One of the hardest things to do sometimes is to go easy on yourself. To take time, be realistic, and be kind. I suffer from Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) – which is a bit of a fancy way of saying my pelvis falls apart sometimes. It’s very painful, and almost entirely invisible. If you strip me naked you might be able to see that on my bad days there can be up to 2 inches of different between one hipbone’s height and the other.
On the days when it’s playing up, everything is difficult. I don’t just mean walking or running or housework. I mean sitting, and standing, and even lying down. There is no position, no action, that isn’t painful. Yeah, sucks pretty bad.
I had quite a bad week this week, probably because of a dose of flu, and it’s led me to a bit of a revelation and resolution. I need to be more proactive and scientific about how I take care of my body. Most forms of exercise are out, I can’t do them, which means I need to get this damn pelvis under control.
So;
Recording
I’ve have a damn daily planner that I have always been extremely terrible about using. Well I’m using it now. Every day I’ll be recording; exercises done and when, food, medication required (these are pain and anti inflammatory meds.)
The thing is, I have not insignificant stretches of time where I do OK. I move around, I feel pretty reasonable, I can get off the anti inflammatories and I’m cruising along. Then wham! Something blows out and I have no idea what’s caused it and why it’s happening. Maybe nothing caused it? Maybe it’s a thing that just happens and I’ll have to come to terms with that… but maybe not.
How stupid will I feel in another 5 years if it turns out something simple, something easily avoided, was the cause of a lot of my suffering? Pretty bloody stupid, that’s how. So, we’re going to do some record keeping and look for patterns.
Food
There are a lot of foods that have at least a mild effect on inflammation in the body. I have a little file on my computer that I’ve been compiling, and I want to fold as many of these things into my diet as possible. Nothing gross or that I can’t stomach, I’m not so far gone I’m prepared to live on brown rice forever, but these are simple changes that I can make to include more of the things that a) I already like and b) could have a bit of a positive effect on my condition.
**Side note, I made that >. It was amazing, and I’ll do it again.
Stress!
Ahhh my old friend. It could be all in my mind, but it seems to me that I get more grief from my hips when something stressful is going on and I know I have to do something, than on normal days. This is not to say I don’t have important days where I’m fine, or boring normal days when I’m in agony, just that I feel like there might be a correlation there somewhere and that it’s worth having a look at.
I need a calm down/meditation/chillax method, so I’ll be experimenting with a few over the next couple of months and keeping a record of how I think they’re going.
Go me with the overhauling of things!
What do you need to do to look after yourself? Are there things in your life you could really do with understanding more?
Island Pagan 
That’s a huge challenge on so many levels.. What I know is that to be kind to ourselves (when we are the carers of others) is hard. You seem to know the what & the why to make things work a little easier for you but gee, the how & when can be tough. I know that I’ve been through a stressful time over past 12 months & it’s played out in unexpected bouts of IBS/Diarrhoa. I racked my brain looking for methods to “stop” it but to no avail unless after the event I take some lomotil. So, it’s been more helpful to have a kindly GP who listens, a decision to do meditation every single day & to help learn more about letting anxiety be part of my life rather than try to push it away. Sounds weird but after 4-5 months it’s helping to think that way & not over think any more. Best wishes from a fellow DP blogger Denyse
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