For the last 15 months I have been going to see a physiotherapist twice a week or so. It started with a sore knee, then a stress fracture in my foot. At first the treatment for the foot wasn't working, so we started looking for the cause. Turns out my hip and back are out and I have inflammation on my SI joint (the spot where the spine and pelvis come together). That was causing me to walk funny and hurting my knee and caused the broken one in my foot.
This is all a side effect of depression. When I was really struggling with depression, and even for a long time after my diagnosis I ignored a number of signs of the injuries I am currently working on healing. The 2.5 years before the diagnosis I was hiking 2-3 times a week for 5-10 hours at a time. I eventually had to stop because my foot was so sore I could barely walk. The nerve pain down my leg has been there for a number of years, etc etc.
In the depths of depression, I wasn't able to manage anything other than surviving every day, or hour or minute. For the first 3 years of my recovery, it took up SO much of my energy and that along with things like my job and family took up everything I had. And so my physical health suffered, a lot.
So now, I am working on the exercises the physio(s) give me and healing my back etc... so I can be healthy mentally and physically.
Very interesting. I had not thought too much of the correlation between the physical and the mental - which is strange because I DO what chronic pain can do to some one. Makes me re-evaluate some of my own health concerns in a different light - thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. For me, I don't think that one caused the other, although I understand that for some people this is the case. Interesting how we are all different.
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