Feeling Better/ 1,000 Views!

As I've said before, this blog is very personal to me.  While I might not be sharing every innermost thought, I am still writing about a topic that has caused me a lot of pain and frustration... physically and emotionally.  So today I wanted to thank you for reading this blog.  I just noticed that I had over 1,000 views and I think that's awesome!  It was a great feeling just to see that!  So today's post is going to focus on the GOOD.



I also wanted to share that in the midst of some hard and crappy stuff going on in the beginning of the year, I have finally had a change for the better in my physical health.  My doctor picked up on something I said in my last appointment and added one thing for me to use and I saw an overnight improvement!  In March, I had felt resigned to needing to try lupron.  I have never wanted to use it, but I was also feeling like nothing was helping... my pain was not getting better (and had, in fact, gotten worse over the past few months), I was popping Advil and Vicodin and just not getting any relief.  Very depressing.  I didn't want to use lupron, as it induces immediate premature menopause, but I also felt the need to do SOMETHING because giving up is not really in my nature.  So March 24, I was feeling not at all good, using probably 6 vicodin a day and ready for my next appointment to let Dr. K know that I was ready for the lupron.  March 26, I got my new prescription and March 27, I think I took 2 vicodin!  My pain was instantly cut in half, which is awesome!  It also revealed that I'm basically having 2 different pains simultaneously and one was covering up the other, but today I'm focusing on the good.

I then started having trouble sleeping and at my next doctor's appointment, I found out that it may have been because I decreased my pain medications so suddenly that my body hadn't caught up and was manifesting through my insomnia.  I take medication when I feel pain, so when I wasn't feeling so much pain, I just wasn't taking any medications.  So for the first time, my doctor told me I needed to take MORE pain meds, just so I could decrease more slowly at a gradual rate.  I'm on the second week of that and still fine as I decrease.  I'm not pain-free... but I am at least at a level where the vicodin or Advil actually makes the pain go away and I can do things whereas before, no matter what I took, there was an underlying level of pain that was just constant.  The pain medications I took just made it manageable, not at all good.  My first thought: "Maybe now I can go to the gym regularly!!"  I miss consistently working out a LOT!  That's always been my way of relieving stress and I feel better, both physically and mentally, after I can exercise.  So guess where I'm headed today?! 

There's a few things I'm still struggling with... mainly sleep, stress, and wondering about an underlying pain but I will write more about that tomorrow.  Today is just good news :)  Thank you for continuing to read this blog and my journey.  For everyone I know, I keep hoping it will bring us closer if you can understand what I'm going through. 

Plus, as an incentive to keep reading... if you get good news for 1,000 views, think about how good I'll feel at 2,000! ;-)