Sacrifice (Part 5): Muscle Cramps

I think it is safe to say that we have all suffered muscle cramps.
Those nasty cramps that come on suddenly and sharply and are so distracting we usually have to stop what we are doing immediately - no matter how enjoyable the activity.
We can feel it tightening, we can SEE it contracted, and sometimes we can stretch it out, but sometimes we just have to wait it out, like a bad menstrual or stomach cramp.

Have you ever had one that you absolutely could not stop?
Maybe in the side of your neck while reaching for something?
Have you ever had one while you were asleep and did not wake up right away? Those ones are the worst! It feels like your leg has been cramped for hours overnight and usually affects one's ability to walk properly the entire next day or two. Just like an aggressive and rigorous workout, the after effects can be brutal.

I want you to picture the worst muscle cramp you have ever had. The one that dropped you to the floor, wincing in pain, desperately trying to stretch or massage it out. So intense that you felt that pain for hours afterwards.
Extend that pain.
Imagine that cramp easing, then happening over and over again for the next hour. 30 second bursts of pain and 60 second rests. For an hour!

Now extend that.
Drastically.
First try to imagine how it would feel if that cramp lasted all day. No rest. No release.
Then try to imagine that cramp coming and going, with no actual schedule, nothing predictable, 3 or 4 times an hour for an entire week.

What do you feel like you would be able to accomplish?

If you had this horribly intense muscle cramp - the one that usually drops you to the floor - on and off for a major length of time, what would happen?
You might be able to prepare yourself a bit - anticipating the pain. You may find some coping mechanisms to handle these torturous moments a little better: things like breathing through the pain, sometimes people hold their breath, maybe you brace yourself, or perhaps you have found the perfect method of massaging it out. Maybe you cope by just taking a minute to stretch, changing positions, or focusing on your breath for the full minute of each episode, or maybe even using heat pads or cold compresses.
You don't exactly get 'used' to the pain, and the pain does not improve, but you find ways to get through the worst parts so that you no longer have to completely stop what you are doing.
You find ways to mask how much pain you are actually in, just so that you don't drop to the floor moaning in tears for the cramp to subside.
It does not get easier to handle, per se, but it does become easier to hide.
Each cramp is hell.
Every single time.
But you come to the realization that it may never stop, and you have to get on with life, so you find ways to work through it.

These types of cramps are common in many chronic diseases, and these cramps can occur ANYWHERE in the body. Muscles that you can feel and touch with your hands, muscles in between organs, your organs themselves, muscles in between the ribs, places you cannot get to. Places that cannot exactly be stretched out or massaged through the cramping pain.

Chronic Kidney Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Hypoparathyroidism, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Menstrual Cramps, Arthritis, Spondyloarthritis (like Ankylosing Spondylitis), dehydration, heat exhaustion or heat stroke, Celiac Disease, ALS, Nerve Compression, Dystonias, even just being low on electrolytes or vitamin D.

People with various different illnesses (hundreds more than mentioned here) experience debilitating cramps within their organs and all throughout their systems - internal and external - constantly.
All. The. Time.
Their entire lives.

Then you have people who have multiple illnesses that ALL cause cramping, all the time. That's just an entirely new realm of pain. Plus, cramping is often the most mild of symptoms of many illnesses.
To hide these multiple-times-an-hour cramps takes a ton of energy and focus. We sacrifice our attention and focus to literally just make it through a few minutes of cramping every hour.

It is amazing how many symptoms we become, sort of, accustomed to, to the point where these symptoms are rarely even mentioned. Cramping is always seen as a necessary part of so many diseases, and not often a dangerous part, so we glaze over them like they are not a big deal. But these cramps can be horribly painful and feel like they stop us in our tracks.
Don't underestimate the pain associated with cramping pains.

Sacrifice (Part 2): Medications

This is part 2 of a multiple-part series addressing some misconceptions about people who are chronically ill or who have specific disabilities.
I am attempting to discuss some of the stigma surrounding the medically ill with some basic (some hypothetical) examples.

Here is part 2 of this series.

Medications

I think we are all painfully aware of the multitude of side effects that can accompany medications. Even taking allergy medications, over-the-counter, can result in reduce cognitive functions. It can impair memory, multi-tasking abilities, and other sensory perceptions.
If we add in common pain relievers, laxatives, sleep aids, antibiotics, or anti-nausea medication, we add in various unexpected side effects.
These side effects can affect many different systems. Our digestive system may be affected, our mental capacity may be altered, we may feel more ill, or have muscle spasms, feel more tired, or require special dietary changes. All of this can affect how we do everything in our daily lives. Even beyond medication, anything that we ingest can have unexpected side effects. Caffeine consumption, essential oils, alternative therapies, natural supplements, these all have effects on our systems (which is why so many people use them). If they have an effect on symptoms, they obviously create changes in the body, which means they can result in unwanted adverse effects.

A person who has a chronic illness is likely on more than one medication, treatment, supplement, or therapy. No matter what the illness is, medications or remedies will have some effects that are unexpected. So their illness is reducing their capacity to function to a certain degree in one section, and then whatever this person takes or does to help ease the symptoms of their illness is likely reducing function in one or more additional sections.

In effect, someone with chronic illness has issues that affect their every day life because of illness AND because of whatever they take for their illness.

Medications/treatments/remedies/therapies RARELY provide solely positive effects. Taking medication for an illness does not usually mean that this person's overall health will automatically be improved. It means that some symptoms may be easier to handle and others may become worse. Finding the balance that is most comfortable and most productive for the individual is the goal. Unless there is a known, all-encompassing, cure, every chronically ill patient will suffer in some capacity for life. They will have to sacrifice one symptom for another, one ability for another, one side effect for another.

Sacrifice (Part 1): Lung Issues

Over the next several posts, I want to slowly address some of the misconceptions of people who have some kind of disability.

Many people seem to believe that if a person is too ill to work (we are talking long-term) that this person should not be able to do anything enjoyable. If they cannot sit at a desk, then how can they exercise? How can they travel? How can they go out to dinners or go on dates? How can they write or draw?

The main theme here is sacrifice.

We all understand this concept. We have all worked ourselves ragged when we are short on money. We have all ignored health concerns for a paycheck. We have all participated in some event or activity that has sacrificed some of our regularly required scheduled events. If we stay out too late for a party, we sacrifice our sleep and potentially our cognitive functions for the next day. If we drink, we are sacrificing the level that our bodies can function the next day. These are all choices and all different levels of sacrifice. A rigorous workout may prevent us from comfortably walking the stairs the next few days.
These are considered to be normal run-of-the-mill sacrifices.

I am going to provide some examples over the next several posts. I hope that these examples will provide some context and improve our general understanding of what a chronic illness or a disability means.

Example Number One

Let's take a quick look at someone who has asthma, for instance.
A healthy person, let's imagine, has a 100% functioning set of lungs. If this healthy person works in a factory that produces smoke or fumes, they are sacrificing a certain percentage of their lung function to work. For that healthy person, this is not a big deal. Going to work every single day may reduce their lung function by 20%, and may only be noticeable after that person leaves that job. Working every day in that atmosphere is not necessarily resulting in clear damaging symptoms. So this person can visit the mountains, go on trips that require flying, they can be in the same vicinity as smokers, they can go for drinks, they can exercise, they can have bonfires and go camping and have no concern about being able to breathe.

Now let's put someone in that same position who has a chronic lung issue. Perhaps this ill person's lung function sits at 60% at all times. Their illness has reduced the function of their lungs by 40% nearly every day. Some days - some good days - they may be working at 70%. This could be likely from medications, a change in treatment, or maybe really good weather conditions that result in a 'good day'. This does not mean they are functioning magically at 100%, but they are better able to function, and may be able to accomplish more than usual.
So this ill individual is put into the same position. They work in this factory day in and day out, sacrificing another 20% of lung function. Suddenly, this person is only functioning with 40%. Symptoms, although not necessarily visible, are bombarding this individual. At 40% function, this person can only work. Their ability to travel, to go camping or be around any extra smoke, their ability to exercise or do anything that relies on heavy breathing is entirely hindered. They are concerned, every single day, with their ability to breathe.
So they are faced with a choice.
They can try to find employment in a different job or position, or they can sacrifice all other facets of life to work in this position - which they have trained to be, perhaps where their education has brought them - before this lung disease. They could potentially reduce their hours so that the level of damage is reduced, opening up a little more opportunity to enjoy life outside of work.
The unfortunate thing is that if this person decides to work part-time because of this lung issue, there is a stigma that goes along with it. If someone from his work were to see him on a flight traveling somewhere, exercising, or going to a bonfire, there is immediate criticism and skepticism.
For the ill individual, he is still functioning with only 40%. His lung function was still only 60%-70% on his best days, but now his work might only deplete it by 10%, so he is able to have a better quality of life outside of work. He is not better. His condition has not improved. He has simply shifted the reason for the damage so that he has a more well-rounded existence.
What if he were to leave that job entirely for a desk job with no exposure to smoke? Suddenly, his lung function is at 60%-70% each day instead of 40%-50%. Something like this could be life changing! Suddenly, he is hiking and traveling on a regular basis. He is out and about, worried less about his ability to breathe.
Yes, he is still criticized for leaving his previous job. Friends, and even some of his physicians, begin to question his integrity. They begin to wonder if he had manipulated the system for an easier job.

The truth is that nothing has changed in his disease or in his body. The only difference is the shift in outside factors. In outside influences. At first he was sacrificing his own health for a specific job. Now he is sacrificing the type of job so that he feels a bit better most days and can do more outside of work.

Stay tuned for another example!