Things That Hurt In The Night: Back Pain Edition

As I write this it's currently 4.10am which means it's exactly one hour since I got up and also 6 hours since I went to bed. I'm functioning on a grand total of 5 hours sleep, which is ironic since earlier I was explaining to a friend that I don't function on less than 8 and preferably 9-10.

Sometimes this is all I'm good for...

Lately my back pain has been getting worse. I'm taking the hot water bottle to bed nightly now and even using it through the day. I wake up sore and stiff, like I slept funny, with all kinds of knots even though my sleeping habits haven't changed. Some days I can't even bend forwards without a huge protest from my back and I have to start the day slow, warming into anything that requires retrieving items from the floor or low drawers. The next step to this pain if I don't do something about it (and it's already starting to creep round) is pain in my ribs and chest, like a band where my bra would go if it wasn't too painful to wear.

I know it's the endo because it flares around my cycle and the pain is only eased by a scalding hot water bottle. By the time you can bear to have it on your skin for longer than 10 seconds it's too cool, so you'll often find my back covered in angry red patches.

You have a cure for back pain?

No amount of stretching will ease the pain, although it does give me a brief respite mid-stretch (and some insanely satisfying clicks and cracks) that I reach for ridiculously often even though I know it's only  fleeting. I used to see an osteopath regularly and that did help, but it was costing between £80-160/month and going any less than once a fortnight meant the effects didn't last between sessions. I also tried weekly hot stone massages - the painful remedial kind, not the relaxing ones - but the relief of those only lasted a few days at most and were similarly £100/month. Weekly personal training sessions meant that my back pain eased more long term too, but even those were coming in at £80-100/month and sometimes aggravated the pelvic pain to boot. Conclusion: back pain is expensive!

So I've established that stretching - the kind that comes with exercise and massage - is the key to reducing this pain. But here's where I'm stuck: how do you exercise when you're already in pain? Not just in your back but in your pelvis too? Even walking pulls at the pain in my abdomen and the stretching from yoga on the Wii Fit that I was finding helped my back does little for the other pains.

I'm going swimming with mum tomorrow, so perhaps that will offer me the gentle exercise I need to stretch everything without pulling. That would be a nice hobby to take up again, it's been years (and years and years... almost 15?) since I went regularly.

If that fails I'm just gonna have to live in exercise clothing and jump into exercise the moment I get any reprieve! Or create some kind of hot water bottle outfit on the suggestion of another friend. Either way, I need to find some way to get more quality sleep, because 5 hours is just not enough for a happy Ami!

Do you have pains that aren't typical endo but you know they're related? Or tricks that help with your pain? I'd love to hear your thoughts - I know it's not just me up at odd hours!