It’s day 4 or 5 of me having a low grade back ache this week. I’ve been popping a few paracetamols a day.

Last week I also had ulcers and backaches – I often get ulcers when I’m stressed and tired – and used bonjela and had some ibuprofen.

And the week before, between Christmas and new year… I also had tension shoulder aches and backaches, and had a few Doliprane (the French brand of over-the-counter paracetamol).

I need to try to avoid taking meds for low grade pain, because I may need to preserve the “firepower” for bigger things to come. Especially since my condition now is nowhere near as bad as it has sometimes been over the past few years, when there have been weeks when I have had persistent, pounding headaches, and I was popping 6-8 painkillers a day for weeks at a time.

It’s just that I need to preserve all my physical, emotional, and cognitive resources for everything else right now.

Yesterday, between the kids’ activities, we had several gaps of waiting around. I had something like 3 coffees baby 2pm, but I still kept falling asleep from exhaustion, and melancholy.