Lower Back, Degenerative Disc/Sciatic Nerve

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:43 am

Wondering if anyone else here suffers from DDD and pinch nerve in lower back and what if anything you are able to do to get relief?

I'm having a bad spell this time and my Chiropracters aren't helping much - or rather - when I try to sit here in the Lounge chair (rocker/recliner) leaning forward at the Laptop it tends to put me back at the worst (lower back and pain down my right thigh).
My last flareup was Dec 2013 and in Jan 2014 the Chiro got me pretty much better and I was more or less ok until July here and now I'm not worth a crap.
He doesn't think I have ruptured/herniated disc. I'm trhying to see my Medical Dr to order an MRI.
I'd really be a mess if I didn't have hydrocodone to take 3 times a day.

[Edited on 7-21-2014 by PaulB]

CS-ACI- · Post by **CS-ACI-** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:42 am

Hello,

I have suffered back pain for nearly 30 years now, different to yours so my solution for temporary relief may not help.

Wheat bag in the small of the back and lay on it. The heat makes everything relax and I do mild exercises at the same time just on the back muscles.

May only last an hour or two, sometimes a whole day.

Steve

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:48 pm

Boxes on top of my desk ... and the computer on top of the boxes. It allows me to use the computer while standing up.

Post by **DaveK** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:31 pm

I'm not suffering nearly as much as you, but this helps me . . . I sit at a desk rather than in a comfy chair. I've removed the arms from my 'office' chair and set the back to vertical so I can't slouch. I also have a repeating alarm to remind me to go for a walk around and have a stretch every hour or so!

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 2:05 am

From post: 171935, Topic: tid=11541, author=CS-ACI- wrote:Hello,

I have suffered back pain for nearly 30 years now, different to yours so my solution for temporary relief may not help.

Wheat bag in the small of the back and lay on it. The heat makes everything relax and I do mild exercises at the same time just on the back muscles.

May only last an hour or two, sometimes a whole day.

Steve

I used to do something similar in the early days - but these days mu chiropractor tells me to use Cold Paks.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 2:16 am

From post: 171948, Topic: tid=11541, author=DaveK wrote:I'm not suffering nearly as much as you, but this helps me . . . I sit at a desk rather than in a comfy chair. I've removed the arms from my 'office' chair and set the back to vertical so I can't slouch. I also have a repeating alarm to remind me to go for a walk around and have a stretch every hour or so!

That's probably what I really should do with the "new" mini-tower that I "still" have not totally completed software setup and I havne't installed the internal wifi card yet and I haven't installed any games.
I kinda gave up on it back in Dec, Jan because I was trying to get over a back flareup then and couldn't do anything.
my Chiropracter got me better from Feb - June and I just kept using the Laptop with no problems and never went back to working on the mini-tower (I hate setting up a system anymore, especially since it Win 7 Home 64 which is new to me). Now with this back flareup I in the position where I can't sit all day(s) fooling with it.

I hope when I get this MRI it will lead to at least a semi helpful treatment.
My Chiro said try to avoid an epidural injection - bad for diabetics and liver or kidneys or something and most of what I've read online says they are not good for you in most cases due to the side effects.
A friend of mine online had Cortisone injections for her back and it made her a diabetic.
I have my diabetes under controlled and I don't want to screw it up or start having heart papitation, etc, etc, due to questionable cortisone injections

CS-ACI- · Post by **CS-ACI-** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 10:39 am

Hello,

Look on the bright side, next time I build a system it will have Win 8.1 at least, with multi boot for at least 5 other O/S's, and that wont be the biggest head ache.

I am after getting one of the new ultra wide monitors so I can have two active windows. That is going too wreak havok with anticheat software and some other possible issues, as I am after a two monitor system. One will be 2560 x 1440 and the other 1920 x 1080 or similar standard resolution.

It will for a while take my mind off everything else, now all I need to do is get the money together.

Steve

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:37 am

Saw Orthopedist Surgeon today and he took new X-rays.
he said L1 thru L5 + S1 disc are all callapsed and wasn't really anything he could do. About what I suspected.
Got an appointment for Pain Management to perrhaps get some strong pain drugs.

Kinda hard to get much into EM when you can't sit more than a couple hours and running the risk of being in more pain all night.

Post by **DaveK** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:06 pm

From post: 172126, Topic: tid=11541, author=PaulB wrote:Saw Orthopedist Surgeon today and he took new X-rays.
he said L1 thru L5 + S1 disc are all callapsed and wasn't really anything he could do. About what I suspected.
Got an appointment for Pain Management to perrhaps get some strong pain drugs.

Kinda hard to get much into EM when you can't sit more than a couple hours and running the risk of being in more pain all night.

You have my sympathy in bucket loads.

Roll on the day when the 'thought controlled' systems being developed by the military are available to all. You could then sit/lie as comfy as possible and think your commands!

In the meantime there are a couple of (very inexpensive) comprehensive voice control mods in the threads, designed to increase immersion in the game but which have a great potential to let you play in a comfy position rather than be controlled by the keyboard . . .

ANNA (Advanced Neural Network Artificial intelligence) by Galaxian: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10411 - ANNA responds to several versions of the same command and gives a response chosen from several options. By default you have access to over 200 commands and ANNA recognises well over 500 phrases. The details of what extra software you need and how to set it up plus a full list of presently implemented commands and ANNA's replies plus editing instructions for the command phrases and ANNA's replies are in the Hints&Tips Guide!

A Voice Attack system by Caleb: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... #pid171998 - though less developed than Galaxians' system is very flexible

I've dabbled with both and intend to get ANNA working as soon as RL allows

Hope this is food for thought and helps!

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:17 am

From post: 172142, Topic: tid=11541, author=DaveK wrote:
From post: 172126, Topic: tid=11541, author=PaulB wrote:Saw Orthopedist Surgeon today and he took new X-rays.
he said L1 thru L5 + S1 disc are all callapsed and wasn't really anything he could do. About what I suspected.
Got an appointment for Pain Management to perrhaps get some strong pain drugs.

Kinda hard to get much into EM when you can't sit more than a couple hours and running the risk of being in more pain all night.
You have my sympathy in bucket loads. Roll on the day when the 'thought controlled' systems being developed by the military are available to all. You could then sit/lie as comfy as possible and think your commands!

In the meantime there are a couple of (very inexpensive) comprehensive voice control mods in the threads, designed to increase immersion in the game but which have a great potential to let you play in a comfy position rather than be controlled by the keyboard . . .

ANNA (Advanced Neural Network Artificial intelligence) by Galaxian: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10411 - ANNA responds to several versions of the same command and gives a response chosen from several options. By default you have access to over 200 commands and ANNA recognises well over 500 phrases. The details of what extra software you need and how to set it up plus a full list of presently implemented commands and ANNA's replies plus editing instructions for the command phrases and ANNA's replies are in the Hints&Tips Guide!

A Voice Attack system by Caleb: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... #pid171998 - though less developed than Galaxians' system is very flexible

I've dabbled with both and intend to get ANNA working as soon as RL allows

Hope this is food for thought and helps!

Thanks, Dave but that wouldn't solve my problem because I also have lousy eyesight.
Right now at my Laptop (15" wide sc) I'm using my Reading glasses - only usefull within 1 - 1/2 foot distance.

I have a pair of what I use to call my Computer glasses but they are only useful if I put my Laptop on my old Computer (card) table and hook the Ext monitor to my 22" widescreen - but that Computer chair though it was a $600+ chair) isn't that great on my back either and Feet (which I won't bother to explain).
I'm not sure I could sit for hours+++ in it and play EM but I may have to try.

Then I have my Distance glasses that are bifocals. Not "maybe" if I had a 42" widescreen TV/monitor that could accept VGA input from Laptop (or i could finish the minitower which has Dvi & hdmi outputs with a cord distance of about 15 feet length, I might could use that and the bifocal so I could see the keyboard and sit in the recliner leaning back and not have to lean forward (I'd have to have some kind of tiltable, rollable, rotatable table top on the side of my recliner to hold the Laptop or keyboard and whatever else.
But a 42" widescreen and the sidetable for the recliner is just out of my budget

The frustrating thing is about 3 days before this latest back flareup I had ordered from Amazon an adjustible height 30" wide table (for $79 so as to have more room than the TV tray I was using) and planned to put castors in place of it's floor levelers. Right now it's still sitting boxed up against the wall and may never get used

[Edited on 7-30-2014 by PaulB]

Vampyre · Post by **Vampyre** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 12:58 am

For my back pain I take cyclobenzaprine, nabumetone, and last but not least Tramadol. It usually works. The downside is drowsiness, cotton mouth and itchy skin. I also get a shot in my lower back abut ever 4-5 months.

My computer is next to my bed. When I play for extended times, I prop myself up with pillows and put my feet up on the wall. The KB is on my lower belly and I use my mouse as my main controller.

In addition to the lower back problem we share, I also have arthritis ranging from my neck to my lower spine.

As long as I take my meds and don't over do it I get around just fine.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:05 am

From post: 172934, Topic: tid=11541, author=Vampyre wrote:For my back pain I take cyclobenzaprine, nabumetone, and last but not least Tramadol. It usually works. The downside is drowsiness, cotton mouth and itchy skin. I also get a shot in my lower back abut ever 4-5 months.

My computer is next to my bed. When I play for extended times, I prop myself up with pillows and put my feet up on the wall. The KB is on my lower belly and I use my mouse as my main controller.

In addition to the lower back problem we share, I also have arthritis ranging from my neck to my lower spine.

As long as I take my meds and don't over do it I get around just fine.

If you are getting cortisone shots - research them. They can be bad for you - can cause diabetes (which i'm already type II so I wouldn't want to risk cortisone) and it's also bad for some of the internal organs.
My Chiropractor said the things I should consider as last resorts are Surgery and cortisone and other steroids.
Because of my size I couldn't have surgery or even the shots really.
My back actually got some better just as I saw an Orthopedist. I think because my last visit to my chiropractor 1 1/2 week before he tapped the Disc on the left side and I think got it twisted that way a bit releaving the pressure on the nerve on the right side. I also think that because I'm trying to get minor twinges at times on the left nerve now.
But at least not I can sit at the Laptop where as back in July if i tried to sit at it more that 1/2 hour I was in misery all the rest of the night. And that was taking 10mg hydrodone and nabumatone 3 times per 24 hrs (actually I cut the times a bit).

Now (knock on wood) I'm only taking 1 to 2 hydrocodones a day (partly because of other issue and not just my back).
And I went to the Pain Clinic and he prscribed me a 30 day of Baclofen 10mg which I think he said was a muscle relaxer. he didn't want to give me any strong pain meds until I tried this 1st - but since my back got better (for now anyway), that's ok.
problem is I tend to have a flare up anywhere from every 5 or 6 months if I'm unlucky to once a year.
And when I say my back is better, the pinched nerve is better. There are somethings that just cause me lower back pain like standing around in the kitchen or something.

BTW, be careful of Nabumetone. If you take it on a regular, ongoing basis it is bad for you too and will mess up your B12 and Iron levels among other things - it being an anti-inflamatory.

I'm not familiar with the other meds you mentioned.

Vampyre · Post by **Vampyre** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:27 pm

One is a nerve blocker and the other is a muscle relaxer.

Aside from being over weight and having crappy back, I'm pretty healthy so far. I've been thinking about stopping the shots. They aren't working all that well anymore.

Unless I'm in a lot of pain, the only time I take the pills is the weekend. That's when I work.