I have been wanting to sit down and work on writing things but have not been able to get myself to do so and have thus exhausted my supply of drafts. So, here's why I haven't been able to focus.
At the beginning of the year, I started experiencing some neck, shoulder, and back pain. It wasn't too bad at first, more annoying than anything but I pushed through it and continued doing things as usual. After a month or so, I told my doctor about it and they said that, if it isn't affecting my day to day life, not to worry about it. Well, another month passed and I was still experiencing the annoying pain so, I went to a chiropractor.
This was a huge mistake. They did x-rays before doing the alignment and said that i had shallow scoliosis in my lower back but everything else was normal. They did the alignment and by the end of the week, the pain was so bad that Boyo almost had to take me to the ER. I could barely move at all without being in extreme amounts of pain. It even caused me to have a migraine that presented with an aura which has only happened one other time in my life. That migraine was so bad that it made me physically sick.
Back to the doctor I went where they gave me a shot for pain and a shot for inflammation, said that some of the pain may be from a pinched siatic nerve, which I was able to work out after the shots helped alleviate the inflammation. They also sent me to get x-rays. These x-rays showed that I have scoliosis in my neck now and everything else, including my lower back, was normal. How did my scoliosis move from my lower back to my neck? Doctor sent me to physical therapy.
Physical therapist gave me a bunch of stretches to do for my neck and back, stretches that I already do on an almost daily basis and have little to no effect on the pain I've been in. I didn't go back to physical therapy because I don't appreciate being told to keep doing what I'm doing and expect different results. That's the definition of insanity.
Then, one night I was walking up the stairs and felt a sharp twisting pain in my right knee. I managed to get up the last few steps, made it to the couch, and immediately elevated my leg and started icing it. I had hoped it would go away, it wasn't the first time I felt this kind of pain and usually by the next morning it is better if not completely gone. But a few days later, it was so painful and swollen that I could barely walk and Boyo had to support me anywhere I went. He finally convinced me to go to urgent care.
Urgent care told us that it might be a blood clot, my worst fear, and sent us to the ER.
The ER said it most certainly was not a blood clot without even running any tests and I asked them to do the ultrasound just to be 100% sure that it wasn't. Came back negative for a blood clot thankfully. They also did x-rays to see if maybe one of the bones had broken or fractured and cause the pain. X-rays were inconclusive due to too much fluid on my knee. They gave me some crutches, told me to keep doing what I've been doing, add a knee brace, and referred me to an orthopedic doctor.
Boyo bought me a squishmallow to try to make me feel better. I decided to use it as a pillow and find after a few days that it has eliminated my neck and shoulder pain. I started sleeping with a pillow between my knees to keep my injured knee elevated and it alleviated my lower back pain. Really wish I had tried these things before going to the chiropractor.
The orthopedic doctor did x-rays as well, said they couldn't see a cause of the fluid build up and ordered an MRI. Took 2 weeks to get me in for the MRI and they put me on an anti-inflammatory in the meantime, but it provided little to no relief. I'm in pain the whole 2 weeks, the brace barely making walking tolerable. MRI comes back inconclusive, they can't find the source of the fluid. They put me on steroids and I immediately start feeling better, the fluid drained naturally and I was walking without crutches or the brace.
I finished the steroids, all the pain that had been alleviated by the pillows comes rushing back along with the pain in my knee and now my left knee is getting sore from compensating for my right knee. I can barely move again. My right knee is fluid filled again. I go back to the orthopedic doctor, they put me on more steroids and want to refer me to an rheumatologist because they think I may have rheumatoid arthritis.
Steroids helped again but the pain came back when I finished them, fluid returns with the pain and I can't get into a rheumatologist for who knows how long. The pool where we live finally opened and I've been trying to do hydrotherapy to help with the pain but it only provides temporary relief as of right now.
The pain has caused me to have a hard time focusing on much and I noticed I started spending a lot of time doom scrolling on Facebook. I set a timer in my Digital Wellness settings to limit how long I could be on Facebook for. Then I started playing Solitare for hours on end and had to set a timer on that, too.
I'm hoping to get things under control soon, I can't stand being in pain anymore. I try to get myself to sit down and work on creative things or even live stream something but I can't seem to get comfortable for very long, and when I do manage it, I'm fighting to stay awake. It's been awful.