Yeah, But Does It Work?

Now, I imagine you are probably wondering, "does what work?"

Say what?

Sorry, that sounded funnier in my noggin than it does in my bloggin'.

Okay, as I have mentioned before, I have peripheral neuropathy. I have PN in my feet, sometimes to my knees, and in my hands and arms.

PN can be quite painful. Sometimes it's a burning sensation, and sometimes it's pins n' needles, stabby-like, and sometimes it feels like a cat ripping your feet apart with fangs n' claws.
It can also get the muscles in the affected areas all super-clenched, tight, and charlie horse-like.
For me, the feet are the worst, but over the last year, in my hands n' arms it has progressed in pain.

Needless to say, it ain't no picnic. It also makes it difficult to sleep for long.
I take gabapentin and pain pills amd that does help, but the only drug that has ever completely knocked out the oain is oxycontin, and the VA only allows that if you're on your deathbed (spoiler alert: I didn't die, which is good news, but since I got better, no more oxycontin).

IRT the VA, pain management is not good. That's not my doctor's fault, it's the fault of bureaurats who think they know better than doctors.
The argument these idiots give for not allowing better pain management is that because a few guys abuse the pain meds (and some die as a result), it's too dangerous for everyone else who doesn't abuse them.

I'm willing to bet that more vets commit suicide because they can't get any relief from chronic pain than those who die because of drug abuse.
And it really pisses me off to no end (Big Trouble In Little China reference there...jest because) when bloody politicians and their ilk punish us law abiding folks because of what a few people foolishly do.

Regardless, the idiots who think they know better than doctors can't care less about what our vets are going through. Long as they keep getting their bonuses, even when they lie, cook their books and vets die as a result, there's no reason for them to be concerned.

Plus, whistleblowers under the Obama admin. get punished for telling the truth about these bureaurat scum, so I expect less will be willing to speak up when future abuses happen.
I guarantee obummercare will be far worse, but at least it's free. I mean, more expensive than it ever was.
As Bob has said, this is why we can't have nice things.

Anyways, about a month ago I decided to try deep tissue massage to see if that might help.
Of course, I hafta pay for that myself, because the VA doesn't cover it except sometimes in the case of physical therapy.
But I was gettin' a bit desperate, so fine, I thought, let's try it once and see if it's worth it.

Aye. It is definitely worth it. I felt remarkably better after my first visit, where the therapist worked on my arms, hands, shoulders and neck.
I have gone back every week since, to have the same areas worked on.

I haven't gotten the courage to have my feet worked on, because I can barely wash my feet myself with a severe spike in pain, let alone massage them.
My therapist wants to try working on my hips and upper legs, the idea being it may help my feet and lower legs, since all the nerves are sort of connected, or something like that (I forget exactly how it went),  so I will give that a try.

I have tried other homeopathic stuff, like the pepper skin cream, but none of that helped.
Therapeutic massage does help, and tremendously, I am happy to report.
I also sleep better than I did before, and a bit longer, up to 3-4 hours now, in a row.
Before I started this, it was maybe 2 hours, or an hour here and there, or less.

Thank God I took a chance to try this. It's costly, but when you get to a certain point, then.., well, having more money sure ain't gonna take any pain away.
If you guys know anyone who may be suffering from PN, or any other sucky medical problems, pass it on.
Massage therapy just might help.

Oh, I almost forgot, there are several different types of massages, even one that is tailored for migraines, but a good, licensed MT can explain all that, and there's plenty of info online.
All I know for certain is that deep tissue massage works, and I went in expecting it not to really help much at all, so no placebo effect here.
I sure can't argue with the results. :)

Ain't Much Left Of Me

This song describes me to a high degree, when there wasn't much left of me.
I was at one of them there crossroads that we encounter only all the time in life.
But this crossroad was one of those rock bottom ones. You know the kind I'm talkin' about, when you are broken, hurting', desperate, depressed, dumbfounded, confounded, and, well, you get the idea.

Anyways, yeah, I've been to the crossroad of life n' death a few times more than I'd like to admit.
Where the only two choices I could think of was dyin' or livin', up or down for good (bad, actually), good or evil, God or gogdamn hell, or the closest thing to it this side of hell.

That terrible place where you can't think straight. All you know for sure is, if God won't save me (again) I'm done for. That's all he wrote, Bub. You don't hafta stick a fork in me, I'm past well done.
Ain't much left of me.

However...

When I turn to God everything gets better. Maybe not my material or physical situation (not right away), but my spirit and mind and heart. A thankful heart. And a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Now, there is more of me. The real me. The me I am destined for. The path is clear as God's grace shines on it.

Of course, there are other crossroads that are at various levels of the vertical, as well as the horizontal, but I tend to remember the worst ones a bit more than the best ones.
So I obviously oughtta be mindful of that and work harder to keep a thankful heart.

Here's a different version of the same song. I like 'em both.
I'm glad I found Blackberry Smoke. They are a very good band if you like southern rock/country rock/country.