Anyone who has been in serious pain, like after surgery or an injury that caused them to be laid up for any length of time, can attest that it is exhausting. You are not just tired you are physically sometimes not able to keep your eyes open and function like a normal person.
Having IC and the chronic pain that comes with it causes me to have those days. Yesterday in fact was one such day. I worked my part time shift at my new job and for the first 3 hours it was fine. I was smiling, helping people as best I could and then...
BAM!!
The last 3 hours of my shift were terrible. Now as far as my customers knew there was nothing wrong, as I have become great at dealing with my pain and knowing exactly when to take my medicine to help relieve my symptoms. But within myself raged a battle of epic proportions. I drank as much water as I could while talking on the phone, I took my medicine before it got overly bad and then all I had to do was wait.
The waiting part is the worst for me because I am still in pain and trying to hold it together long enough for the pills to kick in, and then they take another 20 - 30 minutes to work. Anyone who has suffered pain this bad knows that during that 20 - 30 minute gap it feels like weeks and sometimes months. You start thinking to yourself:
Is it working?
Why is it not working?
Please start feeling better!
Why is it not feeling better?
Should I take some more?
Should I have waited this long before taking it?
The list really does go on and on as you play the waiting game with your medicine. And then it happens, you begin to feel better. By this point I was laying propped up in bed with my hubby watching a new TV show he wanted to see.
Now every time I have a flare up this is what happens in a breakdown:
- Pain starts
- I drink water. Lots of it. Very very quickly
- I wait as long as I can before taking any medicine (Just in case the water fixes it)
- Take my medicine
- Wait for it to kick in (Forever)
- Lay in bed, propped up on my back and lay as still as possible.
- Start feeling better so move around more.
- Pain warns me not to over do it so soon
- Lay back down for a while...
My body as been dealing with chronic pain. In my case sharp stabbing pains that feel like I am being attacked by a knife on the right side of my abdomen. During that time my body has been fighting to correct the problem as well as keep me focused on my job, driving home and then making food before I hit the bed.
It's exhausted from all that work so once my meds kick in and I start feeling better I usually have around an hour or two before my body decides it is not playing anymore and just wants to crash.
Last night it was around 8.55 PM that this happened.
Instead of succumbing to the immediate desire I had to sleep for a week, I did the next best thing. I curled up with my hubby and watched the TV show he was watching. I engaged my brain enough that I managed to stay awake and then once I dropped off the kids this morning I came back to bed for a few hours to help my body recover some more.
Usually when I have a flare up it takes around two days and maybe a morning to correct itself. Today I am still feeling it but not as bad as yesterday. Yesterday when I came home from work I am not ashamed to say that no housework, no homework, no nothing got done while I was resting. I stayed downstairs long enough to hug my babies, refill my water jug and grabbed some food I knew would not hurt me.
Since I am a wife and mother I do not have the luxury of doing this every time so here is my plan for today:
- Make our bed.
- Drink water. A lot of it.
- Update my blog.
- Drink more water.
- Make some lunch. (with water)
- Clean up the downstairs. (Still suffering from Christmas explosion) While drinking lots of water in my water that follows me around everywhere.
You get the idea. On a good day these things do not take very long. On a flare up day..this could be my entire day. If necessary I will take more medicine, but as I stated before I always think its better to let your body deal with it, even if I know later I will be exhausted like last night. Drinking lots of water usually helps to the point that I do not need to take medicine every time I have a flare up. Sadly, it does not work for all of them.
Today I will pretend that out there in the world is hundreds of people dealing with this same problem and still living their lives as best they can. Even if they do not read my blog :) This helps me push through the small 'leftover' pain from yesterday and hopeful kick butt on my housework/homework today. Remember even if we do not see each other we are all in this together. Always Keep Fighting Friends.
#AlwaysKeepFighting
#FlareUpsSucks
#WeGotThis
#AllInThisTogether
