaudette is letting me borrow her deluxe hot/cold pack), and try dry needling and maybe acupuncture.
wish me luck.
also, my stomach decided to get fat and frequently feel nauseous (nope, not pregnant again) if i try to eat more than a handful of food at a time.
i'm getting old.
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