UGH

I don't know what I did, if anything (I suspect too much driving, to kung fu and school and such, but usually that hurts my SI joint), but my upper back is spasming, limiting my activity yesterday evening and keeping me up all night.

And while it is painful, it's also really interesting.  Upper back pain in the upper thoracic/lower cervical area is totally different than low lumbar pain.  At least with all my lumbar back pain from herniated discs, I could stabilize it and get comfortable, usually lying down on my side in bed.  But upper back pain, spreading into my shoulders and neck, never seems to go away--when I saw the ortho today (at a new clinic that specializes in urgent ortho care, isn't that handy?), he said that those upper back muscles never all relax, even with pillows and such.  That was totally true last night.  However, I also found that with upper back pain, I can move around and still do stuff, even at the worst of it; that was not true of low back pain. That said, this is muscular not a disc (I had tests at the ortho)--a herniated neck or upper back disc might be just as awful, so maybe I should say I'd take muscle pain over disc pain?  As much as it hurts, I'd take today's pain over the old one any day.  For me, now, it's just not as scary or debilitating--though the same pain in my lumbar would be both.

I guess, part of me is grateful:  that it's not lumbar pain, that I've learned techniques for dealing with pain, that I have resources to get the right meds and such.  And of course Mama and the kids are always great.

But I'd still like it to go away.