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RE: [RC] Rider Drugs - Tracey LomaxI think it's possibly a bit presumptuous for anyone to presume why somebody chooses to ride without drugs (in Kat's case) or with drugs (in other cases). For the most part, I ride without. For the most part, I do just about everything without drugs. Kat is absolutely right that it was downright stupid of me to event my horse on pain killers, and that I'd have recovered faster if I'd rested. My shoulder is still buggered. OTOH, I've bust that shoulder at least three times, so chances are it would be buggered anyway. And I rode two days after breaking it and then rested it for two weeks, which I saw as a pretty good compromise : it was the last event of the season and I was determined to do it. That was the deal I made with myself. "Pain threshholds" are funny things. I cannot take anti-inflammatories (Crohns' disease), so endured a caesarian section with nothing but myprodol for pain, and was on my horse ten days later. But I won't go near a dentist for love or money and toothache renders me insensible. Living with endometriosis and Crohn's disease has rendered me fairly impervious to most aches and pains, but I bitch like hell when I get a paper cut. Why we choose to do the things we do is less about what's objectively "sensible" and more about what works for us. I'm fairly healthy, for the most part. I've never had any of the "childhood" illnesses, only ever had flu once, and haven't had a sick day off work or a holiday in three years - I even go back to work the day after my routine laparoscopies. But sooner or later that kind of "stoicism" catches up to you, because when you continue to ignore your body's signs that it needs a rest, it's bound to send out LOUDER signals. I'm hearing those at the moment. I'm having my worst Crohn's relapse in years, my shoulder is hell, my broken ankle is refusing to mend without the rest it needs and for the first time in over a year, today I was forced to take a headache tablet because ignoring it, doing reiki and drinking large amounts of water didn't shift the insistent pounding between my eyes. I guess what I'm saying is that there's nothing wrong with doing what you have to in order to do what you love, as long as you're aware that it comes at a price, and as long as you're prepared to pay that price. I know that I am going to go through a whole heap of pain when I'm older because I didn't rest my body properly when it took the knocks my lifestyle inflicted on it when I was younger. That's all part of my 'sleep when you're dead' approach to life. I'm now paying for not resting my shoulder following that fall a few months ago. But I do my paying in private and quietly because nobody asked me to do it, I made those choices. It doesn't make me a hero, it doesn't make me stupid, it just makes me me. So, Kat, I guess what I'm saying is that I agree with you. I know the price I have to pay and I'm prepared to pay it. My dad died in a car accident before his 40th birthday, my grandfather died in a similar accident before his 45th, my gran died of a heart attack before her 55th....see, my family isn't exactly known for longevity. So I reckon that the chances are I might die before karma exacts the "price" in any event, and boy would I be pissed if I died at 50 with an otherwise healthy body and having NOT done the things which have given me so much pleasure over the years, albeit "at a price". Tracey =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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