Body
I figured out earlier this week that I have piriformas syndrome again. I’m not sure if that is why my hamstrings, hips, and lower back have felt so fucked up lately, but it’s definitely the primary source of acute pain. I spent a full 24 hours wallowing in this development – it took MANY months for driving to not be agony the last time I had this – but then I bought a glute program by the woman whose posts taught me about piriformas syndrome and helped me understand how and why such a small muscle in my butt cheek could cause me such distress. The program is specifically for people with periformas syndrome and lower back pain and I feel confident that it will help me feel better a lot more quickly than I did last time (it took me two full months to figure out what was wrong in 2022 – I am so glad I found this woman’s site). I am kind of flummoxed by how a failure to activate my glues is the root cause of the vast majority of my chronic pain. I really hope this program helps me to learn how to activate them when appropriate (I can already tell from just one session that I do NOT activate them when I should, I’m not sure how this deficit started, but I’m aware of it now and awareness is half the battle.)
Health
The shaky feeling has mostly passed, but I had some bouts of it yesterday. I still have whatever virus ravaged my family, but I’m coughing a lot less (and more productively) and while I still have sinus stuff going on, it seems to be improving (I might have an actual sinus infection, but so far it’s not too painful so I’m holding out on seeing someone – I hate taking antibiotic unless necessary). My husband, who originally felt bad last Wednesday, only just went back to work today. He worked a half day from home Tuesday and a full day from home Wednesday, but he’s been miserable. Whatever we got was the worst virus we’ve had in a long time. I’m trying hard to take care of myself right now; I’ve been going to bed really early, and resting during the day at work. I’ve also been doing a lot of hip mobility work, which keeps my anxiety about my chronic pain down. I just hope I start feeling really better soon.
Goals
I still am no closer to articulating goals for 2025. I haven’t even done my January Must-do and Hope-to lists and that was one of the goals I wanted to make for this year (writing and posting them monthly). I hope I can get something up this weekend. But I will say, one of my goals is to respond to comments within 24-48 hours. I’ve been responding to every comment since the new year (I think!), and responded to many of them in the last week of December. I just wanted to mention that here, since some of you comment!
Kids
The 14yo swam twice this week and says her shoulder is doing a lot better. We are pretty on her to do her PT at least five times a week, and I’m so glad it’s actually helped. I really hope she nips this in the bud early and it doesn’t come back again. She missed the sign up for swim team at her school (because all the sports teams push out info ONLY on Instagram! WTAF!), but she emailed and it looks like she can still participate. There is a meeting tomorrow after school at 4pm (that my husband saw on Instagram) and she plans to attend. She is clearly nervous about swimming on her school’s team, but I think it will be a great way to meet new people and push herself physically. I really help her shoulder allows her to participate.
The 11yo really should be wearing deodorant and washing his face every day, and showering more often, but he is NOT interested in hearing anything about any of that. He got all the necessities for Christmas, but he chafes when I ask if he’s used any of them. The next few years are going to be so fun!
Speaking of fun…
I have a couple fun things to look forward to this weekend, and this month. Tomorrow I’m having dinner with some high school friends. I have three hours between work ending and when we meet, and I decided NOT to try to run, because I don’t want to start the weekend feeling shitty. Instead I’m going to go for a walk either with a work friend (if she’s available) or by myself. I’m proud of myself for making that decision.
Saturday is book club and it’s at a local wine bar. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone.
I’m seeing three Sketchfest shows over the long weekend later this month, two with my parents (a live read of Airplane and a conversation with Albert Brooks) and one with my husband (a newish comedian he really likes). I always love seeing Sketchfest shows and am looking forward to them.
Final note: I’ve been following the coverage of the fires really closely. Most of my college friends live in LA, and while none of them are in immediate danger, two of their parents have lost their homes and one of their sisters has lost her house. I spent a lot of time at one of those now-gone houses – I stayed for a week there with my daughter when she was a baby! – and I can’t believe it’s gone. This is the house of the parents’ of my friend how had the mental health episode two winters ago. They have had such a hard go of it and I’m devastated for them. I’m devastated for everyone in LA. I had no idea that they were not getting any of the rain that came through Northern California. We’ve gotten a fair amount of precipitation, and I didn’t realize that Southern California only got like five minutes of rain all fall and winter. I don’t really know what else to say about it, except that it’s in my thoughts a lot right now.
Thanks for the link to the piriformis – I’ve been having the same problem and find bus/train seats agony at the moment. Which is not ideal given my monster commute.
Ugh, I got sick at New Year and still feel pretty rubbish. I rested the first 3 days (we were at my parents so I just laid on the porch and read) but then we had a long travel day, and I was straight back to work/life. Today, my husband and son got up for school and I just went back to sleep. Everyone I’ve talked to says this latest cold is hittting hard.
Could you take yourself for a little coffee with a notebook, and brainstorm some goals?
Is there anything worse than having it hurt when you sit down? The worst!
I’m sorry you also got something awful that is lingering forever. I am soooo over this. My sinuses are a block again and I’m wondering if I should get checked out for a sinus infection. Blerg. And the coffee shop idea sounds awesome. I have so much going on this weekend it might be hard to get away, but I will try to sit down with a notebook and brainstorm somewhere, even if it’s in my house. 😉
I had a similar problem with butt activiation and it too sooo long to figure out. I learned that you can’t activate your butt if your abs aren’t working correctly. and both don’t work correctly if your posture is wrong. (pelvis and ribs).
one thing that helped me with getting muscles to work correctly is feldenkrais (feldenkrais project has free exercises, including one called ‘buttocks’ that would probably help). It’s more like moving meditation than exercise and I honestly don’t love doing it. but it’s been sooo helpful.
Thank you so much for the tip and the link! I am definitely not engaging more core correctly either and my posture is shit (I push my pelvis out and sway my lower back). It’s all so interconnected – no wonder everything hurts! I’ll def check out the feldenkrais project. I need all the help I can get.
My advice for the 11 year old is to work with him to make checklists which you post in the bathroom – a morning routine list (including deodorant) and a bedtime routine list (including wash face). I’m having to do the same with my 12 year old. It’s harder to get mad at a list and easy to get mad at mom for reminding over and over.
I hope high school swim team works out, there are a lot of nice, hard-working people on swim team and it can introduce some good peers.
Oh, I love the idea of a list to post on the mirror! I will definitely do that. Thanks!
I had Piriformis syndrome for m years. It would fade and come back and nothing really helped. It was painful to drive because the pain was in my hamstring and would activate when I braked. Finally, four years in, I got a sports massage because I had a tight IT band on my other side while I was training for a marathon. He worked my lower back a lot and the right side as well and it went away for two years. It felt miraculous. And then came back two years later after a transatlantic flight. It finally went away for good when I was pregnant with my first. I remember all that sitting pain and constantly stretching that did nothing!
I’m sorry you also had piriformas syndrome. May I ask how you found out that was what it was? I was shocked by how hard it was to figure it out myself. And it really is crazy how stretching and trigger point release doesn’t do much for it in the long term. I really do think learning to activate the glutes properly will help me manage it. It helped last time, and then I stopped doing the glute work and now I have it again, and my back is jacked. Ugh. Getting older is rough.
I had it in my twenties! It started the last day of the bar exam. That must mean something! I remember stretching during a break between segments of the exam. I think an acupuncturist told me it was coming from the piroformis as well as a PT. It definitely got way better after two sports massages. They were extremely intense massages. This therapist was just so intuitive about the body and really healed me. Until it came back. Amazingly the body and hormonal changes of pregnancy made it go away (it’s been over 11 years)
I think maybe I need to get a massage. A good one… 😀
I was surprised about the rain stats too – probably bc I “know” more in NoCal and had heard about atmospheric rivers etc! I’m so sad for them and hope it will be over soon. SO, so scary and hard.
There is so much Influenza A going around here, wonder if that is what your fam had (people getting sick with it even if vaccinated). Gah always something!? We also have to remind our tween boy frequently about deodorant . . . lol. AND FINALLY I am so annoyed on your behalf about insta only announcements! That hasn’t happened to me yet and I will be MAD if it does. No one should be forced to use that platform.
We all got our flu shots so I would be really bummed to hear that is what we had. But I do know other people who feel sure they got the flu. We never had fevers or shivers or body aches so I think it might be just a bad, bad cold. We were wondering if it was RSV actually. And yes, the Insta stuff is insane. Drives me crazy. I am def going to say something to the admin about it.
I HATE that the school posted info about the swim team on IG. That seems to encourage students to use social media which is maybe not what a school should be doing? It seems like there is a better way to inform students about sign ups! I am personally not on any social media so would be extra pissed about that! (social media is just plain bad for my mental health).
I had piriformis issues that contributed to the impingement in my hip that required surgery back in 2016. I tried PT to resolve the impingement but the damage was too bad. I remember the PT trying to see if my glutes were firing and it was clear that it wasn’t firing on the left – so my body recruited other muscles and then that imbalance tore my labrum which I was prone to due to a misshapen ball joint of my hip. I hope you can solve your piriformis issue!
The devastation from the wildfires is so horrific. I have been checking in on coworkers in SoCal and so far none have had damage but they’ve been evacuated and are now back for the weekend but it’s all so touch and go with the forecast for wind this weekend. 🙁
I can’t believe so many people have had periformas syndrome! I was so clueless about what it was. I’m sorry PT was not able to alleviate your pain. I hope the surgery helped.
I also don’t have social media (like literally no accounts anywhere) so I find this sports-on-instagram totally insane. My husband had been really on top of their bulletin they send home every week and he even went back to see if he had missed anything and there was nothing about swimming in there. Why?! It’s pages long, surely they could put in a quick sports update.
I hold your coworkers in SoCal stay safe and their homes are unharmed. It really is horrific.
There is def something going around in SFBay Area that feels really sick for 3-7 days: headache, digestive tract upset, feverish feeling with some chills but normal temps; and negative covid tests, and not stuffy head. And something that is like a really bad cold, negative covid tests, that takes a LOT longer than 10 days to get over!
Hope by end of this weekend your entire family is OVER it all. Also hope you are able to get extra rest this weekend while doing LOTS of fluids. Extra rest with fluids is simply good for many things.
Glad you know exercises to help your pain. Age is the importance of always doing (specific to your body) exercises, walking, balancing on 1 leg, NEVER using your hands/arms when standing up! Estrogen is Key too. Prevention is not always fun but it is lots better than curing consequences!
You sound quite good for the first week after the break. Boys grow up and learn about self-care; a list does reduce nagging. Hope the swim team works out, and ask the school re: instagram policy. Seems exclusionary/discriminatory to me … but I could be wrong and they may have other options that your daughter hasn’t clued on to.
Happy weekend of recovery!
My friends have had the former and my family surely had the latter (re illness you mentioned). I really hope we’re all done with it next week too. I have thought about estrogen but haven’t really looked into it yet. Maybe I should…
Estrogen as women age can help maintain organs in proper supported positions, avoid leakage problems, and UTI’s which can get REALLY UGLY in older women (mental problems in life threatening illnesses) and present differently than in younger women. Yes! Talk to your docs and/or urologist-gynecologist specialist. (Catch these problems early!!!!!)
The fires in SoCal are so heartbreaking, I cannot even imagine. Those winds are NO JOKE, then everything is so dry, you just need the smallest spark.
I’m sorry that you have this issue that is causing you so much pain, but I’m glad you figured out what it is and hopefully you can get better again. When you said earlier that you were running and feeling like crap, I just assumed it was crappy air quality, so I was surprised when it didn’t get better after the rain.
Your plans sound great for the sketchfest!
I also assumed it was crappy air quality? And maybe that was part of it. But I think I was sick back then just like I’m sick now. Sucks and I hope it’s gone soon.
Okay, I’ll be REALLY interested to know how these piriformis exercises go. That muscle… HOW does it cause so many issues??? I’ve been doing hip stability exercises, except for the piriformis one because I hate it so much. It seems like nothing else works that muscle, other than those very specific piriformis exercises. Anyway- I hope it helps you.
It seems like a lot of people have gotten sick lately- there are some nasty viruses going around. Glad you guys are pretty much over it by now.
I can’t even wrap my mind around these people losing their homes. It’s so tragic, and crazy. What in the world will happen next?
The glutes program is helping! It’s not all glute med (piriformas) it’s also glute max. It’s not super heard but I’m definitely DONE at the end of the 30 mins. I just need to keep doing it now that my periformas is feeling better.
Oh my goodness, what is with these kids at this age and being allergic to hygiene? JB has been so mad at me for shutting them down every single time they ask to skip a shower because OTHER kids get to skip showers. I don’t have to smell those other kids, do I!? I am hearing from other parent friends that it’s a fight for them too. We do not understand it.
Ditto Purple and Rose, there is some really nasty virus circulating, it’s awful!
I did not expect it to be such a fight! I cannot abide body odor. It drives me crazy. At least now he is putting on deodorant daily. That is definitely helping. And yes, whatever we got is no good. Do not recommend.