Wednesday, February 9, 2011

DaNgErOuS sLeEp

Moving an inch or two can sometimes be a painful thing.  I woke this morning only to find that during the night I have once a gain done something horrible to myself. 

It is usual that my arms or legs or both will be “asleep” due to lack of circulation, which is no doubt painful, but temporary.  This would happen to me as a child as well quite often.  The funniest time and the one that sticks hardest in my memory, and I may have mentioned before in previous posts… was when I was asleep on the top bunk as a child.  I was probably 14 or so.  The phone rang, I woke and jumped down to run to the phone. 

It was only after jumping that I realized that both of my legs had fallen “asleep” and I not only couldn’t walk, I was in such agonizing pins and needles pain, and pain from having landed on the floor in an uncontrolled heap that the shock of things had set in and while the phone was still ringing..

I found myself dragging my whole body down the hall with my arms to reach the phone.  Fruitlessly I must say.  As I realized the craziness of my behavior I stopped dragging myself down the hall and just laid there in my misery until the wrenching pain had calmed down. 

It was after this incident that I now wake up and take a quick stock of my situation before moving.  Which I once again did this morning to find that I had moved in some way to once a gain damage my chances of bounding out of bed. 

Ha Ha.. these days I do not bound.. I even on my good days still inch carefully up and out of bed.  As one wrong move and BLAM… screwed for the day or week.

Today however my assessment revealed that I didn’t even want to move an inch.  I have done something miserable to myself while asleep.  I thought I may be able to “tough it out”  but more likely I will be breaking down and taking more of my “unhappy” pills to deal with it.  These things have a sneaky way of growing unless dealt with.

I am hoping to still be able to reach my goals.. I plan to ride my recumbent bike today.. fingers crossed.  I also plan to be able to work out some more kinks on my project. 

Most mornings or days I do a series of exercises that don’t require much movement on my part.  I am sure there is a name for this type of thing, but I don’t know what it is. 

I take ever muscle group I can think of and one at a time do a series of muscle activations that clench up the muscle and then relax it.  I also breath in through my nose and out through my mouth.  When possible I also do a little stretch with this as well.  If I am having issues with one part of my body I just move on to a different part and go from there.  Avoiding all sore areas.

This exercise while not perfect is something, and it helps to keep my muscles know that I still need them I suppose.   It also gives me the peace of mind that I am doing something positive for myself as well.

And it works!!  Which is even better.  I can keep my tummy muscles pretty darn strong by just tightening and breathing.  I am hoping to also give my self a butt!  (after loosing all of the weight I did two years ago, I had no rear end.)  Which is frustrating.  I am now doing better in this department.  Slowly but surely!

So today, I am going to be doing lots of those exercises as my neck and left shoulder are all pissed off today..  I will be also riding my bike for a bit if I can manage with out further pain. 

What do you do when you can not do what you had planned to do?  Do you just chuck everything out the window or do you make concessions and proudly go about doing what you can?

Today I am happy I can still do many things even though I may have to go about them a bit differently or all together avoid some.  I am still in control of my choices.  Yipee!!

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