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Support for chronic back pain sufferers.

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Oh! Hmm I didn't think of that. I'll speak to my doctor.

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I'm suprised my mom hasn't wrote on this. She suffers with chronic back pain and takes alot medication for this. Sometimes she sleeps on the floor as she finds this sometimes helps her. She has other medical conditions too so when we go out i tell her i'll get her a wheel chair but she refuse's. Thankfully now i have a car :( i can help her more with shopping etc as lifting or walking has after effects. She has a car of her own but is sometimes is so tired from been awake with the pain, she thinks its best not to drive.

Your not the only one saffy and my thoughts are with you xx

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Bizarre as it sounds, one thing that has actually been a help to me was taking the decision to use a walking stick. It sounds like it shouldn't help, but if you are fitted properly and walk properly with a walking stick there's a certain rhythm to walking which slows you down, paces you and prevents you from making sudden movements. This in turn has reduced the number of falls and all sorts of accidental twitches I have when I'm out and about and meant that I can usually walk further, even if it's at a slower pace.

 

So although I felt that starting to walk with a stick was a step down in my ability it's meant that I can actually achieve more (although at a slower pace) and fall or hurt myself less when I'm doing it.

 

All of this has knocked on to other aspects of my life as I'm spending less time in 'fair to middling' pain levels and less in 'bloody agony' which means that my life is cancelled until I feel better- does that make any sense to anyone?

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Saffy- your experience with not having any sort of interest in your wellbeing from work is exactly my experience too. When I was first diagnosed (which fell on Christmas Eve) I had already got the time between Christmas and New Year booked as holiday so I just disappeared off the radar from work. Everyone knew I was off sick, they all knew why, they all knew which hospital I was in- I even met one of my colleagues in the Weston Park Hospital while he was there working and the look on his face when he realised that I wasn't in my suit and that meant that I was there as a patient was amazing. He recoiled in horror from me and couldn't get away fast enough and if I'd got the energy and ability I'd have been waiting outside by his car to see his face when he was challenged about it later.

 

I got one card from work and it was a personal one from my national manager and wasn't signed by anyone else. Ironically the head office staff, who have very little day to day contact with the reps, were much more supportive behind the scenes than anyone else I worked with on a daily basis. This included 'forgetting' that I was no longer out in the field and so not recalling my company car immediately, even though it still needed ongoing servicing etc, which gave me another year with having a car before it got removed and various little financial things like not asking for my expenses float back even when it was offered.

 

The only contact I had with my direct boss after I went off with my second tumour was a phone call asking me to arrange time when he could collect my records for the territory for the new member of staff who they had recruited to have my job (which was the first I knew of being replaced).

 

Try not to take it personally- it won't do you any good and they really aren't bothered by it either way so probably won't see what your issue is even if you were to tell them about it.

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Thanks .. you're a lovely lot !

 

I've sort of hardened myself from work .. it's a family run company and I just expected them to be a bit more caring about their staff .. never mind.

 

My OH really upset me this morning as he said I'm stuck in limbo and I should accept that I'll never work again and then dropped the "this year will be our last holiday ever" in just to depress me further. (I live for my holidays!)

 

I'm sort of reaching out to each hospital appointment thinking, this will be the one that helps me. I'm due at the Northern General on the 25th to talk about a dorsal cord stimulator .. rather like a tens machine but fitted internally. I think this will help .. I know it wont get rid of the pain completely, but it should alleviate the buttock and leg pain somewhat, which is the thing that really gets me down. (And it should reduce the amount of strong pain relief which rules my life at the moment)

 

My OH says no one will employ someone who has good days and days when I can hardly walk so would have to phone in and say I can't get in. Yes, he has a point, and I guess underneath I know this, but I just keep hoping .. hoping that the next lot of drugs or the next treatment, will be the one that stabilises my condition to enable me to look for a job I CAN do ... even part time.

 

I loved my job .. I really did. I only worked part time as it was .. but as it was there was only ever one person on duty at one time and if any lifting is involved, I'm not really able to do it at the moment. I could do it slowly .. but then there would be a queue at the till at times .. which would frustrate the hell out of me. I'm not even sure I would pass the medical anyway as I can't raise my leg further than 5 inches or so without pain and I certainly can't twist of bend without wincing ...

 

Ah well .. it's a sunny day .. I'm very appreciative that I can share things on here and hear your news too ...

 

Thank You x x x

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Good morning chick

Reading your last post you could be me in another body!!!! :hihi:

 

I can so relate to everything you say and I too live for the next hospital appointment or suggestion of another course of medication.

 

Waiting to hear from the hospital of new date for second op. I rang them yesterday and told them that I cannot wait until May despite the financial hardship it will cause me - I dont get full pay until after April.

 

Had a really bad morning today - in floods of tears. Started to make my OH stay in bed until the "bad period" is over because I hate him seeing me like that and he feels so helpless.

 

Hope you have a bit better day Saffy............

Jez

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Ah Jez .. Isn't it nice to know there's someone out there feeling the same?! Am sending you a huge hig and know you're sending one back.

 

I do keep kidding myself .. and I think that underneath it all I know that I wont be going back to my old job. My Doctor doesnt think so and the doc at the pain clinic in Chesterfield said he doubted they would even consider fitting a stimulator if I were going back to a job that involved twisting, bending and lifting.

 

I've too k the plunge today and signed up for some homeworking ... only answering surveys and it will probably bring in bugger all, but at least it will show my OH that I'm doing SOMETHING !

 

I think the reason he said what he did this morning is he wants me to ascknowledge the fact that I more than likely wont work again (at least not full time .. actually, he didn't even say full time) .. and that I should give myself a purpose again as I think he can see the big black cloud that's hanging over me. (heh)

 

I just feel like a liability to the family at the mo. Sometimes I can't even be a Mum Taxi !

 

Keep smiley Jez .. hope you start to feel better about the day too ... have a little potter around the garden.

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OOh by the way Medusa .. my physio gave me crutches to use as I tend to walk with a gait to the right (because of the pain in the left bum cheek and leg) .. it does help. Slows me down and corrects my posture .. but it does hurt like heck because I have been walking "the wrong way" for 6 years now and it's going to take some correcting.

 

I just feel really embarrased to use them. I know it's silly, but it makes me feel weak and old. I've managed to walk around Matlock a good few times now and not see anyone I know ... apart from last week when I was slowly tottling along and caught the eye of someone in the queue to get to the cash point. There was this HUGE cheesy grin on the face of my sister who knows how I feel about using the crutches and I could feel my face getting redder and redder .. haha .. I could have killed her as she had everyone in the queue laughing with her !!

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I also walk lopsided........ Again due to compensating for the pain for so many years.

I have been told to try pilates which apparantly is so gentle and very good for posture and spine alignment. Happy to give anything a go!!!!

 

I have bought a large exercise ball and have to sit on it first thing in a morning and gently rotate my hips as much as I can to help ease my bad situation by freeing up the nerves enough to be able to stand.

Try it Saffy - found it to be effective........

 

Thanks for the hug!!! :)

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OOh by the way Medusa .. my physio gave me crutches to use as I tend to walk with a gait to the right (because of the pain in the left bum cheek and leg) .. it does help. Slows me down and corrects my posture .. but it does hurt like heck because I have been walking "the wrong way" for 6 years now and it's going to take some correcting.

 

I just feel really embarrased to use them. I know it's silly, but it makes me feel weak and old. I've managed to walk around Matlock a good few times now and not see anyone I know ... apart from last week when I was slowly tottling along and caught the eye of someone in the queue to get to the cash point. There was this HUGE cheesy grin on the face of my sister who knows how I feel about using the crutches and I could feel my face getting redder and redder .. haha .. I could have killed her as she had everyone in the queue laughing with her !!

 

I found that the embarrassment factor is worse than anything with using the walking stick- and that's far more in my own head than in anyone else's judgement. I've got around that by having really flashy walking sticks which people can notice, rather than noticing me using them (IYKWIM!). I'm just not a 'municipal beige' walking stick kind of gal ;)

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I found that the embarrassment factor is worse than anything with using the walking stick- and that's far more in my own head than in anyone else's judgement. I've got around that by having really flashy walking sticks which people can notice, rather than noticing me using them (IYKWIM!). I'm just not a 'municipal beige' walking stick kind of gal ;)

 

EDIT- and jezabel- all I can say is yoga, yoga YOGA!

 

My yoga teacher does one to one yoga therapy for those with health issues and runs a class where everyone does their own routine and there are 3 or 4 teachers and 10-12 students. It's thoroughly recommended for core muscle stability, bringing me back to being central and reducing my scoliosis and list to starboard.

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Are you folks managing with work ok?

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