Pain Relief

[Wagon]

Norway.....Cheapest beer....10 dollars.

25% sales tax on everything you can put your hands on......48% income tax rate regardless of any income bracket.

And we have oil.

 

[Jibby]

I loved Norways. Always better to play to warm up than find shade to cool down when working.

The LOA was hoofing as well. Which kind of mattered back then. :)

 

[sunviper]

Well at least I have a little flexibility. Some people are fused totally and have no movement. I can also be thankful that the sciatic pain has gone to some extent, and I don't have to roll onto my stomach to get up off the bed.[


Jimmy, sounds like you are going through a lot of medical problems and not being able to take any Opiate analgesic/narcotics derivatives for pain can be very painful.

When I first got out of the army I came up with Kidney stones that I had removed by some machine that feels like they are hitting you with a hammer. Later I was told by one of my combat buddy that depleted uranium caused it from the 90 LB, rounds we shot out of are 155mm track howitzer we shot in Iraq. He had the same problem.

Then when I was a inpatient for 72 days at the National Center for Combat PTSD, in Menlo Park California, in 2004, I found out that that I had to have my Aortic Heart Valve replaced by a mechanical one so they had to crack my chest open stop my heart and put in a brand new mechanical one in. Now I have a zipper running down my chest to my Bellybutton. I now have to take a blood thinner called Warfarin everyday for the rest of my life. I can't eat anything green that has vitamin K in it or it will thicken my blood. Once a month I have to have my blood checked to make sure it is not to thick.

When I went into the army for 17 years I had a arch on the bottom of my feet. After I got out they turned flat on me. To much running and combat of arms units. Anyway over a year ago I was having back problems so they did a M.I.R. done on it and they said that my nerves were not good on the lower part of my back. So for over a year now I have been taking Morphine Sulfate SR 30mg, 5 Tabs a day, and Oxycodone/Acetaminophen (Percocet) 5 Tabs a day. They also give me Clonazepam 2 ea, 1mg Tabs a day for sleep. (Benzodiazepine) I also take Wellbutrin and Effexor to treat my depression. I have been taking the sleep and antidepressant meds sense 2004 and the pain meds for one and a half years.

They just got done doing a M.I.R. on my right knee and said I need surgery on it. I have a torn Menicus and something else wrong with it. I have had surgery on both knees before. They were talking about doing something to my back or just shoot pain medication in my spine and I said no thank you. The surgery on my knee will be soon. They take me off of the blood thinner for a week or so and I give myself shoots in my stomach until the surgery is done. The only good part of the hole mess is that my wife is a nurse.

 

[sunviper]

The only thing I can think of, Jimmy, is acupuncture....sounds crazy, but it is an option and it supposed to work pretty good for some types of pain. Just sayin'

It is strange for the USA, Veterans Affairs (V.A.) to have a acupuncture clinic but some do. I was offered it at the Pain Clinic I go to for my narcotics every 2 months at the VA in Sacramento California. They also give Botox injections at the San Francisco VA for certain types of pain mostly migraine and tension headaches not for cosmetically to remove wrinkles. I not sure if it is Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or not. My wife is Registered Nurse in Aesthetic Services and works for a Dermatologist so I use Botox for my face and it does help headaches and sinuses headaches on me.

My wife is Korean and her father before moving to the USA was kind of a village Midwife because their was not any doctors for miles around. I was stationed in Korea 3 years after I married my wife, I stayed with her family for months when I took leave. He did acupuncture on me for head, knee and back pain. It did help me out a lot. I saw a very old book my wife's father has of drawings of the different parts of the body that the needles were placed at. Acupuncture needles made of metal were found in China the earliest ones dated to c. 113 BCE. You never know if they will work unless you try them.

 

[JarHed]

I've mentioned it before that I go for Acupuncture treatments. They help me a great deal with the chronic pain I have. As with many things, give it a try and see if it works for you. It did in my case. I also like that I don't have to take anything to get relief. I like the simple approach and that it helps your body to heal itself. I guess it's about finding the appropriate method that works best for you.

 

[Need an Oasis]

Norway.....Cheapest beer....10 dollars.

I remember the Norwegians and Swedes hopping the ferry to Germany on long weekends and getting falling down drunk because it's so expensive there...

For pain relief, depending on what's wrong, you might try massage therapy. And I don't mean the Thai kind with a happy ending... but I guess that would take your mind off the pain at least.

 

[JarHed]

you might try massage therapy.

Also, Reiki and Shiatsu are forms of massage therapy which work at the deep muscle, tendon and ligament areas as well. Can be a bit painful at times but ultimately very helpful in the long run. You want to get a certified practicioner of those arts and acupuncture as well. If people don't know what they're doing it can make things worse.

 

[Wagon]

I remember the Norwegians and Swedes hopping the ferry to Germany on long weekends and getting falling down drunk because it's so expensive there...

For pain relief, depending on what's wrong, you might try massage therapy. And I don't mean the Thai kind with a happy ending... but I guess that would take your mind off the pain at least.

If you treat people like teenagers, they act like teenagers. They put no responsibility on the individual here. If you get drunk and fall down, the bar losses its license. End of story. Not to mention the fact that alcohol is a government monopoly and the rules and cost are so skewed that every time a Scandinavian gets drunk they act like its their first time ever and get completely blotto. Us foreigners stand around and just shake our head. Don't get me started.

Lovely people. Can't drink worth shit.

 

[Sarg]

If it's vertebra damage, there's hope on the horizon. My Marine buddy underwent an experimental thing where they inject a special chemical into the cavity, it expands to fill the cavity and then turns to a soft plastic cushion inside. No cutting you open or anything.

I don't know about disks, as I haven't researched it.

I had to quit the opiates, as they no longer brought relief and I didn't like being addicted to them. So, I hurt. This fall has been much worse for some reason. But there's hope for us arthuritus sufferers...they're experimenting on removal of the calcites with lasers somehow. Hope so, my neck is killing me.

Sarg

 

[Jimmy1]

The problem was with my discs, the L4/L5 and L5/S1. They had diminished to only 5 mm in thickness and herniated to the point where I had almost constant sciatic pain. To get off the bed I had to roll on to my stomach.
The surgeon used a procedure called ALIF, it is meant to be great as it distances itself from the spinal cord.
They go through the abdomen, remove all your guts and stuff and approach that way. They remove the old disc and replace it with a titanium disc shaped thing covered in bone graft material. It has been over 18 months now and the spine has fused, but I still get sciatic pain in the middle of the night when my SR pain relief wears off.
My concern is that the damage done to the nerves prior to surgery may have been permanent.

Actually, if I don't do anything around the house, don't go to the gym, don't go for long walks on the treadmil, etc then it is just fine, but I don't want to lead that kind of life.

 

[Tim Cake]

If it's vertebra damage, there's hope on the horizon. My Marine buddy underwent an experimental thing where they inject a special chemical into the cavity, it expands to fill the cavity and then turns to a soft plastic cushion inside. No cutting you open or anything.

I don't know about disks, as I haven't researched it.

I had to quit the opiates, as they no longer brought relief and I didn't like being addicted to them. So, I hurt. This fall has been much worse for some reason. But there's hope for us arthuritus sufferers...they're experimenting on removal of the calcites with lasers somehow. Hope so, my neck is killing me.

Sarg

Same treatment here. The docs at Landstuhl injected an enzyme to clear out the unnecessary stuff -- after one day they vacuum slurped out the remaining detritus. They then injected some sort of quick setting room-temperature-vulcanizing polymer into the void. After three days in traction it was off to physical therapy I went...

 

[JarHed]

Sounds like the expandable foam that I use to fill spaces between windows and frames. Hey if it helps, why not.

Actually Sarg, I have arthritis as well and acupuncture has been a help. Something to consider, I'm sure like me you're not in love with pain either. There's also a treatment where they inject an oil like substance into the joints to help re-lubricate them again. My VA doctor told me about that so it may be something else to check out Bro.