OT -- I just need to whine

Awwwwww.........please accept a few cyberhugs and good thoughts from Tucson.
Sciatica is so bloody painful, isn't it? Makes a toothache a welcome
change.

Whine accepted, noted, and I'll send all the good vibes that I can manage to
you for swift and good resolution of the breast and sciatic problems.

--
Carolyn in The Old Pueblo

If it ain't broke, you aren't trying. --Red Green
If it ain't broke, it ain't mine. --Carolyn McCarty

If at first you don't succeed, switch to power tools --Red Green
If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer. --Carolyn McCarty

"the black rose" wrote in message
...
This hasn't exactly been a banner year.

It started with an abnormal mammogram in March. That *still* isn't
resolved, though I should find out next Thursday what the results of the
MRI are. Maybe they'll finally decide what's really going on in there.
Precancerous changes seems to be the best guess right now. Happy happy
joy joy, I didn't inherit my mom's boobs, why'd I have to inherit her
tendency to breast cancer?

A summer of unrelenting stress. GAWDS I'm glad that's finally over. There
were times when I thought I was going to go barking mad. Whimpering in my
sleep, crying all the time, riding my bike -- too much, it turns out -- to
try to get some stress relief (which did help).

So guess what? My right leg is longer than my left leg. My friend Sharon
quipped that now she knows what to say when people accuse me of being
unbalanced. This previously unknown fact raised havoc with the rest of my
frame when I became more active. Even on a bike, where you think it
wouldn't matter, but I rode over 2000 miles this summer (modest by the
standards of the local bike clubs). Now I've got sciatica and severe
inflammation in my right hip, I'm in constant pain and it's going to take
months of physical therapy to get my frame straightened out and in
balance. Meanwhile, I'm not allowed to do any exercise except what the PT
prescribes. None of it is aerobic, none of it gives me anything like an
endorphin rush, the lack of which has me climbing straight up the walls.

Can't indulge in retail therapy or stash enhancement -- full time tuition
x2, house repairs, taxes, and hundreds of $$ each month in copays for
allergy shots (x2) and physical therapy, we're more than a little tight
right now.

And now I've got a nasty cold. No energy for what little I *am* allowed
to do.

Bleahhhhhhhhhh. *snerk* *sneeze* *honk*

Smack me upside the head and remind me of my blessings, or just shoot me
now. Don't much care which.

--

the black rose
Research Associate in the Field of Child Development and Human
Relations
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
2005 BOMs: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/blackrosequilts/my_photos

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the black rose wrote:

.... So guess what? My right leg is longer than my left leg. ....... Now I've got sciatica and
severe inflammation in my right hip, I'm in constant pain and it's going
to take months of physical therapy to get my frame straightened out and
in balance. Meanwhile, I'm not allowed to do any exercise except what
the PT prescribes. ......

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Now, I have a
question about the leg. Is the leg itself longer or do you have a
curvature of the spine that causes one hip to be higher than the other
and results in what you would say is having one leg shorter than the
other? My older DSis had this problem. For years we thought she had
one leg that was longer (or shorter, depending on the side you looked
at) than the other. In reality it was the curvature of her spine that
raised her hip more than an inch higher than the other side. She walked
with a pronounced limp and altering slacks for her was a nightmare!!!
As for the sciatica, I can offer a suggestion that *might* be of
help. I spent about half of last year in horrid pain from sciatica. It
took almost a month trying different meds before we hit upon Neurontin
which stopped the pain almost instantly. Anyway, The neurontin stopped
the pain but I would still get sort of a tight, crampy feeling in the
hip. I tried everything and finally found that stretching, as in trying
to touch my toes with my legs straight, helped the most. Everytime I
would get the tight feeling, I would just bend over and **try** to touch
my toes. I'm larger than the average bear and I was lucky to get my
fingertips to mid calf -- LOL!!
Within about 2 months, I could just get my fingertips to the floor
and I had reduced my Neurontin to a third (100 mgs 3x a day)of what I
had been taking. Now, about another year later, I only take 100 mgs
before bed and I can lay my hands flat on the floor. I am *positive*
that this stretching is what did it and the Dr. agrees. It helped take
the pressure (or whatever) off the muscles and nerves in my spine and I
almost never have even the first signs of the sciatica.
So, you might want to try touching your toes. I started off by
bending over for maybe 10 or 15 seconds and just letting my hands hang
to help the pull. Now, I have gotten to where it feels so good, I
sometimes spend almost a full minute bent over touching the floor :-)!
It's not "exercise" so I doubt if the PT person would object -- just say
you are cleaning house and picking stuff up off the floor. Anyway, give
it a try and see if it helps -- I can't imagine it hurting you :-)!
CiaoMeow ^;;^
--
PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

It sucks, doesn't it? And I know you are not a whiner, so it must be
really getting to you.

Just think that the pain will probably go away with the physical
therapy. My dad always had bad back pain and when he was in his late 40s
or 50s they found out one leg is a tad shorter than the other one. After
that he was fine. He is in his early 60s now and excercises every day.
By the way, my back is bugging me lately.. maybe I should have the doc
take a look too. Or buy a new mattress. Or maybe it is old age combined
with moving furniture around (still- yesterday we rearranged the living
room to a more comfortable setting, even if we haven't painted yet).

Here is to hoping the abnormal mammogram was just a false positive and
the MRI comes back negative. If it turns out there are precancerous
lesions, think that you couldn't have caught them any earlier than that!!!!

the black rose wrote:
This hasn't exactly been a banner year.


--
Dr. Quilter
http://community.webshots.com/user/mvignali
(take the dog out for a walk)

DrQuilter wrote:
Here is to hoping the abnormal mammogram was just a false positive and
the MRI comes back negative. If it turns out there are precancerous
lesions, think that you couldn't have caught them any earlier than that!!!!

It was *two* abnormal mammos (March and Sept, they decided in March that
I would get two a year from now on) and an "interesting" ultrasound that
led to the MRI.

*sigh*

I'll find out more Thursday.

--

the black rose
Research Associate in the Field of Child Development and Human
Relations
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
2005 BOMs: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/blackrosequilts/my_photos

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I could remind you of your blessings, I could smack you, or there is a third
option, I could commiserate, at least in the money department. Each paycheck
is gone before I see it essentially and there doesn't seem to be an end in
sight. And most of it is self inflicted debt and medical, can't do a thing
about it except keep slogging along. I can only imagine how frustrating it
must be to you to not be able to exercise like I know you do. Not even
something like swimming, if that were available? It's very low impact on the
joints (something I need to do myself, since I have far too much weight on
my frame and my joints are telling me so). So, feel free to whine and bitch
as much as you like. I'm a good listener, as are many others here.

--
Debi

Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?


"the black rose" wrote in message
...
This hasn't exactly been a banner year.

It started with an abnormal mammogram in March. That *still* isn't
resolved, though I should find out next Thursday what the results of the
MRI are. Maybe they'll finally decide what's really going on in there.
Precancerous changes seems to be the best guess right now. Happy happy
joy joy, I didn't inherit my mom's boobs, why'd I have to inherit her
tendency to breast cancer?

A summer of unrelenting stress. GAWDS I'm glad that's finally over. There
were times when I thought I was going to go barking mad. Whimpering in my
sleep, crying all the time, riding my bike -- too much, it turns out -- to
try to get some stress relief (which did help).

So guess what? My right leg is longer than my left leg. My friend Sharon
quipped that now she knows what to say when people accuse me of being
unbalanced. This previously unknown fact raised havoc with the rest of my
frame when I became more active. Even on a bike, where you think it
wouldn't matter, but I rode over 2000 miles this summer (modest by the
standards of the local bike clubs). Now I've got sciatica and severe
inflammation in my right hip, I'm in constant pain and it's going to take
months of physical therapy to get my frame straightened out and in
balance. Meanwhile, I'm not allowed to do any exercise except what the PT
prescribes. None of it is aerobic, none of it gives me anything like an
endorphin rush, the lack of which has me climbing straight up the walls.

Can't indulge in retail therapy or stash enhancement -- full time tuition
x2, house repairs, taxes, and hundreds of $$ each month in copays for
allergy shots (x2) and physical therapy, we're more than a little tight
right now.

And now I've got a nasty cold. No energy for what little I *am* allowed
to do.

Bleahhhhhhhhhh. *snerk* *sneeze* *honk*

Smack me upside the head and remind me of my blessings, or just shoot me
now. Don't much care which.

--

the black rose
Research Associate in the Field of Child Development and Human
Relations
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
2005 BOMs: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/blackrosequilts/my_photos

-------- __o
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-------------------- ( )/ ( )
-----------------------------------------

Tia Mary wrote:
Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Now, I have a
question about the leg. Is the leg itself longer or do you have a
curvature of the spine that causes one hip to be higher than the other
and results in what you would say is having one leg shorter than the
other?

It's the leg itself. The PT put a lift in the shoe of my shorter leg --
it feels oddly more balanced. Between that and the physical therapy,
the sciatica should resolve, unless there's something in the x-rays they
didn't tell me about. I'll probably find out more about that on
Thursday too. The inflammation is another kettle of fish because some
big tendons are involved, and tendons heal slowly. That's gonna take a
while.

The anti-inflammatory drugs I'm taking (just over the counter NSAIDs,
but doctor-ordered) are ripping up my stomach, oh joy. Did I mention I
have a history of ulcer and chronic gastritis?

The good news is, the tendonitis in my right wrist, which I got from
cycling, is finally better! Yay! I can open doors again! ba DUM dum
CRASH. I'm more than a little suspicious that my right arm is longer
than my left arm, too. Would make sense.

About the toe-touching -- years ago I read somewhere that the most
common cause of lower back pain is weak abdominals and tight hamstrings.
I hadn't been very diligent about strengthening my abdominals (I am
now, it's part of the PT), but I've been good about making sure my
hamstrings aren't too tight. Stretching is a little dodgy right now
because the right hip flexor is terribly inflamed, but tight hamstrings
ain't my problem. Wish it were that easy!

--

the black rose
Research Associate in the Field of Child Development and Human
Relations
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
2005 BOMs: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/blackrosequilts/my_photos

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Rose:
You might want to ask the Orthopedist about having a lift inside
on shoe, or an extension on one heel, to help balance out your
stride. Or maybe you've already received guidance about footwear,
in which case, ignore that suggestion, and go straight for
chocolate therapy.
BIG HUGS, PAT in VA/USA

the black rose wrote: (CUT)

This hasn't exactly been a banner year.

So guess what? My right leg is longer than my left leg. My friend
Sharon quipped that now she knows what to say when people accuse me of
being unbalanced. This previously unknown fact raised havoc with the
rest of my frame when I became more active. Even on a bike, where you
think it wouldn't matter, but I rode over 2000 miles this summer (modest
by the standards of the local bike clubs). Now I've got sciatica and
severe inflammation in my right hip, I'm in constant pain and it's going
to take months of physical therapy to get my frame straightened out and
in balance. Meanwhile, I'm not allowed to do any exercise except what
the PT prescribes. None of it is aerobic, none of it gives me anything
like an endorphin rush, the lack of which has me climbing straight up
the walls.