the home stretch

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:08:03 GMT, "Ophelia" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am so sorry you are in so much pain🙁

Not as sorry as I am! LOL!

Quoted message said:

I hope you are better soon

I suspect I will be well sooner or later.

Quoted message said:

Please may I ask, what is panniculectomy?

It's the removal of the pannis - the apron of skin from an overhanging
stomach. Sort of like a tummy tuck, but more involved.

Myra

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:09:42 -0400, Jenny <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Ibuprofen is NOT good for joints. Kaiser is NOT good for bad backs,
either. They were who was treating me when I blew out a disc years ago
and the drugs they put me on left me with tinnitus that persisted long
after the back pain went away.

Perhaps not good for joints, but I don't have a joint problem. It's
very good for inflammation, which is what I've got. So far, it's
working better than anything else, and my high dosage is just for a
short time. We're each our own science experiment, right?

Quoted message said:

Time is the big healer with back injuries. Studies show that if you wait
it out you may end up better than those who have surgery. My disc injury
was so bad I had a paralyzed leg muscle but it is now many years later
and I am pain free as long as I don't do stupid things.

I have no plans to have surgery on my back, nor has it been suggested.
What they are recommending is physical therapy, and I'm willing to
give that a go.

Quoted message said:

I have found the following two things help the very most with pain.

1. Plain old Tylenol with no narcotics. It works BETTER than the stuff
with codeine. Take the lowest dose and work up. I found surprisingly
good relief with only one pill. Don't drink any alcohol with it as the
combination is destructive of your liver.

I don't drink anyway, but I've never liked Tylenol. If I were going
to switch to another anti-inflammatory, I'll probably go with plain
aspirin.

Quoted message said:

2. DHEA. 5 mg a day (a very small dose which I buy at Whole Foods as the
drug stores don't carry it). It causes the body to synthesize its own
cortisone hormones and for me the pain relief is amazing. I thought it
might be one of those things that only affects me with my weird drug
responses, but a friend in her 60s has started it on my recommendation
and has noticed an improvement in joint pain too.

Glad it worked for you - but I don't have joint problems. Sciatica is
a nerve condition - my back, hip and leg joints are fine.

Take care,

Myra

Saffire said:

Wow, Myra, this is the first time I've seen your photos -- WOW! You
are TRULY an inspiration! AWESOME job!

Ah, thanks! I used to have pictures of me when I was at 220.75, but I
took those down, as they're 2 1/2 years old now, and my hair was
really short. I'll be back to putting up pictures every 25 pounds or
so, like I used to.

Myra

"Myra" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:08:03 GMT, "Ophelia" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I am so sorry you are in so much pain🙁

Not as sorry as I am! LOL!

Quoted message said:

I hope you are better soon

I suspect I will be well sooner or later.

Quoted message said:

Please may I ask, what is panniculectomy?

It's the removal of the pannis - the apron of skin from an overhanging
stomach. Sort of like a tummy tuck, but more involved.

Thank you Myra. Good luck with it all. I also suffer with sciatica so I can
sympathise. I have recently had a knee replacement and need the other done
this Summer.

sigh.. what a mess we are all in🙂

O

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Ibuprofen is NOT good for joints.

No, but I bow down and worship it when it comes to menstrual cramps :-)

--
Saffire
205/141/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333

Myra said:

Glad it worked for you - but I don't have joint problems. Sciatica is
a nerve condition - my back, hip and leg joints are fine.

I'm glad the hospital confirmed no disc problems for you.

I recommend you look into finding a good chiropractor. Unfortunately,
there are a lot of quacks and inept ones, but a good one goes
push-prod-twist and the sciatica and back spasms disappear (although
occasionally it feels like the muscles are fighting it for a short
while after).

Seeing chiropractors intermittently over the past 25 years or so,
I've found 3 very good ones, and tried 3 inept ones. When one very
good one retired last year, and his practice was taken over by a
fairly inept fellow, I got a referral to another very good one from
my primary physician.

The good ones all used very different methods from each other -- one
barely made my spine make any noise at all, and one would make my
spine click like a row of dominoes falling over, but their different
methods all worked for nearly instantaneous pain relief.

The one that retired last year was also able to make what the doctor
had diagnosed as chronic bursitis in my shoulder (for which I'd been
taking anti-inflamatories for more than a year) go away with a few
days of couple of specialized stretches to uncompress the bursa.

--
jamie ([email hidden])

"There's a seeker born every minute."

Myra said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 09:09:42 -0400, Jenny <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Ibuprofen is NOT good for joints. Kaiser is NOT good for bad backs,
either. They were who was treating me when I blew out a disc years ago
and the drugs they put me on left me with tinnitus that persisted long
after the back pain went away.

Perhaps not good for joints, but I don't have a joint problem. It's
very good for inflammation, which is what I've got. So far, it's
working better than anything else, and my high dosage is just for a
short time. We're each our own science experiment, right?

[snip]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have found the following two things help the very most with pain.

1. Plain old Tylenol with no narcotics. It works BETTER than the stuff
with codeine. Take the lowest dose and work up. I found surprisingly
good relief with only one pill. Don't drink any alcohol with it as the
combination is destructive of your liver.

I don't drink anyway, but I've never liked Tylenol. If I were going
to switch to another anti-inflammatory, I'll probably go with plain
aspirin.

Actually, tylenol (acetaminophen) doesn't do anything for inflammation
anyway. I'm allergic to the NSAIDs, so that's the only OTC pain med I can
take and as far as I'm concerned it does damnall.

Good luck to you.

Martha

--
Sig pending

"Myra" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Roger Zoul said:

Myra said:

It is great - except for the last couple of weeks. I injured my back,
so I'm sort of laid up and can't get to the gym right now. That
sucks.

What happened, girl?

Quoted message said:

Aren't you sorry you asked?

OWWW! Major sympathy!

Nicky.

"Saffire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

You can see my latest picture (and older ones) here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/album?.dir=a090&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/my_photos

Wow, Myra, this is the first time I've seen your photos -- WOW! You
are TRULY an inspiration! AWESOME job!

Bah! Humbug! No fair - yahoo are blocking me somehow, I can't see Laureen's
piccies either.

Nicky.

--
A1c 10.5/4.5/<6 Weight 95/76/72Kg
1g Metformin, 100ug Thyroxine
T2 DX 05/2004

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:36:45 GMT, "Ophelia" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Thank you Myra. Good luck with it all. I also suffer with sciatica so I can
sympathise. I have recently had a knee replacement and need the other done
this Summer.

This is the first time I've ever had a problem with my sciatic nerve,
so it's all new to me.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Wait a second.

Actually, I *would* wish it on my worst enemy - it's painful, but not
deadly, after all!

Sorry about the knee replacement - I had arthroscopic surgery on my
right knee 10 years ago, but it's fine now.

Quoted message said:

sigh.. what a mess we are all in🙂

I don't know how old you are, but for me - middle age is a [censored]!

Myra

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

"Saffire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

You can see my latest picture (and older ones) here:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/album?.dir=a090&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/my_photos

Wow, Myra, this is the first time I've seen your photos -- WOW! You
are TRULY an inspiration! AWESOME job!

Bah! Humbug! No fair - yahoo are blocking me somehow, I can't see Laureen's
piccies either.

That's a VERY long URL and it wraps to two separate lines in my
newsreader -- if that's the case with yours, too, you can cut and paste
it into the address line of your browser. Or you can go to this link:
http://tinyurl.com/bcxx9 (I cut and pasted the long link into the
generater box at http://www.tinyurl.com)

--
Saffire
205/141/125 - 5'1.5"
Atkins since 6/14/03
Progress photo: http://photos.yahoo.com/saffire333

"Saffire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

"Saffire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

> You can see my latest picture (and older ones) here:
>
> http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/album?.dir=a090&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/myras/my_photos

Wow, Myra, this is the first time I've seen your photos -- WOW! You
are TRULY an inspiration! AWESOME job!

Bah! Humbug! No fair - yahoo are blocking me somehow, I can't see
Laureen's
piccies either.

That's a VERY long URL and it wraps to two separate lines in my
newsreader -- if that's the case with yours, too, you can cut and paste
it into the address line of your browser. Or you can go to this link:
http://tinyurl.com/bcxx9 (I cut and pasted the long link into the
generater box at http://www.tinyurl.com)

No, that's no good either - but thanks for the thought. I suspect they're
blocking non-US IPs or ISPs. Hubby has a yahoo account, and can log on fine,
but can't see his own piccies! I just get a "page not available at this
time" message. Sniff!

I'll just have to imagine how all you guys are shrinking...

Nicky.

--
A1c 10.5/4.5/<6 Weight 95/76/72Kg
1g Metformin, 100ug Thyroxine
T2 DX 05/2004

Myra said:

Roger Zoul said:

Myra said:

It is great - except for the last couple of weeks. I injured my
back, so I'm sort of laid up and can't get to the gym right now.
That sucks.

What happened, girl?

I wish I could say I hurt my back during some wild sexual escapade
involving a swing, the ceiling, sugar-free fudge topping, a waterbed
and Gerard, but, alas, I think I just slept wrong and then exacerbated
it by doing my presses on a wobbly bench.

The first doctor I saw said a disc was bulging slightly and pressing
on a nerve, and she took me off work for a few days and gave me muscle
relaxants, Vicodin (neither of which really work on me) and said to
take a triple dose of ibuprofen twice a day. That was last Thursday.
BTW, my blood pressure was 110/60, so I know I was stressed out.

I tried to go back to work this past Tuesday, but between the pain
from getting up in the morning and the pain from spending 30-40
minutes in my car driving in (I hurt the right side of my back, so it
affects my driving leg), I lasted about 59 minutes before one of the
attorneys took pity on me and drove me to the emergency room, where I
got an injection of ibuprofen directly into my hip and X-rays, which
show that my spine is fine and dandy, and - oh boy - you can see the
staples from my gallbladder surgery in 1983. The ER doc said it was
sciatica, gave me prescriptions for more Vicodin (which I'd stopped
taking anyway because IT WASN'T WORKING) and a *quadruple* dose of
ibuprofen (which, when coupled with some Aspercreme, does help,
actually). I'm also supposed to start physical therapy in the next
day or two. This is Kaiser - so I have to wait for the PT to call me,
except I'll be calling in the morning because I haven't heard from
them yet.

Last night, I slept at my folks, since they have recliner chairs, but
that didn't help at all - although it was sort of fun watching "The
Amazing Race" with 'em. So, I'm back home tonight. I haven't been to
the office since last Wednesday (except for that one hour yesterday),
and it's eating the time off I'd been saving for my panniculectomy
(dammit).

Anyway, I have to sleep in 2-hour snippets, and I'm bored out of my
mind, except for those lovely moments when the spasms hit. Then, I'm
very entertained, and I'm surprised you can't hear the screams from
your office.

Aren't you sorry you asked?

Dadgum, girl. Life's a [censored] sometimes, huh?

Roger Zoul said:

Dadgum, girl. Life's a [censored] sometimes, huh?

Sometimes. Miraculously, my back was fine two days after the
emergency room visit. I credit the massive doses of ibuprofen - 800
mg. (prescription strength) pills. I was supposed to take 3 a day,
but managed fine on just 2.

However, I'm now suffering from a gastrointestinal side effect of the
ibuprofen, but this, too, shall pass (ahem).

And, I have a coffee date Thursday. 🙂

Myra