How many of you guys live with chronic pain

['956Wheel]

A back injury in'94 at work... just over 2 1/2 years out of work ending with a surgery on the thracic area (T10/T11). gotta keep working out or things get real bad. Did the drug thing, NFG. At severe times of pain I go for the "IF II" unit, its an electronic muscle and nerve stimulator. Acupuncture works too!



On lifting: if you are still o. k. or have minimal back pain lift like my surgeon told me to... . "when you lift do so like your the only girl on a ship full of sailors and you are wearing a miniskirt"... Think about how you would lift .



Mike

 

[Mike Ellis]

I ruptured two disks in my lower spine (right behind belt line) when I was 18 and getting ready for college. Spent a week in traction in the hospital and watched in disbelief as my athletic hopes and physical abilities went to pot.



My story is not unlike that of Steve and some of you other guys. The docs had me on some harsh painkillers, kept me in a horrible fog and was wiping me out in college as I couldn't concentrate sufficiently to study or do much except say, "Duhhhhhh... . " The doc solution was to urge surgery on me, but due to the way the spine was left after the disks went south they told me it might leave me in a wheelchair.



After about a year of futility I got fed up with the whole business and just chunked the drugs completely. It was pain for about 6 months, but after awhile I got used to it and it quit bothering me so much. The ache is always there but I am conditioned to it and can ignore it, at least until those moments when the least little action throws it out of whack for a day or so (sneezing, coughing, turning in the chair to look at the calendar on the wall... doh... )



Like they say, you can get used to anything, even hanging ... if you hang long enough



One thing that helped me tremendously was getting an extra firm mattress, it is like a concrete block but I sleep like a baby. Sleeping on anything remotely soft (hotel beds etc) is guaranteed to have me wake up like a pretzel. .

 

[The patriot]

Mike (956 wheel) Is the IF II unit you spoke of, a tens unit? I got one of them too. Helps a bit but where I have to set it, it really burns through batteries.

Eric

 

[John Berger]

I do

But she makes good money, so it's bearable :-laf :-laf







Just Kidding!!!! :-laf That was to hard to resist



I hope nobody thinks this is a total waste of space. We already know it is. That's not the point :-laf

 

['956Wheel]

Patriot,



I have the TENS as well as the IF II (2), The difference is the IF II has more adjustability and power than the TENS. The TENS does eat batteries, 9 Volt. but the IFII REALLY eats them 4 AA's. However the IF II has a plug in the wall transformer for when you are laying around or sleeping. I "max it out" and sleep feel better in the morning!



We would need a neurologist to explain how they trully differ but I can tell you what I have experienced. I have had the IF II from right before surgery, 1996, and was hooked up to it when I awoke from surgery. There may be another new unit out by now. I would do a search on the web if you were looking for the latest.



The TENS is a smaller unit then the IF II... approx. 1/2 the size.



I went through a "pain management" therapy program and met a gal that had a morphine dispensing implant that could be adjusted externally magnetically by the doctor, when asked how she liked it she responded like a drugged out sorry case... "it works real nice for me but I get so horny sometimes I do a lot of laundry so I can sit on the machine". WOW... . These units were restricted for the terminally ill but now the help with the housework! GO FIGURE!



Mike

 

[radixr]

Glucosamine/Chondroitin

I had an interesting experience with glucosamine/chondroitin. I started taking it on the recommendation of my sister who is a marathoner. After taking it at the recommended dosage for about 8 months, I started experiencing back pain where I had had a ruptured disc removed in 1997. I suffered with this for months, getting worse all the time. In addition, an ankle I had sprained would not stop hurting. Finally, in desperation, I stopped taking the glucosamine/chondroitin and in about 2-3 weeks my back started to improve and in about 3 months it was all better. My ankle recovered also. This is not ironclad proof that glucosamine/chondroitin caused my problems but it is one heck of a coincidence.

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by '956Wheel

Patriot,



I have the TENS as well as the IF II (2), The difference is the IF II has more adjustability and power than the TENS. The TENS does eat batteries, 9 Volt. but the IFII REALLY eats them 4 AA's. However the IF II has a plug in the wall transformer for when you are laying around or sleeping. I "max it out" and sleep feel better in the morning!



We would need a neurologist to explain how they trully differ but I can tell you what I have experienced. I have had the IF II from right before surgery, 1996, and was hooked up to it when I awoke from surgery. There may be another new unit out by now. I would do a search on the web if you were looking for the latest.



The TENS is a smaller unit then the IF II... approx. 1/2 the size.



I went through a "pain management" therapy program and met a gal that had a morphine dispensing implant that could be adjusted externally magnetically by the doctor, when asked how she liked it she responded like a drugged out sorry case... "it works real nice for me but I get so horny sometimes I do a lot of laundry so I can sit on the machine". WOW... . These units were restricted for the terminally ill but now the help with the housework! GO FIGURE!



Mike

LMAO at the horny housewife.

She sounds like she talked the same way that I did last time I was at the Hospital.

Nurse: Hows your pain now?

Me: Ugggh, still hurts really bad!!

Nurse: How bout now. (while looking at the other nurse out of the corner of her eye, and a crankin the thingy up)

Me: Better, but still pretty harsh.

Nurse: Now? He he he he.

Me: Uhhhhhh... ... ... . getting preeeetty goooood.

It was just about that fast too.



I had previously had percoset for pain. Didnt do squat.

The Dr gave me hydromorphone (synthetic morphene derivitave)this time for my kidney stones. Works really well as long as it's not a really bad bout of pain. In that event, nothing works but the drip at the hospital.

Last time I had REALLY bad pain, I was up to 6 pills in 1/2 hour. Bottle says "up to two pills every 4-6 hours", but I was still ragin even at that dose. That was really bad pain. I dont want to do that again any time soon.

When I went to a chiropractor on a regular basis, he had to set up the office tens unit specially for me. Sort of override the factory setting. I think he said I held the office record.



Eric

 

[Johnboy3]

Here's a different one for you guys...

I have the standard wrecked back and tight joints from working in the oil fields/construction business. I can deal there.



My biggest problem is my hands. I have been to two hand specialist, and the only thing they told me to do was, "don't do the things that make your hands hurt, I don't know what's wrong with them. " Great work on their part.



My hands constantly ache. Doing small repetitive tasks that require gripping something (turning wrenches, screwdrivers, putting nuts on bolts) will make them hurt so bad that I will have to stop for a few minutes and let them rest. I have a very hard time running power tools that vibrate. Running a sawsall almost brings me to tears if I grunt it out and finish cutting. Swinging hammers or sledges will result in my hands uncontrollably letting go of the tool after about four or five whacks. Occassionaly my left hand will sort of lock in a position. I'm constantly dropping things I'm holding. And worst of all is cold temperature. I can stick my hands in cold water or snow for about 5 secs before I can't take it anymore. I mean I can't even use them for a few minutes till they warm up. The pain is unbearable.



I spent a couple of months traveling back and forth to hand doctors that ran a whole mess of tests. They determined that I don't have tunnel carpal syndrome. There is no restriction of blood flow to my hands when exposed to cold. Their best guess is that the nerves in my hands are wrecked for some reason or another and don't respond to stress well. When exposed to a stress condition or activity the nerves flip out. One of the doctors said there "may" be a medication that would help, but the side effects were almost scary.



Anyone else have or hear of such a condition in the hands?

 

[Snow man]

I have 2 herniated discs in my lower back. I can barley get up some days,opthe days i feel normal. I also have neck pain from plowing snow,and a car accident.

 

[Texas Diesel]

Originally posted by Snow man

. I can barley get up some days,opthe days i feel normal.

Same here but try to explain that to someone who sees you on a good day

 

[Extreme1]

Bad ankle sprain a few years ago, won't get better. The ligiments are calisified. Shoulder repaired in June, recovery going great, this one shouldn't bug for too much longer (I hope). Bursis on both elbows, some intermittant back pain from a slip I took at the ripe old age of 17.

 

[The patriot]

Originally posted by Texas Diesel





Same here but try to explain that to someone who sees you on a good day

Yup. Me too. Sometimes I'm fine for months, and all I have to do is turn the wrong way, like getting out of a car. Bam!! Back is out!

Eric

 

[Motorhead]

You know, I have the same reaction with people. You get so you hurt all of the time and you get tired of sitting around so you go for it anyhow and pay the price later. I can't stand to sit still! It sounnds that alot of us TDR people suffer the same problems... WORN OUT PARTS!!!:{ Chris

 

[Mike Ellis]

Johnboy3,



I worked with a fellow who had problems with his hands that were kinda like the way you describe yours, docs said he didn't have carpal tunnel either. We were working on a roller mill one day that we had invented, we were using WD-40 as a carrier fluid and while setting it up our hands were getting soaked pretty thoroughly. A few hours later he noticed that his hands hadn't been hurting him that day, and after some trial and error he found he could squirt some WD-40 on his hands, let it sit for a few minutes then wash them off and it helped his pain a lot.



When I was a kid my Granny would talk about the old time liniments they used for "rheumatiz" and kerosene was a common ingredient, turpentine too. Maybe that's why the WD-40 had some effect, who knows.



Generally not a good thing to get solvents or oil on you but if helps the pain... ... .

 

[lschultz]

Wow Doc T has a lot of cases to work on. I don't know if he will make it to Italy to work on Marco When he gets through with you fellows maybe he can figure out what that tree did to me that I hit 3-15-98(think that was the date). O I forgot he got to help Whitmore:--) before he get to me But Is a waiting. I can't really tell you whats wrong with me cause I don't know how to spell them words them doctors were using And I darn sure can't pronounce them.

 

[illflem]

I had carpal tunnel so bad I couldn't hold a spoon in the morning, wake up in the middle of the night with my hands asleep. Didn't really want my wrists cut open so I tried acupuncture. After four visits it was gone, that was three years ago...

I'm sold

 

[Hammer]

Aches & Pains.......

Man where do I start.....

-7 knee surgeries(football,wrestling,bar fights,etc,etc).

-Both rotator cuffs done(we wont go here now).

-Various broken limbs during my biker years,both mine and others

-Back screwed up from a Hammer Superman imitation from a cage driver who never seen me coming,only wonder how she missed a guy as big as me on my bike.

-Now way too many miles beating across the never repaired and whipping you like the old Midland CB in the paint shaker commercial interstate highways. I'd love to put these friggin governors in the rear of my big ride's empty trailer and slip the second stick to the dash with him inside the trailer and see how they like gettin beat up on their highways.

-A 18yr old son who has a different chick for each nite of the week and it confuses old Dad when I play the answering service. . Hello,Hammers answering service,no I do not know where he is now,What is your name,oh thats right,last Tuesday,I remember you,Ah no I haven't seen him But I'll give him the message... Grrrrrrrrrrrrr,10 times last Saturday

-And how can I forget my soon, right around the corner, pre-teen daughter who now doesn't think boys are icky anymore. . Doooohhhh... .

Stresstabs,lots needed,sponsorship wanted... ... . Andy