14 replies to this topic

[Griffen]

A newbie's question. An old gardening injury 30 years or so ago has resulted in a 50% + slippage of L5 over S1 which has now fused into position,,DDD & spinal & foraminal stenosis etc. I also have a double curvature of the spine. The bio mechanics rule out any operation apparently.

All the usual pains,pins & needles,loss of strength in legs etc.Whilst there good & bad days, this past 6 months it has gradually being getting worse despite doing physio & taking pain meds as prescribed.Yesterday I felt someone was slapping my legs with frshly cut stinging nettles all day long for instance.

The consultant said I was not to worry as he could always control the pain with meds but don't go overboard at the moment as I'll probably need them more later on.

I'm one miserable person when I'm in pain. I do not want to turn into someone whose life is dominated by this.
How do you all cope?

,

Edited by Griffen, 23 July 2012 - 12:57 AM.

[wheeliebear75]

I'm sure if I sat there dwelling on the "fun fact" that my Dr.s are all of the unanomous beliefe that my spine will just continue to fall apart & give me more & more pain til I finally throw in the towel & allow them to put rods into my back.....I'd turn into a complete basket case. I'm only 36(almost 37) & have been dealing with increasing pain since I had my accident when I was 14.

You have to find a balance that suites YOU! I have quite a few meds at my disposal & could get stronger ones.....but to ME....it feels as though all those meds just mask over the pain & make me sleepy enough to knock me out (which at times IS a "blessing"), which is sometimes the ONLY time I'm not activly dealing with the pain. So for ME the balance is dealing with the pain til it's at a point where I either need to to drug up or else it will just keep gettting worse & worse. I don't like taking the pain meds when there is something I WANT TO DO.....cuz I'm rarely able to do what ever it is I HAD wanted to do all doped up on pain meds.

I find distraction to be one of the best techniques. I can play a game like bejeweled or pop-it which are made by "pop-cap" games. I'm also a big pogo goer....lots of those puzzle games are "easy" to start playing & loose track of time. It's those loosing track of time activities that are easiest to use for distracting your mind from the pain.

I also have a TENS unit that I just LOVE! The settings are something you have to play around with. When they 1st hooked me up to it @ the PT's office I about hit the roof with pain, but they fiddled with the settings & the way I have it set up now is an abolute GOD SEND! If you get the chance to use one.....don't give up on it if the 1st setting is "bad" or even the 2nd or 3rd.....stick it out & try a few different settings before you cast your yay or nay on it.

I use meditation as well. Meditaion for pain is NOT something you can pick up in a few hrs or even days. It is something you must 1st try when you're in relatively little pain & you'll need to be practicing every day....as the weeks go by if you've been practicing the meditation you will notice your "places" are more & more vivid each passing week & they come more fluidly (er at least that's how it worked out for MINE anyway....took about 10 wks before I could use it when I was in pain). I think my absolute favorite is to take a mountain walk (I can include sounds/smells/sights/sensation/& sometimes even taste if I happened along the right berry bush or fruit tree in my walk); I try FORCING my mind to put into this "walk" as many details as I can (the details are what keeps your mind occupied/busy enough to not answer those "OW-mails")the smell of pine trees + the crunching of the fallen needles under my feet + the sight of mist up in the faraway trees, the sights & smells of meadows full of wild flowers, picturing wild animals crossing my path with a mother doe & her fawn in a clearing or a hawk soaring over head. I often try to encorporate that into anoter favs of mine which is the beach. So I like to picture the way Torrey Pines goes from hills & mountainy terrain leads down to the beach. I then can picture all the sights/sounds/sensations of the beach including wrigeling my toes in the warm sand. I like using Boudecia from Enya set on repeat for the mountainy portions & for the sea/beach I like using Sailing from Christopher Cross. I also try to imagine myself as a dolphin swimming along coral reefs & playing with other sea creatures, & racing along side sailboats.

Many of us find that having a nice warm shower helps.

My B/F when he & I 1st got together had to learn how to touch me in my bad owie times.....but he learned the do's & dont's of ME & MY hypersensative skin.....and now he's actually better at massaging without hurting me than is my mother who is a trained OT & has been around me ever since my accident at age 14 (22yrs ago). So again....just because try #1 at your husband/wife or anyone else doing massage is fingernails on a chalk board......try again & take note of what didn't work from the last try.....eventually you may find what YOUR ways are.

Best of luck.

Edited by wheeliebear75, 23 July 2012 - 03:53 AM.

[Tetracyclone]

Griffin,

First, the cold water- I think your doctor is a bit over-confident. many people simply have to learn to handle pain in their on ways, as Wheeliebear described.

That said, many of us find meds that serve very well. Just last night I was having a very tough time and by 2:30 am decided "this is stupid. Double up and see if it knocks this pain out. Well it did and, as you know by now, I got the resulting LIFT in attitude. I encourage you to try a variety of meds over time looking for something that helps you without a lot of drowsiness.

The prospects are not great with stenosis, but it is also worth getting second opinions from a surgeon associated with a spinal unit. There i a lot of "oh, just live with it" in the NHS and it is not all appropriate.

[Griffen]

Thank you both for your tips & thoughts. I must admit yesterday evening I gave in after 18 hours of being " slapped with stinging nettles" & took another tablet & then wished I had much sooner. Today just back to the usual aches, pains & stiffness...which since I work from home, I can manage with a reasonable attitude,a hot water bottle & usual amouint of meds.

It is the unpredictability of it all that makes a normal life so difficult.Different types of pain & in different places. Sometimes I can walk about 300 yards & other times a mile.Sometimes I fine when I start & but have to come home at a snail's pace because of loss of power to the legs.
Wheeliebear, you are quite right about the power of distraction. I paint in watercolours & the time slips by.Also the Tens Machine. It is next on my list after a treadmill for walking when its raining. (more often than not in Ireland!)

No NHS in Ireland unfortunately.

Edited by Griffen, 23 July 2012 - 09:13 PM.

[Tetracyclone]

No NHS in Ireland unfortunately.

<<typically ignorant USer...>>

[Griffen]

Well, Ireland was once part of the Uk & the North still is!

[plank]

Well, Ireland was once part of the Uk & the North still is!

That's an interesting history of Ireland. I somehow feel that you've missed some bits out though.

[wheeliebear75]

Thank you both for your tips & thoughts. I must admit yesterday evening I gave in after 18 hours of being " slapped with stinging nettles" & took another tablet & then wished I had much sooner. Today just back to the usual aches, pains & stiffness...which since I work from home, I can manage with a reasonable attitude,a hot water bottle & usual amouint of meds.

It is the unpredictability of it all that makes a normal life so difficult.Different types of pain & in different places. Sometimes I can walk about 300 yards & other times a mile.Sometimes I fine when I start & but have to come home at a snail's pace because of loss of power to the legs.
Wheeliebear, you are quite right about the power of distraction. I paint in watercolours & the time slips by.Also the Tens Machine. It is next on my list after a treadmill for walking when its raining. (more often than not in Ireland!)

No NHS in Ireland unfortunately.

IF you can just "TRY one out" (TENS unit) I would see if that would help you more than the treadmil. Reason I say it MAY help MORE; #1 IF it works (the TENS) then it is something you can use sitting on your couch or laying down in bed when you couldn't possibly get on the treadmil, #2 even in a power outage.....TENS unit works on 1 9v battery, #3 you can only walk so many hrs a day even if you were an AB training for a cross country marathon (sounds a bit more "impressive" in a country with more miles/km from 1 side to the other I spose), TENS unit may be cheaper.

Another thing that is VERY important to note & that I learned from the pain managment course: the pain as a signal....think of it as an engine; the longer the engine runs whether idoling in front of your home or driving fast down the open road, the longer it runs the hotter the engine is, so it will take more time to cool down if you needed to work on it. You want to think of pain as an engine & YOU are the mechanic who knows this engine needs some work on it. OK so this means that you want to keep it as cool as possible as the hotter you allow your "engine" to become the longer it will take to get it to where you can work with it. This means that you need to not allow the RPMs to get the temp up, if a mechanic needs to hear what "the knock" sounds like this may require they take it for a drive around the block....but they know they're going to have to get their hands in there.....so they're going to keep the RPMs low if possible to reduce the temperature increase by that said spin around the block. So pain meds, resting, TENS, distraction (it's like parking a car who's engine was knocking....it's OK while it's in the garage....til you take it out for a spin).....all these things help your temp/pain stay at a controlable level.....if you allow the pain to get out of hand it's that much harder to get control over, let your engine keep knocking & pinging before getting it to a mechanic & you're likely to blow your engine......our spines are the same in that it's easier to keep problems under control if they're dealt with when the "engine" is just pinging before it KNOCKS.

Hope that made at least some sense.....not trying to be "sexist" but I know a bunch of mechanics.....& they all seem to "get it" when I'm able to explain the body in relation to the mechanics of cars.

[Griffen]

Just wanted to say thank you all. Totally got the the car engine analogy. I've discovered that two of the physio exercises were actually ramping the pain up about 6 hours later so now avoid side to side movements.It is logical really.. lumbar discs are wedge shaped due to the wiggly spine.

[Pieter]

Hi Griffen

I totally agree with Wheeliebear about the meditation, and the reference to a car engine. What we have to remember is that the engine needs gasoline to make it run, no gasoline no power. Pain on the other hand lives on energy, and use up a lot of it, so the less energy you have the more pain you will experience. To prevent that from happening, it is important to take a natural vitamin supplement, that can boost your energy levels, and also to make sure that you do not allow the pain to go out of control, because an overheated engine always takes some maintenance afterwards.

[qbounce]

I can't stand how they say without a doubt doing physical therapy will HELP a spine that's getting worse over time . . . It boggles the mind.

Look into a second opinion regarding that surgery.

[tinamarie]

I'm in favor of taking enough pain meds to keep the miserableness away. It's kind of like money. Spend on necessities; and with what's left, perhaps spend some on fun, but definitely save some for the future. There is a good chance that pain relieving technology will advance in the future. So probably no need to scrimp too much on pain meds in the present. Good luck finding the balance!

Edited by tinamarie, 15 September 2012 - 06:24 PM.

[Griffen]

I cannot tell you how useful these insights are. Thank you. Have to be there to know these things. SIGH.

[wheeliebear75]

I can't stand how they say without a doubt doing physical therapy will HELP a spine that's getting worse over time . . . It boggles the mind.

Look into a second opinion regarding that surgery.

Q is right. I had a lady PT back in 2001, I kept having more & more pain not less, I was pinching raw peripheral nerves, but it wasn't until I had another MRI that this was "understood"/ "discovered". X-rays don't show nerves so she didn't know it was making it worse. A DIFFERENT PT having the advantage of the more recent MRI findings did traction 2x a week + 1x of floor exercises where we used resistance yadah yadah but avoided certain motions that tended to pinch/aggravate the neuropathy.....and THAT had a very VERY GOOD influence on my over-all pain (especially the traction)....but Kaiser in their efforts to save a buck don't do "maintenance PT", which is what I was deemed to be receiving since it had been so long since original injury date & I hadn't had any surgery. Take what PT time you can get.....but do be careful & if your PT isn't listening......you do have the option of changing. Oh & do make sure they've got up to date scans.

[Griffen]

Thanks,WheelieBear.Your experience with the first PT mirrored mine.It didn't help that as I got worse they all said it was to be expected given the seriousness of the lumber degeneration.Mumph!

I have to travel to Uk in a fortnight's time 10 hours,Train,coach,flight & car.Luckily I get a 2 hours break in the airport. My luggage will consist of a lumbar support wedge in case I meet any curved seats, a narrowish strip of mattress topper( I need a soft bed or I cannot move in the morning) ,heat pads & double strength meds. Worse than packing for a baby.LOL. Never mind the clothes! Oh yes & the first appearance of a walking stick in the UK .

Still compared with many I'm one of the lucky ones,I know.

Edited by Griffen, 26 September 2012 - 12:47 AM.