I broke a 170-day blogging streak yesterday (Thursday) by failing to post anything. The reason for this lapse was that on Wednesday evening I started to experience very painful back spasms which carried on all night and made it almost impossible to get any sleep. It seems only very slight movements would trigger one of these, so it wasn’t just getting into and out of bed that caused problems: even adjusting my sleeping posture triggered a stabbing pain. Getting out of bed involved various abortive attempts to twist and slide into a position from which I could stand before finally managing to find one that minimised the pain. Standing up was OK, but the transition to sitting or lying, or walking, was perilous. As was getting dressed…
I had to be on campus in the morning so I made my way there gingerly and did what I had to do, but sitting in a chair was even more difficult than lying down, and I wasn’t getting anything useful done, so I decided to go home, try to get some rest and hope a bit of natural healing would mend whatever had gone wrong.
I’ve had such spasmodic attacks before though it has been a while since the last one, and they haven’t usually been quite so painful. In the past they’ve usually lasted just a few days and I hoped that would be the case this time too, especially because I have to start teaching on Monday! Luckily that seems to be true, as this morning I found I could get out of bed much more easily than yesterday. I am still getting twinges but, fingers crossed, I think it will pass.
As to what brought this all on, I have no idea.
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