From Whence it Comes

This morning was a challenging one.   I woke up at three-somethign and decided it was too early to take Lyrica in preparation for a run at six.  I then managed to not sleep well through the four o'clock hour in when I did take the Lyrica, only to make it to the five o'clock hour when my neighbor and I decided to cancel our run because it had started raining.   I was't able to go back to sleep well at that point because I was in too much pain so I spent the time tossing and turning, trying to identify the primary cause of the pain.

This morning isn't typical.   I do have pain, but for the most part it doesn't pile up like it did today.   I realized this morning that I regularly have to determine what the source of the pain is, and then determine what, if anything, I'm going to do about it.

First, there is "workout pain" that comes from exercising.   This pain is expected and a normal response to a good workout.   Perhaps an ibuprofen would help, but it's normally not necessary.   The second type of pain is inflamed muscles and pain surrounding issues with subluxations in my spine.   I can have months where my back is great and then other times, like this past week, where I've had significant pain that may take weeks to really get back to normal.   The final type of pain is pure neurological.   It's neuropathy or radiculopathy or myopathy related to damage to my spinal cord and nerves.  

Mornings are the worst times, pain-wise, which is why I set my alarm an hour before I plan on starting to exercise, so I can take Lyrica.   It makes a huge difference.    I had a follow-up with my doctor about my spine and the Lyrica this week.  I told him I'm fighting taking the medicine because I don't really want to be on it.   I'm taking what I need, but I'm not taking more than I need if I can help it.    I've found a good balance at a lower dose than we thought I might need.   The medicine does help and I'm glad to have it as an option, but that does't mean I like having to take it.

The Big Boy Update:  My son likes smoothies.  He specifically likes the Chocolaka type.   He told me, "Chocolaka makes me strong enough to hold up a barn."  Then he told me, "you have a long neck that's really a tree."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came downstairs today, looked at my husband's computer screen and said, "I didn't paint that."   And she was right.   My husband has taken paintings she's done twice before, scanned them in and made them his desktop background.   My son has recently taken up painting at school and this past week, his artwork became dad's new screen background.  My daughter was right in that it wasn't her painting.