My doctor suggested masking one sequela of my symptoms.
He made that proposal while expounding an etiological mythology which appeared inconsistent with what I know about horses, cows, and my own gastrointestinal tract.
I did not find his approach appealing. Even as an alternative to doing nothing it is seems tangential and ill aimed; certainly it does not have the attraction I might find in diagnosing and treating the underlying disease. Whatever that disease might be. This was all the more the case knowing that I would be non-compliant with the masking protocol. My doctor chose to ignore me and prescribe anyway.
That's OK. I chose to ignore him and treat a symptom.
The sequela is gastric reflux. The symptom is abdominal muscle tension, or "abominable" as I prefer to label it. The entire syndrome is too commonplace and prescribing for it is too easy to arouse the medical profession to assign a diagnosis code to whatever lies behind the condition or for the insurance edifice to associate a payment.
Among the exacerbating conditions is stress and anxiety. Stress increases the tendency to tense up the muscles but tensed muscles tend to induce a sense of anxiety. Those muscles will tighten enough that they become painful and in response to pain the body tends to tighten the muscles. When I'm awake I can often ignore the discomfort but when I'm not asleep it is another matter.
Treating symptoms without knowledge of the disease is a Sisyphian exercise. My own rock tends to roll back even before reaching the summit of momentary health. I did however have about 80% temporary success with alleviating the sequela.
Our recent episode of excessive heat and humidity was particularly conducive to amplifying the feedback loops. The weather was an objective external stress acting on the internal ailment and from there we travel in circles of distress.
My life is often characterized by travelling in circles. Some of them are geographic circles in the woods while others are metaphoric circles in the mind. In either case an external intervention is called for.
Last night, after some time, the cat crawled up on my stomach. His warmth helped with the muscle tightness although it was only going to work while I lay on my back. As for the anxiety Wheatley Cat is not the right shape to be a weighted blanket. On my side I do not have the proper conformation to be a cat bed. So he fell off. Eventually we gave this up.
Despite my failing as a cat bed Wheatley may have had salutory effect. My third attempt to contain the symptom yielded a full sleep cycle. Then I was awakened by the distant clang of metal and a burst of maniacal laughter.
I wonder what the diagnosis for that might be.