[healthwork] notes & grumbles

[kaberett]

Item: phone appt with the respiratory lot at UCH, yesterday. Some people just... experience... significant discomfort... while exercising, particularly in cold or dry air; for 10-20% of people the explanation is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, and given that prophylactic inhaled steroids did fuck-all there's no magic treatment options, so... the good news is that there's no associated increase in morbidity or mortality, and I just get to nudge up against my limits very gently when doing cardio exercise and see if I can shift them. Sigh.

Item: I have had active cold sores almost constantly for... getting on for a month now? Over a month? For me, flare-ups are pretty clearly triggered by stress. I am increasingly certain that the thing that's causing the stress is the travel to and from the allotment, and specifically the amount of dodging other people (who are not interested in getting out the way) I'm having to do. Recent highlights include someone walking up to me, pulling down their mask, and asking for directions... on hospital grounds; and the adult poking at their phone desultorily while the small child they were attending giggled in delight and put some serious effort into chasing me while I was doing my best to move slowly and predictably and safely and at a distance. I don't think there's really much to be done about this, but it's deeply tedious.

Item: Pilates. I am continuing to do it. I am noticing myself using my core muscles more in day-to-day life, which is interesting. I continue settling in to working out how the exercises want me to move, somewhat complicated by being a fairly different shape to last time I did this with instruction (or indeed the shapes assumed by my books), so I'm having to adapt as I go while also trying to identify the existence of deeply reluctant muscles, and it's all Rather. I've been reassured, at least, by flipping through my other book -- no, wait, let's back up: post-classes I acquired two separate books from charity shops, one with a set of exercises that looked extremely familiar from said UCH classes, to use as an aide memoire for when I inevitably forgot the details before I got around to actually establishing a home practice, and one that went into rather more detail about physiology including anatomical diagrams and explanations of which precise muscles each exercise is intended to target.

Naturally -- inevitably -- the two books disagree on a number of points, including "whether or not to activate gluteal muscles" and "how to arrange yourself for side-leg lifts" and "what should you even be doing with your arms". Which is the part that's reassuring, because it underscores that The Experts are in active disagreement about The Right Way To Do Things, so in fact I can just prioritise "what feels best and most effective" without having to go several rounds with the Anxiety about Doing It Wrong.

The other point about Pilates, though, quite aside from "huh, I think I'm getting stronger; that's nice" is: there are very specific Instructions about How One Should Optimally Breathe, i.e., slowly and evenly and in through the nose and out through the mouth and laterally, expanding the and keeping the abdomen largely still.

The other bit of embodied movement work I've been doing a lot of this year? Is playing the horn.

Pilates-breathing and horn-breathing are very different. I'm playing the horn every day; I am not doing Pilates every day.

It is going to take me... a while... to get the default-breathing-patterns set up such that I actually don't have to think about them, sigh.

Item: dermatillomania. A has patiently explained to me that actually That Probably Constitutes Dermatillomania, Alex, and the NHS inconsiderately agrees. I had registered the behaviour as Mildly Inconvenient but hadn't really clocked how abnormal/Not Great my level of it... apparently... is... so that's tedious too! On the up(?)side I'm already taking a bunch of the recommended approaches to self-management, and I'm already in therapy, so while the official advice appears to be "go talk to your GP about this" I'm. not going to. Siiiigh.

Comments

[shanaqui]

Wait. My GP is supposed to be TREATING my dermatillomania???? That is a thing??? That I could be getting help with?????????

(NO PRIZES FOR GUESSING WHO HAD CONVINCED ME IT WAS NOT A THING I COULD HAVE HELP WITH.)

[kaberett]

... <3

*hisssssss*

[archangelbeth]

Acyclovir a possibility? It's always been good for me. (The first time was MAGICAL. From "cold sore starting" to "cold sore in the scabby, healing phase" in, like, half a day. MAGIC.)

[kaberett]

I am using the cream (... not brilliantly) and it does help but every time one heals up and I've given it a 24h exclusion period another arrives :(

[gumbie_cat]

I've been using the patches and they make the whole business far less unpleasant. Having a barrier from the air definitely makes the sores hurt less and they heal much faster - if only because I can't pick at them!

[kaberett]

Ah -- mine are always at the corners of my mouth, so I suspect patches wouldn't... work... brilliantly. (The upside is that they're not generally super exposed to air?)

[evilsusan]

Get the tablets. If it's been going on that long, they should Rx them for you.

[kaberett]

Huh. Thanks -- I did not know that and will try to work myself up to it!

[archangelbeth]

Pill form is what I've got; it's a prescription-needed, but can be taken for a few days.

Sent from my iPhone

[lilysea]

Item: dermatillomania

Yes, this is me.

Altho does it still count if the trigger for the skin picking is eg Seborrhoeic dermatitis that is rough or flaky?

My GP prescribed me a topical treatment for the Seborrhoeic dermatitis - but you are not supposed to apply it to broken skin, which means that I can't use it because of how often I scrape the flaky skin off - I never manage to make it 24 hours of leaving my skin alone.

[me_and]

(not a medical professional etc etc) if you're just scraping the flaky skin off, I'd have thought it would be fine to use. I've always interpreted "don't apply to broken skin" as "don't apply if the skin layer is completely broken, so you're down to at least fat layer if not blood".

[lilysea]

When I say scraping the flaky skin off my forehead

after being scraped

the skin on my face looks bright red and raw and a bit wet - with clear fluid, not blood

[sporky_rat]

I use my stuff on the skin like that. Stings like FIRE but doesn't do anything worse. (I sort of feel like it works faster when I do it like that but it might just be how quickly things clear up when I use the stuff.)

[me_and]

Clear fluid is either going to be sweat, sebum or serous. In any case, if there's no blood it's going to be fine to apply a topical medication; the point of "don't apply to broken skin" is to avoid more than trace amounts getting into your bloodstream.

That said, this is something I'd expect a vaguely competent doctor to be able to confirm, and they'll also be able to confirm exactly what that fluid is.

[vass]

I just get to nudge up against my limits very gently when doing cardio exercise and see if I can shift them.

Fucking bodies. DDD:

(who are not interested in getting out the way)

RAAAAAAAAAAAGE

I'm having to adapt as I go while also trying to identify the existence of deeply reluctant muscles, and it's all Rather.

Same hat. It is very.

I had registered the behaviour as Mildly Inconvenient but hadn't really clocked how abnormal/Not Great my level of it... apparently... is... so that's tedious too!

<333 I also pick, but it is a long way down the list of abnormal/Not Great things that I do to myself that need addressing.

[horselizard]

Some people just... experience... significant discomfort... while exercising, particularly in cold or dry air

Huh. I wonder if this explains my remarkably unpleasant experiences with school PE? Although I happily do cardio-intensive things like cycling/blading/dancing without issues. It's just running that I 100% Can't (confirmed still true last year when pressured into doing British Bulldog-style nonsense as "warm-ups" for an ostensibly fun activity).

Quite likely not the same as your thing (I looked through archives trying to find more details of your thing, unsuccessfully) but an intriguing concept.

[hilarita]

Some of it is very directly related to posture, and how you're moving for the exercise. This was fantastically demonstrated for me one time with a bunch of rowers. They were all very fit people, who could row fast and well, and cycle fast. Get them to do a 1km run down the riverside, and... comedy ensued.

[kaberett]

previous discussions about exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, and I can't remember quite how I fell down this rabbit-hole but the other thing I was poking at was hypersensitivity pneumonitis

[hilarita]

Pilates-breathing and horn-breathing are very different

That... may be one of the reasons I find it hard to keep core stability when moving. I was taught to breathe for acting, which uses both rib breathing and diaphragm breathing, and diaphragm breathing of course fucks up your core stability something shocking.

Obvs. no-one evar taught me how to breathe sensibly when running or whatever. My ballet teacher at uni did help us a bit with this, but since I primarily breathe via my diaphragm, because That's The Proper Way, Dammit (according to my acting teachers), this may just have confused the fuck out of me.

[kaberett]

YEP. The Pilates books do at least actually explain how they want you to breathe, which... helps! At least some! Very "do the lateral breathing", they are.

[fyreharper]

“diaphragm breathing of course fucks up your core stability something shocking”

it WHAT
Well crap. That... could explain some things? Maybe?

[sfred]

<3

I'm just going to assume that I'm allowed to ?? dermatillomania without examining it if it's not causing major problems and I don't have time for a thing, right?

[kaberett]

Ayup! Go right ahead and do that. <3

[sfred]

<3

[rushthatspeaks]

From this post I have learned that dermatillomania a) exists and b) is something I have for which there are actual treatments, so thank you.

[kaberett]

<3

I swear, every time I am reluctant to post about an Embodiment Thing because I feel ashamed and resentful about it, people go "... huh, thank you." And it always surprises me. But -- I will keep on doing it.

I wish you comfort and ease. <3

[silveradept]

Ugh, cold sores. Always stress-related outbreaks for me. Using the appropriate antiviral, as well as something that numbs the spot where it is so that it's not constantly reminding you of its presence worked for me.

Hooray for not having an anxiety about how to do the exercises.

[kaberett]

<3

[worlds_of_smoke]

I'm dealing with a massive outbreak of cold sores (for some odd reason :P), and I'm about ready to beg one of the nurses to ask for something for it. DO NOT WANT.

[kaberett]

oh you poor thing. GO RIGHT AHEAD AND DO THAT. :-p