I had this terrible pain

[redbird]

in all the diodes down my right side.

Okay, not quite all: but when I hit shoulder and wrist and hip and eye, it felt that way.

A hot water bottle and some Tiger Balm later, my shoulder feels better, and ... different. The sensation of the Tiger Balm is better than the sensation of "it hurts to move", but it isn't my idea of fun and games. The eye problem was, happily, fleeting, and it's much easier to rest the hip than the shoulder, so that's okay, at least for the moment. Applying a hot water bottle to the back of my shoulder while doing anything else is an interesting topological problem, however, especially as (a) I'm not comfortable lying on my front, and the packaging says not to lie on the bottle, which ruled out lying on my back. I sort of draped it over, and sat.

Further on the positive side, Panix seems to be back up, and I've read and posted to alt.polyamory. Decided to skip rassef for the moment: the political arguments there don't interest me as much, right now, as the ones on alt.poly.

Comments

heat patch?

[(Anonymous)]

Although not dagger-cheap, the heat patches (cut into different shapes for menstrual cramps vs back pain) have been helping me out recently. How about sticking one inside the shoulder of your tshirt?

Good luck!

Anita Rowland (http://www.anitarowland.com/)

[redbird]

A hot bath helped too. Thanks for all the good suggestions, papersky!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

What's happening with shoulder and my back remind me of someone who said the more accurate descriptor would be "currently abled" or "temporarily abled" rather than "disabled" or "differently abled." If you know what I mean.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I can't say I'm glad to have the experience to pass on, but I'm glad it's been of use.

It's possible to sort of half lie on a hot water bottle, without putting your weight on it, if you're up on pillows and with a pillow under your other side, and the hottie on the pain, you can put your weight on the other side but rest the pain on the heat. You can't sleep like that, but lying to read like that for an hour can make sleeping afterwards easier.

Deep heat is repulsive. It also has the most anaphrodisiac smell known to humanity. But while it isn't fun, it is very good for muscles. I'm very inclined to over-stress muscles elsewhere to avoid hurting my leg, so I use it, or tiger balm, which is much the same, quite a bit.