The disk between L4 and L5, to be specific. Because it is the reason I am ranting on the Dope instead of sitting on the pier watching my daughter and her cousins play in the lake, and hearing what my folks have to say, and going out to dinner with my sister and brother-in-law.
I had a week of vacation lined up, because if I don’t start using it up I lose it. So I was going to drive to see my folks over the Fourth, drive back Wednesday, and then go to Notre Dame to see my nephew get married.
Instead, I am crippling around the house holding onto the walls and making a trip to the bathroom a twenty-minute epic.
I want to see my folks. I want to swim in the lake. I want to hear their endless stories of who is in the hospital, and what their new Roomba is like, and how it scares the dog, and all those boring anecdotes that tell they are still there and still OK.
Damn.
Yeah, it’s lame. My apologies in advance for any typos; I am whacked out on Vicodin and Valium.
On the positive side, today you can listen to Rush in something resembling the man’s native mental habitat.
Sorry about the disk troubles. I just lost a couple nights sleep what with back muscles complaining about lugging a cast iron sink around. I hate them, but you’ve got it worse.
I used to have a bad back, myself. I had an L3-L4 disc removed in 1976, and an L4-L5 in 1982. After about three years living on cyclobenzaprine HCl and codeine they wanted to take out the L5-S1 disc, and do a spinal fusion. I said “Screw this, I’m a slow learner, but eventually I do learn.” and walked out. Well, hobbled is more like it, but still.
There’s a Dr. John Sarno who was at The Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the NYU medical center. He had an approach I resisted at first, but it eventually worked for me. Although I kinda miss the cyclobenzaprine HCl.
This is not medical advice, and I’m not going into it here, but if you want to take a look into it he has several published books for laypeople. If you’re not a layperson I apologize for this, I don’t really keep track of most people’s backstories.
My mom and my uncle had L4-L5 fused, and it essentially cured them. At least for thirty years - my mom starts PT Wednesday because of a pulled muscle in her back that she got from pushing a patient in a wheelchair.
Nowadays they seem to resist the idea of surgery, saying it usually doesn’t help.
Perhaps a bit of Gogoling is in order.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - It occurs to me that there is a rule against posting drunk. I wonder if it also applies to being blasted out of your mind on pain medication.
I feel your pain, or something similar. I was in a car accident a couple weeks ago, and it caused some minor back aches, which seemed to be going away. Until this last weekend, in which I occasionally was struck with possibly the worst pain in my life. It literally truamatized me; to get up, I have to work up the courage to possibly face that incredible pain again. It took minutes sometimes.
I’m trying to make a doc appointment today, but not having much luck (the holiday). On the plus side, so far none of that horrible pain today. But as soon as I can, I’m getting this checked out.
Ah yes, back spasms. My wife had to call the rescue squad once, when my back seized up as I was about to be seated in the smallest room of the house.
Nowadays, when first The Lovely and Talented Mrs. **Shodan]/b] notices me “walking as if you have a stick up your butt”, it is off to Urgent Care and their Magic Needle of the Waters of Lethe.
And you are correct, all the clinics are closed for the Fourth.
Shodan, don’t worry about the posting while medicated. So long as you have something more to say than “hay guys im so drunk woo!! lol!!”, it’s not going to hit our radar. Not until we get the USB breathalyzers in place, anyway.
Also, I think this thread is better suited for MPSIMS, as I expect it will mostly yield advice and commiseration, so I’m going to move it there. After reading this thread, I’ll be sure to lift with my knees.
I had good results from back surgery after 2 years of chronic pain. Others don’t have such good results. Whatever you choose, I hope you are feeling better soon.
Your doctor prescribes actual pain medication for back pain? Lucky bastard. i get back pain so bad that I literally can’t stand upright for weeks at a time and I could never get my doctor to prescribe anything stronger than a muscle relaxant and prescription-strength Alleve. Of course since I haven’t had health insurance for the last two years I don’t need to worry about trying to convince a doctor to prescribe me anything.
I am so sorry. While suffering from jetlag and traveller’s diarrhea, I am also sleeping on the World’s Most Uncomfortable Bed, and for the first time I know what a backache can be. At the worst, I can’t stand without supporting myself on something. It’s nuts.
And I’d advise y’all to stay out of Denmark, btw. Crap hotels. Four stars my bloody arse.
L4-L5 and L5-S1 here, with leg symptoms from the nerve pinch. I got the steroid shot (depo-medrol), and it has relieved the symptoms (pain and numbness) by 85%.
I did find one benefit, though. The lateral areas of both my lower legs below the knee are damn near numb these days, and last week, while walking through the locker room at the end of the day and trying to side-step half naked guys, I really cracked the side of my knee against a bench. A couple of guys said things like, “Ooh, I bet that hurt!”
I just gave them a nonchalant shrug and a, “Nah. No big deal,” and continued on.
