9/6/2014

* I was reluctant to write a new post until I got FIVE good comments on my previous post HERE... but I had a thought as I was up all night and felt like sharing because I don't know if I cover my everyday life very well.  So while I would still very much like to get some comments (random, creative, far-fetched, whatever!) on my previous post (PLEEAASSSE) here's an expanded post of what I jotted in my pain/endometriosis journal last night:

Sometimes I feel like I spend all day just trying to minimize the pain that may surface at night.  That's an annoying way to spend the day!  I talked with my doctor about it and she confirmed that most people who suffer pain do feel worse at night.  She also talked some about normal cortisol levels and how they are different for pain patients, which made total sense while I was there talking to her, but now I can't remember exactly what the difference is.  (I'll have to Google to refresh myself).  At least I learned that there is a physiological reason for pain being worse at night and the irritating part is that pain at night throws off an entire day, if not more.  I either sleep in too late and then I'm not tired the next night, or I try to wake myself up at a regular time and then I'm just the Walking Tired for the rest of the day.  Also, for me at least, the less sleep I have, the more pain I feel.  It's almost always that inverse relationship.  So it's likely that while I'm up and unable to sleep, because pain that I can deal with during the day can definitely stop me from getting comfortable enough to fall asleep, I also have these thoughts and knowledge in the back of my head and that can't help my subconscious with the sleeping part either.  I do experience nighttime flare-ups of pain.  I can deal if it's a night when I went to the gym and expect it but on random days when I have done nothing of consequence I do get an occasional bout of extreme pain and that is extremely frustrating.  That happened to me this past week and it sucked but I felt improvement the next day and better the day after that, so that's a pretty quick turnaround.  It used to be a flare in my pain level would last a week, so if we are grading on a curve, my grade is improving.