F#%king Compartment Syndrome

So I had my massage the other day. It was great! Though it looks like I have Compartment Syndrome. I wasn't too worried about that until about 10 hours later when I finally got access to my pc and Dr Google. Then I freaked right on out. Here's some of what hit me right after doing the search:

• Life-threatening
• Loss of limb
• No exercise
• Can lead to muscle damage
• Can lead to nerve damage

and more. Delightful! I went from very happy, to "f@%k everything. I just want to die" in 30 seconds flat. Total victim mentality. I managed to get my head out off my victimised ass in around an hour which is pretty good for me. I had to give myself a reality check and remind myself of all the other things I read such as:

Can often be cured with a lot of rest and deep tissue massage.

And this also jumped out at me from this page:

"The success rate of treatment for patients with anterior compartment syndrome is largely dictated by patient compliance. One of the key components of treatment is that the patient rests sufficiently from ANY activity that increases their pain until they are symptom free. Once pain free, a gradual return to activity is indicated provided there is no increase in symptoms.

 Ignoring symptoms or adopting a 'no pain, no gain' attitude is likely to lead to the problem becoming chronic."

Waaaaaaaaaah! I didn't want to read this. As someone who has successfully been keeping severe depression at by with my bike recently, this was the last thing I wanted to hear. I can't ride, and the cure is largely down to me. I already feel over-responsibility-ised. I'm trying to flip that Waaaaah into, "ok, this is down to me, this gives me an element of control. I can do this. Control I am good at. Just ask the kids when I forget!"

I've started taking large amounts of MSM which is a naturally occurring sulfur that is mostly absent from our diet these days and is great for helping connective tissue heal, repair and become more flexibile.

I've also stopped riding. I can't even look at my bike it hurts so much not to ride. But the front of my legs still feel like their on fire.

The whole thing is, that I've had this pain on and off for years. It's happened whenever I've instigated a fitness regime. Here's some examples:

Brisk walking
Running (once, the other time sore knees was the culprit)
HIIT such as found this channel
Rebounding
Skipping

Every time, this shin pain kicks in and I stop. So now, I'm worried I've done it so often that it might be chronic. I'm trying to tell myself that others have had depresison and gotten over it without exercise, but it helped me so much that I'm not really inclined to listen to that train of thought.

Whinge whine.. waaaaaah!