So I started taking Cymbalta, and stopped taking 5 other drugs. Yeah, I've been on a barely working cocktail for years. So now I'm feeling way way less pain. Like, it's nuts. Both how good it feels in my body, and how much pain I was in before.
So now what? I'm trying to figure out what being functional again even looks like. I've been swimming. And the Cymbalta is really suppressing my appetite. So I see being in shape, and slimming up being a part of this.
The MRI said I have spondylosis of at least the cervical vertebrae. And really the only thing I can do for that is the backstroke. Which I'm already doing. The doctor suggested it, and then laughed, like but no one does that. And I was like, no, I do! And she was surprised and said I was ahead of the game! So that's awesome.
And I've upped how much I'm doing it. And swimming longer. Hunter's class is 40 minutes. I'm trying to swim the entire time. Sometimes pausing to get my breath between laps.
Doing this regularly is changing my swimming. Like, I feel less like I'm flail-panicking through the water, and more like I'm stretch-moving along. Paying attention to how my legs and feet are moving, how full rotation of my arms is impacting my shoulders. How I'm holding my head relaxes my whole body etc. I asked Hunter's swim teacher for a tip on the back stroke. It was hurting my shoulders. And she showed me a completely different way than what I was doing. So now I get to incorporate that...
It's like trying to learn a dance without a teacher.
Anyway, today was the first time I've gotten to swim since I got on Cymbalta. It felt much more comfortable. I hurt right now, from the effort. But I'm hoping I won't flare from it.
I'm relearning how to live without constant massive pain. It's...still very confusing. It's been like 8.5 years of it. And even before then, I wasn't very good at consistent exercise. So yeah, change. A lot to process.
No comments:
Post a Comment