If you have landed on this page, then welcome and hello. As the blog title suggests, this is a shared space for navigating the murky avenue of ‘midlife’. I created this blog, so that I can share with you, all the weird and wonderful things I have trialled, adopted and dabbled in, during this strange transitioning time of life. My life now, looks 100% opposite, to how it was 5-10 years ago. There was a significant period of change for me and in all honesty, my transforming is still evolving. I’m now in a place where I accept that life is a continuous journey and we all have a story to tell, so that we can share, learn and support each other. Let me get straight to it – my roles have changed, my body (internal and external) have changed, my outlook of life has changed, what I place importance on has changed, my relationships have changed, my relationship with myself has changed and my priorities have changed. Please use this platform to recognise that you are not alone and we can
Daily Niggles
Lets get straight to it…..every day, there’s a new ache or
pain. Often in the most random places. Sometimes, these little joys just
suddenly appear at anytime of the day, with no rhyme or reason to why!
Some of these niggles can be explained away by my
perimenopausal symptoms. For instance joint pain, which I seem to predominantly
experience in my fingers and toes (weird I know)!
The generalised pain
Then there’s the more unusual pains!! In the past year, I’ve
had random pains in my, neck, collar bones, ribs and in my sternum…I can only
associate these pains with previous fractures but that was 25 years ago and
I’ve never had any issues with these areas until now!
The Cyst
There’s also been the sudden development of a ganglion cyst
on the outside of my knee. I know this is not directly related to middle age
but it does feel like just another deteriorating aspect of general wear and
tear on my body. I must admit, this cyst is giving me the most awful pains and
discomfort as its entangled in my nerves so causing lots of nerve pain. Thank
goodness for nerve pain meds like Amitriptyline, which has been a saving
grace.
The Discs
Then there’s the joy of daily lower back pain. I have severe
disc degeneration in my lumbar and sacral areas of the spine. I’m convinced
this is resulting from car accident I had 25 years ago. It’s just so odd that
all those years can pass with little to no issues then…boom…they just suddenly
decide that they need to pay you a permanent visit.
Along with my back problems, I frequently experience
sciatica. It’s all interlinked but is just another pain, I could do without…..it’s
a pain in the arse, literally!
The Corn
And of course there is the unpleasant pain from having a
‘corn’ in between my 2 last toes. So everytime I wear shoes, it gets squashed
and hurts. Honestly, it feels like the list could go on and on. I feel like
I’m falling to bits at times!! AND I’M ONLY 47, so what will the next 10yrs
look like!!!!
The resolutions
So what am I doing to try and address all these issues????
Well, I’m waiting on surgery for
the cyst. Its been 1 year now and I’ve been told that it could be up to another
6 months before the surgery. Luckily, I was informed by an amazing
physiotherapist (not my GP who knew I was in agony with it), about trying
Amitriptyline which is great in addressing nerve pain. After approaching my GP
about it, I was prescribed the lowest dose of 10mg and voila…after about 10
days, it kicked in and all is now very manageable and bearable (although not
completely pain free).
For my spine, I practice yoga
regularly. I need to make sure that I move and stretch my spine everyday. If I
don’t, I experience increased pain. I sit a lot for work, so I need to make
conscious efforts to move throughout the day. Ive started to include a
lunchtime stretch break to make sure I don’t sit for too long periods (I do
need to get better at this though…..it too easy for me to loose track of time
and sit for hours before I realise and then in agony)!! Im learning….slowly 😉
I’ve invested in a leg pillow that
I use in bed. This helps to align my spine as I tend to sleep on my side. It
also aids with a little cushioning with the cyst on my leg, making it more
bearable to lay on my side.
I also treat myself to monthly
Swedish back massage. This helps to relax my stiff and tightened muscles and
alleviates some of the discomfort I get from muscle tension in my back and
neck. I look forward to this session every month and really feel I’m ready for
it by the end of the month.
I’ve recently invested in an
electric neck/back heated massager from Homedics. So far, I’m really loving it.
It may be a fad that loosing its novelty but at the moment, it’s great. Electric back massager
In regards to the ‘corn’….I’ve had
it removed previously from chiropodist and told I need to keep the area
cushioned to prevent it coming back. This was manageable during COVID pandemic
when we weren’t going out much so didn’t need to wear shoes anyway. However,
since things have got back to normal, I forgot
to wear the little cushion toe pads and now its back. So I need to get
it removed again and then keep on top of wearing the corn pads every time I
wear shoes!! Corn Pads
It's not all doom and gloom.
Although, I do have regular pains and niggles now, I like to think I can be
proactive and do something about it!! Im not just a passive passenger in my own
health. If I believe I can do something about it, I will!!
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