Well said.
Well said.
the old sad story
well he looks fine how can he be in pain
Yeah rite
Hit em'hard
hit em'often
I have experienced a bit of pain, I broke my femur on a parachute jump, my tib/fib and blown ankle on another jump (yea I kept jumping), blew my back out (just a disk) on another, shoulder...yea, you get the picture. The femur didn't hurt much, I broke it at noon and it wasn't until 5 pm that they gave me something for the pain, morphine, and when they pushed the plunger down into the IV it just relaxed me a whole bunch. It wasn't until I got the morphine that I realized I had been in a bit of pain. When they moved me from the ER to a room, I felt every crack in the floor, and when they closed the elevator door on my leg...yea, that made me jump a bit. They had to reset the traction device to get me into the elevator.
With the tib/fib, I had to come off the drop zone on a Ranger Special Operations Vehicle (RSOV), that was a joy. But at least then they injected me with something, don't know what, but it didn't do much for the pain. I was laying on my back in the ER but everyone thought I was on my stomach, all the on-duty staff just had to come by and take a peek under the sheets.
With those injuries I came to realize that your body will shut down the pain receptors and only when they move you do they kick back in, at least it did for me. The level of pain can only be measured by other things you have personally experienced, and can not say what others feel, even with the same injuries. The meds, when I take them, make the residual pain tolerable, and sometimes you just forget you are in pain, until you remember of course.
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
~Pericles~
All Flexerill did for me was make me ill. Mr Dr prescribes a generic Skelaxin [Metaxalon] That I take when my back flares up. He told me the key is to take it with food and an OTC inflammation reliever, Asperin, Tylenol, Ibeprofin or Naproxene Sodium. I might go a month between pills or eat them for a week straight but they don't make me sick to my stomach.
[The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze
When I handled a lot of weight as part of my work every so often I would get a back spasm. Nerve was pinched so back muscles would lock up trying to "splint" the injured area. The locked up muscle caused nerves to get irritated which leads to more muscle spasm. Flexeril at night before bed would allow the muscle to relax and break the cycle over a period of a few days. But those spasms tended to be upper back, maybe between kidneys and lower third of shoulder blades and did not have an underlying damaged disks/vertebrae just too much muscle getting too tight. Chiropractor would have to put ice bags on back for at least 20 minutes because back wouldn't crack unless all the muscles were too numb to resist. But again that was for acute incident of injury more than chronic condition.
After 20 years working mostly as a desk jockey I had a herniated disk, followed by bone spurs that left one branch of nerves pinched like a figure 8 on an MRI. Surgery this spring for it, helped but things have been back sliding a bit of late, still not bad enough I can't sleep but is enough to wear me out from the steady pain. Will see what comes next. I really felt good after surgery but sort of wonder if that was due to only working 1/2 time and zero lifting, no bending and no twisting. Felt better so did more and now I'm slowly finding I can't stand for as long without pain. Advil not getting as much relief as before when it was good for 100% a few weeks after surgery.
This stuff with lower backs tends to be long term so good advice to do exercises which over time can help and try to hold back on the pain pills a bit so those drugs will be effective when things are really bad. People build up tolerance to narcotic pain meds. Taking them for a long period they tend to get less effective. I think there is something to be said for "knowing" you have a way to relieve the pain if it gets too great but not taking enough that you overdo because you don't feel the hurt you are doing.
I don't think anyone can tell someone else where that point of "wise" pain management lies. To my way of thinking if addictive drugs allow you to continue participation in life with manageable pain that is all between you and your doctor. Frankly it bothers me when they talk about an opioid crisis all the time and use it to create regulations about how your doctor can prescribe your pain medication. One can abuse legal drugs such as alcohol OR not abuse them. Heroin and morphine are cheap and effective. And addictive, however as several posters have mentioned over time one's body adjusts and they can function on a drug that left them stoned initially. I guess I figure one is no less safe casting when distracted by pain then they are on a well tolerated dose of pain killer.
Good luck for a speedy recovery TG. And same for my wife who had pretty bad back pain and spasms come on over the weekend. As they say, getting old is definitely NOT for sissies.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
I had an old lady screaming that at me at Walmart last time I went. I pulled into a handicap spot, put my tag on the mirror then did my slide around on the seat so I can land on my right leg getting out(left sometimes buckles no warning and face planting is no fun). She sat in her car with the window down telling me that "if you can stand you aren't disabled so get out of my spot" routine. I ignored her and limped into the store where I can use the cart as a walker to hold me up. By the time I was done in there I could barely make it into the truck seat, had to use my hands to lift my left leg in. I can extend my left but can't lift or retract it very well and after walking it gets worse. My neighbor was with and she told the old lady where to go LOL she used the scooter when we got in the store, her knees are about gone. I will walk until I can't, then go under the knife again but this time around means a fusion and the problems 5-6 years down the road that can bring...
I agree w/ what you're saying. W/ modern medicine why would you suffer in pain if there was relief available? It doesn't make you more of a man to live w/ pain. Narcotics are a whole different issue. The doctors are the ones that have caused the opioid epidemic. Those types of drugs should be the last resort. But they are prescribed to often.
50 years ago would put us in the 60s - yep, no drug abuse back then.
Opiates are not new - Bill Hickok had a fondness for opium dens, as did many others.
Check this out:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/f...me-medicines#1
My wife ended up taking me to the ER on Sunday because I was really hurting. Spent two days in the hospital while they did some imaging.
Back is pretty toasted. Six eroded vertebrae and four partially herniated discs. Compared to the imaging I had done five years ago you can easily see the degradation in my back.
I'm back home now and actually feeling half way human. Went to the range with a buddy this morning and watched him shoot. Felt good to get out of the house.
Had to add that the two outside toes on my left foot feel like they are on fire all the time now. Not a real pleasant feeling.
Semper Fi!
Currently casting for .223, .308, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, 9mm, .38/.357, 10mm, 44 Mag and 45 ACP.
I like strange looking boolits!
NRA Patriot Life Endowment member.
When you've had the back muscles spasm several times, you learn the feeling at the very beginning of a spasm; felt that 2 nights ago. Was right next to a chair and sat down. Had Mrs. smokeywolf bring me a Metaxalone and Ibuprofen. Stayed in the chair for 2-1/2 hours until I was sure that both had kicked in. Have moved very carefully since.
When I have a muscle in my back go into spasm, I'm in bed for at least 2 days and on Oxys and Ibuprofen.
I've never taken the Flexoril. Only med I've ever taken that absolutely knocked me out was Atarax
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms *shall not be infringed*.
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
- Thomas Jefferson
"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of noble spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
- Rev. Nicholas Collin, Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789
Too much pressure on the nerves leading to your ankles/feet/toes can eventually cause drop-foot. Trust me - you don't want that condition.
Tibial and Peroneal nerve are the ones in the sciatic bundle that go down the leg (left leg on me) and on me causes pain behind my knee and a perpetual cramp in my calf.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms *shall not be infringed*.
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
- Thomas Jefferson
"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of noble spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
- Rev. Nicholas Collin, Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789
I get the front of the thigh and hip, with a bit of top of foot thrown in by another branch. Pain radiates down leg as I stand for any length of time. Better after surgery but not as much better now as then. But I have been doing a bunch of stuff. Feel better, do more, feel worse. But for myself I agree with the idea (in principal) of not trying for 100% relief, will take a bit of discomfort if I can avoid pins, or heavy duty meds. I would not however live at a life altering pain level all the time to avoid "bad" drugs.
Heck my knees have been bad since I was in my late 30's but I was too young for knee replacement, they would wear out and I would have been having them replaced in my late 50's and the second set is not as easy as the first.
MaryB I feel for you. High pain makes stuff most people take for granted into an ordeal. I know I will have to pay a price for some activities and based on how I have to assess "will it be worth it" for some activities such as yard work or projects I can't imagine how much harder it is to deal with that for something like a simple trip to the store.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
After 11 years it just becomes a part of life. Bad days I get little done, good days I can do a lot. I brew beer and those 6 hour brew days do a real number on me. The last 40 minutes is a lot of heavy lifting the way I am currently setup. Soon as I finish the brew shed project (pics are here http://imgur.com/a/RLzUX ) I will only have 8 feet to move full buckets instead of 80 feet... and I will have a sink to rest stuff on as I clean. Going to add a few hooks in the ceiling with pulleys for things like lifting the mash kettle down to empty it(about 40 pounds of wet grain plus a 20 pound kettle). Older I get the more I think of ways to do things easy instead of hard! I need to get a different mash burner and build a tip stand so I can just pull the pin and the kettle pivots to a waiting container... down the road as I have more funds and learn to weld better! Yup I am learning to weld in my late 50's! Day I stop learning is the day they bury me!
I've gotten more creative (and careful) about moving vises and rotary tables on and off the mill table. Also, use a dolly now to move wood for the smoker, from my truck in the front, to the smoker in the back.
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms *shall not be infringed*.
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
- Thomas Jefferson
"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of noble spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
- Rev. Nicholas Collin, Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |