Personal Update 12/12/10

I have been doing really well, actually. I went and had my massage on Friday and she did a lymphatic drainage with deep tissue combined and it really did make me feel oodles better! I was really sore and tired for the day of and then half of the following day, but even still the pain was greatly reduced. I should try and include a massage into my monthly regimen...just as soon as I rememer where I left that damn money tree! Yesterday I felt so much better that I actually suggested we go out to dinner! I haven't been out to dinner in so long it is crazy! It can be hard to venture out not just due to pain, but also my clean diet makes it very complicated to feel secure with my selections and if what I eat isn't on the 'approved' list I pay for it for days. Luckily, they had the perfect menu item of chuncky avacodo (which I wrapped up in corn tortillas, with a side of lettuce and tomato and a spoonful of salsa)...mmmm....

The routine of taking my herbs has actually come quite easy, which was not expected. I guess when something makes you feel that much better who cares about the extra 20 seconds it takes to swallow a pill! A very interesting thing that I perceived yesterday was that my symptoms seem to be rapidly going in reverse. For example, in the begining the onset of my symptoms was an intense bloating that would create so much pressure it would cause me to have to sit down or take breaks while walking. From there it progressed into sharp localized pain, then into widespread pain. After the widespread pain came the swelling, which intensified all the other present symptoms. This stage is where I spent the majority of my time, at around 6 to 7 months. Now that I have been on this clean diet for about 24 days and on the herbs for about 3 or 4 days, my symptoms have backed up through the list one at a time. First the swelling started to reduce (still swells at a minimal level), then the widespread pain lessed, then one day it was just localized pain. Finally we are back at where I currently stand and it is really nice right here! I have the intense pressure, but it is not pain. I feel like if I clean my diet a little more (ie incorporate more raw veggies into my meals) I can conquer this pressure. Then where will they leave me? I really couldn't say, but in my mind I am on my way back to being asymptomatic. I don't know how it was for you, but for me, I use to have periods in between pain where I was completely normal. That's what made it so hard to diagnose because I seriously thought it was just a bad hip or somthing that was acting up and would every once in a while forever. In those off periods I would do something that would trigger the pain (fall, land on it wrong, jump, intense exercise, etc.) and then I would have to stay in bed for a few days until the pain subsided. Of course, eventually the pain came and it never left. If my symptoms are truly going in reverse this means I could be getting back to the 'off' period! From there maybe back to the 'cyst free period'? The 'you never have to think about your stupid freaking back pain again' period? Fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed! Stay tuned....please don't let this have jinxed me!!!