Tiara's Tuesday Talk – Don't Ignore Those Nagging Pains!

Tiara’s Tuesday Talk – by Sara Sheibley 

We all perceive pain differently. Some of us also fit nicely on that little pain scale in the doctor’s office…

(Although 1 looks a little too happy)

And some of us use one all of our own.

 
They call this difference in all of us our pain threshold. How much pain we can endure before it gets to be too much. When it gets to that point, what do you do? Some people go see a doctor. Some of us, especially those of us with chronic illness tend to take something and go lie down. However, new pain should not be ignored.
With this walk  even the healthiest of us may experience pain. From shin splints…

to blisters or enthesitis…

to “new nagging back (neck, shoulder, etc…) pain”…

There is a chance you may “feel the burn” in more than one way. I know I felt it after I accidently walked over 16,000 steps just cleaning and walking the dog, Henry.

 

(This is Henry and myself)

Are you doing the million step challenge? Have you tried to get in a 5K? How do your feet feel after you’re done? Achy, sore, tired feet need a good soak in some warm water with Epsom salts. Ooooo… Those miracle little salt crystals. Soak your whole body and it will love you for it.

The thing to be aware of is when enough is ENOUGH. That little nagging ouch could be the sign of a bigger problem. How so? Let me share a little story…
For about 3 weeks or so I had a pain in my foot. Just a nagging little pain but the more I walked, the more it hurt. I tried ice, rest, elevating but that only provided temporary relief. So off to the doctors I went, finally. I saw my podiatrist who did and x-ray and low and behold I had the start of a stress fracture. I left with a lovely new boot to walk around in.
Well… 6 weeks later (and a lot of boot walking) every part of my body was out of whack from gimping along in that darn boot! Back to the podiatrist and my little fracture was healed but I still had pain. So we did a MRI. That showed a little bursitis but nothing to write home about. Now my foot had become a mystery. Dun dun dun!

Back to the foot doctor and 3 copays later I was diagnosed with posterior tibular neuritis. Anything they can do for it? No. However we did discover that because of the pain, I was walking on the outside of my foot, which lead to the stress fracture of my 5th toe. Ultimately, I could have done some very bad damage to my foot if I had continued to ignore the nagging little pain.
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes that nagging little pain is your bodies way of telling you to STOP what you are doing and get help. SO… Don’t ignore those little nagging pains, okay??? OKAY?!?
 
 
 
Sara Sheibley is a wife and mother of four.  Through out most of her life she has dealt with chronic illness. Born with small fiber axonal polyneuropathy, she had aches and pains early on but wasn’t diagnosed with AS until 2008. Since then she has had to champion her own cause after she developed hemalytic anemia from treatments. Although she suffers with more than just AS, she feels that this is her primary illness and wants to be active in helping the cause. Sara & her Tiara’s Tuesday Talk will discuss a myriad of topics from assistive devices to walking help when you have other illnesses to consider.