A Pain in the Neck

It’s been months and weeks since I have suffered with the discomfort in my body.  The pain the used to take over my body from the tips of my toes to the very top of my head.  It has been a true blessing to be out of pain and to be able to move freely without restrictions.  But, alas, with the current state of the weather in my region, the pain and discomfort has returned.

It started with some tenderness in my elbows and progressed to isolated pain in my low back.  And creeping up my back and settling into the base of my skull.  The pain is dull, but ever present at this point.  Feeling like I need to just “pop” my neck and the pain will flee, but alas, there is no popping nor release from the discomfort.  It’s based on the left side of my skull, the most prominent pain.

There is a fix, something that will provide a few months of relief, however it comes at a cost.  The nerve blocks will hurt when they are received, and I will have a headache for a day or two, but after that the pain will be gone, if I am lucky for numerous months.  However, the flip side, is that the shots and what they contain have caused mood instability and in the past have launched me into mania.  With the summer I have had with trying to contain the mania, I cannot begin to think of getting an injection with the risk of going manic yet again, especially since I have now been in my third or fourth week of stability.

I started back with yoga this weekend.  Thought that the stretching and such would help to keep the pain at bay.  I had a pretty pain free weekend, and therefore I am assuming that the yoga did work.  Alas, with the transition into the work week, I have not set aside the time to do any exercise and this may be attributing to my discomfort.

It will be most beneficial if tonight included some meditation and yoga time, healing for the mind and body and hopefully the stretching will alleviate the discomfort and feeling that my head is being cut free from my body.

But, through this, I am grateful for the number of months that I have spent with little to no physical discomfort.  I am in awe of the mercy that I have been shown as I have been working to maintain my mood, having physical pain on top of the mental pain would have made the experience that much more challenging.  I know that no matter what comes across my path that I will persevere, but knowing it is not as bad as it could be surely is a blessing.