blogging, first world problems, health, midlife

About a pain in the neck, and medicine note taking

I’m in pain. There is something wrong with my upper back and neck. It’s causing me pain in my upper body. It’s a pain in the neck.

Get it? 😂

I attribute my pain to holding my phone while sitting, standing or lying down and staring at it. Typing into it. Scrolling it.

It’s the phone that’s (causing) the pain in the neck.

But there’s very little else to do when your city is locked down and some people who are considered essential workers are given papers to carry with them to prove to the authorities that they are in fact allowed to be out and about. It’s ridiculous what this virus has done to people’s common sense if you ask me.

I know two people who are local to Toronto who have told me they have such papers.

Sigh.

Anyway, this is why I sit either in my house or at my mom’s house reading my phone.

Except, now I don’t do that anymore (holding my phone and staring at it). Too painful.

Instead, I set up the laptop into a somewhat ergonomically suitable position (i.e. I’m on the sofa at mom’s with a pillow on my lap onto which I put the laptop) hoping to allow for less strain on my back. And my arms. And my neck. And my head. And my ass, if we’re going to complain about body parts. 😉

While I was suffering I’ve used the tens system to electrocute currents into my tight back muscles, a heated bean bag to soothe my neck muscles, and I swallowed more pills than I should. The muscle relaxant ones didn’t seem to work much so I started doubling up – acetaminophen (Tylenol) AND ibuprofen (Advil) simultaneously. Today I’m trying naproxen (Aleve). If this is the last blog post you’ll ever see in these pages, you’ll know I died of over-the-counter-drugs overdose hah. ( 🙄 )

The doubling up did work overnight. I only woke up twice last night because of my neck feeling stiff. That is a huge improvement from how little I’ve been able to sleep lately. Usually I can’t even fall asleep and if I do, it’s in a position that is uncomfortable but causes the least amount of discomfort which lets me at least have a cat nap. I don’t know…

Speaking of meds, do you keep track on what you take, how much and when? I keep a little piece of notepaper on the box, or a sticky post-it note and briefly write down the particulars (1 Advil Tues 11 am).

I started doing this when I had young children who occasionally had to take meds. I was worried that if one of us forgot or one of us was out that we’d make mistakes or double dose a kid or something. I keep a little post-it note pad in the drawer where we keep pain killers and allergy medication, and the children, who are now teens, have adopted doing this on their own. They’re still asking first if it’s ok to take something, they are, after all, still minors, and I taught them to be precise and pay close attention when taking medicine or supplements. They’re doing a great job reading the package for the recommended dosage and taking the appropriate amount at the right times. (It’s usually just pain killers for headaches, although my son sometimes take an antihistamine for seasonal allergies).

This method of note taking is a family trait too. My mom has a whole system going on her dining table…she had cataract surgery recently and for each eye there were all these different drops to take a different times. She created herself a system and colour coordinated it according to which eye she was putting in which drops.

Directions from the pharmacy
One of multiple pages

So, she’s dispensing her drops, and I’m dispensing my pain meds, and the kids are hopefully not dispensing anything. That’s all there is today. Yippie doo.

Tomorrow evening I have a massage scheduled which means I’ll be returning to the family. I wonder if they noticed I was gone. 🙄

Happy Tuesday! See you in the comments.

48 thoughts on “About a pain in the neck, and medicine note taking”

  7. Feel better WoW,e! You could have a weekly or monthly medical box that you can keep filled at the start. Do you not have prescribed creams for certain pains? That’s a hell lot of medication you got there, have a good time at your physio!

    Liked by 2 people

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      2. I got addicted and was taking them recreationally with a couple of other people. It was a pretty dark time in my life. One of those people later died at the age of 41 from liver failure. I am positive she was still taking them. I’ve alluded to this whole period on my blog but don’t know that I’ve ever gone into great detail.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I understand. I know someone who died of fentanyl at age 40, leaving young children behind…it’s a horrible addiction, drugs, and as I said, I only rarely take pain meds unless I really need to. And I really needed to…I mean, I couldn’t sleep. Ugh.

        Today (Wed) I was able to wait until after lunch to take one (instead of two or three) and the massage later hopefully will help as well.

        I may have to go poke around on your blog to check out that dark period later. Thanks for letting me know.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. The pills… all the pills!!! Since I got my intrathecal pain pump I really only worry about my sleeping pill. And since I’ve become almost narcoleptic, I put the bottle on my bedside table, then put it in the drawer when I take the pill. That way I know if I’ve taken it or not on the nights I randomly doze off. My other two meds are as needed and I rarely take them.

    Ben’s meds are in a pill keeper thingy so Daughter and I know if the other one gave them.

    It’s smart to keep track, even with Tylenol.

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  12. Sorry to hear you’re hurting. While I meticulously keep track of all the husbands meds, I only take one pill. But the rare times I do take otc pain meds? I write down when and how much as well. Better safe than sorry there.
    Hope you find some relief soon..

    Liked by 2 people

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    2. These papers feel like having to have a seal of a nobleman or something to justify actions or make people feel weird about themselves (my mother has one, but didn’t need it so far). I can distance myself from others on my own, since I usually don’t leave the house anyway or only at night. It feels illegal to be alive, but I am used to it. ❤

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  17. I meticulously record everything in my bullet journal or I’d have no idea what’s going on in my life. I have a massage therapy appointment tomorrow too. Thank god they’re still doing their thing. They’re definite;y an essential service.

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