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[msparticularity]

his technique is not really what I'm looking for.

Okay Spork, just because it's you, this part gave me a little giggle ;). Anyone else could have posted this and it wouldn't have suggested anything naughty, but you?

I agree, though, that finding the right bodyworkers is incredibly important for all kinds of chronic issues. I've been doing without for the past couple of years for fiscal reasons - something about having a daughter in college! - and I am really feeling the lack. If things go well for MrP in the new location we're hoping to add regular massage back into our lives.

[psychdiva]

The cats are ready to hang out with the poodles, as long as there is plentiful tuna and laps for snoozing. 

One of my poodles grooms himself with his tongue like cats do, so I'm sure he'd be happy to bathe yours.

[msparticularity]

The cats are ready to hang out with the poodles, as long as there is plentiful tuna and laps for snoozing. 

One of my poodles grooms himself with his tongue like cats do, so I'm sure he'd be happy to bathe yours.

Mine does that too! I don't remember him doing it when we first got him, so I was thinking he had learned it from the cats. But do lots of poodles do this?

[psychdiva]

The cats are ready to hang out with the poodles, as long as there is plentiful tuna and laps for snoozing. 

One of my poodles grooms himself with his tongue like cats do, so I'm sure he'd be happy to bathe yours.

Mine does that too! I don't remember him doing it when we first got him, so I was thinking he had learned it from the cats. But do lots of poodles do this?

Every one that I've had - and I've had four since I was a kid - has done it to one degree or another. They also cross their front legs at the ankles when in the 'down' position.

[msparticularity]

The cats are ready to hang out with the poodles, as long as there is plentiful tuna and laps for snoozing. 

One of my poodles grooms himself with his tongue like cats do, so I'm sure he'd be happy to bathe yours.

Mine does that too! I don't remember him doing it when we first got him, so I was thinking he had learned it from the cats. But do lots of poodles do this?

Every one that I've had - and I've had four since I was a kid - has done it to one degree or another. They also cross their front legs at the ankles when in the 'down' position.

Mine washes his face like a cat too - licks his paw and rubs it over his face. Is that another normal poodle behavior, or did he learn it from my cats?

[lenniel]

Could they be big cats with lots of curly hair?  Greyhounds do a lot of this, too.  They seem like leggy cats to me.

The boys are ready to hang with the poodles - they appreciate lots of gifts of small, noisy toys to chase around at 4am as well.

Hope everyone is doing okay today!

[msparticularity]

Returning for a moment to the topic of depression, I thought Dick Cavett's piece in the NYTimes a couple of days ago had some good comments. The whole article is at http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/smiling-through/index.html.

A couple of excerpts I liked:

"I was able to say to them, I know that everyone here knows that feeling when people say to you, “Hey, shape up! Stop thinking only about your troubles. What’s to be depressed about? Go swimming or play tennis and you’ll feel a lot better. Pull up your socks!” And how you, hearing this, would like nothing more than to remove one of those socks and choke them to death with it. (Laughter mixed with some minor cheering.)"

<snip>

"Apparently one thing I said on “Larry King” back then hit home hard. It was that when you’re downed by this affliction, if there were a curative magic wand on the table eight feet away, it would be too much trouble to go over and pick it up. There’s also the conviction that it may have worked for others but it wouldn’t work for you. Your brain is busted and nothing’s going to help."

So, how's everyone else doing? MsTurtle, are you surviving summer session - and is the teaching still feeling good? Gourmetless, how's the exercise going? Lenniel, I hope your head is still feeling better. KissaMau, I hope your meds are working well for you, and you're getting a little awake time in there too. Spork, I didn't say this the first time you posted, but welcome to our chronically cranky kingdom. And PsychDiva, I hope you're having some good reading and hanging with the dogs time.

[gourmetless]

My wee sma' elderly feline ladies can beat your poodle's butt. 

Naw, but they would whine them to death.  And both like to groom humans and other animals, so come and get your free tongue bath here.

My sister (who has the same issues that I have, only worse.... she had to stop teaching) used to get rolfed once a month and LOVED it.  Apparently, super deep tissue stuff.  Only then, the condition progressed to the point she had to give it up.  It just hurt too freakin' much.  Now she gets a monthly massage and has a hot tub.  I envy her.  When I get tenure, my present to myself will be a hottub.

My back and shoulders are pretty achy today, not sure why.  I just took an extra dose of my painkiller, so we will see what happens when that kicks in.  I am resisting the temptation for a nap.

Rest, be merry, eat well, and take your meds.

[msparticularity]

My back and shoulders are pretty achy today, not sure why.  I just took an extra dose of my painkiller, so we will see what happens when that kicks in.  I am resisting the temptation for a nap.

Rest, be merry, eat well, and take your meds.

Yeah, I have that "someone threw me down a flight of stairs" feeling, which along with a low-grade fever accompanies most of my flares. I'm thinking a hot springs soak and a gentle massage would make me a whole new woman.

On massage: I tried Shaitsu once and it nearly killed me. I just can't learn to love excruciating pain enough to ever want to do that again! Don't get me wrong; I do like a little pain since I adore deep-tissue work - it's just the over-the-top agony I can't take.

[lenniel]

Hi all!  The humidity finally broke for a bit, and thankfully so has my headache....ah...now I don't have an excuse to be gumpy.  Rats.

MsP - did the painkillers work? Thank you for the information and article link - very good, and so true about how depression is viewed.  I especially like the "magic wand" analogy: I can relate!  Are you doing a little better, gourmetless?  Psychdiva, are you resting with the dogs?  How was the massage spork?

Take care, all!

[msparticularity]

More very interesting info on depression - at the bottom of this article http://health.yahoo.com/other-other/how-to-get-great-sleep/pt--Psychology_Today_articles_pto-20031028-000007.html it discusses the connections between insomnia and depression. I've always known that sleep disturbance is a symptom of depression, but this researcher thinks it's what he calls an "unleashing factor." Now, here's where it gets interesting, for me, at least; among many other things, the massive improvement in my depression has coincided with my occasional use of some kind of sleeping aid to treat my pain/sleeplessness from RA.

It's pretty usual with RA, as with other chronic disorders, for there to be significant sleep loss from pain. Many doctors prefer to prescribe sleeping aids rather than pain meds because the complications seem to be less and the improvements more. I don't take stuff all the time because I'm afraid of dependence and of the pills I take losing their effect. However, I do take something, on average, one or two nights a week. (I alternate between taking Flexeril, which treats the muscle spasms I get and also makes me sleep more deeply, and Lunesta.)

Several years ago, when my depression was at its most intractable, I told my psychiatrist that sometimes I felt like if I could just have 24 hours "off" - be unconscious for that time - then I'd be okay, or at least ready to move on. She agreed that this would be our backup if the other things we were going to try didn't work. She also told me that she had a bipolar patient for whom this actually was the treatment; when she started to cycle into a manic phase she'd call, and they'd admit her and "take her down" for 24-36 hours. It always broke the cycle for her.

The thing is, what the study I linked to has shown is that sleep during depression actually doesn't help much because it's disrupted by the depression itself. What I'm wondering now, though, is if my occasional use of artificial sleep aids has actually been enough to, in turn, disrupt my depressive patterns?

[lenniel]

That makes a lot of sense, MsP.  I've had similar experiences and this makes me think more closely about them.  Insomnia runs in my family, and I actually went to a sleep doc at one point and got some good, non-medicated tips.  The problem, however, was that i didn't follow them very closely and the insomnia got worse, I got more depressed and so on.  My alcoholism got worse because I was medicating the depression and wanting to sleep, and, since booze will actually keep you up, this plan didn't work out so well.  It wasn't until I got a good doc., got into a rehab/mental health program, and on some mild medication that my sleep improved.  So did my mood.  I'm now off medication and can definitely tell when the sleep causes problems with mood.

I'll be interested to hear what you and others have found about though personal experience on this.  Feeling less achy today?

Hope all are well!

[ms_turtle]

Ahhh, sleep.

I am a chronic insomniac but I also have sleep apnea. I have a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine that I sleep with. The constant question about 'how are you sleeping' is essentially moot with me. More than 90% of the time I am in serious la-la land with the mask on. Other times I can't fall asleep at all, but I keep the mask on and put myself into deep relaxation mode. I have found that if I force myself to deeply relax I can feel OK in the morning even if I haven't had much sleep. I'm fairly OK this morning given that I didn't really fall asleep until sometime after 2 or 3am.

I also just want to sleep through an episode and sometimes do.

Anyway, the last few days have been CRAP! and my in-laws were in town -- double CRAP! My FIL is OK, but non-stop stupid sh!t comes out of my MIL's mouth. The worst part was the first evening. I was in a bad state, but publicly passing it off as being tired with a bad headache. My MIL was saying something about headaches at dinner time. Then my daughter (9) said, "My mom has a lot of problems with her head." I gave her a stare more stearn that I ever thought myself capable of giving.

Background info, I tell my kids (I have a boy, 6, as well) that I am sick in the head and I am trying to get better. They seem to understand this. Of course, my MIL would probably just assume that I have a lot of headaches. But who knows what is being processed in her mind, and given her propensity to never shut her mouth I'm not sure what will come out later.

Anyway, back to sleep. My hips hurt like bloody hell when a low pressure system comes through. It was so bad the night before last that I was in pain in my dreams as well. I was also gathering data and rating my pain on a scale of 1 to 5 -- with little blue swoosh marks. Always the scientist.

[gourmetless]

I take nightly sleep meds (zolpidem tartrate).  I used to take rozerem and LOVED it, but my insurance company refused to pay for it.  I have noticed a huge difference in quality of sleep in the before and after.  I also have tramadol for pain, which I take 2-3 times a day.  Interestingly enough, what really turned the corner in terms of pain management was anti-inflammatorys (ies?) which I started about 6 months ago.  I have far less stiffness and can actually get up in the morning without making it a major ordeal.  I do think the regular exercise helps, as well.

It is a vicious cycle of depression, pain, and sleeplessness.  They are all interdependent.

As far as depression goes, I really don't know.  I do know I have more energy and stamina and less pain and stiffness if I stay on the meds, which helps me to get the sleep I need.

We occupy a rather precarious existence in accademia, dealing with stressors and communciation issues and personalities and mental focus issues.  It seems logical to me that the outcome of this can lead to mental fatigue at the best and depression at the worst.  And that's in everyone, healthy and unhealthy, older and younger, no gender/sexual distinctions.

Mental management is like pain management or even classroom management, make a plan and figure out what works.

Happy Monday everyone!  MAke it a good one.

[psychdiva]

I hope it's OK if I just whine for a bit...

I've had a burning sensation in my eyes for several weeks, not continuously but most days. The allergy eye drops the optho doc gave me don't help. I have another appt with that doc but not until next week. I have a sharp pain in my knee when I bear weight on that leg; I think I tore something. The ortho doc's first opening was week after next, which is OK since I'm not in constant pain, but I dread the possibility that I may need surgery. Mind-wise, I feel so empty and blank. The weather here is lovely but the sunshine just highlights how unmotivated I feel. Long holiday weekend ahead with Mr. P and friends, with special events planned, but frankly, I could just sleep through it all. How to blast out of this funk?!

Thanks for listening.