Quote:
Originally Posted by catra121
So tomorrow I am going back to work. I am an Assistant Store Manager at a big box retailer. I have a lot of restrictions about what I cannot do...but I am going back. I am excited and scared.
I am excited because I really love my job and I have missed it, along with the people there. It is terrible being home alone with little to no contact with other people. I want to feel like I have a purpose and that I am contributing something. I am just not the sort of person who could sit at home and not work.
I am scared because I am still in a lot of pain. I know that with RSD the pain is just something that I have to live with. But I am just scared about how much I will or will not be able to do. I know I can't do my full job, being on my feet 9+ hours a day, doing a lot of physical things like lifting and pushing, going up and down ladders, etc. I just am not physically able to do all those things with the pain, and I am scared that it just won't be good enough.
But I am totally committed to trying, I'm just not sure how it will work and I am scared. I know it's sort of silly to be scared, but I just can't shake it. I really hope that I can work something out where I can do all the work that I used to.
I think going back is going to be a good thing for me emotionally and maybe physically. I know I need to push to try to get myself back to "normal" and hopefully being back at work will force me to push myself to my limits.
I just felt like I needed to share this. My doctor just doubled my dose of Lyrica so that I am taking I think 300 MG a day and I should be getting a TENS unit in the next week or so pending approval from work comp. I am really hoping that I will be able to control the pain and that it will help me to get back to normal as well.
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Hi Catra and Welcome to Nerotalk. I'm so sorry you have this, but glad you are feeling like going back to work. Did your Dr. write out your restrictions or WC? 300 mg is not a huge abount of lyrica-I took 3200 mg a day in order to keep my spasms, electric jolts jerks to stop.
Do you have an WC attorney. They can give you the guidlines where you can take and work within those limitations. I miss terribly doind the secular work I was doing. It's been 15 years. I miss my freedom and sports, like tennis and water skiing, snow skiing, aerobics etc.
But I haven't given up and working on building my immune system up. I'm at peace within. Have a wonderful family and friends here. Hope you have support of family and friends too.
Catra, I'm a horse lover!!!!My grandpartents had a 100 acre farm. fryer chickens, pigs, eggs,I had 2 horses, rode in the rodeo, My horse was trained for barrel racing. So much fun. We lived 1/2 mile away, so I rode my horse every day. We eventually made the farm into a 400 unit mobile home park. I like the name thunderpants-so cute. My horse was named Jo Jo. He was Arabian and Quarter Horse. So quick off the line.
Our daughter road equestrian 5-6 years at a nearby stables. She loved it, but didn't want to compete.
Catra, our condition involves the sympathetic nervous system, right? RSD involves the Limbic system, which is responsible for our anxiety level. It's responsible why we can't always feel at peace. In fact, anxiety is a common occurance with our conditionl When I first got RSD, I was having panic attacks, and didn't have a clue what was going on. But lorazepam was a huge help. I told my Dr. I would rather be out of vicodin than lorazepam. I think it the reason why I don't always like being around a group of people. Before RSD I was a very social person, having get togethers, 70 people at out house. I loved entertaining. Now, I can't imagine doing that.
It's the reason why it's important to be calm before dental appt. calm before any appointment. I feel now like withdrawing into my room, if there is too much commotion going on in the house. Does that make any sense?
Catra, if your are at work and feel anxious, find a quiet spot and close your eyes, and visualize your favorite beach,lake,river, mountain, watever and hear the waves, birds, picture yourself surfing, water skiing, walking on the beach-it is so calming and it WILL HELP.
The Tens Unit helped me a lot. I reorder the leads a couple of times.
Something that you can do in the evening that helps desensitize you is get 4 or 6 flat pans 2-3 inches deep. In one put cotton balls, another sand or sugar, rice, popcorn kernals, dry kidney beans, run each foot thru a bowl and the move on to the next bowl. It helps desensitize you foot-hand, whatever you run your hand thru. I learned that at pt.
Hope you have a nice weekend and low pain days.We had some bad weather and resulting pain, but feel pretty good now.Take care, your friend, loretta with soft hugs
