The Gaming Den

After 13 years of "dealing with it", I finally got some help for depression. My previous doc basically blew me off in years past, and his replacement agreed that trying out a low-dose anti-depressant may be in order. Been a bit over a week, but I think I've been noticing improvements. Looking forward to week three.

Meikle641 wrote:After 13 years of "dealing with it", I finally got some help for depression. My previous doc basically blew me off in years past, and his replacement agreed that trying out a low-dose anti-depressant may be in order. Been a bit over a week, but I think I've been noticing improvements. Looking forward to week three.

Good to hear the medicine is working. It's a weird and enjoyable freeing feeling. I remember the first time I thought "that didn't bother me like it used to, the meds must be working."

It helps get you to the point of being able to find healthy ways of treating the causes instead of all of the "fun" coping mechanisms we come up with for ourselves. I'd recommend using the freedom to see a therapist. It probably won't help at first, but if you keep with it you can at least figure out the causes of the depression and get ideas about what you can do about it. I mean, any one of use can offer advice, but they're trained and hopefully can give *good* advice.

It's such a weird feeling, isn't it!?

I have dysthymia, which basically means my default is just south of "Normal." It's the stereotypical "living under a black cloud" depression. When I started my antidepressants, and they built up enough to start taking effect, it was like...

...being mildly drunk?

My one experience being drunk (and my one experience being high) shows that I'm a bubbly drunk, so, I guess that's really what it felt like. But it was just so weird feeling all of that go away.

So, my new job (volunteer work) is with ADRA, which is basically Goodwill but linked to the Seventh-Day Adventists. I assume this means it's within three degrees of really shitty practices, funding war crimes and such, but hey, my country still tries to genocide its native population, runs concentration camps for refugees in defiance of international law, and is looking into building and selling weapons as the new industry. I can't be picky.

Anyway, it's only been about 3 weeks and I've found I'm slowly wearing myself down physically, what with being one of the fitter, stronger, healthier people at the place. Yes I know, holy shit. So I've been tearing books like Suzuki tears legs (more or less literally, it turns out the best way to get the strength into tearing the spine off a hardcover is remarkably similar to a heel hook or toe-hold Achilles hold), and lifting furniture and carrying crates of dead books, and the aches and pains have been starting up.

Is that the kind of thing where I need to try to find a physiotherapist that bulk-bills, or can I just cruise by for a month or two on opiates and then my body gets used to it and strengthens up and I'm good to go?

Alternatively, do things like Kinesio tape and suction cup therapy actually work?

If it's muscle soreness, it'll pass. If you're damaging your body (for example, by lifting improperly) you will cause permanent irreparable harm. In either case, avoid pain killers and listen to your body. If it hurts, stop.

There's no evidence I'm aware of that that cups and kinesio tape are anything more than placebos and some of the cupping advocates in particular are fucking nutjobs.

DDW is correct on the type of pain bit. If it's bad enough that you legit want opiates then yeah, get to a professional and show them where it hurts. It's hard to give other advice because ideally you'd want to work out more before rather than during or after taking on a tough new job. There really isn't much you can do other than work on your form and exercise enough that hopefully get strong enough that your body can handle the occasional awkward movement.

I've done cupping in Beijing before, it was neat.

I just consider like a massage, an experience that's not a replacement for visitng the doctor but can make you feel better.

kinesio tape looks cool so I'd like to try it. But I can just use boxing wraps for my wrists and ankles if I really really need it.

Well I'm not avoiding painkillers in the meantime, because the alternative is going "Oi yeah nah get fucked mate" and just not working, and that's not really an option. Worst-case scenario opiate-wise is I'm on them for 3-6 months until my required time is up. But I'll see if I can see a doctor about it.

We're talking "my body starts hurting some time during the day (and I'm still not cut out for this business of standing on concrete for 7 hours), and then the next day I'm still stiff and sore but if I can get a solid 18 hours sleep I'm just a bit stiffer than normal". So the fact that the pain goes away is promising, even if it does come back.

I did have my suspicions that cups and tape were placebos, which is a shame. And I can't just wrap with regular tape because that's fine for ankles and wrists and knees and so on, but not "the whole shoulder and part of the neck" or "the lower back".

Rather than painkillers, you might want to consider muscle relaxants. They will help with the stiffness/soreness. My experience is that they also help you sleep. If you use them for a week, you might find yourself working/sleeping and nothing else during that time, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Just one word of advice . .
If you go with muscle relaxants:
a.) be carefull, as you may be unsteady on your legs and clums with your arms and hands
b.) keep close to a toilet, muscle relaxants are not very targeted . .

A natural muscle relaxant is the supplement GABA - I use it whenever I've pulled something and it's pretty fantastic. It's also pretty cheap.

Also, the combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen has been demonstrated to work just as well as opiates - in some cases better - as a painkiller. You can take up to 400 mg of ibuprofen and 1000 mg of acetaminophen at a time (every six hours), though you might not need that much. The combo was given to me post-op because my family doesn't tolerate opioids well, and I didn't feel a thing. It also tends to last more like 8 hours for me. In our house we actually refer to this combo as a fauxpioid.

Just watch your liver.

I should have added that the dose I took was 200 mg ibuprofen and 375 mg acetaminophen and it worked fine. I took it about three times a day.

1. I'm not taking anything that makes me shit more and with less control. Fuck you. A further benefit of narcotics is they help prevent that.

2. I'm basically sleeping all the time that I'm not working as it is.

3. I've never had luck getting any benefit from acetaminophen/paracetamol, and ibuprofen works specifically for low-level inflammation. Which is probably enough for my shoulder at least, and possibly also the knees and back. Probably not the feet. But hey, it might tackle the main sources of pain as long as I eat more food so it doesn't burrow through my stomach.

Koumei wrote:3. I've never had luck getting any benefit from acetaminophen/paracetamol, and ibuprofen works specifically for low-level inflammation. Which is probably enough for my shoulder at least, and possibly also the knees and back. Probably not the feet. But hey, it might tackle the main sources of pain as long as I eat more food so it doesn't burrow through my stomach.

Tylenol has never done anything for me, which is one reason I also resisted taking it in in combo. But I was desperate, so what the hell... I tried it. And what... You're out a buck for doing so?

My old man got recommended paracetomol plus ibuprofin when the opioid he was on wasn't really working. And yes, it is for some pain much better than the opiates.

Will also just fucking kill you on an overdose, and don't combine with anything that stresses your liver or kidneys, like booze.

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Main thing I've found for hard labour is lift as close to your body as possible, get some new shoes with thick soles for the concrete (foot muscles are not easy to build), and eat like there's no tomorrow, fatty, salty, sweet, get into it.

If you're burning out after a few hours and sleeping all the time, my endurance exercise training says your body doesn't want to burn fat because your blood sugars are low during the day (eat carbs through the day, good big breakfast and lunch!), and really you're just not eating enough to cover the energy you're burning in a day so you collapse and sleep instead.

Cheap high energy food is fat. The fatter the better. Also encourages that fat burning thing which lets you power through the eight hours. If you're sweating a lot you'll also need salts, but hopefully it's not a sweat box they got you in.

And yeah, you get sore because the little balance and support muscles get cut off from the limited energy supply first, which makes it way easier to get off balance and tear things when lifting, especially if you're really determined to keep lifting heavy stuff.

tussock wrote:but hopefully it's not a sweat box they got you in.

Well, it's basically a big tin shed. In Australia. In Summer. So basically it's an extra large sweat box that everyone shares.

As some who works a physical job I have a few pointers;

1. Good shoes are a must for on yer feet all day jobs. Cushion insoles can also really help - even just the cheap ones.

2. Wrap whatever tender body parts your work stresses -- this is going to vary from person to person and job to job.. I personally have a pair of knee braces. One of my co-workers uses compression sleeves. You can add support with an Ace bandage if necessary. Work gloves help prevent cuts, splinters and callouses. While a bit extreme, Weightlifters belts are an option.

3. strongly recommend a heating pad to help relax muscles while going to sleep.

4. Massage is even better, but that's harder to arrange. If you have a partner or family member, ask them to help work out the kinks in your tired muscles.

5. If the job is that exhausting, you should consider eating on the endurance athletics plan during the job: a 4 to 1 carbs to protein ratio(chocolate milk, Clif bars, 1:1 peanut butter to chocolate chips, 1/4cup almonds to 1 tbsp honey, etc) snacking at least every hour and aiming for a intake of 1g carbs per minute (your stomach probably cannot absorb fuel faster than that). Edit: given the Aussie Tin shed, you should also drink a crazy amount of water - probably a liter per hour is your bare minimum here.

6. In the extreme short term, hard liquor is an effective post-shift painkiller, soporific and relaxant. However it dehydrates you, shortens your sleep length and inhibits nutrient absorbtion - all of which are potentially problematic for functioning the next day.

I mean, I looked up Kinesio Tape, since I had maybe heard the term once in passing, and nothing more than that. Once I got through all the results that were trying to sell something and found the wikipedia result... It looks like it won't hurt to try?

Wikipedia wrote: In individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain, research suggests that elastic taping may help relieve pain, but not more than other treatment approaches, and there is no evidence that it can reduce disability in chronic pain cases.

And apparently it's better engineered for long-term use than regular sports tape. So, I mean, as long as its affordable, why not?

Edit: Also, ditto on the heating pad suggestion. I fucked up some back muscles when I tried to take a dough rolling shift at RT, and had to get actual physical therapy, each session ended with the option of using a heating pad for ten minutes and it felt fucking amazing.

I'm echoing what Josh said about the shoes.

How do I stop thinking about media that I don't like. I can't stop thinking about what I dislike when playing what I enjoy

I usually bitch about such things to a friend, 'cos I find that talking about something I don't like while in good company generally makes the hurt to away. It's how I healed from Sharknado - that post I made on it a long time back was very therapeutic.

I usually do what Shrapnel says - my Mom or my husband are my outlets - and then I follow it up by deliberately pointing out things I do like about whatever I don't want to be hating on.

I did something at work tonight (no idea what) to aggravate the 9 month old, just short of completely healed hamstring tear. My question is should I go to heating pad or ice pack when I get home tonight?

Ice and, ideally, elevation. RICE is your friend here.