Carpal Tunnel Coping Tips

It's no secret that I suffer from chronic CTS and that I'm hoping to have surgery before the end of the year. Some of my friends, however, also suffer, though (thankfully) not to the same extent. Still, just because they can't get surgery, doesn't mean they don't suffer. So I promised to compile a list of tips for you, some are obvious and often repeated, some aren't often included on carpal tunnel pamphlets.

• The obvious: avoid activities that exacerbate the symptoms.
• If you can't avoid something (e.g. it's part of your job), try to find a different way of doing it. Maybe hold the controller a different way, or use your other hand as often as possible.
• Keep your wrist straight when typing. Adjust your keyboard. Use a wrist pillow. Keep your wrists up, like they taught you in school. Basically, keep your hand level with your arm. When you bend your wrist, it cuts off the tunnel more, hence the pain after hours of typing.
• If your hand/wrist/arm/elbow hurts, raise it to heart level or above.
• Ice, rather than heat. 30 mins
• Aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs. Whatever will reduce the swelling. Use these in moderation, of course.
• Massage the nerve running round your elbow.
• Stretch your muscles, but slowly, as if you're doing yoga.
• Avoid sharp, staccato movements.
• Avoid the salty foods. They cause you to retain water, bloat, and constrain the pathway through your wrist.
• Don't hold up books. Rather, place them on the tabletop and hold the pages down.
• If you can carry things by balancing them on your palm, rather than gripping them, do it. This is especially important when you've reached the same point as me, as dropping becomes a major concern.
• Take a warm shower.
• Use a splint or brace when it's especially painful. Using one at night is also quite beneficial.

Insomnia: What It Is & How to Deal With It

Despite what WebMD & pharmaceutical companies may lead you to believe, the tiredness you're feeling every now and again may not be insomnia. These days it seems that everyone who is awake at night or is tired in the morning is blaming insomnia for their sleep troubles, and that may not be the case. In a study 23 out of 100 people were found to suffer from insomnia, but what that doesn't tell you is how many suffer from acute or chronic insomnia. What you all are calling insomnia may be a short-term thing or it may just be a lack of sleep or a disturbance in your sleep cycle.

Acute insomnia can last just a few days or be a problem that comes and goes over time. It is caused by stress, pain or discomfort, another medical issue, environmental factors, or a change in your sleep cycle.
Chronic insomnia is long lasting and more severe.

You do not have insomnia if you stay up all night by choice.
You do not have insomnia if you spend the entire night on the internet just because you can.
You do not have insomnia if you wake up tired to your alarm after only four hours of sleep.

Tips for dealing with insomnia:

Stay away from computers, televisions, books, and anything else that may distract you. These only allow you to stay up later and occupy your brain even more. They do not help you sleep. So, really, if you are online talking about how you can't sleep, you're only making it worse for yourself.

Make your bed your sleeping place, not your living space. If you have your bed only for sleeping, your body relates it with sleep instead of awake activities.

Set a schedule, the more you stick to it, the better chance you will have of getting to sleep at night. If you have a lot of trouble falling asleep allow yourself time to do so. The important thing is that you go to bed at the same time every night, whether you are tired or not.

Again with the schedule, do something at night to help you fall asleep that doesn't take too much brain power. I myself pray and go through my day in my head, trying to remember all the good things and not focus on the bad. Another trick I sometimes try is to play the alphabet game with comic/book/tv series. Such as A is for Albus Dumbledore, B is for Buckbeak, C is for Crookshanks, etc etc. It's a personal thing and related to you, but it should not be something that requires a lot of brain power

Do not sleep during the day. If you immediately take a two-hour nap when you get home, is it any wonder you're not tired a few hours later when it's time for bed? I really don't care how tired you are, you are not allowed to sleep during the day.

Allow yourself time to wake in the morning. Remember to stick to that schedule though. If you wake up at the same time every day, you are more likely to wake up feeling rested than if you wake up at 7 one day and 10 the next then maybe 8 the day after that. Consistency is key.

Take warm baths at night about a half hour or an hour before you go to bed as they will help your body relax. Showers are not recommended because they will wake you up, but for some people it works (works for me, but this is not so common). If you have to take a shower every morning to wake yourself up, do not take one before bed and opt for the bath instead. Also, if you need that morning shower, it is still okay to take a bath at night. You are allowed to bathe more than once in 24 hours, you know.

Keep the room quiet and dark. This should go without saying, but really, you would be surprised. Do not have the tv on, do not turn on the radio, and turn off all lights and electronics you can. Sure your lava lamp or Christmas lights may look cool, but they are not helping you sleep. Keep them on during the day, but turn them off at night (this also helps to conserve electricity).

Think about what you are eating and when. If you are eating something close to bedtime that is going to give you heartburn, well, it's not wonder you're not sleeping well. If you eat too much, you might have trouble also. Same goes for not eating anything (and really, you will regret that when you get up in the morning).

This goes along with the above, but avoid caffeine and sugar late in your day as they will only wake the body up even more. Instead try to drink water, non-caffienated warm drinks, or low-sugar fruit juices late at night.

Ultimately, it's something you have to work at each and every day. You can't just fix things overnight and drugs aren't the best option either. You may not even have chronic insomnia to begin with and it may be related to stress or some illness, in which case, you need to deal with that first before you can get decent sleep again.

One more thing, you may not need as much sleep as others do anyway. If you can wake up feeling rested after only five or six hours of sleep, there is nothing wrong with you. Enjoy your extra hours, by all means. Just because you are awake at 2 AM does not mean you are an insomniac. It's when you lay in bed for hours at a time and can't sleep or wake up constantly in the night or feel lethargic and irritable all day long that you have to worry.

And, from the insomniac's point of view, just saying you are an insomniac when really all you are doing is forcing yourself to stay up to watch a tv show or something on youtube? Yeah, we don't like that. And you're not doing yourself any favours either.

BEDA09: Day 6: Meeting Guys & Girls at the Gym & Why This is a Bad Idea

Okay, so today I finally had the time and the determination to take that little card over to Cardinal Fitness to get my free day's worth of a workout. I have had this card for a few weeks now, ever since my co-worker Susan gave it to me. First off, this was not an insult or a hint to loose a few pounds. I work at Jenny Craig and Susan had just worked out a little deal with the guy at Cardinal so that they would each refer clients to the other and he gave her a whole stack of day passes. She offered one to me and I took it.

Fast forward to today when I finally go. I show up, walk straight to the front desk and say to the three people standing there "I need some information on joining up, please." I said please because I am generally a polite person. The guy looks at me, slides a little clipboard over and has me write down some information (they will likely use this info to bother me by phone tomorrow, or by mail next week). One of the girls wanders off, and the other one turns to the guy and says "I got this one." He looks at her and says "Nah, it's cool," then turns to me and offers to show me around. I get a short tour of this place, and it's pretty small, honestly.

Now, I need to mention something here. This trainer is cute, he is very cute. Not my type really, but cute. He had nice hair and about a billion freckles. He smiled a lot. So I think I only heard about 80% of what he said (which honestly is only slightly less than usual...ADD child here) because I was trying to figure out not how to get his number (I'm happy with my current situation, thanks), but why fitness trainers are all so good looking. Yes, they are healthy and healthy is attractive, but come on, you get a lot of your looks from genes. So is there a gene that makes you want to work in a health club? Are you somehow drawn to gyms because your great-great-aunt on your mother's side was once a world class gymnasts' trainer? I have no idea. I didn't have time to figure this out or ask him questions about his lineage (which would be weird, but not completely out of character for me), because he immediately started trying to sell me the program. By the way, the deal changed and I could no longer join for $10; I'm not happy about that. We'll get back to that point though in a minute.

I whip out my pretty little card and say "Actually, I want to use this today." Freckle Boy looked disheartened (I wonder if they work on commission) but he took my card and my ID (I'm not sure why) and tells me to have fun. I ask him where the ladies locker room is because he didn't say or because I was too distracting wondering about his great-great aunt on his mother's side. Who I suspect was secretly Irish, but moved to Russia because that's where the gymnasts were at the time. This is beside the point though.

A few minutes later I'm on that treadmill and I'm wondering a few things. The thought that kept coming up though was why do people always want to meet someone at the gym? This is a horrible place to find a potential date people!! Yes, your date will be healthy and maybe muscular and/or athletic. Or they could be like you and just pretending to get a proper workout while on the prowl for a date. Plus, now think long & hard about this one: do you really want to meet someone while you're all sweaty & gross? More importantly, do you want to meet someone while THEY are all sweaty & gross? I don't know about you, but I don't. Plus, if you get the date and they turn out to be a horrible person that you never want to see again, how do you face them at the gym next time?

From what I observed today with my free day pass is that no one really wants to meet someone at the gym. Okay, that's not true. Everyone wants to meet someone somewhere and the gym is not off-limits. There were people checking each other out, but in the end, the gym is not an ideal place to meet someone. Most people just plugged in their headphones and walked on the treadmill or sat on a bike. Headphones are the perfect thing to send the "I-Don't-Want-To-Talk-To-Anyone-Now" vibe. It works about 93% of the time, try it. Some girls were texting on their phones (I'm not being sexist, I'm just reporting what I saw), which gives off the I'd-Rather-Talk-To-Someone-Else vibe, which may be even more effective at getting people to leave you alone. It's easier to listen to music though if you're running. Most women did not wear a lot of makeup, because they were working out. They're going to get all nasty anyway, why go through the hassle of getting pretty first? It's a waste of time and effort. No one dresses up to look nice when they go to the gym--it's simply impractical.

So, tell me, why do people always think that when they join a gym they'll meet someone fabulous and amazing to sweep them off their feet (or someone you can sweep off their feet)? There are thousands of places better to meet someone! Unless, of course, cute, freckle-faced trainers who were somewhere along the line secretly Irish, then by all means, join the gym and if I decide that it's not worth going to my first choice gym and go to Cardinal, then we can work out together. I'll even talk to Freckle Boy for you & be your wing-girl. It's something I'm good at. But if that's not what you want, ignore the stories and look for someone where you are comfortable.

If you like books and want to meet a cute, Nerdfighting girl who likes books also, try Barnes & Noble. If you are caffeine-addicted and want to meet a nice guy who doesn't make fun of you for drinking four cups an hour, try Starbucks. There's always the internet, but be careful there. And if you're in Chicagoland and need a wing-girl who writes really long blogs like this one, call me.

BEDA, Sick, & Script Frenzy

So...it's BEDA. Which is Blog Every Day April. And I'm just barely getting this in on time. I actually did vlog earlier today and I'm working on getting that up right now. I look totally miserable in it though because I'm sick and I've had a really sucky week that will not end. If it wasn't already a day late, I would just re-shoot tomorrow.
Anyway, I already blog every day over on my LiveJournal so for this challenge I thought I would see how many days I can blog other places. This includes here, 5NerdsomeWriters, and maybe Maureen Johnson's ning, because that's where this all started. Well, technically it all started on Twitter, but it's centered on the MJ Ning.

It's also Script Frenzy, which I did not know about until about fifteen minutes ago. My friend Casye just begged me to join it with her, so I'm going to try. You write a script that is 100 pages long in 30 days. This is not as intense as NaNoWriMo thankfully, so I'm going to give it a shot. I make no promises though. I'll update you guys about that.

If you want a real blog, go read my post from yesterday on 5NerdsomeWriters about children's literature and why I think it's better than adult lit.