Second job

[cjsmith]

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to work out a schedule for applying all my lotions and oils, the PT exercises from each place, the visits to the PTs, the chiropractor, and the odd doctor's appointment or two. It doesn't leave much room for things like taking the cats to the vet or getting down to REI to look for better gloves.

Physical therapy and chiropractic alone are about seven hours a week. Exercises assigned by those folks are easily another hour a day if I do 'em all. I can skip exercises assigned by one PT place if I am visiting that one that day, though. Four times a day I should be applying some sort of goo, and I should ice (5mins to 15mins) as often as I think of it (up to once an hour). That doesn't count actual doctor visits or wheeling around the building or swimming.

No wonder I feel like I have a second, part-time job. I do. (Except I pay it.)

This is what I wanted to address when I said I was "giving up". I haven't cut any of these things yet, and I'm reluctant to let go of something that might be doing some good, but this can't continue.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

*hugs* :-( Wish I had some constructive advice or wisdom to offer.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[abenn.livejournal.com]

That's tough, and I understand. My regimen to stave of CFS relapses isn't as bad as yours, but is daunting enough on some days.

I don't know if it works for you to meditate or pray for guidance/clarity on what to let slide. I'll pray for that for you. You may not need to drop any one thing completely, just reduce the frequency on some of it. It's hard to know.

Have you talked to the chiropractor and PT on how much you can cut back and still get benefit?

Sometimes I've been moved to drop everything for about two weeks and take a break from all of it at once. I find that scary, but I generally come back from it knowing how I want to schedule things from there.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They mean a lot to me.

I like the idea of meditating and simply watching what comes up around this. Skipping all of it for two weeks is looking mighty good right now too... I'd see what I miss (am drawn to) most.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is a good idea. That is a heavy second workload.

[firecat]

I may have said this before, but this reminds me what managing depression without meds was like for me. Of course, I also had the unmotivation that depression causes to deal with.

Thinking of you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*nod* I'm feeling pretty darn down and unmotivated myself right now, although I haven't been diagnosed with depression -- maybe I have a small inkling of what you were dealing with. :-(

I'm glad it's not that bad for you now.

[firecat]

I hope you find a solution that involves many fewer hours of constant maintenance.

[hanov3r.livejournal.com]

or getting down to REI to look for better gloves

I am all about the internet shopping (http://www.allegromedical.com/wheelchair_accessories/gloves). You might also want to look here (http://www.celticware.com/acatalog/Globaleather_Wheelchair_Accessories_2.html) - seeing good reviews of their stuff, although the pound-to-dollar exchange rate makes 'em a little expensive.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! Now I just need one that'll repair my car over the Internet. :)

[rampling.livejournal.com]

I imagine letting go of one allegedly helping thing at a time might be the best way to make sense of the confusion caused by doing multiple "helping" things. It's tricky to know which are helpful and which are not, and the one-at-a-time method takes a long time but might be the best to identify which bits might be genuinely working.

It does sound like you're doing quite the load of things, and that cutting back could help out a lot.

*HUGS* *CHEEEEEEEESE* *KITTY-PURRRRRRRRRS*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, an "elimination diet" of sorts would be good science. One problem I have is that I'm insufficiently tuned in to what's going on -- how bad is the pain *today* versus the last day that wasn't a really good day? -- to make a good observer. Naturally no one else can do that part for me, so becoming more observant of subtle changes is a good first step.

Hugs and cheese and kitty-purrs right back atcha!

[rampling.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only person who found one-person trials to be almost completely confusing! It seems that nearly all my friends can say what food caused what symptom, or what pollutant caused something, or whatever -- it drives me nuts! I'm way too easily confused, and especially poor at discriminating even moderate analog differences. Tough thing.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

If I haven't told you lately, I really respect how much time and effort you're putting in to try to solve this problem. I know how much running means to you.

Perhaps the right thing to do is work on the solutions sequentially instead of in parallel? That would take a lot less time each day, although it may take longer to reach the final solution.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! At this point I have to be honest and say it's not (mostly) about the running any more. It's about getting from my car to my desk. Pain is a *great* motivator.

Yes, one at a time would be good science. I'm impatient, but perhaps my impatience needs to be tempered with a little sanity. For this to work I need to get better at quantifying my observations; "it hurt" isn't anywhere near as good as "it hurt less than it did last Tuesday". That's probably my next step: learn to quantify, learn to measure.