On the mend…

If you’ve been following my moaning on Facebook since the beginning of the year and also read this post in January, you’ll be aware that I’ve been off work since then with more than one complaint. I’ve somehow damaged my right arm [I’ll explain more in a minute] and I’ve also had the worst cold ever that refuses to go away as well. The GP’s at my local medical practice have not been that helpful to be honest on either front and just advised me to rest.

After two months of resting I was still in the same amount of pain, if not more, and still had a bad cold – so I had to take the matter into my own hands and pay to see a private physio to deal with the pain and just continued to suffer with regards to the cold. I should’ve seen a physio straight away, but the NHS waiting list, as usual, is very very long. The private physio was amazing and within two days of seeing her the pain started subsiding, but I’m still along way off total recovery, but have exercises to do to get me on the right track. With the private physio I also got a better diagnosis than from the GP.

I fell over on the ice in December and landed on my wrists and at the time didn’t think anything of this as it didn’t cause me much pain at the time, but this was the start of what was to come. Over Christmas I slouched about on the sofa and worked away on my laptop and this brought on RSI which I wouldn’t normally get as I do this kind of slouching/working on a regular basis. I guess doing it for 4 solid days wasn’t a good idea and as my fall had damaged the nerves in my neck without me realising, this damage then got aggravated and my long term suffering began.

It started off with pins and needles at night and my arms going numb and very cold. I later discovered this was Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. I also had bad shoulder pains brought on by the RSI and this then resulted in agony at the elbows – that sounds almost religious – and the wrist. Most of the pain was on my right side, but I was also experiencing the pain on the left as well. So computer use just caused me endless agony and I had to stop working.

I had to give up doing anything – using the computer was a no go, as were so many other things as they just caused me too much pain. I couldn’t brush my teeth, button up my trousers, put on shoes, cook, everything was painful. By the time I’d booked to see the private physio I was just in tears on a daily basis as I was in so much pain all the time. It wasn’t just the pain that was upsetting me either. I was going totally insane out of boredom and frustration. I’ve never been in a situation where I’m not allowed to do anything, so going from being a totally creative person who is constantly making and doing, to someone unable to do anything was absolute torture! I’ve suffering from anxiety and depression on a daily basis. So I cried a lot, slept a lot, took photo’s from my bed of my surroundings and close ups of my face and eyes, I tried to sketch, I continued to read, I listened to the radio for hours on end. I had good days and bad and sometimes went out of my head with insanity.

I’ve turned down so much work this year as well as many wholesale orders. It’s very demoralising. Having a cold was a bit of a godsend for a week as I was so ill that all I could do was sleep and drift in and out of consciousness. I then took up reading and devoured book after book, but I soon got fed up of words and reverted to TV – something I hardly ever watch and this just depressed me even further – mostly from the point of view that there is just so much crap on the TV on a daily basis and hardly anything worth watching.

At the same time we’ve been getting work done on our kitchen and exterior stonework and this has also been a nightmare to deal with – cowboy builders and bodge job after bodge job having to be re-done over and over has not helped my state of mind either.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. My pain comes and goes and I can sit and work at the computer for at least half an hour now before the pain kicks in and i have to take a break. I’m now seeing an NHS physio and getting weekly acupuncture as well and with regular exercise I should be pain free within a couple of months – here’s hoping.

As for my cold, I’ve had it since the 26th January. It was full blown at one point when I had a blocked nose, loss of hearing, sore throat and a constant cough. For the past few weeks though I’ve just had a sore throat come and go and a persistent cough. My GP is totally bemused and last week decided to try me on a nasal spray. I started using it on Wednesday and by Friday I felt so ill that I stopped using it as it just brought the whole array of symptoms back. I’ve been in bed all weekend and feel like I’m back at square one.

I can’t believe that we’re nearly half way through March! I’m determined to get better though and hopefully can start swimming in a few weeks time and also start proper pilates classes again, as I was unable to continue with the last course I started. Would love to hear your advice or tips if you have any… so please comment below.

One thing I’ve missed so much has been blogging, so I’m hoping to get right back into that again as of tomorrow, even if it is only a little bit at a time.