Happy 4th of July - Love to the U.K.

I just returned from my annual visit to my parents for their 4th of July party.  We had tons of relatives in and it was an absolute blast (literally!!). 

The good news was that I had only 1 minor headache (which I attribute to allergies and the changes in climate - it happens the first morning after I arrive EVERY time!).  That headache was knocked out quickly with my Imitrex/Hydrocodone combo. 

The bad news was that my back pain is still not gone.  I've been doing physical therapy for quite a while now, and have had 4 acupuncture sessions, but no big change.  I did suck it up and went and did a bunch of stuff anyway while I was home, but I'm kind of paying for it now.  I'm real sore, but in different ways than before.  An achy pain that goes down into my leg.  It's not putting my leg to sleep or anything, but it's like it's almost going to fall asleep or get a cramp.  Very strange. 

I am finding some help by using cold now instead of hot.  I used a heat pad for a month or so which was helping.  In the last week or so the heating pad is making the pain worse.  I tried this stuff my acupuncturist gave me samples of and it worked great.  It's called BioFreeze and I tried it to help me through my drive home to my parents and it was wonderful.  It kind of froze the area that causes the most pain so other than the uncomfortableness in my right leg, I made it home with only a couple stops.  I took my black lab Roxie and she likes to stop too so that was perfect.  I'm going to keep using the BioFreeze as it gets REALLY cold.  If it weren't for the warnings not to get it anywhere near your face and eyes, I would use it for my migraines too because it gets REALLY cold.  Even my acupuncturist said to be sure not to touch my face or the pets faces even after washing my hands because the gel takes a while to fully get off your hands.  That's okay though... apparently they have a roll-on version which I will be purchasing right away!!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday week and appeciated as much as I did how lucky we are to be Americans.  The only down-side to my week was seeing the horrible atrocity perpetrated upon the city of London on Thursday.  I try not to watch too much because it really does upset me and I have trouble with depression already.  So I watched to be informed, said a little prayer sending my love to the people of the U.K., and have tried not to think too much about it.  Makes me too sad and scared for the future of international relations.

No more migraines,
Kelli   :)

Comments

[Robert]

Something that might help with back pain is the lidocaine patch. The brand I have is called Lidoderm. You need a prescription for these. These patches can also help with shoulder and neck pain associated with migraine; you put them on the shoulder muscles before you go to bed.

You might also try direct ice massage; it can be a bit tricky to use on your back, but you can make an ice massager thingy with a bent handle of some sort. Drop me a note if you are interested, I send you the info I got from Spaulding. Ice massage can help with migraines, too.