I’ve had some amount of pain during the night for years thanks to my unstable SI joint. Thanks to medication it’s been well managed for over 3 years and wasn’t really something I thought a lot about. Last year around Thanksgiving, though, a thyroid medicine change caused an enormous spike in my nighttime pain. Instead of just being in my butt it was tension in my hamstrings, calves, and feet. And instead of being managed by my medication, it was like being on fire all night long.
In the intervening months it’s been up and down, with an awful lot of down. Unexpected things have set it off and sometimes the things that I have tried to manage the pain have ended up making it worse.
It wasn’t very bad at the beach or on the cruise, which I now think is due to the excellent physical therapy treatment called “putting your legs in the warm minerally ocean for hours every day.” Sadly this successful treatment isn’t covered by insurance.
In the weeks since we’ve been home from the cruise it’s gotten worse and worse and made my nights more and more miserable. Two weeks ago I even bought a portable inflatable hot tub on Amazon, thinking that surely soaking in the hot water every night before bed would provide some relief. To my surprise/disappointment/frustration it wasn’t helpful at all, although sitting out there every night with Russ was definitely a relationship benefit.
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Last Sunday I noticed an announcement in the bulletin about a blood drive on Thursday. I tend to ignore those announcements these days because the last time I gave blood a couple of years ago I bled so slowly that I timed out and they threw away my blood. It hurt WAY too much for that to be ok with me, and I figured I’d have to find other ways to be a good citizen. But this time the announcement said that there is a blood shortage in our area and I thought maybe, if I could find a way to increase my chances of donating successfully, I would donate again. After church I did some googling (what did we do before google??) and found two suggestions: hydrate well (which I’d already known and already done) and take aspirin to thin the blood. I tracked down some aspirin that day and took it that night and the next day, and worked on hydrating even more, even though I was really always drinking water already.
On Tuesday I had a massage with a new massage therapist at work. I explained to him what my biggest problems are right now—the car accident shoulder, and the night time fiery tension. After the massage he said something I wasn’t expecting to hear. He said that my leg muscles felt very dehydrated, and that when muscles and fascia are dehydrated they can drag against each other and cause pain.
This was interesting AND frustrating, since I was already trying so hard to be hydrated! It made me think about the fact that while I was always drinking water, I rarely actually felt hydrated. But I didn’t know what to do about it. It was also frustrating that despite having had an excellent massage, Tuesday night was hugely painful.
Wednesday night was YW, and it was a combined personal progress night. I didn’t want to go because I never want to go (though I’m always happy once I’m there) and I considered not going because I figured there would be plenty of leaders there and no one would miss me. But I grabbed my water bottle and went, though a little late as always.
I was sitting between my friend who cuts my hair, and one of the other leaders. As I grabbed my water bottle to take a drink, I told Kathy that I was signed up to donate blood the next day but I wasn’t very confident that I’d been able to, because I was having such a difficult time getting hydrated. And then she said,
Sometimes I put a teaspoon of chia seeds in my water bottle because drinking the water with the chia in it makes the water stay in my body longer and hydrates me better.
My first thought was “that’s so strange" and my second was “good thing I have some chia seed I’ve never been able to figure out how to use, I’m totally going to try that.” So Thursday morning I got up, grabbed a full water bottle, and added 3/4 t. of chia seed, shook it, and started drinking.
Wow was that strange. Kind of like drinking water with frog eyes in it. But it wasn’t unbearable and so I kept drinking it. The first thing I noticed was that I needed to go to the bathroom much less throughout the day. The second thing I noticed was that when I went to give blood (after having had at least 6 chia seed spiked water bottles throughout the day) the needle went in much more easily and they got enough blood in time!!
[Fun facts: You have 20 minutes to donate blood. It took me 9.5 minutes this time. The guy said he thought the average was 6-7 minutes. Russ is an excellent blood donater and currently holds the record for the Red Cross bus at Intel for a 4.5 minute donating.]
The third thing I noticed was that my muscles stayed relaxed. All. Night. Long. It was AMAZING and I was so grateful that I wanted to cry. I was afraid to celebrate too soon, though, because I’ve had other randomly better nights. So Friday I focused on more hydration again and again on Friday night I was fine! Last night was my third good night, and that was after working outside for 7 hours in the heat on Cindy Lynn’s deck!
I’m hopeful for the first time in a long time. I have prayed and prayed and prayed about this. I have taken so many supplements hoping that they would help that buying a hot tub didn’t seem like an unreasonable expense. I even investigated and bought (and am using) hemp oil, which is supposed to help with pain and sleeping. Finally I feel like I have a real answer to my prayers, a miracle that occurred in the most random way possible. I’m so glad I decided to try to give blood this week!
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On Friday I googled more. Some people, it seems, have problems hydrating well with plain water, which almost all I ever drink. For the time being I’m going to try to drink only my frog-eye water, water with electrolytes in it, or at the very least, water with a pinch of sugar and a pinch of sea salt. I’m very curious to see if I notice any other changes as I become better hydrated.
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