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For the last few days or so, I have been feeling really not-myself. To start with, I have a really horrible cold which keeps me up at night by the box of tissues, and cannot speak at all. Ever since I have caught it, everything at all physical I do (even walking up the street!)  results in me breaking out into a nasty hot sheen of sweat... And I don't usually sweat at all (unless in ballet class!) I suppose the extremes of 27 degree sunshine at sports day to the flash floods and Terrential freezing rain this week haven't helped. Anyway, it doesn't seem to get better :(

 

I usually do about 2.5 hours of ballet practice at home on days I don't do class, but also recently my big right toe has become throbbing with pain(from the ball of the foot to the nail)... It started excruciating but on,y when flexed, but not it is a dull ache constantly. I have festivals this weekend and really wanted to get loads of hard practice done, but I have started to lose my concentration and just stand there in another world. I'm also scared because at pointe class yesterday my ankles felt exceedingly wobbly... Maybe that is just my pointe shoes dying though... They are very old..

 

there has also been lots of not very nice drama at school and home... And I just feel like I want to go unconscious for the rest of eternity! What should I do? I have summer school very soon (end of July to mid August) and want to be top of my game for that, so I wanted to keep up a hard regime of daily practice over the first week, especially as I have the festivals. I've worked very hard on my technique and I just want everything to be perfect!

 

sorry for the ultra long post, thank you in advance,

ArucariaBallerina

 

P.S I am still adoring ballet, sometimes I'm scared by how much I love it... Family were looking at me very strangely as I started crying while sat in the splits wat hing the final R+J pas de deux.... And in English when I cried listening to the music from the Nutcracker where the Prince does his mime about the Mouse King and Clara's ballet shoe rescue... 

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It seems to be getting harder and harder to shake off bugs these days.  I had a stinker of a cold and cough earlier this year that I absolutely could not get rid of.  One of the side effects was that I was also bursting into tears for no apparent reason at the drop of a hat.  I found I was very breathless and had little energy too.  You may need to seek medical advice.

 

I can't comment on your toe except to say that you should, as we always advise, seek medical/physiotherapy help for diagnosis and support.

 

 

 

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Could the tiredness and pain be also down to burn out (end of term) or hormonal changes ? I'm not sure how the health service works in the UK, but perhaps you could ask your doctor for a quick once over and a blood test to see if you're lacking in any vitamins or minerals ? It could be that you just need a good rest.  

 

I'm so sorry to hear about the drama at school and home. Can you try and focus for now on enjoying dancing in the festival and look forward to the summer school. X

 

 

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If you are poorly, you need to rest, and if things aren't rapidly improving, seek professional advice.

I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but there are no quick fixes to illness or injury. When you've worked hard it's frustrating to have to miss something, but honestly, missing festivals will have little or no impact on you. Pushing yourself beyond what is sensible could have a distinct negative effect though, and ultimately cost you more time away from dance than if you rested properly now.

In addition to the physical effects, you are putting yourself under a lot of pressure wanting things to be perfect for this festival. Realistically, if you are poorly, you won't be at your best and you may be very disappointed if things don't go as well as you hope. That probably wouldn't be great for you psychologically, particularly as you've mentioned that you've been under stress in other areas of life recently. 

I've a feeling that a bit of rest and relaxation will do you the world of good.

Is there someone in real life who you can talk things through with? That would probably help too.

Get well soon.

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Oh Sweetheart - you're putting yourself under too much pressure, and honestly, it isn't doing you any good... Pups Mum is right, I think you need a rest before you get injured. Your body is giving you all the warning signs. Is there any chance that you could give yourself a short break from dance before the summer school? Even if that means missing the festival?

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I also think you need to rest and give your body a chance to recover. Both at work and my daughter's schools there is much sickness around. If you're also feeling stressed it will sap your energy, vitamins and minerals. If you haven't had blood tests recently it may be worth discussing with a sympathetic doctor. When I've been anaemic and vitamin D deficient in the past I've had aches, pains, tiredness...the list goes on and I don't even dance! If you were my daughter I'd be telling you to rest :) Hope you feel better soon

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If you are full of cold, not able to sleep because of it and by the sounds of it (sweating for no apparent reason) also running a temperature, then obviously you will be loosing your concentration and far from your best. As others have said, you are poorly and needing a rest and time for your body to recover, seeing the doctor if you are not feeling better in a few days. You are putting pressure on yourself - no one is perfect and to be perfectly honest practising when you are under the weather is worse than not practising at all as you will become more and more frustrated with yourself and your performance and are putting yourself at risk of injury. I know its not easy, but you have a long term goal of becoming a professional dancer and you need to learn when to take a step back and listen to your body. I'm afraid I agree with the idea of missing the festival so that you can be rested for summer school.

 

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I agree with all the others. Your body is telling you to rest. If you are not feeling better after a few days complete rest then you need to see your GP. 

It will be upsetting to miss the festival after all your hard work but you will be more upset to not do your best because you aren't well and even risk injury. Don't put yourself under so much pressure, even principals have to miss performances due to illness. 

You will enjoy the summer school and get more out of it if you arrive physically fit even if you haven't danced for a week or two. 

Hope you are feeling better very soon. 

 

Edit to add: 

if toe pain doesn't go and there is no other obvious cause do get your pointe shoes checked. They may not be supporting your foot properly if old and you may be sinking into the box putting extra pressure on the toe. 

 

Edited by Jane
To add extra paragraph
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40 minutes ago, Pups_mum said:

IPushing yourself beyond what is sensible could have a distinct negative effect though, and ultimately cost you more time away from dance than if you rested properly now.

 

That's very true.  At your age, there are so many things which could be causing problems, and there are times when you just have to listen to your body: I suspect this may be one of them.  I know how tough it is to be a perfectionist, but as you get older you tend to realise that things can't always be perfect, and "good enough" may have to do at times.

 

And now I'm going to go off and print off that last sentence in big letters and stick it on top of my computer: there are times when you need to practise what you preach :)

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I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, but your painful toe sounds like mine was earlier in the year. When I visited the doctor, she told me it was broken. It seems it has been broken for a couple of weeks. It was a bit twingey, but I didn't think anything of it. I'm 60 and suffer a lot of twinges, so I just put it down to one more. During petit allegro, it really hurt and I had to leave class early. I probably broke it in the gym, doing rises with a 30kg barbell on my shoulders. Anyway, it's all fine now and I'm back doing class and weighted rises are just fine.

 

10 hours ago, alison said:

 

I know how tough it is to be a perfectionist, but as you get older you tend to realise that things can't always be perfect, and "good enough" may have to do at times.

 

Yep! I always strive to perfection, but I know that there are ballet steps that I'll never be able to do, and what I can do is rather rubbish. I enjoy dancing and that is all I really want.

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DD is currently sat by me feeling v frustrated because she has the most awful cold, desperately wants to be working/ stretching etc but she doesn't have the motivation because she doesn't have any energy. She has had an extremely busy 12 months both academically ( yr11) and with her dance, it would seem her body has now said STOP and that's exactly what she is doing. 

Yes I know it's hard, especially when you are so passionate but you really do need to listen to your body. We all need to rest and take it easy. There is nothing wrong in that, usually it means you come back strand better. 

Please take a bit of time out, watch some rubbish on TV , read, listen to music, eat whatever you feel like, relax and you will recover much quicker. 

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You've had some excellent advice here so I do hope you take it.

it sounds as if you've had a bit of emotional stress as well as all the physical problems and being overly tearful is a sure sign you may be a bit exhausted right now.

I have to admit though that the image of you watching R and J whilst in the splits made me smile....no offence meant... you are definitely very dedicated!! I might have to start a new thread about what other ballet positions people get into when watching it!!

 

i hope you feel better very soon and at least you will get a rest from school now...the summer term can be particularly tiring. 

 

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As an aside, my dd's physio does not recommend sitting in splits for more than a couple of minutes.  

 

Arucaria, you've been given loads of good advice.  Medical advice says not to exercise if you're running a fever as your body is already working hard to fight an infection or a virus.  If you keep practising when you're clearly ill and exhausted you risk more serious injury and illness.  

 

If any part of the "drama" at home (and obviously don't post too much info publicly!) has been adults trying to get you to stop dancing and rest, then PLEASE listen to that advice. ❤️ It's what I would tell my own daughter.

 

Much better to have a proper rest now and get better, than to keep on pushing and dancing through illness and injury and make things worse in the long run. xx

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