It will feel better when it stops hurting

I remember my grandpa saying that when I was little. If I called right now to whine about my back, he’d probably say the same thing. And he’d be right.

A pinched nerve due to herniated discs is no fun, but neither is it the end of the world. Most people have a good shot at recovery. Painkillers, muscle relaxers, cortisone injections, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and a handful of therpy options, when utilized properly, bring relief in four to six weeks.

Valium is on my agenda this weekend. The Curious Case of Benjamen Button is here from Netflix, as well as Coraline, so that may be interesting once the Valium kicks in.

Pain has been a constant for most of my life. I thought for a long time that it was fibromyalgia, and that could be. However, the more I learn about Sensory Processing Disorder, the more I realize that my sensitivity to pain could be related to that.

My family would tell you I always complained about things hurting. It got to be that they were only concerned when there was blood, bruising, or they saw an injury happen. That used to upset me something fierce, but now I understand. Of all the times something hurt, only a few pains were worthy of attention. Recognizing my feelings and fears would have been better than brushing them off, but I think the lack of education about SPDs in the 1980s and 90s had a lot to do with their handling of it.

Playing ice hockey for the past year and a half seems to have eased many of my aches and pains. Sitting at the computer for hours on end has the opposite effect. I haven’t been able to skate since May because of my back, so I’m worried about the random aches returning.

I also wonder how a nuero-typical person would deal with my current situation. One of the guys I skated with at the beginning of the summer session had the same herniations as me at about the same time. When I saw him last, he was lacing up to go skate (just skate-not play) with his son. I am nowhere near that level of recovery. It seems like I always heal slower than people with similar injuries. Fibromyalgia or sensory issue? I don’t know. It’s probably both.

My daughter recently started complaining about things hurting. I can’t tell if she’s really in pain, or if she is trying to get attention. Mommy hurts, so The Munchie clearly must too, right? I remember being told I was just trying to get attention when I was her age. Telling the difference is difficult.
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Well, it’s time to go pick up that Valium. Someone has just upset me, so I’m angry. Not helpful. There is SO much more I want to say at the moment, but I can’t. I’ll avoid the issue until 8 can properly address it. So there. (It’s my blog, so I’m allowed to be snarky once in a while!)

So… have a good weekend.

Subtitle Change

It occurred to me that it might be presumptuous to have a subtitle of “Being a Woman with Aspergers…” when I haven’t been officially diagnosed. There is a more than middling–but less than certain–chance that I DO have Asperger’s Syndrome. What it comes down to is that I am not normal. Never have been, and never will be. I definitely do have Sensory Processing Disorder (which explains how I can have near perfect hearing yet have difficulty understanding what people say!), and I most definitely have a different perspective than the average human.

We’re early in the process of getting The Munchie thoroughly evaluated for where she falls on the spectrum. With her, there is little-to-no doubt. As a mom, this saddens me beyond belief. It’s not because she’s different, but that her differences make it hard for her to interact with people. She is a treasure to all who know her. Yes, I’m biased, but you should see all the staff and students with broken hearts at her school of the past three years, now that she’s moving on to a different school. (That is a story for another post.) She’s the sweet kid everyone falls in love with in spite of themselves. This is a gift I am grateful she has.

I’ll post more later. I had some ideas for useful information I can share through the blog. Really, it’s about more than me and my experience; it’s about embracing differences both within myself and with others, and providing information to help other “weird” people to be “happily eccentric”!

Being Happily Eccentric

What does that mean, “Happily Eccentric”? After feeling out of place all of my life, I have finally come to accept that I am who I am. I will never be “normal.” In fact, my interests are so eclectic that it’s hard to pin me down to one category. I stopped trying.

“Asperger’s Syndrome” seems to be a trendy diagnosis. Whether it is or not, it looks like it is one of the few consistent categories to which I can be pinned. The official diagnosis is yet to come this summer, but I’m pretty smart, and it’s not hard to point out how I fit into the symptoms. I’m lucky that social interaction isn’t nearly as painful for me as for most “Aspies.” I can talk with just about anyone. So how can I have Asperger’s if that’s the case? Let me try to explain.

differences among the different

I haven’t done enough reading yet to speak with any authority. What I do know is, like everything else in life, every Aspie is an individual, with her/his unique interests, strengths, weakness, and levels of functionality. A NASA engineer may have Asperger’s and benefit from their massive ability to focus on complex problems, whereas someone like me is very artistic and good at writing. It often comes down to what holds a person’s interest. In my case, I’ve always believed that if I wanted to learn something, I could, no matter what. Life has taught me otherwise, as some of the things I wanted to do had physical demands that I couldn’t meet. That said, when I decided I wanted to learn how to do web and graphic design, I never looked back. I love it, and I get it. Coding isn’t as evil as I feared. I’ll never be a genius with coding or scripting, but I can make things work! Of course, if you give me a choice between coding and creating art, it’s a no brainer: art!