I have this strange way of thinking about pain and illness. This has only really occurred to me as my periods have gotten heavier and crampier over the past few months. I feel like when my body gets sick, it has a natural process for ridding itself of the offending intruder or healing the injury and I have this almost superstitious belief that if I take medicine to dull pain or dry up mucous or whatever, it will slow down or somehow derail my body's natural healing process.
I suspect that if I take a pain pill, it will make it take longer for my period to be over. That by dulling the pain and mellowing the cramps, I'm actually stretching out the process. That somehow the more it hurts, the better my uterus will be cleaned out of the blood. When I had my miscarriage, I wouldn't take the vic.odin until it was all over and I wanted to sleep hard. I think of myself as a total wuss, but I seem to have a higher tolerance for pain than I once thought.
My reluctance to take pain pills is increased by the fact that acetaminophen does absolutely nothing for me and never has. I have an unfortunate reaction to ibuprofen, and you can only take so much naproxen per day. Since I do sometimes get debilitating migraines and episodes of sciatica, I have a prescription for ketoprofen which I hoard like magic beans.
This last time around, the cramps were so bad I had to take a pain pill.
I'm hoping there's someone out there that can tell me I'm not crazy.
hugs.You are not crazy and what you feel is quite understandable. Despite all these hardship we are encountering I wish you your ultimate heart desire to come true and that answered prayer will be given asap.
ReplyDeleteOh, babe. Sorry to hear the cramps are so bad... I don't know what to tell you. I don't think you're crazy at all for wanting to get through it med-free. It IS what your body is naturally doing. But, I also don't think it would be terrible for you to take something to ease the pain. I know this month I haven't taken nearly as much pain medication as I normally do - trying to keep the system "clean." At least you know AF will leave soon, and you'll be pain free!
ReplyDeleteI'm the same way. I hate taking over the counters. Maybe it's some sort of Catholic fondness for the cleansing powers of suffering or something (on my part anyway).
ReplyDeleteI really hope the pain gets better soon. I've actually had lighter, less painful periods since my miscarriage. Not sure if that's good or bad. Like so much else in this process.