Magnet Therapy

When you live with chronic pain, you’re willing to try just about anything if it eases the pain.

I have two friends who swear by magnet therapy. One knits all the time and says her hands and wrists would be too painful from the repeated motion, if not for her magnet bracelets.

The other friend used to make those long trips south for the winter and felt the magnet, this time in sheet form that she wore at her back, made the trip bearable.

I had a bracelet once, loaned it to a neighbour, and like loaned books, I never got it back.

I bought a new bracelet on Monday. Not exactly the style I was looking for, but I figured I could make do. I wanted a plain black one, no bling, no extra beads and baubles. They didn’t have one. But they did have one with Canadian flags on the rectangular beads, with round ones as spacers.

Now, I love my country, but I am not the type to flaunt the flag, not on something I intend to wear every minute, of every day. So I turned it over and I’m wearing it, wrong side out. Ha ha, now I’m a closet Canadian.

When I was writing on Tuesday morning I had this irritating ache in the fingers of my right hand. Oops, I forgot the bracelet; it was still in my purse. I got it out, put it on and yes, a few hours later the ache seemed gone from my hands.

Time, or the magnets?

By the afternoon each day, I seem to have worked the kinks out and move more freely. Of course this depends on what I did the day before. Tuesday wasn’t such a bad day, and Wednesday, well, all I can say is my hands didn’t hurt.

Thursday I did too much lifting and pulling, stripping the bed, toting a very heavy laundry basket and then folding everything in the laundry room before carrying it all home. Then I still had to make the bed. Pain, pain, pain.

This ‘no lifting’ stuff isn’t anything new; I need to avoid it. Three pinched nerves in my neck is the reason. But when the neck acts up it’s not just with pain, it gives me a headache so all I want to do is lie down, my eyes hurt and my hands and fingers tingle and itch.

Maybe I need to make a necklace out of magnet beads to get relief. I’ve never understood whether the magnets had to be placed over the pain site or if just wearing them did a generic job for the whole body. Sigh.

And then there’s the rain. An old wives’ tale for sure, but anyone with joint pain will agree their pain is worse when it rains. And it rained here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today is a bright new day, the sun is shining and there is no rain in the forecast. I want to make a trip to the garden store, for an obelisk. If you don’t know what that is, just wait, I’m sure I’ll post more pictures of my garden as it develops.

Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a hangover effect from yesterday, so it’s an Advil to start. Like I said, anything to help the pain if it keeps you moving.