What to do when chronic conditions haunt you?

I've had a bit of a relapse.

I don't know what to peg this on. I could say that the impending purchase of a home and a closing date in less than three weeks gives me heartache. I could say that work has been busier than normal. I could blame it on the heat. But none of those seem entirely true. Yet at the same time, I don't know what caused this relapse.

In the past week I've had the following symptoms attributable to at least one if not more of my chronic conditions:

• fatigue
• pelvic pain
• vulvar pain
• irritable bowels
• back pain
• headaches
• frequent urination
  

It's as if my body's defenses have taken a summer vacation and left me to rot.

Though I'd like to end this post with some sort of creative way to get through a flare up like this, I don't think I have one. In fact, I'm planning on vegging out on my couch tonight for the better part of the evening. Maybe I need more of that. Maybe I need less. In any event, I don't know what else to do when all else fails.

Progress is a funny thing, isn't it? You don't always know what it truly means until it's eroded.

Progress and Moving Forward

Sometimes keeping up with my body's never-ending problems is exhausting. Sometimes I wonder if the times with pain aren't easier than the times trying to figure out what to do about it. At least then I have a focus--rid myself of the pain.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to gather the motivation to start taking care of myself better. Even if it's step-by-step, it's something. It is extremely hard for me to do this because the last time I was able to achieve any sort of health I dove into it head first and didn't look back. But now I just don't have the energy.

So if I don't have the energy to do something to make me feel better, then where am I going to go from here?

I've been doing very small things. Step one was that I needed to take my medecine regularly (including the Byetta) for one week. I did well for that one week but almost immediately screwed it up the following week. So now I'm back to step one--but with a bit of an addition. I've added back my vitamins (B complex and B 12) and supplements (chromium) back into the mix as well. So maybe that is progress.

I just can't help but wonder what The Body Chronic is in need of. Do I really need to dive in head first again? Can I muster the strength? Or am I on the right path to long-term change by doing this slowly? Do I need to bribe myself with prizes? Or is the prize in the achievement in and of itself?

I wish there were some empirical evidence to guide me. But I must forge my own path.

I just can't wait until that path is more habit than anything.

Feels Like the First Time

I finally realized yesterday and today that I've done something I haven't done in quite awhile.

Ladies and gentlemen....I've made progress.

Progress. PROGRESS!!!!

In my struggles with IC/PFD and vulvodynia I have found very little to be helpful other than just not doing anything...and even that is not helpful. This weekend, though I had bouts of pain and fatigue, I finally realized that I'm not in the same ballpark of pain that I was before. I was able to have sex and not be completely debilitated afterwards. And while that may be personal and not a big issue to some, it's a HUGE issue for me.

I think the combination of everything I've been doing is FINALLY helping. Here's what I've been doing that I feel contributes to my progress:
1. Physical therapy. Without it, this progress would be nonexistent.
2. Switch from Lyrica to Neurotonin. I've had relief much quicker.
3. TENS Unit. I actually decided to get a home unit and I'm using it quite a bit--every other day or so. It helps a lot.

I'm nowhere near done with this and there will be setbacks along the way, but it's so nice for ONCE to be moving forward instead of backwards. It's a small step for some, but a giant leap for Mekind.

Now if I could only move forward in other health-related areas. This is inspiration though.