You may have noticed that I haven’t been around much (or as much as usual) over the past few days. Most of the posts that I did publish were scheduled in advance, and I haven’t responded to the daily prompt posts as I usually do.

Why? I’m glad you asked. In a bit of a freak accident on New Year’s Day, which I posted about here, I injured my back. My doctor prescribed Tramadol, a strong, opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain. And it did it’s job. Five days later, I still have some soreness in my back, but the agonizing, disabling spasms are gone. Woo hoo!

That’s the good news. There’s some bad news, too. Tramadol has some unwelcome side effects. There’s the constipation. There’s the slight nausea and loss of appetite. But the worst part is the sleepiness and the lethargy.

All I want to do is hibernate. To draw the curtains in my bedroom and lie in my bed in the dark and sleep. I’ve lost interest in blogging. I do not want to have to think about how to respond to daily prompts, to read other bloggers’ posts, or to create my own posts. My mind just can’t focus.

So today I’ve stopped taking the Tramadol. If my back starts to hurt again, I’ll treat it with Advil. But I hate this feeling of being tired, of being out of it, of being dazed and confused. Hopefully, once this drug works its way out of my system, I’ll be back to normal. My back might start to hurt again, but I’d rather be in physical pain than feel like I’m in a fog.