Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.

Before you read further, I want to let you know that I’m feeling very sorry for myself, and this is going to be a long (for me), whiny post in which I complain about being in pain. So if you don’t want to continue to read about my trials and tribulations, I invite you to move on. I won’t hold it against you.

For those who choose to read on…

Yesterday I posted here about a freak accident of being lassoed around my feet by my dog’s leash, causing me to fall hard, and, as my wife, who witnessed the whole thing said, “comically,” on my back. I think she realized that it wasn’t so comical when I couldn’t get up without her help.

Anyway, it was painful, yes, but the pain was bearable until the muscle spasm started. With almost any movement — a twist, a turn, bending, reaching, or even taking a deep breath — I would experience agonizingly painful muscle spasms in my lower back. I mean excruciatingly painful, tear-inducing spasms. I’m usually pretty good at dealing with pain, but these spasms were seriously over-the-top on the pain barometer.

As I experimented with ways to stop the spasms, I discovered that, strangely, standing and slowly walking, or sitting upright on a hard-backed chair, like a kitchen chair, was about the only way to control the spasms. Taking Advil every four house and a CBD gummy every six hours seemed to help, too. At least a little bit.

By early evening I had experienced some success in keeping the spasms to a minimum. I was feeling better and was up for taking our dog out for her last walk of the night. In retrospect, that wasn’t such a grand idea.

When we got back from the walk, and it was time to go to bed, I took four more Advil liqui-gels and another CBD gummy, hoping that I could control or at least minimize the spasm so that I’d be able to get a decent sleep. But it was not to be.

As soon as I attempted to lie down on the bed, whether on my back, my stomach, or my side, my lower back muscles would seize up tight and I would literally groan in agony. After attempting, and failing, to get in bed without excruciating pain, I grabbed two pillows, left the bedroom (which I’m sure my wife was happy about as my groans were keeping her up), put the two pillows on our kitchen table, sat down on the chair I had been successfully sitting on most of the day, put my head down on the pillows, and tried to get some sleep.

As awkward and uncomfortable as it was, I was apparently able to dose, until, in my light sleep, I would move. And then the agonizing spasms in my back would hit me hard. Long story short, I got a total of about one-hour’s worth of sleep last night.

I called the doctor this morning, explained what had happened and what was happening with the spasms, and asked him what to do. The good news was that, based upon what I described, he was pretty sure it was not a slipped disk or a fracture, so he didn’t send me out for X-rays or an MRI. He did prescribe a strong pain medication, Tramadol, which he said could be taken in addition to Advil for pain control.

The bad news is that with a muscle injury like this, the first two or three days after the injury are the worst. While the Tramadol should help me deal with the pain, the spasms will likely continue for the next two days — and nights.

If I can’t get much more sleep tonight than I did last night, and if the spasms will be anywhere near as intense as they were last night, I’m going to be a basket case by this time tomorrow.

And that is my very whiny peeve for today.