Jun
22

TMI Argh

Posted in Interstitial Cystitis, tmi | 7 Comments
The problem with having a chronic illness go into remission is that you have a tendency to forget what it’s like when it’s here. I’m assuming that’s a defense mechanism of the body – which sort of makes sense. I think I read somewhere that the body cannot actually remember pain. I mean, you can remember feeling it, but when you remember it, your body doesn’t flare up where you stubbed your toe. (And things like Phantom pain aren’t really in the same category.) Anyway, I’ve started the beginnings of an IC flareup. Noticed something was off the other night. I wouldn’t call it a bladder spasm, exactly, but I knew when I hit the bathroom before going to bed that something wasn’t right. I have a tendency to try to pretend it’s not happening – and maybe that works for a day or so (and sometimes I’m lucky and… Read more
Jan
11

On Pins And Needles

Posted in acupuncture, Interstitial Cystitis, Vestibulitis | 6 Comments
I had my first Acupuncture session today. Since the back surgery, the nerve pain is much improved, but I still have some pretty awful trigger point muscle issues. So, I figured I’d give the needles a shot. After about 30 minutes of discussing my health problems, the practitioner looked at my tongue. It’s purple and that’s a good sign, apparently. My “root” is still good. (I’m assuming this is a chi sort of thing). Far East mysticism aside, picture me, if you will, with about 11 needles up my spine and in my shoulder. For the most part it didn’t hurt, though some of the worst spots in the rotator cuff did kinda suck when she tapped them in. What surprised me was when she hooked up a TENS system to the needles and shot some nice electrical stim through them, for about 15 minutes. After which she rubbed it… Read more
Mar
6

Pain.

Posted in depression, Interstitial Cystitis, pain, pathetic, sex, Vestibulitis | 4 Comments
This is probably going to be a TMI blog entry, so if you’re squeamish you should probably stop reading. You’ve been warned. Carry on. 🙂 I had been reading an entry on LKH’s blog earlier this week. It’s on my blog-roll somewhere to the right, so I’m not going to link to it directly. I have a love/hate thing with LKH which I’m not going to get into here, but in her blog entry she talked about not writing about what you know, but about writing on what you want to know about. I think that actually makes a lot of sense, provided you put in the research behind it – whether it’s about firearms, or how the post office works, or repairing car engines, or whatever. If you’re going to write about something, you’d better be able to back up what you say. Eventually people are going to call… Read more