back pain, suffering !!!

[farmerfischer]

Sorry about your diagnosis I'm in the exact situation, I was told by my surgeon to avoid the OP as there is only a 50% chance of walking again and it's a minimum 18 month recovery period. I suffer with weird and random pains which is caused by the nervous system been pinched. If I get baked the pain stops but is replaced by random spasms which can be amusing for others and frustrating for me. The only other thing that stops the pain and spasms is codine in heavy prescribed doses.

I have the spasms as well. Lol. I bad body jerks a lot and like you said can be amusing but it's no fun for my woman and myself when we're trying to sleep. I'm kind of used to it but she has a hard time and wakes me up and yells at me for twitching and jerking.

 

[JanieWilliams]

Yup! I did. Not much help though

Normal or hot water massage?

Hot water massage do help in curing back pain. My friend has got positive results from it.

 

[farmerfischer]

Normal or hot water massage?

Hot water massage do help in curing back pain. My friend has got positive results from it.

Michigan spine and pain asked me to limit my exposure to heat on my back. They claim that the heat May extend inflammation in certain areas in my back so they told me to use cold/cool instead. ( compresses ) the massages I've had done were deep tissue. Which was great for the first three days, the forth day I felt like I was hit by a truck and couldn't walk right for a few days.. Wasn't worth it in my opinion.

 

[Fubard]

The biggest thing with any chronic pain is that there is a psychological aspect to it which nobody thinks about, and that means you can use that lump of mince between your ears against the pain. Accepting that yer fucked and keeping a positive mental attitude will work wonders as when your head goes down then the pain will go up.

Took me years to master, my back is so bad the only solution is to fuse L2-S1 and since they've never done that in my local hospitals they don't want to try it, and my attitude is simple. Be stubborn, remind yourself that you are the boss, not the pain, and that you know where the pain comes from, why it's there and that it won't kill you so it can go fuck itself.

Keep as mobile as possible, every movement helps, but don't force things. As far as the spasms go, if they're muscle spasms then 5mg valium can help there. Keep painkiller use to the absolute minimum and vape CBD for the inflammation.

As I say, my back is fucked too. I'm at the point where walking more than 20 yards needs a walking stick, and that's a good day. Other days it's crutches, really bad days mean the wheelchair is out, but the bottom line is that, no matter what, I WILL get off my ass and get outside no matter what, I WILL go to a store, or a bar, or for a coffee no matter what, this will not beat me and I WILL enjoy life for pain is not going to control me.

I have good days, bad days, shit days and days when I wish they would euthanase me. But I make sure the first one happens more than the other three combined, even though I had to accept I cannot work any more, that there's no chance of doing anything like what I did before (had to sell my car because driving was getting too painful), my attitude is "shit happens, move on and do what you CAN do rather than dwell on what you can't do".

Keep your head up and "your tail high", you'll find life will get better.


And swearing. Lots of swearing. A good outburst that would make a sailor with tourettes blush gets more stress out than any drug can, just be careful where you let that fly though because it seems they don't appreciate that in court...

 

[farmerfischer]

The biggest thing with any chronic pain is that there is a psychological aspect to it which nobody thinks about, and that means you can use that lump of mince between your ears against the pain. Accepting that yer fucked and keeping a positive mental attitude will work wonders as when your head goes down then the pain will go up.

Took me years to master, my back is so bad the only solution is to fuse L2-S1 and since they've never done that in my local hospitals they don't want to try it, and my attitude is simple. Be stubborn, remind yourself that you are the boss, not the pain, and that you know where the pain comes from, why it's there and that it won't kill you so it can go fuck itself.

Keep as mobile as possible, every movement helps, but don't force things. As far as the spasms go, if they're muscle spasms then 5mg valium can help there. Keep painkiller use to the absolute minimum and vape CBD for the inflammation.

As I say, my back is fucked too. I'm at the point where walking more than 20 yards needs a walking stick, and that's a good day. Other days it's crutches, really bad days mean the wheelchair is out, but the bottom line is that, no matter what, I WILL get off my ass and get outside no matter what, I WILL go to a store, or a bar, or for a coffee no matter what, this will not beat me and I WILL enjoy life for pain is not going to control me.

I have good days, bad days, shit days and days when I wish they would euthanase me. But I make sure the first one happens more than the other three combined, even though I had to accept I cannot work any more, that there's no chance of doing anything like what I did before (had to sell my car because driving was getting too painful), my attitude is "shit happens, move on and do what you CAN do rather than dwell on what you can't do".

Keep your head up and "your tail high", you'll find life will get better.


And swearing. Lots of swearing. A good outburst that would make a sailor with tourettes blush gets more stress out than any drug can, just be careful where you let that fly though because it seems they don't appreciate that in court...

thanks @Fubard .. I'm learning to deal with this New life style .. it sucks, but I'm dealing with it..
I really like your outlook , very insperational .. the toll to my mentality has been high at times. the fact I can't help others the way I used to bothers me. I've always been self reliant but I'm sucking it up and reluctantly take help from others when needed..
I was at my lowest when I had to recently have my women help me to the can and wipe my ass.. ( very hard to accept) BUT as you say "shit happens"lol.. I'm learning and trying and I won't EVER let this issue beat me to submission ...

thanks again for your words of encouragement and have merry Xmas and a safe New year.
.

 

[sdd420]

I'm another like you but so far every time my disc bulges out a couple days of bed rest puts it back. My favorite stretch is the soccer goalie, you squat as low as you can and then side to side as much as you can, with your feet spread as wide as you can and hands on knees that seems to neutralize the spine for me.

 

[dannyboy602]

To anyone who says that its all mind over matter I say shut the fuck up. And anyone who tells me I don't need the pain meds and I can do it with physical therapy or some decent kush...again...stfu...they have no fucking idea how pain will control you.
Pain is a very powerful motivator. And until you have lived with it for weeks and months and in my case years, and until you can comprehend that for some of us its either suicide or pain meds then its better to keep silent.
I hear so much about how many people die each year from accidental opiate overdoses and while it's tragic and preventable, you never hear about how many people these meds help and are grateful for the relief opiates give them and who don't abuse the meds, don't need to and have some semblance of a normal life because of the pills, and in my case patches.
I've always said I'll try anything. But at some point you throw your hands up. I did. Thank God for drugs. I never leave home without them.

 

[Fubard]

To anyone who says that its all mind over matter I say shut the fuck up. And anyone who tells me I don't need the pain meds and I can do it with physical therapy or some decent kush...again...stfu...they have no fucking idea how pain will control you.
Pain is a very powerful motivator. And until you have lived with it for weeks and months and in my case years, and until you can comprehend that for some of us its either suicide or pain meds then its better to keep silent.
I hear so much about how many people die each year from accidental opiate overdoses and while it's tragic and preventable, you never hear about how many people these meds help and are grateful for the relief opiates give them and who don't abuse the meds, don't need to and have some semblance of a normal life because of the pills, and in my case patches.
I've always said I'll try anything. But at some point you throw your hands up. I did. Thank God for drugs. I never leave home without them.

Over 20 years of pain, knowing that something was going to go "pop" for 13 of them. 13 years of overanalysing every little twinge wondering if that was "the one" that puts me on disability, 13 years of christ knows how many different painkillers, 13 years of 24/7 pain, 13 years of mood swings that went from "happy" to "why won't I just die" until I got that under control, 13 years of feeling weaker, slower and unable to risk doing certain things on a daily basis, 13 years of feeling less of a man because of not being able to do what everyone else could. That enough experience for you, or is 3 buggered disks, a lumbar area full of arthritis, enthesitis and a dislocation at L3 not enough?

What goes on between your ears is critical for pain management, if it can help keep painkiller use down then your tolerance to the painkiller stays down. I think I know which patches you are on, I can't use them any more because my tolerance went up as high as Venus. I can't use the likes of tr****ol any more, my tolerance is too high. That's why I keep my cocodamol and valium use to a minimum, why I smoke what many would call weak joints, I know how quickly my tolerance rockets and that's why I know that the power of the mind can be used to complement the painkillers.

Not "replace", but "complement". The two work side by side, with each other against what is wrong. You end up being able to stop yourself "anticipating" the pain, thinking that it is coming because of a movement or whatever which then generates the message in your brain that you are in pain when you are not. You ignore the pain, up to a point, mentally block it out until it reaches a specific level. You learn to increase your tolerance to pain so you can keep active instead of succumbing and getting worse faster.

And a positive attitude whilst enjoying life is also a part of that "power of the mind". "Smiley face" means plenty happy chemicals in the brain. You feel better, your pain drops.

It helps