Me Again!

I had a few thoughts this morning that I wanted to mention.

For the last couple of nights, we've gotten to bed late.  : /  Grrrrrrr........

It's all fun and games until the morning comes, or a few hours into sleep comes and you're awake and not doing so good due to lack of sleep!

Anyway -- I KNOW how important it is for me to do my stretches every night before I go to bed so that I can sleep without pain in my back.  For those of you asking, "What pain?"....... I have pain in my back every single night.  It's on the left side below my left scapula (shoulder blade).

Every.

Single.

Night.

Yep.

So........................

Therefore, I go to a Chiropractor each month, and he has "prescribed" for me exercises/stretches to do every morning and night.  He also has asked me to walk about 4 times a week for 30-40 minutes each time.

The last 2 nights, since it's been WAY past bedtime when we finally get going to bed, I've "skimped" on my stretches.   : /  Not a good idea.  Each of these last 2 nights, I've felt more pain during the night, which prevents me from being able to fall asleep.

Hopefully tonight I can start doing my stretches by 9 PM so that by 10, I'll be ready for bed!!   : )  Yes!!

Anyway -- So last night, I quickly did about half of my normal repetition of each stretch.  And even though I would have liked to gargle with salt water (for my throat), it was around 11:30 PM, so I skipped it and just hopped in bed.

It felt like it took me maybe 30 minutes to fall asleep.  At around 4:30 AM, I woke up due to pain and needing to take a nature break, but I didn't want to get up.  But then at around 5:30 PM I got up and was going to go right back to bed, but my husband got up, so I gargled with salt water and then laid back down.

I was concerned about being able to go back to sleep, because I had just gone through an hour of not being able to get comfortable.

And it took a while, but I was finally able to fall back asleep after about an hour or an hour and a half.

The POINT is.......... I am very thankful that despite the pain (which wasn't so bad that I couldn't just lie there), I was able to deal with it and lie still and go to sleep.

It's difficult to really convey what a challenge it is to deal with the pain in my back.

Nobody can feel the pain I felt.

Nobody can really know the amount of determination it takes to just lie there and accept the pain.

I know that if I don't accept the pain, that things will mentally get bad.

Since I know how bad it can get for me mentally, I realize that the pain isn't as bad as THAT.

I prayed for help.  I tried to think of positive thoughts.  I sang the Charlie Chaplin song, "Smile".  (My favorite rendition of that song is sung by Robert Downey Jr.:  (turn down the sound on your speakers for the very first second or two!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-MA1j3ZBRs

I thought of good things -- things that I like.  I envisioned being raised above my thoughts by a cherry picker.

I thought about being taken to a desert, and shown a large glass room off to my right, where I would just wait until I was called.  But since I could see out of the room on all sides, I would be able to go and help someone if I saw someone in need of help.

All of that helped my mental state.

I believe that it is very important to get enough sleep each night, if you can.  Early to bed, early to rise!

My Mom says, "Sleep if you can, and if you can't, that's OK -- you can get along fine without anything."  I guess if you believe that, then you'll be fine, because you aren't worrying about what you don't have.   : )

I try to apply that train of thought to the times when I can't sleep due to pain or panic.  I just try to decide -- OK -- I'm in too much pain to be able to fall asleep.  No problem.  I'll be fine.  I'm panicking?  That's fine.  I'll get through it.

But that's NOT the optimum way to operate!  It's OK "in a pinch", but not something someone should do as "the norm".

It's just like it's good to have an "emergency kit" or a "first aid kit", just in case of an emergency.  But it's not a good idea to only survive on THAT on a normal basis!

I think that's about all I have to say today.....

Have a good day!

Smile!

Howdy!

Hi!  It's been a while since I've posted something here.   : )

Dear Family and Friends -- this is mainly for me to go back and read, to see how I'm doing in the "mental" department, and for those who need hope or suggestions.

Today is October 17th, 2013.

This year, I was able to go visit my son and my sister!  Yay!

(I will be vague regarding other people's lives and quite open about my own.)   : )

I have only a few minutes to type, so here it goes:

This year, about every month, I have a "panic attack".  The name "panic attack" doesn't even really describe it well.

I get cold.  I get shake-y, and then my thoughts start running downhill, with doom and gloom at the fore-front.

Anyway -- Last night, I started feeling like a panic attack was coming on, but I was able to breathe, and think positive thoughts, and fall asleep.  Yay!

However, at around 4:45 this morning, I could feel the panic attack feelings coming on stronger, and I didn't think I'd be able to stop them, so I decided I had better take my medicine (which is VERY helpful), even though I knew it'd put me to sleep for 8 hours.

So I took my medicine, stayed up until around 6 a.m., and then went to bed.

That's just the way it went.  I succeeded last night in avoiding an attack, so that's progress.   : )

Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.

That's the news for now!

Have a good day!