There is a fibro condition called costochondritis that I've lived with since the car accident, so pretty much my entire adult life. It is frequently mistaken for heart attack symptoms. I can't even begin to describe like it's like living with a condition like this while withdrawing down a blood pressure med, so I'll just go with sucktastic.
One of my target areas in physical therapy this week is the nerve centers and pathways from the base of my skull down past my left shoulder blade and across the upper front of my chest. Part of my symptoms stimulating that nerve area again is Lhermitte's sign (often associated with multiple scleroris, which I still scan negative for), documented by a surgeon a few years ago who refuses to even touch me with a needle full of any kind of relief because my medical history regarding adverse reactions is so long. The 'shock' really does feel like an electrical shock, it's very painful and makes you jump, and when it runs down the left side of your chest and arm during a costochondritis flare, it plays hell with anxiety and depression. I very seriously might never know if I am truly having a heart attack sometime in my life. I have been checked so often that I loathe to even think about another 6 hours of size 6 IV needle for CT scan, chest x-ray, EKG, tons of blood work, and if I'm lucky, MRI because other vague autoimmune related symptoms that also need to clear me for blood vessel problems in my brain, and if I'm really really lucky, something as stupid as a barium enema or vag ultrasound to check off possible referred pain. I don't get pain relief until that's all over, and by then I'm so worn out that it takes a couple of days just to recover from going into the ER.
So yesterday was fun. All that cute spiky pain across my chest, me very casually and gently working through all the stuff I've learned in therapy, and I actually got it under control.
I cannot repeat that enough for anyone out there looking for fibromyalgia of the chest wall validation and help in the dark of night. ASTYM therapy over 4 years and all the muscle stretches and nerve glides I have been taught actually worked to relieve costochondritis flare and Lhertmitte's sign.
If you are suffering with this kind of stuff, get a referral into physical therapy specifically for ASTYM and get to work on that. It taking 4 dedicated years was totally worth the 20+ years I've been living with this pain. As far as I know in my own area, I am the only patient who has stuck it out this long (physical therapy can be painful and the homework exercises can suck when you live with chronic fatigue and pain), and my therapists are excited about all the progress I've been making.
I'm actually sick to death of talking about pain stuff, so let's get back to minecraft. A couple of weeks ago I was trying to tunnel to 0,0 from the -8000s on MoCreatures and getting very wealthy doing it, ran into a new area with 3 villages really close together and took time out to set up protection and preservation protocols, like lighting and fencing, installing doors and planting the gardens. Once I did that I stocked up the store real good (/warp Rivyn111), and now I'm starting over with the 0,0 thing, except now I'm just running over land. I tried using my flying horse a couple of times, but I keep getting only so far and getting distracted because I'm a total minecraft sucker for every little thing, always have to stop and investigate, so I figure it's easier just running now. Oceans, jagged mountains, big patch of sunflowers, cities made of ice. I've survived all manner of attack so far, and during the night I just home back to my island to chop wood. I miss being able to teleport to coordinates, but at least I can 'home' and then 'back' when the sun rises instead of twiddling my thumbs trying not to get killed in multiplayer.
Also ran into another little village I'm taking time out to refurbish.
Yeah, you can see by the coordinates I still haven't gotten very far yet, lol. I'll get to 0,0, but the road trip and sight seeing are part of the fun.
Keeping an eye on #SnarkStock2016 this weekend, plus today is #Belmont, so I've got a full day. I'm also sketching out a work slot that I'm very excited about to come back to through the day in between multitasking, so if I'm not responding to whatever notifications, I'm probably deep in a timewarp.
Super throwback to the old days.
