a new routine

on monday morning i woke up with the most heinous knot in my back. i asked my mom to rub my back yesterday afternoon and when she barely touched the knot i screamed out in agony. i tried to be tough so she could rub it but i couldn't take it. 

today i got some myoflex (all the other muscle rubs smell soooo gross, they make me nauseous) and had my mom put it on. i don't know that it really helped much. i did some googling and found out that i should really be sleeping on my back, with a firm (foam) pillow to balance myself out so i can try to avoid getting more knots like this in the future. this is very common for people with...fibromyalgia. of course it is! 

after dinner tonight i got a new pillow and some tennis balls so i could do this:

Lie on the floor and wedge the tennis ball under you, so that it is pressing into the muscle knots around your shoulders. Then just roll around on it until you can feel the pressure releasing. If the knots are too tight and will not release, you may find that it works better in a sauna, where the heat makes the muscles more prone to relaxation. You can just take your tennis ball in with you and lie on a towel and work those knots out! If it is too painful for you to lie on the tennis ball, you can put the tennis ball in a sock and sit with your back against a wall and hang the tennis-ball-in-sock creation over your shoulder. 

so my new nighttime routine is as follows:

heating bad on shoulders/back for 20 minutes (to loosen up my muscles)

tennis ball for as long as i can stand it (hopefully 5-10 minutes)

stretches and some relaxation techniques

and i made this playlist to listen to while i'm stretching/trying to relax

cat power-sea of love

explosions in the sky-your hand in mine

gary jules-mad world

imogen heap-hide and seek

faultline-your love means everything

michael andrews-peter and sylvie

sia-breathe me

grizzly bear-knife

michael andrews-goldfish

about half of those are instrumental and the rest are still super mellow. i'm really hoping the relaxation works because it will help me with my biggest challenge of all, sleeping on my back. i am a side sleeper and i always have been. i have a hell of a time falling asleep on my back but if these knots are something i'm possibly going to have to battle for the rest of my life then i'm going to have to get used to the changes. 

another challenge that i will face is going straight to bed after this routine has been completed. i will have to fight the urge to jump on the computer to check things out before going to bed. doing that could end up canceling out all of the work i did to relax so i definitely need to avoid it. 

wish me luck.