[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif][SIZE=2][QUOTE]severe degeneration with spondylosis[/QUOTE]

This is the cheerful diagnosis I received yesterday regarding intense back pain. It seem that I have two messed up discs, with associated nerve pressure. The chiropractor who ordered the x-rays has done some treatments, but declined to do a regular adjustment as she had concerns about doing further damage. "I don't think chiropractic is a good fit." Intensive physical therapy is her recommendation.

This very likely kills my job, at least in its current form. It looks like applying for Disability is in my future. I am going to wait until after my 63rd birthday on Saturday, in case that makes a difference to Social Security. I still haven't dug into that part of things. I'm looking for a therapy clinic close to home, and setting up a meeting with work.
[/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=kladner;425973][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif][SIZE=2]
This is the cheerful diagnosis I received yesterday regarding intense back pain...
[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
That's heavy news. We wish you strength for the difficult days ahead.

[QUOTE=Nick;425977]That's heavy news. We wish you strength for the difficult days ahead.[/QUOTE]
Thanks! I am still trying to wrap my head around the situation. My concern is that the next step, if therapy does not help enough, will be surgery.

[QUOTE=kladner;425973]Intensive physical therapy is her recommendation.[/QUOTE]

I am *very* sorry to hear that! I've been in a similar situation: a severely herniated disk caused during a "Hash" run climbing up a hill. My foot got caught in some vines, and I heard an internal "pop" when I tried raising it forcefully.

I was barely able to walk (let alone put on shoes) for over three months.

You should of course [STRIKE]take[/STRIKE] consider your doctor's (possibly plural) advice, but you might want to look into the benefits of yoga. Also, simply walking a few kilometres a day helped me a lot (when I was able).

Edit: While not what I consulted when I was dealing with my situation, I found [URL="http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/herniated-disc/whats-a-herniated-disc-pinched-nerve-bulging-disc"]this link[/URL] to be reasonably sound based on my previous research.

Thanks, Chris. The site is very informative.

May I take it that you recovered from your injury? That would be the most encouraging thing I have heard since my condition came into full flower.

[QUOTE=kladner;425983]May I take it that you recovered from your injury? That would be the most encouraging thing I have heard since my condition came into full flower.[/QUOTE]

Yes! And I am only a few years younger than you. :smile:

I still have to be careful about my back; I don't lift heavy things. But overall I've fully recovered (at least, from the back injury).

To share, one takeaway of mine from my experience is to be very careful of the medial practitioners treating you. My osteopath referred me to a spinal nerve specialist (let's call him Dr. M) after she didn't think she could safely proceed.

Dr. M made me wait in his waiting room for two hours, and then ran the "Nerve Function" test (read: hitting me with a rubber hammer to see if I felt it).

He then ordered an MRI (without asking me if I had any shrapnel in my body), and then said he wanted to have me back into his office so he could place needles into my spine to see if I twitched appropriately when electrical impulses were introduced. Approximate cost: $3,000 USD.

I paid my bill for the initial visit, and then fired him. Only later did I find out he has nine (9) children, with a tenth on the way....

I appreciate the warning. Medical doctors do tend to a certain view of things. I have come to realize that there are times when depending on analgesics may mask pain enough lead to further injury. It is better to hurt some, so as to remember your limitations.

The chiropractor gave me information on a "Non-surgical" orthopedist who specializes in pain management. I think she saw this as a fall-back option if physical therapy does not adequately deal with the pain.

[QUOTE=kladner;425991]I have come to realize that there are times when depending on analgesics may mask pain enough lead to further injury. It is better to hurt some, so as to remember your limitations.[/QUOTE]

Definitely. Pain is an important feedback. There is a reason it exists.

Mother life is a bitch. That kind of stuff can heal by itself, but you need a lot of patience, a lot of time (years!) and you need to reorganize your life in such a way that the work you do won't stress your spine too much. Buying a "[URL="https://www.google.co.th/search?q=Teeter+Hang+Ups&biw=1403&bih=860&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlw7WurvHKAhWRCY4KHdMIDN8Q_AUIBigB"]hang-up[/URL]" may help a lot - they are extremely efficient for repairing spinal injuries (or building one, but the one you buy comes with safety stuff too! I don't see you well if you remain upside down for longer than you intend! This is not a joke!). You can set the inclination and the time (like 20 minutes every day, or more if you can stand it - it may look easy but your blood goes into your head and your heart works much harder to lift it to your feet).

About 13 years ago we went south (to the sea) and rented a speedboat to travel to some island, in June-July, when the monsoon is at its peak. There were waves from like 3-4 meters to 5-6 meters all around, moving chaotically, the boat was overloaded (like about 30 people, instead of the nominal 18) and the driver (sailor?) was driving like crazy (he was the only one having a special chair, on springs/telescopes, which was suppressing the shocks of the heaving of the boat) and grinning from one ear to the other, Thai style. Soon everybody concentrated in the back half of the boat (i.e. from the middle to the back) which was the heaviest due to the motors and load, and it was more [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_motions"]pitching and rolling than heaving[/URL]. Everybody except me, of course, who stubborn like a mule and show-off, I stayed at the bow (front of the boat), filming. The bow was heaving (moving up-down vertically) with an amplitude of 1-2 meters, around some imaginary horizontal left-right axis which was going through the aft of the boat, where the heavyest things were, like the people and the motors. I could hold myself still to the boat for a while, but due to slippery wet bars and benches, suddenly it threw me in the air about one meter, actually it didn't threw me, I somehow stayed there, compared with the center of the earth :wink:, it was just that the boat's bow went down about a meter, or two, extremely fast, faster than \(\vec v=\vec v_0+g\cdot t\) :wink: taking the bench with it from under my bottom. Then guess what, I was falling. Of course, with increasing speed, but meantime the boat decided that it dropped enough and changed the direction very sharp, to upwards. It hit my soles first (you never rely only on your hands and buttocks when you are on a boat, you have to have your feet firmly anchored on it, no matter if you are sitting!), but due to the wet, slippery floor, my legs went in all directions at once, totally random, and I continued to fall, during which time the boat didn't care at all, why should it care?, and continued to raise.

The bench slapped my butt so hard that I felt two waves of pain propagating fast from my ass to my scruff.

I felt it in every vertebra.

Of course, the camera flied away from my hand (luckily it was strapped to my wrist, it was a mini DVI camera, at that time costing $2.5k) and I was immediately crawling on my back, but the idiot driving the boat didn't stop. I guess he was trying to give some excitement to the farangs on board. Whatever... I wasn't angry with him at the time, and I am not angry with him now. They do what they can...

I moved/crawled toward the back of the boat, where the rest of the family was, and I did extremely big efforts to look like everything is ok. Mrs. LaurV knew from my face that something went wrong, but she said nothing (beside of the complains about the guy's greed as he overloaded the boat to make more money and that he was sailing like crazy to be able to make one more trip, but those complaints had nothing to do with my adventure, swmbo was scared from the beginning and she never stopped complaining. Opposite, the little swmbo who was very enthusiastic and happy, at that age she could already swim like a fish and she liked snorkeling with thousand of different colored fish... but that is a different story).

When we arrived ashore, I had to lay down on my back 20 minutes on the hot sand, because I could not feel my legs and my hands. Those 20 minutes I spent making plans of what should I do and how should I provide for my family if I could not walk or could not properly use my hands. I remember I was already finding solutions, and the future didn't look so black, after all.. At the time I was an "action type" of the guy, not the "belly type" as I am now. Running, exercising, karate, etc.

Swmbo said nothing, for the sake of the little ones around, but she knew, or guessed what went wrong (she has medical background, but most probably everybody could read it on my face), however she didn't know the extension of it. I told them I want to lay down in the sun for a while, and they left me alone, put the snorkels on their noses and went to feed the fish.

Fortunately, it slowly came back to me, and I could move again, with big effort of will.

The aftermath is that I had to be very reserved for the rest of that holiday, then it costed me almost a thousand bucks on doctors, therapy and medicine for the next year (which is a lot for me, who can count on my fingers how many times I went to the hospital in my life!), plus about 3 dollars for a spring mechanism for the camera's battery door. The heaviest thing that camera had, was by far the battery, and due to inertia during my trying to break the boat with my bottom :razz:, the battery banged against the lid and broke the spring that was holding the door closed. The battery didn't get lost, however. Swmbo still makes fun of me occasionally, when I tell this story at parties: "you cared more that you damaged that freaking camera of you, than that you damaged your back!".

It bothered me with occasional average-to-high pains in the spine for [B][U]about 4-5 years after the adventure[/U][/B], and even now, after about 12-13 years, if I turn my bust as much as possible to the left, holding my basin straight, I have a sharp pain in the lumbar zone (not always, and not if I turn right!). But I learned to live with it. Beside of the fact that I got lazier with the age, that is a reason why I am exercising less, etc. I put a lot of belly on, and the girls in the house say I am lazy. They don't know. Let it be...

[QUOTE=kladner;425973][FONT=Calibri, sans-serif][SIZE=2]This very likely kills my job, at least in its current form.[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]
Nick just told me to log onto the Mersenne forum and check the Unhappy Me thread.

I don't have the useful experience and tips that Chris and LaurV have given you, Kieren, but I want to wish you all the best and hope that your back does eventually respond to whatever treatment you end up taking on. I guess you'll need every strength and support you can get. I certainly wish you that too.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;426058]Nick just told me to log onto the Mersenne forum and check the Unhappy Me thread.

I don't have the useful experience and tips that Chris and LaurV have given you, Kieren, but I want to wish you all the best and hope that your back does eventually respond to whatever treatment you end up taking on. I guess you'll need every strength and support you can get. I certainly wish you that too.[/QUOTE]

The kind thoughts and concern are their own kind of help, Brian. Part of the struggle right now is getting over the fear of how things might go, and working through the depression all this has accentuated. Comfort from others really helps.

I am truly grateful to all of you, and to the forum, and to Mike, just for being there. Misery does not really love company. I'd rather nobody had been through these things. Nevertheless, since these things do happen, it is very good to get encouragement and shared experience from others.

Many thanks to All! :hello: