Monday, December 10, 2012

Back pain

When I thought last night about the things I needed to do today, "Go to the health clinic" was not one of the items I had in mind, though I added it as early as 7 am, by which time I had "thrown out my back" during my morning workout. I've never had occasion to use that phrase before and couldn't have really told you what it means. Now, I can at least say that I'm pretty sure means I want to throw my back away and replace it with a new one.

The weird thing is that I've always had a pretty healthy back. My friend Rory and I got free scans at a county fair where a chiropractor wanted to draw us further in after the free back rubs. Rory's scan looked like he had some kind of severe deformity, while mine was totally clean. My wife routinely wakes up in the morning with shooting pains in her back, not me. Maybe those were contagious?

At the very least, I am far more sympathetic to her troubles than I was before. I hate this. It's only bad when I sit down or breathe too hard or drink more than, say, two ounces. Oh, and if I lie down? Let's just say that after the first attempt, I don't lie down. Mostly, it's just an inconvenience. Every once in a while though, particularly while I'm in the car, my entire life goes on hold for a few seconds of agony.

I'm sure some of you are out there thinking "Well, it's a Monday--what did you expect?" And it's true, no one forced me to get out of bed, where I might have been safer, this morning. I did it to myself. At least I got to see the doctor by 2:00 or so, and he said "What, the Aleve didn't do anything for you? How about some tablets that are over twice as strong? And did I mention muscle relaxants?"

So there we are. I hope all of you are doing as well or better!

4 comments:

  1. So awful when there's no comfortable position, no activity (or lack thereof) to alleviate the pain. Ouch! Drugs are nice, though, especially the muscle relaxants, but you can forget any kind of real productivity (at least, that's my take on them).

    You didn't say how long ago it was that you And Rory got scanned, but if it was recently, then probably you've just got a hitch in the gitalong which will resolve itself, sooner rather than later, I hope. Good luck!

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  2. Thanks. The scan was quite a while ago, so I'm basically running off the assumption that my back *should* still be in great shape 7 or 8 years later. I mean, I do yoga. Every so often. And lift lots of big heavy weights (which could be the problem). So what's the problem?

    The muscle relaxant and the stronger version of Aleve have both been helpful, as has sleeping in a bed by myself (well, okay, with the dog). But I feel pretty sleepy most of the time, even when I *haven't* been taking muscle relaxants. But I'm getting by and feeling better overall.

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  3. Exercise is the best way to keep back pain on the bay. Regular exercise can not only relieve people from back pain can also help them to stay fit. Sometimes back pain is so painful that people cannot perform regular work. In that case they are advised to visit a doctor before starting exercise. I have searched internet for hospitals on back pain and came across some good hospitals. Click here to view the hospital, hope my reply was useful.

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  4. Well, Abigail's comment is at least more or less pertinent, though it feels spam-ish. Of course, the irony is that I do exercise regularly--and, in fact, injured my back in the process of exercising. And we're not talking some schmoe who never exercises going out and overdoing it the first time.

    But anyway, I'll take this opportunity to say that my back is feeling quite a bit better. The last pain relief & muscle relaxants I took went in Thursday night. Feeling all right at this point, about 24 hours after we might have expected all that stuff to cease having an effect. So that's good.

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