Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group i feel so much better!

thanks donette!

first good sleep without ice in weeks! just laid down flat, back on bed, head on feather pillow, knees over pillows, and just slept without body going into "Alert! Alert!"

though its nice i've now got someone who can get it moving again when it gets stuck, and the nice thing about a chiro is the wait time is short, and for an emergency sure he'd squeeze me in.

however with that i'd too like to learn how to do this myself or see if my hubby would be amenable to learning. i asked him and he was pretty reluctant, don't blame him, but maybe if its not too rough, we'll see.

just so thrilled for the sleep and that my body is no longer in crisis, for now.

thanks for sharing all your knowledge!

and yeh, he's helping me with flexibility too, so maybe that itself will help.

ABSOLUTELY!

I like that we are seeing from you a change in perspective and terminology here, an attitude shift, recognizing that there are "fight or flight" modes with something like adrenaline/cortisol kicking in

Opens the door to thoughts about those modes and states being a very real enemy, what kinds of physical changes take place when we are in one of those modes? Increased glandular production, taxing our systems? Muscle tension/ tightness making them more vulnerable to creating knots, trigger points and even muscle tears?

And hopefully, we will soon be thinking about not just ways to AVOID going into those states, but ways in which we can still experience GOOD excitement, without our bodies taking the toll

Sue:

I have taken an interest in flexibility ever since the AS stiffness kicked in. I am sure a lot of us have. If I am blessed enough to go into remission or be cured I am going to go all out with flexibility training. I am tired of being inflexible and stiff. I would love to be able to stretch my hamstrings out one day and get my nose close to my knees. Two of my best friends married dance instructors. Their wives' flexibility is incredible. I watch some of these professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars and am amazed at how flexible they are.

Glad to hear you're getting to enjoy a good patch, Sue, after enduring so many bad patches. Always brings a smile to my face when I read a "feeling good" post!

Brad

one of the nice things is that this was the first doctor to get what i was talking about.

though i may not have lots of answers on this, one thing i know: one way to avoid these states is to not have any bones where they don't belong! oh i'm just so happy for that pain to be gone, i can deal with the lower level stuff.

and yes, all those things do happen when those states exist for a long time. last year when it was really bad for several months, i was daily treating muscle spasms. this time it didn't even snowball that far.

and back in the late 1990s, not knowing how to manage the muscle spasms, being like that for months to years, had a rope of triggerpoint material that had to be undone and muscles all had to be retrained, lots of work by PTs and physiatrists.

and now hoping this chiro will help things even more, not only to help manage things, but to prevent, that is the ultimate goal.

one of the interesting things the chiro told me was how as we get older our strength increases but our flexibility decreases (until we get older where our strength starts to decrease) and its this imbalance of strength and flexibility that can cause so many issues. so yes, he's gonna help me with this.

i know kat talks about this a lot: between her pilates and dance, she's been able to maintain a good deal of flexibility. sounds like she really works at it, but encouraging to know she has been able to do this.

thanks brad,

yes, always nice to be able to share good news

Hi Sue,
I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. I had to go look up rhomboid area because I didn't know what it was, but now I see that it sure looks like a painful area.