Interview with Ryan

Today I chose to ask my friend Ryan a series of questions about what I taught him through my blog over the last 19 posts. Surprisingly, he did a very good job of reciting the information I gave in my posts. Thank you Ryan for sticking it out and reading all of my posts so far, I appreciate it!

Amplified Pain Syndrone

Here is an overview of pictures I have in my blog for a little recap.

Cooping Mechanisms

APS is hard to conqueror, but with the right tools you can take back control of your life!

I have several things that help me day to day with my APS. The most helpful one for me is my neck pillow, I use it whenever I am in pain to help keep my neck aligned.

This pillow is from Walmart for $9.99

I also like my bean bag neck pillow because I can warm it up or put it in the freezer!

Bed Buddy from Carex for $12.59

A great tool to help me out when I am stretching because I am sore is a resistance band!

This is from Walmart for $10

Another great tool is desensitization techniques that require tools such as the ones below. These little blocks allow patients to tap or rub a pained area to work on their desensitization process.

https://www.mvppt.com/services/hand-therapy/

Now you all know more about a few things that help cooping with the APS recovery process!

Flair Ups

APS isn't curable but you can work hard and keep your pain away, and once you start slacking your pain can come back.

I tend to have flair ups when I get busy with life and I start to slack off from working out, it always comes back to bit me in the butt. I can start to feel an outset of pain and that's when I know it's time to start working out more!

I have actually been dealing with being sick so all I want to do is sleep my days away, and by laying in bed a lot my body gets stiff and uncomfortable.

Warning: Naps are addicting, so limit yourself.

When Stress Arises

Stress plays a big role in APS because naturally when we start to stress out our bodies tend to tense up.

I am a perfectionist when it comes to every aspect in my life, so when things don't go my way I might freak out. I cause myself more stress than need be, but that makes me who I am today. 

I have learned to accept that I get stressed a lot, but I have had to learn how to keep it in control for my APS. What helps me the most is I like to keep an agenda with every assignment, it's due date, meetings, and anything major going on in my life. If I lost my agenda I would be completely lost. 

Even if you don't have APS, it's always a good idea to maintain your stress levels because it is actually unhealthy. Which is funny in a dry sense of humor, because I am in college and it seems like every student is constantly stressing out. 

We all have to just remember to take a deep breath every once in a while to keep us in check of our crazy lives.

Children's Mercy Hospital

Over the past two years I have gained knowledge concerning APS, and the one place that helped me the most was Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas.

There are seven Children's Mercy Hospitals in Kansas City, KS and MO.

I frequently went to Children's Mercy, Adele Hall Campus on Gillham Rd in Kansas City, MO to visit Dr. Cara Hoffart and her amazing staff.

       

At Children's I received help from the Pain Management staff, I can remember that day like it was yesterday. I was thrilled to know what exactly was wrong with my body, I figured out quickly that my journey will be a long difficult road ahead.

One of the many papers we received that day I was diagnosed was the Treatment Guidelines for my family to understand what I was going through and how to treat it. 

The staff I encountered in the few visits I went to changed my life, and I am forever thankful for them helping me learn how to regain control of my life again.

Getting Back on Track

In my last blog post I mentioned that I have recently become sick, which has put a damper on my journey. Everyday has it's challenges, and these past three weeks have definitely been a struggle.

I have been having problems with my tonsils being the size of huge grapes that consume my throat. With that being said, I did not want to exercise. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I did manage to go to class and do my homework.

When I wasn't doing school stuff I was in bed, that caused a lot of stiffness in my body that I am still paying for.

Of course that sounds crazy, but if I stay in bed I only hurt myself by not moving around, so I am still paying for all of those naps. I did need it at the time, but now that I have back tracked I have to get things together and work extra hard to feel better.

I say work extra hard, meaning by accomplishing all of my school work, going to the gym, massaging my body parts that are in pain, and try to relax when I have time. But when does a college student have time, right?

The moral of this story, when life kicks you while you're down just get back up and keeping fighting through! It'll all be worth it in the end, I promise.