I freaked out my whole family telling them that if it doesn't go away I don't think I can make it. There was a point where I got an axe and asked my wife to hack my arm off at the shoulder. Miraculously, it finally healed somehow and I just remember thinking how wonderful it felt to have a second chance at life.
I understand now why people with chronic pain want to end their lives. For some poor souls it seems like the only way to get rest/peace from the constant and exhausting pain.
https://www.painscience.com/articles/pain-is-weird.php
And as Dave Chappelle says -
Got to find a way to find joy in your existence in spite of that feeling.
Had a similar final. Intentionally became a lunatic at ER. Refused to take prescribed blood thinner, which is a quick death for me. They finally listened and gave me a different one. Life drastically improved after that’s.
If it was a machine with problems, I'd just set it to generate a report/warning once in a while and not waste energy probing the sensors every second.
Remind me once every few hours that yes, my back and knees are still fucked (doctors' advice: just live with it...oook).
I don't need it 24/7 (OK subtract a few hours when sleeping without waking up because of it), it's literally pointless.
Blows my mind.
Trust economists that we can print trillions and its fine. Trust military the war is "almost over". Trust politicians that they will fix our problems. Trust teachers to teach our kids (Teachers need parents support at home!). Trust Coaches to teach our players (you gotta play catch at home to be good at baseball!). Trust doctors... trust priests... trust police...
The list goes on...
Sadly, it seems that the majority of people who start researching things on their own often arrive to completely wrong conclusions. And that's dangerous, for them and for everyone else.
An economist, for example, would have years of information and training in the field. And that forms a knowledge base in their brain that's (mostly) accurate, so anything they research and learn will be more correct than what an electrician/programmer/politician by trade would find.
To put it simply, they have more information and experience.
Of course, there are exceptions, some people are smart and can run circles around experts, but as I said, the majority of people are likely to arrive at the wrong conclusions.
I don't know how this could be fixed, perhaps more oversight and checks over the experts (many cases where people are just winging it or are complete frauds). But going off on your own and not trusting experts at all is a bad idea.
In science and engineering, we are constantly being forced into realization that we were wrong, and we constantly try to fix things where the fix is just yet another problem we created.
I mean, even if you can code for 20 years, if anybody asks you whether you can program or not, you'll probably answer "nope I don't know anything about programming"... and that's a sign for an experienced person in that profession.
On the other hand, a lot of professions can get lucky with social camouflage, where they can blame others and it doesn't stick out for a controlling person. A lot of people that made it this way never were forced into reflecting on their bad decisions.
The doctor at the covid plasma donation center sent my wife home because her clearly labeled "positive" (1.4 threshold, my wife's result was 4.9, but the doctor wanted a minimum of "80") test was too low for plasma donation -- it was not, the doctor was talking about a different quantitative test. After 8 months of people donating covid plasma, this doctor had no clue. It makes my blood boil thinking how many other people didn't donate plasma because of this idiot-- I sent my wife back and told her to make a big fuss and ask for another doctor, who actually explained the idiot doctor my wife can absolutely donate plasma, they just ran different kind of tests, and my wife's test result was more than likely meeting their own required antibody levels.
This was not a medical issue, it was a common sense issue -- if her test had a positive threshold level of 1.4 and she had a 4.9 result, how could this doctor not realize something was wrong with her requiring a value of "80". Did she actually think that only Chuck Norris can donate covid plasma?
My psychiatrist bullshitted me about the mechanism of action of some meds she was prescribing (I knew because I looked them up as treatment options beforehand) -- she did prescribe the "correct" medicine as far as I remember, but she just did not know the correct mechanism of action.
The infectious dissease specialist in my hospital stay for COVID-19 told me the hydroxychloroquine she was giving me was a proven anti-viral medication that worked really well in their national acclaimed hospital. Again, she was really clueless, she was just following protocol, she could at least have shut her mouth if she was clueless. They only gave hydroxychloroquine to otherwise healthy individuals because or cardiac issues the medicine was known to cause, OF COURSE those patients had really good outcomes, they were otherwise healthy, young individuals.
My wife is a dentist, she really likes her surgeon boss and his approach of telling patients the true odds of success of certain procedures and what to realistically expect out of them. But a lot of patients don't like that. They want to hear the doctor has a 100% success rate with every procedure and that all his dental implants last a lifetime.
So part of the problem is the public that will choose a lying, perhaps clueless doctor with a god complex above an honest doctor that really knows his stuff and is honest and upfront with his patients.
Well started dealing with other specialist because I was having severe problems due to this medication.
Vascular and others all gave me warnings as they had been seeing a lot of problems. I found out the studies were done mostly in China, and were suspect.
Hematologist let me know I wasn’t allowed to come in because I wanted to switch. Mocked me for looking things up.
I had not taken it in 3 days and was already losing vision. So waiting months for another practice was a death sentence.
That was my breaking point. Stopped being Mr. polite.
First time I ever screamed and threatened a lawsuit.
Got my new medication. Life got better.
Also yeah antibiotics definitely can have a powerful effect.
Oddly I was diagnosed correctly due to how I responded to certain antibiotics.
Down to 1-3 most of the time. But took years of trial and error, and so many mistakes to get here.
For me weightlifting is about staying in shape for things like mountain adventures, feeling great, looking good. But Arnold-look is a silly goal for long term wellness, and so are the methods to get there. Once I stopped pushing the numbers and focused on more repetitions, I never had any injury. That's worth much more than some momentary number of kilos/pounds you did today - nobody will care about that tomorrow, but injuries remain, sometimes forever.
https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/pain-in-training-what-d...
https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/movement-variability-sh...
These are the two stretches that help me the most.
Highly recommend going through bob and Brad, and Dr Jo on YouTube. I try stuff all the time and have regained much of my mobility.
- Prone Press Up (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sws_GwrlYO0): Relieves tension in lower back, pressing discs back towards their natural position.
- Banded Hamstring Stretches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msxQR56U7sI): You can use a belt for this if you don't have the bands, but properly and consistently stretching my hamstrings was the biggest thing I did to relieve (and 'cure') my back pain after the herniation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI
He runs through them pretty fast, but someone in the comments recommended playing it at 0.75x speed and that works great.
Finally, I had one of those injections directly on my spine and it was like magic. I walked into the appointment and couldn't stand up straight and walked out like I had never been hurt. For weeks, I would wake up each morning and dread getting out of bed because I wondered would this be the morning the pain came back.
It's been years now, and knock on wood, I hope to never have a problem again. I was always a weight lifter, but stopped powerlifting (maxing things like DLs), and stopped playing basketball. I still exercise a lot, but my entire focus now is on longevity. Strength is still a key component, but so is flexibility and learning proper movement.
BUT....
Last year I had another herniated disc triggered by axing down a tree. This time it was really bad. I spent two months in debilitating pain unable to move or really do much of anything. Couldn't stand, couldn't walk, couldn't sit, couldn't lay down. All I could do was dope myself up on narcotics and try to sleep the time away.
I had two epidurals. The first one took the edge off the pain away but I was till unable to move. The second epidural I actually regressed.
So I went and had a microdiscectomy done. Turns out my nerve had slipped into a canal that had no room for it and was pinched inside. A week or two of recovery and I felt great again.
BUT....
I didn't change my habits, covid-19 hit, I started working from home where I did not have anything close to an ergonomic setup and my back started to ache again. This time it was the original disc. I was doing ok, but it was enough that I knew I should talk to my doctor. A couple weeks later, at the pool, I decided to go off the diving board while my back was slightly bothering, and that slight bother became nearly debilitating pain again and two months of physical therapy.
I feel great again, the PT worked this time.
What's my point? The injection doesn't always work. PT doesn't always work. There's lots of ways things can go wrong. Take care of yourself and be careful, next time you might not be so lucky!
As I mentioned, I also changed my entire workout regime. While strength is super important, 500+ pound DLs maybe not so much at my age. Both basketball and powerlifting I love, so it was definitely a mental shift. But, now I'm probably in the best complete shape I have ever been in. My cardio, strength and flexibility are balanced and good. COVID has actually been a good thing since I can jump up at any point in the day and take a 15 minute yoga class.
Good luck, I hope neither of us have to deal with back pain again :)
The impact of walking and running is dissipated into your calves instead of your joints, and the nice thing about muscle is that it grows back. Take it slow as you ramp up, I promise your calves aren't ready for it yet.
I like to run on Vibrams and sandals (I generally use a Shamma Warriors during the summer), and a have a bunch of other shoes for walking (Lems, Freet, Vivobarefoot, etc.)
A good all-around barefoot shoe that is suitable for both running and walking that I'd recommend is the Lems Primal 2.
Also: use toe socks (Injinji is the only brand I'd recommend) and, if you can, use toe spacers for a while (1-2 years minimum) to correct some potential issues with your toes placement (unfortunately the only brand that seems to be decent enough in the market is Correct Toes, but it's rather expensive; the cheaper ones you can find everywhere are no good in my experience)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGST6h3yhJE
As for the running technique, a good reference is this website:
Yes? You walk like that. Shorter steps, kind of gliding a little bit.
No? Buy some Vibrams. You'll get one soon enough.
I have to consciously engage muscles, even after practicing for years (can't afford Pilate's sessions which would make it go faster). Now I very rarely get the burning sensation and corresponding days, weeks, or months or not being able to sit or do much of anything.
Your comment would have been totally fine as a top level comment. It is a believable theory that quarantine is worsening mental illness. Your problem was the context in which your comment existed and the way you were effectively dismissing OPs experience out of hand.
I didn't claim that but I don't think that matters to you. All I said was that it's hard to tease out the difference between covid caused hardships and covid treament caused hardships. Cancer doesn't make your hair fall out on its own.
>Your comment would have been totally fine as a top level comment. It is a believable theory that quarantine is worsening mental illness. Your problem was the context in which your comment existed and the way you were effectively dismissing OPs experience out of hand.
I didn't dismiss his hardships. I didn't even dispute them. Stop putting words in my mouth. I only pointed out that (similar symptoms in other people who have had covid) might be caused by how we're treating it (quarantining people and so on) not the disease itself.
Either way, the end result is that both of us look like idiots continuing to argue over this. That is why it is pointless to continue.
Hypochondria is a major problem. Part of me finding out what was wrong to make a list of every symptom, every condition that a subset of symptoms, keep track of every test and what conditions it eliminated as possibilities. The sets of possibilities are enormous. At every step you get called a hypochondriac.
I didn’t directly find it, but when I showed table of symptoms, and what medications had been tried and failed and what tests had been run a doctor realized it was a rare autoimmune condition.
It’s such an odd thing to be given a terrible diagnosis. But feel immense relief that it’s not “in your head”
From support group, this is Apparently a common reaction.
I know what you are trying to say, but phrasing it like this is harmful. Psychosomatic issues are absolutely legitimate. Knowing it's psychosomatic means there may be other avenues of addressing it than if it wasn't, but calling the issues "not legitimate" is very problematic, akin to telling someone with depression "just think happy thoughts".
You can help the economy and get immunity at the same time! What do you have to lose?
1. Economics[2]
2. You not having friends was a prepandemic and a you problem
It's different, but as an example, I injured my back (i don't really even know how) and was in intense pain for approximately 8 months. You know that feeling when you burn your hand on something? It normally last 5-15 minutes, well it was like that, but inside my lower spine all the time, for a solid 4 months...and then in duller state for another 4. I am still struggling with pain from time to time, but i'm once again able to sleep a full night (something i couldn't do for around 5-6 months), do physical things and not regret every movement. At the start of the injury, i was probably the fittest I've ever been, but now i'm probably the least fit i've ever been. It's seriously sucked. Who am I kidding, it still sucks...coughing hurts...but its improving and that gives me hope that one day it'll be 'normal' again.
Until you've had a long term injury, you have no idea how to sympathize. Right in the middle of this i had a close friend get upset with me that I came over when I knew he was painting, and didn't offer to help. I was frustrated he even considered it a possibility, i was struggling to sit in a car for more than an hour, how was I going to paint a wall or ceiling? People just don't understand.
To everyone suffering with something that inhibits their ability to enjoy life, i'm sorry but wish you the best. To everyone looking in from the outside, assume its 10x worse than what you see and reconsider your next move.