Along the way I have learned a lot, some that I will share here in this post. While writing is therapeutic for me, my goal is to help others suffering from costochondritis (as it is a relatively rare condition) as well as other chronic pain or health conditions.
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| Beaches are my stress relief |
First and foremost: I have learned that this journey will continue well past August. I had two thoughts when I started this project. The first one was that I would maybe, just maybe, be fully healed from costo by now. Sadly, this is not the case at all. The second thought is that this project would be too difficult to maintain while traveling and even more impossible once I'm back to work.
I have decided that the above is not the case. With the help of some of my medical providers as well as my own experiences drawn from this journey, I now know I can continue on this path of healing while traveling and while returning to a crazy schedule in the fall. I would like to continue to share how this journey unravels while traveling in a few weeks. I am hoping this may inspire others with pain to not be afraid to travel with a little extra planning.
The second thing I have learned is to not give up. We know our own bodies best and while many of the medical providers I have encountered have been extraordinarily helpful to me on this discovery, some have been completely baffled and a small minority have been close-minded. From chatting online with other costochondritis sufferers around the globe, I have heard horror stories of doctors ignoring symptoms or believing the symptoms are psychological and not physical.
Having experienced unhelpful providers in the past, I was ready to put up a fight with providers if they tried to go down this path, but luckily that really didn't come up much this time around. But in the meantime I listened to my body, didn't try anything that didn't feel right for me, kept a detailed health journal of my symptoms, and did my best to explain myself to providers.
Help is out there, if you have not found the right people who are willing to listen and who really hear what you have to see, keep searching. Don't give up. Reach out to others who may be able to point you in the right direction. Social media outlets can be helpful in finding resources. Facebook has some well-established closed (aka private) costochondritis groups where members vent and receive support and share tips and resources.
Thing three that I learned (re-learned is a better word) is that family is everything. It is easy to get stuck in your own head during this windy road - this very long windy road. Being hyper-focused on my health sometimes was a barrier to living in the moment and focusing on what's important in my life.
I knew this already but it was hard some days because I was in so much pain and that pain hindered everything. Luckily, I have an amazing family and have truly won the "lottery of life." My family is the reason I have something to look forward to every day, my motivation to get up and push through the pain, and the reason I laugh every day (even though laughing hurts sometimes!). Whether family is your pet, your spouse, your kids, your parents, your siblings, or your best friend: cherish them, laugh with them, talk with them; you won't regret it. (Balance this time with rest and recovery if needed. Going out somewhere with family often meant laying down after with heat, pain creams, and medicine.)
The fourth thing I learned is that everything we have been taught to eat since we were kids (at least in America) is wrong, wrong, wrong. I am going to save most of this information for a future blog where I will list resources and research so you don't think I'm just blowing steam. But I thought that I ate relatively healthy (on my good days) but I really wasn't. Some of the finer details of nutrition will be different for everyone because our bodies are different, however we need much more vegetables (especially the green varieties) than we think and much less grains and protein than we think we should be having. I am still working on my nutrition and it takes a long time to heal all those years of unhealthy eating, but I am happy with the changes I am making. More to come later!
Life changing book:
The fifth major thing I have discovered is how important physical activity is. Again, I knew this and I enjoyed fitness before costo. I loved zumba, walking, yoga, light weight lifting, P90X and more. I always felt better when moving. But I also love learning and could spend hours researching, taking classes, writing, etc. I had symptoms of costo years before I was diagnosed, but costo finally kicked my butt in October after working two jobs for a few months trying to advance my career. Both jobs are stressful and sedentary. There wasn't any time for exercise, plus it hurt.
After the diagnosis I spent months trying to balance pain and physical fitness. My fitness tracker became my number one enemy. Everytime it vibrated, telling me to get up and walk around, I would feel worse and worse about my predicament, but I was afraid to move and be in more pain. There were more days than I would like to count that I needed help putting on or taking off shirts, lifting clean dishes to the cabinets, bending over to tie my shoes, and opening doors. Who wants to work out when they are in that much pain?!
One of the many symptoms of costo is shortness of breath. I had this even while lying still. Trying to exercise (even walk) was tough at the beginning of this journey (just over a month ago)and being out of shape only made physical fitness more difficult. I was hard on myself, wondering if I would ever be fit again. I am not very patient, especially with myself, so learning how to slowly (and I mean slowly) build up endurance and strength was not easy for me. I had to learn how small the increments of change and progress would be.
Looking back now, though, it wasn't all that long. It may not sound like much but when I started this project I couldn't do much more than 10-15 minutes of walking or the elliptical machine but now I can do up to 45 without more pain (I still can't swing my arms yet or use the arm poles on the elliptical). In the beginning I couldn't really do any arm exercises and now I can usually do three sets of 6-8 reps of a few traditional arm/shoulder exercises every other day without too much discomfort. I still don't have any strength in my pecs/chest and can't do more than 5 wall pushups without pain that lasts 2-3 days. But I'll get there! Most importantly I can walk 2 miles outside comfortably - Iceland here I come!!
