Sounds like a line from novel or a poem: My bones lie heavy in my flesh, as if their weight was too much for my tissue to hold together anymore. This creates tremendous soreness in my hips and thighs as I try to sleep or rest. I noticed this more than ever this week as I dealt with food poisoning/ 24-48 hr flu. I’m betting it was food as I had no other flu like symptoms other than a headache and a slight fever and it’s over within 48 hours~ from midnight on Monday til midnight on Weds I felt ultra poopy but this morning I am better, and able to hold down tea and mild mannered food.

I am taking it easy today as I prepare for surgery tomorrow, having that feeding tube installed you know. I gave myself permission to rest as much as I wanted this week as I did not want to postone the surgery~ and what had been an annoying pain/soreness in my hips when I slept became an Omnipresent Thing I had to deal with in order to rest.

So- I figured I can’t be alone in this! There are many people who are on bedrest and/or alot less active than they’d like to be. This same sensation has to be felt by others, especially others who’ve spent a good part of life running around in their cha-cha pumps! I mean resting is supposed to be resting not a literal pain in the hips and tush! I tried stretching in yoga poses and sleeping with a pillow between my knees but that was a temporary fix. You see, I sleep on my side, because it’s easier for me to breathe that way and whatever hip I have my weight on begins to ache after a time.

Then I remembered something my massage therapist told me about and set me up for at home: a castor oil wrap. According to her this is an Edgar Cayce remedy. She gave me a 3ft by 2 foot piece of cotton clothe soaked in castor oil that I keep stored in a ziplock bag in the cupboard, and I pull it out whenever I have an ache that won’t diminish.
Recently, I have used this to soothe the ache across my upper back that is common in people with ALS, as well as a sharp pain in my right knee that was lingering and wouldn’t go away untill I wrapped it in the castor oil wrap for an hour or so. I was desperate for some quality sleep time, so I pulled out the clothe – I use it doubled over length wise so it’s 3 ft X 1 ft and I drizzled caster oil all over 1 side of it wrapping that side directly on my skin from my hip to my knee, then I laid down on that side upon 2 layers of towels to protect the sheets for an hour before repeating the process on the other side. The ache went away and has not returned for 48 hours, even though I remained fairly sedentary. As I head in for surgery tomorrow, this evening I will repeat the process, so I can get great rest after my procedure.

I highly reccomend this remedy, please try it at home! For anything that feels like an ache or a muscle pull or a tendon being twisted etc…something that you might ice but wouldn’t go into the emergency room for. I have used it with great success on what felt like a sprain, a pulled muscle, that painful ache across my shoulders and of course treating my hips and thigh muscles this week. It costs next to nothing and the oil absorbs quickly and comes off in the bath…use baking soda it you have trouble getting it off your skin. It’s definitly a life saver!