Today’s health lesson involves nerves. When nerves in the spine get irratated through bad posture or bad ergonomics, they become irrascible devils. I learned this lesson twice this week.

Living the thrill-seeking life that I do, I carried several O’Reilly books across town yesterday in a less than salutory sachel. You can’t stop me!
Don’t even try! Next time, I might even wear shoes with poor arch support.
What are you gonna do about it? Nothing! I’m an EXTREME PEDESTRIAN! [Cue nu-metal guitar stab]

The result of my high adventure was a night spent oscillating between the floor, the tub and the bed trying to find a prone position that allowed my irratated nerves to stop screaming at me. Although the tylenol helped a bit, it was the last drought of Nightquil that put me down. By knocking me out, I stopped moving long enough for my nerves to get happy. I tried to use some relaxation techniques from yoga which did help, but I couldn’t keep up the concentration long enough to remedy the problem. I’m no Mr. Spock.

Today, my back is somewhat less than perfect and the rumor of another outbreak looms. However, I’ve been able to take naps, so I’m not complaining.