Six weeks ago, as I sat down at my computer to work on some essays, I felt a deep, localised pain in my right shoulder. It died down to soreness pretty quickly, eventually merging up with my neck, and just kind of sat there.
Two weeks ago, I was awoken at 04:00 by piercing pain in my upper right arm, which kept me awake for hours trying to find some contorted position that reduced the pain to throbbing, so I could doze lightly back off. In the morning, I booked an appointment with my GP, who referred me to an orthopaedic, who gave me an Xray and MRI. The result: inflammation in my right shoulder, which he believes is exacerbating the slipped disc he found in my neck. I've now been referred to a spinal specialist, who I will see today and, hopefully, will start me on the path to recovery.
I remember visiting my friend Mike McGirr in Atlanta, shortly after he had back issues, and him telling me 'I'm not afraid of death anymore, I'm afraid of pain.' While my brush with chronic pain is not in the same league that he, my cousin, or countless others experienced, after a few days into it, I was able to begin to relate. Sitting awake again at 04:00 in the morning, trying to wedge myself into a tolerable position, I thought that if this were going to be my life forevermore, I could understand how the will to keep going could fade away.
Through trial and painful error, I've landed on a regime (400 mg of ibuprofen, every five hours, day and night) that is ameliorative enough I can stay in bed rather than migrating to the couch, but cured I ain't. Whoever said 40 is the new 30 obviously never had a pinched nerve.
Be kind to your joints, folks. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Shaun
Shaun H. Coley ~ Islington ~ London N1 ~ UK ~ shaunism.blogspot.co.uk
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