Little Stories 250 : Omg the Muscle Strain & Stiff Neck are back

 

Hey heyyy, it's back guys!

My first muscle strain & stiff neck incident since 2021. I woke up this morning and I can't move my upper body. I have several reasons to blame: whether because of the accumulated stress since early this week, I already felt it tense up yesterday but I managed to finish up 3 sketches and 2 illustrations (in the same pose - for several hours), then I went out running later that evening even though I know my body was tired, but in my defense, the run was good. 

I didn't even use the acupressure mat this week even when I saw the signs, now it's too late. It happened, I have to go through a painful week until it recovers. Cafkl is coming up so soon, and I haven't even started planning.  

Then here I am now, my half-upper body paralyzed and in so much pain (I cursed and cursed like my mouth forgot its 'manner' filter). I found my painkiller and muscle relaxer medication from the 2021 incident and ate it because I needed it. And I'm sitting in front of my screen thinking how on earth will I survive today with an active toddler needing my attention. I'm trying to avoid more stress, so I will try to endure this one step at a time. But God, why does this have to be so physically painful.

Note: The current painkiller kicked in after almost 3 hours. Oh, and I also had to chew the pills, because like seriously, tell me how to take pills without movements?

And I am so hungry.

Since I started running, I'm so hungry, all the time.

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Things that can help: eat pain-killer, wear neck braces (but not too long because you still need to move and stretch to recover faster), rest, and yes, those painful stretches. I had this ugly neck brace since 2015 kot, rarely wear but huge help when needed to limit head movement and for support.

Here's me this morning, chose this shirt because it's easy to sarung with fewer movements:

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Updates :

Day 2: In pain and I supposed the painkiller worked yesterday but the pain was too strong so I thought it didn't work. Today my pain subsided after less than 2 hours and I felt really sleepy so I walked around the house to finish up my Move ring and to avoid falling asleep.

Day 3: Still in pain, but I really want to drink coffee this morning. So, I chose to drink coffee and try to endure the pain until later this afternoon then I'll consider taking the painkiller, because, I am a flawed human and sometimes I do stupid things for the things that I love.

Note: I survived without consuming a painkiller but then I used a Salonpas pain-relief patch and it worked wonders.

Day 4: I changed into a sitting position by myself when I woke up this morning. I can now lift my hands. But there is still slight soreness in those areas and also a throbbing pain on the upper left side of my head when I touch it (just like an early migraine symptom).

Day 5: Just soreness and slight of a tight muscle alongside my right neck and shoulder. The rash from the pain-relief patch is starting to show, even though I wore it 2 days ago, only for 6 hrs or so (I'm allergic to the glue). The throbbing pain on the upper left side when I touch it is still there. 

Day 6: Same as day 5, with soreness and tight muscles, and throbbing pain on my head. I started laying down on the acupressure mat today.

Day 7: Same as yesterday, the soreness and tight muscles are still there. Less, but unfortunately still can't draw. 

Little Stories 86 : Muscle Strain & Stiff Neck

I'm having a stiff neck since yesterday. Muscles alongside of my neckline, shoulder and almost all my upper body are affected. It didn't stop me from having a usual day yesterday with minimal limited movement but today, at 3.30am I woke up. The pain was unbearable, I was stuck in one position : laying on my back with a low pillow. I guess I reached my critical moment, I knew it was quite bad. I texted Aja and asked whether she was awake and got no reply.

For 15 minutes I tried to lift my body in sitting position and I failed. My hands were locked in limited movement and you can try yourself : trying to lift your body without bending anything is almost impossible. So I put both my legs down next to the bed, when my upper body was lifted tiny bit, I put fluffy pillow slowly on my back and try to support my neck with my hands. Then I crawled my body down until I got into a sitting position. That took another 10 minutes and I was sweating. I was feeling a bit like drugged Leonardo in Wolf of the Wall Street, when he was crawling back to his car *if you know what I mean :

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Those were some glimpse of what body paralysis can do and it wasn't even half bad. Imagine if your full body is paralyze and it will no longer response to your need. Hm.

Well later I managed to go to Aja's room and asked for a neck brace. She gave me some massage with minyak gamat to relax those muscles and reduce bloating, even though a doctor once told me to not touch it and let it subsides. I drank my own honey and ginger with hot green tea. Now I'm stuck in this stiff sitting position with limited movement and all I can do is blogging. 

PS : I'll definitely watch The Theory of Everything later to imagine what it feels like to be Stephen Hawking. And right now I need to take a shower before going to work, it's already 8.00am.