My journey started with a bone spur. It wasn’t big but it was sharp enough to shred my superspinatis whose- a- ma- what’s- it and my something or other, every time I moved. So naturally I stopped moving. This isn’t good for any body. But it’s a sentence of doom to one with mobile joints. Part of the problem was that I didn’t know I had mobile joints. The other part was that it took years to find and remove the bone spur. So over those years my mobility was less and less and my muscles that had been holding me together became almost non-existent.
When I say my mobility was less and less, what I mean to say is, I was able to exercise less and less. I was still raising my boys, getting them to school, going to work, getting home to lay down and cry in pain. Then get back up, make supper, drive the boys to their karate or other activities, get home, get them to bed and then go to bed and cry in pain. Driving was the worst. We lived out of town and we had to drive a half hour to anything. The pain crept up into my teeth. Do you know that feeling? So when I’d lay down there was not relief but all the layers of pain I’d ignored all day trying to let go. I suspect I am not the only one who has had this feeling when laying down at night.
I’d try to move slowly for weeks at a time so that the area in pain that refused to be strengthened could scar tissue over. But inevitably I would look the wrong way too quickly or stoop down to get something out of the fridge drawer or sneeze while wiping the counter. And it would suddenly feel cold along the area. I would hope I was imagining it. But the effect was always my shoulder blade feeling like it was falling down my back. Because it was. And I didn’t have the muscle tone to hold it in place the way a typical body should. And the superspinatis and the whatever- it- was were not helping. It didn’t seem to matter how careful I was or how much I ignored it. It was a frustrating and never- ending cycle. Knowing the pain was coming no matter my efforts was hard to handle emotionally.
After years of specialist appointments and physio and ultrasounds and x-rays didn’t show anything I finally convinced someone to order the MRI my physiotherapist was pretty sure I needed. This angel, in the form of a rheumatologist that listened and ordered it even though her specialty had nothing to offer, was the answer to many prayers.
The results of the MRI showed a small bone spur. It was up to me whether to take it out or not. Um, yes please. The surgery recovery was not simple. It took years for all the inflammation to recede to have my normal use and years more for typical person normal use. But I cannot imagine not having gone through those steps and still being in the place where my muscles were shredding until I cried daily. Do you face something that seems insurmountable, yet you know the benefits outweigh the cost? Do it! Make the time for you. Even if it will take time to see results. We invest the time and money in a summer camp for our kids. Shouldn’t we also invest in ourselves?
Back to my story. From there my road to recovery showed the possibility, then confirmed my mobile joints.
No matter how big or small I started an exercise it would tighten a muscle group to the point it pulled out another joint. Like a spiderweb that constantly had someone tugging on it. This particular, pesky spider web tug was pulling my joints out. My body was constantly trying to compensate. It was never happy. I tried all the exercises. I love exercise. It has been so hard to just grin and bear it when someone says I just need to exercise to fix it. Try pilates! Yoga! Gentle stretches! Just push through the pain! Get a massage! Go to chiro! Nobody knows the lengths to which I have gone to solve this.
As a support person, validate pain, validate efforts, never push options. Suggest and let it go. If it is right for your person they will come back to it in their own time. You cannot compare your average body and what it needs to someone with chronic pain. They have to do what is right for them. Trust them. Being pushed too often is likely why they are dealing with this type of pain in the first place. My advice today is to share this information with anyone in your life that needs to know ☝
From mobile joints, to endometriosis, to hysterectomy, to weird nervous system symptoms, to a toxic and wasted body on the brink of major disease, this has been a journey I would not wish on anyone. And yet I know many women are on the same track. Their story is different but the outcome and the need for healing is great. I posted a hothouse (an infrared canopy that warms and soothes nerves) on a Facebook marketplace the other day. I mentioned that it helped with my fibromyalgia and my twitches. The response was vast and immediate.
I only had one hothouse. But. my dear friends, I have something else to offer that has soothed my nerves not only in the moment but its effects are long lasting, such that I didn’t need my hothouse anymore. My temperature is stabilizing. If this sounds anything like your story and you’d like to hear more about Forest Walks and the healing you can find there, head over to my contact page to ask about booking.
Take care out there.
SUNBEAM ACRES 