living with injuries

[agentpineapple]

today has been a bad day.
let me explain, 2 and a half years ago I was knocked off my bike, air lifted to hospital and put in the intensive care unit, luckily or unluckily I survived(that depends whether you like me or not)
after a long recovery period, i'd say i'm about 80% recovered. and I've been told that's it, your as recovered as your going to be. I've come to terms with this, I don't really have a choice.
so for the last 30mths I've got by on different meds, mainly tremedol, but also parrots eat em all, co-codomol, nurofen, senokot because the painkillers bung you up
lifes ok on these drugs, but the tremedol makes you sleepy and if I'm honest its only good for about 4hrs then the pain is back.
so at the beginning of this year a had a meeting with a nhs pain consultant, he said i'd be better off knocking the tremedol on the head and trying something else, I explained that trying co-codomol didn't work for me.
so 2 weeks ago I had a pain killing injection into my spine, not nice as I choose not to be sedated for it....
as yet I can't feel any change in my level of pain, I was told it could take 3 weeks before could see the benefits of the injection. and yesterday I started my news meds, pregabalin or something or other, and this is where the problems begin.
perhaps I was expecting a miracle, but today the pain is unreal, I can't describe what it feels like, you just don't want to do anything, not even talk.
I know I have to give the new meds time to work, and the injection might still kick in.
but the way I feel today, if I had to life like this for the rest of my life, I really don't know how long I could do it.
people very rarely think of someone whose dealing with pain on a long term basis. i'm sure there are many fellow riders going thru the same thing.
i'm sure the van driver who knocked me off my bike has no idea what he has done, no comprehension of the consequences of his actions. he and I are still fighting a battle over the accident, the court date is the 12/9/13.
theres a chance i'll be offered a 30k pay off. but the way I feel to today makes me think i'm being fobbed off...
oh well rant over, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day

[Flatline]

Heart goes out to you buddy

[edds11]

Marty, I feel for you brother, spine injections, I had a total of 9 on a yearly basis, do you have the one when they do it they have a live x-ray at the same time so the guy can see where he's putting the needle, if so only 1 worked for me and only for about 3 weeks, but on a positive note I know a guy who has had then regular for 15 years and runs around like a spring chicken. Tramadol worked for me but made me feel as sick as chuff, was supposed to take 2 tablets 4 times a day but ended just taking when needed, changed them for Naproxen, for me they work on my backs residual pain after the operation and also help with the spondylitis in my neck, so when Geo takes the piss about the sun salutation this might explain why hope it helps, but yes, once injured, always pain. They make a good job of repairing us but it is never 100%. But Marty...its better than the other option, once you sort out the meds you WILL feel better. p.s. keep a dairy for the court to see about your pain levels and management.

[MacV2]

Not a nice thread to read...

Not a nice position to be in, easy enough to say grin & bear it but probably not what you want to hear...

With luck the injection will kick in soon, then you'll feel better in yourself & start to look forward to how many cakes & biccies 30k will buy...

[BigVeeGrin]

hey Marty - not a lot I can say really aside from times like this I guess we all need to be thankful for what we have as there is always something around the corner we have no say over. I hope the legal system comes up trumps with the case for you and the consequences for the van driver, but I imagine that's no consolation for having to live with pain etc. - feel for you man

My positive suggestions of no use whatsoever would be , perhaps you can turn to the lord, see that lot your nan is all into, sure they can work miracles or raid carl's roll-up stash

keep the faith big man, we're with you

[Ckennedy]

I know kinda how you feel marty. I won't say exactally because it sounds like your in more pain than me at the moment. Iv had a knee injury since I was 10(12years ago) and I has messed my life up. I used o cycle competitively when I was younger and when I was taking trials to get onto the great britian squad it picked up and ruined everything. Since I had the accident I have struggled to do sports. It has now started to effect me on the storm which I am now happy about. After 10mins on the bike I am in agony and I have to wear a knee support when I do anything at the moment to reduce the pain. But this can only be left on for so long because any longer and it will cause problems itself. I spent 4 years going through physo, seeing consultants and even key hole surgery and none of them could tell me what I have done to it. I am having an ultrasound on it in a few weeks to see if that shows anything. But being as though it has made a mess of my life and I am in pain all day with it all the moment I am determined not to let it stop me riding my bike. I do hope you manage to get sorted with the right meds and get the outcome you want at court. Just don't give up even when it gets tough!

[lloydie]

look on the bright side its not raining and soon you will have 30k to spend .

ive lived with pain since i was 7 in my hips and knees .
growing pains the doc said lol i still have the pain to this day and i aint growing no more .
i stopped taking pain killer drugs ten years ago as i got addicted to them so now i live with the pain and tbh i dont know how i would live without it (reminds me im alive).

[baldybiker]

Don't give up hope mate I work as an ambulance driver for the royal orthopaedic hospital in Birmingham and see the improvement patients make from there first appointment to a few weeks later some thought they would not ever be able to walk properly again but go from wheel chair to walking in no time . keep telling the doctors you want to see a specialist in the field your problems in .you wouldn't take a Honda to a Suzuki dealer .

[lumpyv]

feel for you mate, i get back ache a little (probably about half of 1 % what you got) and that gets me down . my mum was in constant pain and medicated for the last year or two of her life and she never really said much about it but i know it really made her tired and ground her down near the end, so living with it at your age must be a pi55er.

have you tried alternatives to drugs like acupuncture and such like? im a bit sceptical but some people have had relief using it?

are there any excercises that would help? young guy at work reckons if i were train my back muscles up a bit i would get less backache? mind you hes only about 28, built like a brick sh1thouse and trains with boxers and cagefighters at his gym .

exercise may be the answer if possible ( hard to train in the first place though if you are getting constant gyp!)

[AMCQ46]

Keep the faith Marty, every bad day is there to remind you what the good days are.

Borrow some blow off a friend Great anti inflammatory

[leevtr]

What I'm gonna say now may not make me many friends, but your mates are the ones that should be honest with you, regardless of how much it may hurt your feelings.
The fcuking Richard that pulled out on you has a lot to answer for, and I hope he gets the book thrown at him. But, unfortunately, whatever the judge does to him aint gonna make your life any easier, so you need to do something to help yourself, and don't think I'm taking the piss here, I'm just being honest, and maybe saying what others should have said already, but are too scared to.

You are, lets be honest, a large fella, and it aint through bodybuilding. An uninjured body would start to struggle carrying your weight over time. Your battered and injured bones and muscles are carrying 20 stone odd, and ditching a quarter of it would help no end mate, like it or not.

You need to make a lifestyle change. Ditch the takeaways, get some regular exercise, do what you have to to lose the weight. I guarantee you, you WILL FEEL BETTER. Maybe it wont be a miracle cure, but I can tell you now, that since I've lost weight I have nowhere near as many daily aches and pains as before, and I was nowhere near your size. Sorry to be blunt, but I wouldn't be much of a mate if I wasnt honest.

Get yourself on a sensible diet, and something that you can maintain, not some stupid fad diet that once you quit it, you pile it all on again. Thats all I did, just changed the way I eat, and stuck with it. And do some exercise, make it part of your routine. Just walking a mile a day to start will help. Dont plan the exercise around other stuff either, plan the other stuff around the exercise, it'll only amount to 15-30 mins a day. I still eat like a fcuking horse, i just dont eat any crap, and I lost 4 stone since new year.

Like I said, maybe not a total cure, but you will feel a damn site better. That I do know. You ain't gotta run the marathon, but small steps and all that.

You just have to want it enough.

[VTRDark]

I don't know what to say mate. it's all been pretty much said. Pain can be a horrible thing to live with, it's like a nagging woman. it's a bit like having a battle with your own body. Pain killers help for a while but they are just touching the surface and have their own problems when taken for long periods of time. There's the side affects plus over time one just becomes immune to them and require more to do the same job. Yes you can sometimes change meds, but it's a vicious circle. Unfortunately it's one of those things one has to learn to live with and deal with in their own mind. We have good days and bad days. Today you are having a bad one physically and mentally, tomorrow you may be feeling better and more positive.

(:-})

[MacV2]

Agree with Lee re the diet...unfortunately it will mean giving up the things that you like the most...

I'm a sucker for chocolate & it is hard not to succumb to the temptation, I need to loose another stone me self but the temptation oh the temptation...

Next time you hear the biscuits calling put you fingers in your ears...or munch a carrot.

Remember salad is a food in it's self not just what you order as an extra on your kebab...

Chins up & think about your lifestyle rather than the pain...

[benny hedges]

today has been a bad day..... hopefully tomorrow will be a better day

amen to that

long time ago i smashed 2 vertebrae and crushed 3 discs, was in traction for what seemed like a lifetime, then the physio.... and the pain....
at first i was on same as you, basically everything including palfamine, which is more or less synthetic heroin they give to cancer patients.
after a while i wanted my life back so i just stopped taking them.
i realised that on the meds i was ok but the pain sort of heaped on as they started to wear off.
coming off them i learned to deal with it mentally, telling myself the pain was just a message to my brain and if i acknowledged the message, it would stop.

it does! try it. its fkin hard at first but you can beat it yourself without prescription shite.
and consider hypnosis as well.... all you have to do is accept the message and eventually its stops being sent

good luck mate.... and youre right, i dont think the payout is enough. jeez i got 13k for a broken finger and a few cracked ribs!

[VTRDark]

salad is a food

Rabbit food. Marty does eat his nuts and fresh fruit for breakfast.

(:-})