Pain Relief

[KBear]

I was just reading a book called Why We Hurt by Frank T. Vertosick, JR., M.D. I thought this excerpt was very interesting, so here it is:

"My patients often ask what lifestyle adjustments they can make to delay the onset of a new disc problem or prevent the recurrence of a prior one. There are three adjustments they can make, but none of them is easy.
First and foremost: Lose weight. If a car's shock absorbers are bad, don't use it to haul pianos. Carrying two hundred pounds on a skeleton meant to carry one hundred and fifty will accelerate disc degeneration"

I have been working on losing my post surgery weight gain and lost 20 of the 25 lbs I put on and feel great. I am amazed in the difference in my pain levels.

More from the book:

"Second, get into excellent physical shape and, in particular, strengthen the abdominal muscles. A muscular torso is like the cardboard tube (in a roll of wrapping paper): strong and rigid and capable of supporting the body even without a spine (this is no exaggeration- cadavers of muscular men will sit upright even after the spine has been removed). A torso devoid of tone, on the other hand, must depend solely upon the rigid structures of the spine for its support."

I would hate to be the med student see the cadaver sit up for the first time! Freaky

"The third and final lifestyle adjustment that can aid an aching spine is the cessation of smoking. Cigarette smoking accelerates the aging of all of our connective tissues. Anyone who doubts this need only compare the faces of adult smokers to those of non-smokers. Heavy smokers show relatively greater loss of skin elasticity and increased wrinkling. In short, they look older than nonsmokers of equal chronological age. The same accelerated aging affects the discs of smokers as well. This isn't speculative, studies confirm that smokers have more problems with disc disease and respond less well to disc surgery."

[ajj1001]

"Second, get into excellent physical shape and, in particular, strengthen the abdominal muscles. A muscular torso is like the cardboard tube (in a roll of wrapping paper): strong and rigid and capable of supporting the body even without a spine (this is no exaggeration- cadavers of muscular men will sit upright even after the spine has been removed). A torso devoid of tone, on the other hand, must depend solely upon the rigid structures of the spine for its support."

Wow thats one weird mental image.

Sounds like he reached some pretty good conclusions.

[KBear]

I know that's crazy. Trust me, first medical person I can get to tell me about this, I'm gonna! LOL Justin- Ever heard of this? Or better yet, seen it?

Yesterday I made the 4 hour drive to my sister's house, which usually is a killer on my spine. I usually take double normal meds on road trips, as my back does not like it at all. However, yesterday I took my normal pain pill when I woke up, started my drive 3 hours later, didn't need my afternoon dose and just took my evening dose and felt great. I was amazed at how good I felt. I'm attributing it to my better attitude (thank you Wellbutrin- ) and my weight loss. You don't realize how much those little things affect you until they change and you feel the difference.

[Cindylou]

Kathy, that is awesome. It really is. I wish I could say the same. My trochanteric bursitis in my right hip is really hurting in a big way. I got a second injection in it yesterday but initially it is hurting even more since it got aggravated by the needle. I sure hope the relief kicks in soon. Plus, I'm really starting to have more pain issues in my lower right back area where my SI Joint Fusion was done last year. A couple of times I have just gasped outloud in public it was so bad, and was so embarrassed. I'm bummed. I think after this vacation (just got up to cabin this evening and hubby, who arrives tomorrow, is taking about 12 days off so I am here for awhile...) I need to make an appt. w/ the surgeon that did this SI Joint Fusion and maybe get another Cat Scan done. My back doc does not think it has fused. He looked at my latest CT and came to that conclusion. Some days I just want to say enough! I need a break....sorry for the vent. I need a string of good days.

[KBear]

I'm sorry CL, this is not the path any of us would have chosen for ourselves, yet here we are. You have been through so much and just keep going. I know I wanted to quit so many times and was just sick of feeling like crap all the time. I always liked to say "I'm gonna have a cry/mad day today and tomorrow I'm gonna pick myself up and start fighting again". Sometimes we need to just be mad and sad and get it out, then get the resolve to go on. You had your SI joint fusion right around the time I had my ADR (March 09), right? So, I'm guessing by now that if it was going to fuse it would have?

[Justin]

"Second, get into excellent physical shape and, in particular, strengthen the abdominal muscles. A muscular torso is like the cardboard tube (in a roll of wrapping paper): strong and rigid and capable of supporting the body even without a spine (this is no exaggeration- cadavers of muscular men will sit upright even after the spine has been removed). A torso devoid of tone, on the other hand, must depend solely upon the rigid structures of the spine for its support."

Kathy, I have not seen this personally (I wish!--that's awesome). However, I have no doubt that it is true.