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(Background on ME: I'm in my mid 30's, I'm now 21.5 yrs post "boo-boo", neurologically speaking L2 & down (incomplete), but pain/arthritis wise the entire spinal column....and I've had 4 kids all post SCI & by "C-section". I also happen to have diabetes....which can complicate things.)
Prior to getting hurt I was a healthy teenager who participated in a LOT of sports/athletics. And I was 4'10 118lbs but by NO MEANS overweight I was very muscular from the sports & weight training I had been doing for those few years...I had a "4 pack abs" not bad for a female & was very tone & "cut" everywhere else. My weight-lifting coach was supposed to "challenge" me to a "contest" of who could lift more going by % of weight lifted vs. body weight.....the coach was the one who was nervous about loosing.....I could bench 200, & on the leg press I could do over 300 while the coach who was about 250lbs so he would have had to bench over 300 & do leg press of over 500.
During the SCI recovery those muscles helped me even though it was hard to do ANYTHING....including my arms from the neck injuries (soft tissue damage from the dislocations not SCI). But once the muscles in my neck healed that "went away". My legs went from being rather large to not quite "atrophied" but definitely still quite a bit of shrinkage. The muscles below the waist/naval are....squishy for lack of a better term....they lack the tone of healthy working muscles but I can still use them to a point.
After doing so much physical activity I had raised my caloric needs with having all that muscle....so anything I ate just burned away. But after the accident for quite a while I ended up sitting around the house a LOT since it was so much harder to get out prior to ADA + affordable cell phones (it's a brain injury thing) & then all the stress eating (abusive now EX-husband) I did for a few years....so I ended up getting pretty chunky....for my current height of 5'2 I WAS up to 189 which is too chunky.
After a while I got away from the abusive hubby & stopped stress eating. I was able to go out & therefore get some exercise once ADA came into EFFECT (took a few years to implement...many places tried fighting it....even larger ones) I was able to get out of the house & go DO THINGS. No more eating out of boredom or stress relief. I got to loose some weight in a "healthy way" by doing more, eating less. I lost about 30-40lbs intentionally & in a "healthy way".
The pain then started getting worse not better (quite the irony as so many dr.s will tell ya "Loose weight & you'll feel better."). And I started having trouble WANTING TO eat. In the beginning it wasn't so bad cuz I only picked at my food during the actual storms....I rarely threw up....& I was able to eat normal meals at other times. A few years of that went by & although I slowly dropped it wasn't anything "bad" per se (per-say).
I started having more & more trouble with pain. Eventually the pain got so bad that just about every time it rained I ended up in bed or on the bathroom floor hugging the toilet if not actually in the E.R. for them TO treat the pain & vomiting with shots.
My GP + ortho & neurologist sent me through pain management who then had me go through an 8wk set of classes 2x a week. I learned all about HOW the pain/message OF "pain" is sent, ways to relieve it including bio-feedback & meditation.....can only be doped up so much before it's at the point of being ridiculous. 
In this class (about 15-25 people) the other thing discussed was weight management; for some it was loosing weight without being "physically capable of exercise" DIETING.....but there were also a # of us who had the opposite problem of loosing weight TOO MUCH.
That metallic taste in the mouth? The sweating & feeling almost dizzy? The gag reflex that starts when you TRY to swallow a bite of SOLID food? ALL make it oh so hard to eat enough food.....and unless you've "been THERE" I don't think it makes sense to most people unless they've been trained or exposed to it on a frequent basis....and even then it's an understanding of the mechanics not really a "I KNOW how awful that is!".
http://en.wikipedia....vation_response
When the body is in so much pain that it makes you sick to your stomach or just loose your appetite.....it's "OK"/non harmful in most people (those with diabetes are ALWAYS the exception as glucose levels can drop way too low & ESPECIALLY for those who are insulin dependent) for a short period during things such as a flu or a broken bone. But for prolonged periods it is NOT "OK" to constantly do that to the body....it's quite hard on your system. I have unfortunately ran (in hindsight I WISH I'd "ran" into her) a doctor who claimed that pain does not effect/cause nausea.....BULL
!!! Does so! Look it up on the internet or talk to a pain management specialist if you do get unlucky enough to have a run in with a Dr. who does think/believe/says this.Killing the pain when it 1st starts up is easier than once it get going to a BAD pain....meaning if your pain is at a 3-4 you'll be able to decrease it much easier than if you were to wait til it was at a 6-7 before doing anything about it.
Our nerves use a bio-electric impulse to communicate. So the brain sends out signals to EVERY NERVE to "report back" anything awry. In the case of SCI the "problem" is that the signals returning/coming from the nerves below the injury is not getting through OR is only getting through partially. The brain interprets lack of (although not always) as "pain". The brain reads/interprets "incomplete messages" that do get through as a type of "static" which it then views as "pain". Pain is not a "bad thing"....GENERALLY pain is there to let you know you've hurt yourself in some way so that you can make changes; take your hand off the hot pan, hop around on the hot pavement to minimize the duration of contact between the skin on your bare feet & the hot surface, or to stop/refrain from exerting with an arm after a pulled shoulder muscle.....THIS is why I say pain is not bad....not that the feeling or sensation OF pain isn't unpleasant.
For pain I found meditation to be more helpful than I had originally though when I 1st started the class. Originally I had pictured a bunch of people sitting on yoga mats with their legs crossed, thumbs to pointer fingers with palms up resting on their knees, saying "ohm ohm ohm". THAT is only ONE TYPE. The brain is the key if not the source of the pain.....& since we can't do much about the source (there is no hot pan to pull our hand off or pebble stuck in our shoe making our feet hurt) the next place to concentrate on is the BRAIN/MIND! The mind IS a powerful tool. If we think of our brain as nature's computer; if your computer is only doing a few minimal tasks in the background than it can load your e-mails up rather quickly....lets pretend that the "e-mail" is a signal or lack there of from damaged nerves saying "OW!" "Pain!" "Ahhh...red hot fire ants...take off the overly tight stockings & spray some RAID to....KILL UM KILL UM!!!". NOW...if your computer is running all sorts of apps., + downloading some movies, while playing some music videos off of YouTube your e-mails load up much slower. Sooo....give nature's PC.....a bunch of tasks; if you can stay focused on something enough to push those messages to a background task GREAT, you can also use a different type of meditation to help. When I "meditate" I generally do it in the most comfortable position...which for ME is flat on my back with my legs propped up on pillows;I start with concentrating on just the breathing....DEEP cleansing breaths...in--&--out (NOT hyperventilating) in--&--out....with this I then try to picture someplace peaceful using my mind to fill in as many details as I possibly can. I go for a mountain walk; picture a lush green forest, smell the pines....(I don't actually picture myself walking....just going along these trails) along the trail I can hear the distant chirping of birds....see & smell the flowers with their vibrant petals & soothing fragrances. Along the way I picture different animals stopping to see me with inquisitive eyes & curious gaze....the doe with her fawn....the bright golden hues of their eyes & the soft fur that beckons me to touch. I picture myself laying in a meadow with the sun's rays warming my skin & watch the clouds go by in the bright blue sky. All these details I PUT into these "walks" "meditations" helps the brain stay BUSY & therefore NOT focused on the....."Ow-mails" stacking up in our little proverbial "in-box". This is NOT something that will do you much good if you wait til you're IN PAIN. This is a technique that MUST be done on a regular basis during the "OK times" for a number of weeks or months, because until you're an experienced "traveler" these mental walks won't help much because your brain will be less apt to focus on what YOU "MAKE UP" to keep your mind busy. The breathing helps on a physical level as well by increasing the oxygen supply to the cells. Lowering the BP is also beneficial......and I'm not sure but I don't THINK it would lower it if you are one of those who tends to have a BP that is too low.
Aside from the MIND....other tools I use in MY arsenal? My MP3 player has both soothing & hard-core METAL just depends on my mood, hot baths/showers (not TOO hot & be careful with prolonged soaks as you can overheat & possibly raise blood pressure) heating pad (be VERY careful if you use this in any areas where you have trouble sensing temperature), T.E.N.S. unit (helps "out static" the OUCH static), obviously there is the meditation which all of these things are great since not only are they free (aside from a wee bit of water + the gas/AC-power for the bath/heating pad) but there is NO SUCH THING as "over-dose" (aside from getting too overheated)! As for drugs/medicines to lessen the pain/neuropathy/nausea; marijuana, Percocets, Flexarill, Valium, & Phenergan (oral pills OR suppositories depending on my stomach a.k.a.Chernobyl).
I do use marijuana & I started using that in 2003 (at the behest of pain management, after almost 13yrs of masking over the pain with Rx's) although it is quite expensive & depending on how your area's laws view marijuana (some of us live in areas that have passed propositions such as California's prop 215 to decriminalize "medical marijuana" users from being prosecuted by police & the courts, & then there are the lucky ducks who live in places like Amsterdam where it is as legal as having a beer) this/these would determine if this is a suitable option for you...the benefits however (In MY Opinion) shouldn't be discounted simply because some choose to use it to get HIGH. After all....people use the poppy flower to make heroin & a bunch of other "street drugs" yet this same flower can be used to make our pain pills which WE use for pain relief NOT to get our jollies. There is no such thing as "O.D.ing" or taking too much....unlike our pain pills that can make a person stop breathing if they take the next dose before the specified time has gone by (usually 4-8hrs). The taste is/was unpleasant at 1st but I got used to it to a point.....and using a water pipe/bong (Do NOT ask a smoke shop to sell you a bong
ask for "a water pipe" 
) There is a he-UGE (HUGE) difference between using the cheap stuff & using the GOOD stuff....don't bother with that cheap crap it's not worth the choking & don't do squat to make the pain lessen it just dopes up the head which is one of my main reasons for disliking the Rx route. Our pills are consistent....each "dose" will be the exact same amount of each chemical however with marijuana it is not nearly as consistent from plant to plant/crop to crop or even between buds on A plant. Although it is expensive & the results may very....I have yet to find anything aside from steroids that MAKE YOU actually WANT TO eat. And if there are any other substances/medicines out there aside from steroids that will stimulate appetite please let me know.....leave your tips on this thread, leave a comment on my profile page (I approve comments before they are published so no need to make a 2nd post if you don't see your 1st), PM me....just please.....TELL ME....TELL US....TELL THE WORLD!To GAIN weight: OK aside from eating as much high calorie/high fat/high protein foods as we can (remember this won't build muscle ONLY add on a few extra lbs./kg. of FAT....but if you're not eating enough OR re-eating.....it's better than withering away). I have found that making a "milk-shake" with (milk +vanilla ice-cream + bananas + peanut-butter OR if you dislike vanilla use strawberry...I didn't like that strawberry + PB combo as much though so I leave OUT the PB if I'm having strawberry)it/they don't taste 1/2 bad & it has more calories + fat & protein than do ordinary shakes. Although it's not nearly as yummy; a higher protein version of this shake is to add(vanilla ice-cream, substitute vanilla Ensure instead of milk for the additional proteins + the banana....I didn't like it so much with the strawberry AND peanut-butter & even less as the Ensure version but the PB-less strawberry Ensure shake isn't too bad....and the ice-cream helps the Ensure-taste to not be so prevalent{I'm not a fan of Ensure for it's taste just what it's got in it}). It seems I can fight the gag reflex better with liquids or near liquids like shakes,yogurt, JELLO etc. than I can with things I have to CHEW up 1st.
When you are able to....muscle helps pad the bones AND helps give some structural support to the body's frame....so for us with damage in the T & L areas whatever upper & lower abdominal muscles we CAN use it is extremely important to try & build these up in those months where hopefully the weather has loosened it's grip on your bones/joints enough to get out there & DO something. For those who have this trouble with pain all year long I can only suggest that you do what you can when you can.
BAD TUMMY!: OK aside from (YOU will have to asses your own risk & IF it's worth the risk to ya) the protein shakes...I try avoiding the fallowing items/foods as much as possible during those days where
is imminent because the digestive tract can make some really disgusting changes to them when it comes to re-eating; most dairy products that are liquid in nature like yogurt or milk will actually curdle in my stomach in as little as 30-45 minutes....cheese seems to be OK-ish it may taste worse but so does EVERYTHING, and absolutely avoid ANYTHING with tomato in it....aside from a bit of ketchup anything else will go to rot in short order as well.For dealing with the nausea itself: Aside from the meds that will take away nausea and/or the pain meds which lessen the pain that causes it in the 1st place..... I tend to sweat profusely but since air-conditioning is painful I use a folding fan (the kind you wave in front of you with your hands to wave the existing air on your face) because it doesn't seem to cool down the room so much as just cool off my face. A small fan that can be aimed at JUST my head or shoulders is OK. Cool washcloths on the back of the neck and/or forehead feels really nice. Ice chips are GREAT! You can make ice chips using other things besides water; using a lemon/lime soda such as 7-UP is good because it has some sugar in it which we loose with doing all that re-eating/re-drinking & if you're concerned about raising blood sugars too much (if you're diabetic I recommend checking sugars OFTEN when you're getting sick because they can go haywire....sometimes if I'm sick from a flu it raises the sugars but then getting sick drops it.....getting sick without any viruses/bacteria in my system just drops my sugars like a ROCK) then you can use a diet version or a combination of the regular & diet to give your system some sugar but not too much at a time. Vomiting can do more than just hurt...it CAN actually HURT YOU; if you become dehydrated badly enough it can actually make you have an irregular heart beat...had it happen; cure was "banana bag" it's an IV solution they give to people who are very dehydrated or very drunk which I have no idea how it's the same....but the treatment is so says E.R.(I forgot what you call it in the UK) & my Dr. also.
FOR DISPOSING OF with-OUT joining in: Try putting a dab of "Vicks' vapor rub" under your nose.....it's a trick that a lot of homicide cops use to deal with the smells of rotting corpses, we saw it on a T.V. show about REAL police/detectives....and my B/F says it really does work...not 100% but fairly well. Once the bucket has been dumped give it a few shots of Lysol it will not only disinfect it but make it smell better....at least til the next round.
Sorry it was so long winded.....I just wanted to....get all out....NO pun intended.
Edited by wheeliebear75, 10 November 2011 - 08:46 AM.
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