I should probably finish up the back story..

So somehow sneezing caused me to have a back muscle inflammation.

In the last blog post, I was lying in bed with a sore back. Every time I tried to get out of bed, my back would hurt so badly that I had to lie down again. Then it got to the point where whenever I tried to sit up, I started fearing the pain and my muscles would tense up instinctively.

It was immensely frustrating being forced to stay in bed..and I also realised how many simple movements actually involve my back.

Finally I got fed up and decided to medicate myself..but the pills were in the bathroom. So I threw myself out of bed (I actually rolled out of bed but I had to do it quickly, hence the "threw") and then crouched on the floor while I tried to relax my muscles. Which presented another set of problems because I couldn't stand up without engaging my back.

Long story short, it took me at least 30 minutes to get off my bed and waddle over to a chest of drawers less than 1m away. Fortunately my housemate came home and loaded me up with pills. And a bottle filled with warm water to relax my muscles. Then I waddled back to bed, a trip made much faster with the warmth on my back.

I read somewhere that I should alternate putting ice and then something warm on my back to treat the inflammation. So I did that. I also ended up "fasting" too because I worried about bodily functions.

On the day 2 (Monday), it still hurt quite a bit. The pain wasn't as extreme as the day before but there was a dull, constant ache and I couldn't lean on my left side without starting to tense up again. I got a bit freaked out at this point so I made a trip to the hospital (free consultations yay!).

I've never been to a hospital before so this was all very new to me:

1) I had to register my problem with the attending nurse.

She tried to convince me to go see a clinic nearby. I in turn convinced her that I came prepared to wait a few hours anyway and I didn't want to spend money on doctors. I'm cheap that way =p

Haha I was also worried that I had to do an MRI or some possibly expensive procedure and I wasn't sure if my health insurance would cover the full costs elsewhere.

She told me to take a seat until called and that a doctor would be out to give me something for the pain.

2) I then spoke to the admin staff.
Gave them my details..the usual stuff. And then they told me to take a seat again.

And before I could even sit down,

3) The doctor came out to see how intense my pain was.

Half a page later,

4) The doctor gave me a couple panadeine pills.

Another half a page later,

5) A physiotherapist called me into the treatment room.

She proceeded to order me around, telling me to try twisting to the left, the right, lie down, lift your leg, tell me if it hurts etc.

Haha but she was quite friendly and informative about it all.

6) She tells me to lie down and wait till she comes back.
I'm assuming she went to look it up and make sure she doesn't make any mistakes. Ironically this part seems to take longer than my time in the waiting room

7) And finally, 40 minutes after I arrive at the hospital, the physio lady comes back with some advice

GO HOME AND REST IN BED.

Apparently I had visited her too early because problems caused by muscle stress usually take 3-4 days to heal. If it still hurt badly after that, I had to seek further medical advice. She also told me that I had been under-dosing on painkillers. So she told me to take more.

MORE hahaha.

Sorry, I'm not used to hearing people say eat more pills.

Supposedly I had to try mixing in a little walking around with bed rest for a few days after that. But NO SITTING, or TWISTING, or PROPPING MY HEAD UP while lying down which is very bad posture and was exactly what I was doing when I hurt my back =p

I didn't quite listen to her. Having someone tell me to stay in bed made me feel like not doing it! So I rebelled by installing Civilizations 4 on Wednesday night and sitting in front of the computer for hours. And then I jumped around while taking photos one week after my injury and sort of twisted my back.

Thankfully the extreme pain didn't come back. There was a dull ache for a couple of weeks (probably prolonged by the jumping around) and I felt really tired if I sat or stood for long periods. And the pain has sort of subsided so everything is looking positive so far..

Except that today I finally attempted some back strengthening exercises that used to be a breeze for me but now has my back feeling tired after a few repetitions.

Or maybe it's because I start feeling the muscles tense up and then I instinctively go into pain avoidance mode.

I shall overcome this!

This is the end of the long back story! :)

PS: I must add that I am very thankful that a 3 hour wait at the hospital became a 40 minute trip instead :D