A note on pain relief

My current daily pain relief regime looks a little like this:

mefenamic acid 3x500mg daily
paracetamol 8x500mg daily
buscopan 3x10mg daily

diclofenac gel (as and when)
codeine (as and when)

I've done a shitton today. I've co-run a social; I've done a lot of errands in town; I've hung out with some friends; I've played a game of Scrabble and not done too shabbily; I've turned my mattress and generally reorganised my room a little and done some paperwork.

I've also taken 75mg of codeine, applied the diclofenac gel liberally four or five times, and contemplated faffing around with my TENS machine.

... it's the first proper day of my period and I can DO STUFF. I've been stopped in my tracks by the pain pretty frequently nonetheless, sure, but do you know what? What I HAVEN'T been is curled up miserably in bed all day.

This is kind of magic.