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Thursday, March 12

Psomething about psilence makes me psick

Quiet.

The (very possible) end to Share the Wisdom Wednesdays (on Thursdays).  Mebbe because I ran out of wisdom.  More than likely because I hate themes.  And consistency.  And monotony.

Another new attempt at addressing my "issues."

Ask me if I'm really sleeping in a hammock in my junk room, and I'll say "Burrito."  I'll mean "yes," but I do love to say the word "burrito" a lot.  Why would I do this (sleep in a hammock, not say "burrito" way too much)?

I'm pretty sure the best night's sleep I've gotten in a long time was at the 12 Hours of Santos hanging between two trees in my ENO hammock.  Granted six hours of riding, multiple liquors and many beers may have created some state of exhaustion, but I woke up well after the sun came up feeling better than I have in a long time.  And then I totally forgot about it.

The tools (Theracane, Spiky Death Mat) that I purchased have been fine stop-gap measures.  Treating symptoms as I go along, but the problem has ebbed and flowed from slightly better to "boy, today sucked balls."  Usually waking up feeling the same as when I went to bed. 

And then this past Sunday, I remembered my hammocked night of sleeping.

And then I did some reading.  Mostly anecdotal information about hammocks and back pain.  Also some reading on how the body repairs itself during deep sleep and how depriving your body of such sleep reduces your ability to heal...

Go on.

So, I'm giving this experiment up to a week with the goal to hopefully get back to my regular bed... where everything was hunky dory before I did too many stupid things to myself.  I'm only two nights in, and I feel a little better.  Enough to be cautiously optimistic, but not enough to claim victory.  That first night was rough.  I tried something new.  I changed my "hammock angle" from what I'm used to doing while camping.

Combined with a cold room, trying to use a sleeping bag and a Thermarest (for insulation) in the coldest room in the house (when we turn the heat down at night), and sleeping at an angle in the hammock?

Let's just say that it wasn't perfect.  The sleeping bag slipped around while trying to hold my angled position, half of the Thermarest squirted out like a recalcitrant watermelon seed, the fan I set up to drown out my tinnitus was bigger than the one in my bedroom and only served to make me colder once all my insulation shifted...

But last night was better.

And if all this fails, all yinz who have told me to dry needling... you may win.  That would be my last stop before seeing a doctor... of medicine... who will probably try to take me down the modern wormhole of solutions.  Which scares me somewhat.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the title a jab at Psycles?

jkeiffer said...

I hate my tinnitus too, but I do love the way you craft a phrase. Thanks for making the blogosphere, meh, better than a bad burrito.

Anonymous said...

You could just take a break from riding and hurting yourself. You know, let the body heal.

Anonymous said...

You should try working part-time. I hear it's wonderful.

Mike P said...

It's 1am and I can't sleep but it reminded me of something. I too have tinnitus and whilst camping I bring my ryobi 18v fan. On high setting it does the trick and will last the night on a full charge no problem.