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Post by Kimby on Jan 3, 2015 3:15:07 GMT
Mr. Kimby has sporadic back episodes that don't respond to ibuprofen, so he always carries with him a prescription steroid pack. It's a 6 day course of pills, 6 the first day declining to one on the last day. Does the trick, but it's expensive and requires a doctor's prescription. As soon as he's used a pack he replaces it so he'll never be caught without it. Back pain is the pits, so I hear. I've been lucky myself.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 2, 2017 15:12:32 GMT
Mine is back, and I was in real agony about three days ago. Then it went away entirely and it has returned; I woke up in pain at 4 a.m. and took a couple of ibuprofen and went back to sleep. I think I pulled my back repotting my ficus tree in a pretty red container, though actually a neighbour who is a horticulturist at the Mtl Botanical Gardens probably did most of the work, as usually happens when a professional offers to help a rank amateur.
On the day of agony, I was chained to the desk as I had a rush translation to get done for a festival...
I should try some ice. Frozen peas are always handy...
It has been extremely rainy and humid this summer...
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 2, 2017 16:07:57 GMT
For someone who sat at a desk for his entire professional life, I think that I must be one of the most fortunate people ever.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 2, 2017 17:18:55 GMT
I should try some ice. Frozen peas are always handy... I'm always seeing this tip about using frozen vegetables as ice packs, but there is a much better way. Since I always put anything that might hatch weevils directly into the freezer, I usually have bags of lentils, beans, wheatberries, etc. in there. They are perfect for ice packs, as there is no condensation, they stay cold a really long time, and you can just chuck them back into the freezer when you're through using them as ice packs.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 2, 2017 20:19:16 GMT
I have lots of things like that in my freezer. Even in our colder clime (though believe it or not, it does get hot and humid up here in the summer, much more so than in Paris or certainly London or Amsterdam) we can get infestations from anything organic or from a hotter clime. My Italian farro certainly lives in the freezer. I also keep stems of spinach etc there to throw them into the stock pot.
I rarely have such back pain. I confess to drinking a bit of leftover white wine with some bubbly water along with my analgesic. Not a lot, just a bit to give me some warm feelings against this shitty pain.
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Post by whatagain on Jul 3, 2017 8:02:24 GMT
I don't suffer yet from back pain. But I did once. For 3-4 days I could not move hardly sleep had to crawl from my bed on my knees before standing up. Then had Kine for some weeks and even restarted gym. Anyone with back pain has my sympathy.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 3, 2017 8:51:57 GMT
I certainly hope I don't have chronic back pain, as it makes it much harder to keep fit for one thing. I felt better yesterday and rode my bicycle - not far, just to the shops - and had to demount quickly to avert a car weilded by an aggressive driver. Searing pain in back. After bixa's icy grains solution, I do feel better, but just hope it will last as I have work to do as well as essential errands to run.
I went to bed very early; around 8:30 p.m., when it is still a bit light out this time of year. Of course I woke up very early, but think I slept soundly for almost 8 hours.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 11, 2017 14:11:38 GMT
I have been surrounded by people with back pain most of my life, but so far have escaped the malady myself. But I realize now - after a weekend of pulling weeds on 4 acres - that as my body ages, I'd better start treating it less cavalierly. I had a very tender lower back that made it difficult to bend over to put on shoes. Being totally new to back pain, I was taken by surprise. However, 2 ibuprofen at bedtime and I woke up normal, though chastened. Back pain is nothing to sneeze at.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 12, 2017 10:06:56 GMT
I'm going to buy some ibuprofen; I really hope I don't have to take the muscle relaxant stuff (which also contains ibuprofen) any more, as it makes me sort of stoned in a not-pleasant way, and I have a lot of work to do, which of course involves sitting. I hadn't been taking anything, and felt much better, but the nagging lower-back pain has returned. Yes, mine started with gardening too.
I have another grant application to translate after the one I'm doing now. These pay well, but are intense work. Back to bed for a bit before I get down to work. I had a shower, which was soothing.
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Post by rikita on Jul 12, 2017 11:40:55 GMT
i hope my mom's back gets better soon ... she is fine sitting or standing, but walking is very painful - it's not from straining it, but due to disc degeneration, i think, it has to do with her doing competitive sports a lot as a kid and the trainers not dealing well with an injury and all that ... she got some new painkillers recently that hopefully work better than the old ones ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 12, 2017 12:10:58 GMT
What Rikita says about her mother points up that there are two main reasons for back pain, actual damage or muscle strain/repetitive stress. . What LaGatta, Whatagain, & Kimby describe is almost certainly the latter. I've only had one dramatic incident of the kind LaGatta's describes, wherein my back spasmed so badly that lowering myself into a chair or sneezing or anything was agony. My son prescribed the cure and it worked. That is, instead of lying in your bed or the sofa, ensconce yourself on the floor. Then, as much as you're able, slowly and carefully stretch everything you can as often as you can. Do this as soon as possible after you feel the first twinges so you can either ward off or lessen the effects of the spasm -- particularly important since most people can't afford to be lying around anywhere for a few days.
This really helps because the natural impulse is to hold ourselves rigidly against the pain, which is the opposite of what is needed.
LaGatta perfectly describes the effects of muscle relaxants -- they are nasty & in my experience don't help the pain any better than an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 12, 2017 12:22:15 GMT
I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall that your mum was from the DDR side? They were known to be tough trainers, but I suppose attitudes were different everywhere back then. (In response to Rikita).
Bixa, you mean that I should have acted like a cat?
Actually I would have been afraid to hit the floor as I felt about 95 in terms of stiffness and would have been afraid not to be able to get back up. But I've certainly been stretching a lot since then.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 12, 2017 12:40:49 GMT
Bsck pain is nothing to sneeze at. And how - a friend of mine put his back out with a particularly violent sneeze once... My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spams
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Post by rikita on Jul 12, 2017 13:16:36 GMT
lagatta - yes, my family if from the GDR, and they tended to put success over well being there ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 20, 2017 20:57:08 GMT
LaGatta, I think you started an epidemic by reviving this thread! I have been laid low for two days now with a spasming back. I have no idea what caused this. A friend yesterday told me he had the same thing & blamed it on the weather. He is over 20 years younger than I and had been hoeing a field, so maybe not.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 25, 2017 9:23:35 GMT
I have as well! Bending down to greet the dog.
And just to add to it the abrupt change to wet weather here has given me arthritis in my left foot and right wrist.
Otherwise I am fine.......
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Post by Kimby on Feb 17, 2019 15:48:29 GMT
Bixa, are you having back pain? I got a notification about a new post in this thread by you, but I’m not seeing it.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 17, 2019 20:39:19 GMT
Kimby, thanks for asking. No, I clicked too quickly when selecting the correct thread in Free Clinic. I didn't realize it and posted in this thread. Then I saw what I'd done and deleted the post from this thread.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 19, 2019 22:22:05 GMT
Some time later, I'm heartened by the strength and forebearance of my beloved Renzo close to the end of his life. And dear wee Livia has been taking up the protector's and comforter's role.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 4, 2020 12:21:05 GMT
I've hurt my back...not had any problems for ages, but yesterday morning I was pottering around doing the housework when I bent to plump a cushion and boing lower back pain. Nothing popped or snapped but the flare crept across my lower back gradually. Getting up in the night to pee was excruciating and my little screams woke up Jeff, Russell AND the dog...
This morning it felt worse as obviously whatever I've done has swollen up a bit...I am surviving on paracetamol which do very little. It will hopefully start to ease over the next 2 - 3 days...
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 4, 2020 12:45:02 GMT
Hope it’s not a slipped disc Cheery. That is excruciating.
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 4, 2020 13:54:03 GMT
That happens to me Cheery periodically. I'm doing something perfectly normal and all of a sudden........ ouch... In fact I'm trying still to recover from Christmas where the same happened. Now the pain is in my hip and I put it down to a trapped or damaged nerve.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 4, 2020 13:54:20 GMT
Can you wrap a heating pad around your lower back, Cheery?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 4, 2020 14:35:35 GMT
I have a heat pad in the airing cupboard Lugg...I can heat it in the microwave if I can get Jeff to fetch it for me. I think that a disc would be more painful. Aside from pain when I heave my poor carcass out of the chair or off the bed it's just sore now. It was frightful first thing this morning but that was after lying in one position all night in bed. Maybe I should take up calisthenics (?) or Tai Chi
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 4, 2020 15:03:53 GMT
Yes if it was a disc I'm sure you would know. It's the most painful thing I have ever had. Did mine loading the dishwasher!
Hot baths always help I find.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2020 15:26:43 GMT
I am surviving on paracetamol which do very little. You would know this better than I, but I think paracetamol is not an anti-inflammatory, which is probably what you need to give you some relief. My-sister-the-nurse suggests taking paracetamol along with ibuprofen, which I have found to be quite effective.
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Post by questa on Feb 5, 2020 1:20:39 GMT
I'll join the club with acute sciatica which needed a skinny catheter passed up my spinal cord and cortisone injected, 3 times.
Of course all our problems are because back pain isn't fatal. Our body engineering was designed to be quadrupedal but we got smart and stood up to see what was lurking in the long grass...and evolution did the rest. Our sinuses were designed to drain down but being upright has led to drainage problems there. The double curved spine is so efficient for weight-bearing, twisting and lifting but we have to pay the price in pain to walk upright and do these activities.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 5, 2020 5:49:21 GMT
The big campaign in France is to get people up and walking instead of lying down when they have 'normal' back pain. Lying down only makes things worse.
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Post by questa on Feb 5, 2020 6:46:38 GMT
Lying down only makes things worse. And sitting, where all the weight of the torso is carried by the lower spine is a real no-no.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 5, 2020 19:42:20 GMT
After a dreadful night I sent beloved to the chemist for stronger painkillers. Just for overnight. I'm getting more mobile and slightly more upright so it is getting better. Cancelled tomorrows appointment at the hair salon tho. At least I should get some sleep tonight. I just can't get comfortable once I'm in bed! Makes me very crabby...
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