A New Year is time for a New Start

The last couple of months of 2018 turned out to be a testing time with my medication change causing havoc to my system and also causing my clusters to flare up like crazy. Thankfully they started to then settle down again as Christmas came and I am now back to where I was before they flared up. The pregabilin medication seems to be taking the edge of the nerve pain so I am not getting as many problems as before but I can still feel it getting worst as time goes on.  The clusters are still appearing during the early hours and late evening as the temperature drops outside. These seem to be the main times I will get an attack if one is going to appear. The ones in the day time are only being set off by the neck and back pain. What ever damage I have caused to these nerves seems to be spreading and I can feel the damage spreading down my back from my neck. 

The lower back pain seems to be coming up from the tail area. Due to the pregabilin helping with the nerves I can now feel where the lower pain is coming from and am able to feel it when i push in with my fingers. This is something i need to get checked as it doesn't seem to be connected to the nerves. The trouble with having so much back pain from the damaged nerves in the neck it was masking the pain down the lower back and although I could feel the pain I always thought it was the nerve causing it but this doesn't seem to be the case. At the moment it seems to be behaving itself and I haven't had much problems with it but I should  get it checked just t be on the safe side as the last thing I need is something else to come along. 

The bad cluster and the back pain at the end of the year put a stop to my fishing and my plans to do some winter fishing so I haven't been able to get out as much as I would like. It has been getting me down a bit lately as you can get fed up with staring at the same 4 walls all the time. Now the back is slowly getting a little better and my clusters have decreased again I am hoping I will be able to get out a bit earlier this new year and get some fresh air doing the sport I love the most. The trouble with the colder months is that the weather really does play a part with the clusters and nerve pain. When ever its icy cold the pain always seems 100 times worst than normal. Fingers crossed my back doesn't play up that badly this year as It will be nice to get back out on the bank again soon. The sooner the better!

I have noticed this year that the cold weather hasn't increased my attacks to the level it normally does and I am wondering if it has something to do with the way i am managing the neck and nerve pain. I was convinced , when all this started, It was the neck that was making me have so many cluster attacks but my neurologist thought it was the attacks making my neck ache. Now I know I have nerve damage in my neck and I try to exercise it properly and take care not to aggravate it, I don't seem to have as many clusters set off by this pain as I did last year. Am hoping by continuing to do what I am doing I wont need so much medication all the time and will have found a way to control and manage this beast. When you having attacks and live every day in pain of different levels it is hard to stay focused and positive.

There are days when I feel like I am going backwards and some days when I think I wont last much longer but it always surprises me just how much pain and punishment the human body can endure. Well as long as I stick to the path I am on at the moment I will be fine, the pain and condition is manageable and I will be able to get back out fishing again. Fingers crossed this new year is a new start for me and it doesn't throw up too many surprises. I know i will have tough times and well as good ones but that life. 

Lets just hope most are pain free ones ..........