Day 626

I don't know what's wrong with me. I woke up this morning with terrible neck pain. It was so bad that it took me almost ten minutes to get out of bed. I couldn't move my head left or right. I couldn't lift my head normally either. It felt like a big watermelon on top of my body. To sit upright in bed, I had to cradle my head in my hands and use my arms muscles to lift my head off the pillow.

All this was not looking good. Luckily Janet was able to walk the dogs for me this morning before she left for work. While she was doing this, I drove up to my doctor so I would be there when they opened at 8 AM. The doctor didn't think there were any neurological problems. She seemed to think the pain was a muscle spasm and gave me a muscle relaxer shot along with a prescription for an other type of muscle relaxer that I could take for up to 30 days. The shot worked. I felt much better by lunch time. I'm not so sure about the pills though. When the shot started to wear off, I took one of the pills, but haven't noticed much improvement yet. Maybe if I'm able to get a good night's sleep tonight, I'll feel better in the morning.

When I went to my pharmacy to get the pills, the pharmacist said they were out and that they'd been on back order for almost a month. When I asked what I could do, he said I could buy the $65 name brand version of the muscle relaxer, instead of the $5 generic version. There was apparently plenty of the more expensive pills. I remember reading an article just yesterday about how hospitals and pharmacies are having an increasing problem keeping certain essential drugs in stock. The pharmacist said it was all true and that a lot of drugs people really need just aren't readily available anymore. At any rate, I bought the expensive drug. What choice did I have?

I still had some writing jobs to complete this afternoon, but when I got caught up on everything, I took a nap with the dogs. The muscle relaxers must have helped, because I finally got a little sleep. Last night I didn't get any sleep at all. My doctor thinks stress is causing the pain. I seldom think I'm stressed out, but sometimes my body tells me otherwise. How do you relax when you don't even think you are tense though? Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

Daisy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day