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I had a spinal tumor which resulted in a fusion from L2-S1, the lost of my right L3 and L4 periphery nerves, and a bunch of other related issues, including severe nerve damage down my right leg and hip. I've basically had non-stop nerve pain for the last five years, which ranges from tingling a majority of the time to wanting to claw your skin off. I also have the normal issues with just dealing with a spinal fusion/bad back and moving around on an extremely weak leg. My pain isn't on the level of CRPS, but I figure more information never hurt (specially for the poster with sciatica), so here are the things I've found over the last few years that help. I also want to note that these are all things I do to manage pain long term. No matter how well I keep to the stuff I list below, there are always bad days and its very hard to predict when they will occur. 1. Sleep: Just general muscle and body fatigue is a huge component in making my pain worse, and a healthy sleep schedule is the single best way I stay in front of my pain and keep it managed. Before my surgery I was realistically fine averaging 6.5 hours a night or so, which included 4-5 hours once or twice a week. Now, though, if I'm not routinely getting at least seven hours of sleep (preferably 8 hours), I pay for it, and it takes more than one night of decent sleep to get back on track. I got in the habit of saying to myself "nothing I'm doing right now is worth a week of pain" whenever I catch myself wanting to stay up late for no good reason. I still have a life and am willing to go out late with friends or for special occasions, but staying up past midnight just loving around online is my body's worst enemy. 2. Exercise: there isn't much to say, but whenever I stop exercising regularly the pain is much harder to control and seems to come on much more commonly. On top of it, trying to start exercising after prolonged absence also increases the daily pain since my body is worn out and more taxed than normal. It doesn't have to be rear end-kicking workouts either - even just walking a mile or two a day is enough to help keep things in check. Since regular exercise also helps keep a healthy sleep schedule, a little can really go a long way. 3. Chairs/beds/etc.: This isn't normal "get a good bed and chair, sit right, etc." sort of thing - that is a given. This is more of coming to accept that I just can't do some beds and chairs. It means I might not spend the night with friends or family if they don't have a good bed for me to sleep on. It means that I sometimes avoid going to places that I normally enjoy because I know that a few hours in a stadium seat will kill me for a week. Cars, restaurants, etc. - it's just something I'm conscious about now, and if need be I can tell people that I need to sit somewhere else or ask to trade seats with someone, etc. I was extremely nervous and embarrassed about bringing those sort of things up for a couple of years, but at this point I've realized everyone understands when you are up front about it and its far more fun to be able to hang out for a long time than have to leave after a couple of hours because you are in pain. 4. Learning your triggers and getting ahead of them: By and large I don't take a lot of medication, for multiple reasons. However, I've got to the point where I can sort of tell that my body might be "primed" for a pain outbreak (for lack of a better term). Extreme weather changes are an example (hot to cold to hot in a matter of a few days). Daytime drinking (or any other condition that brings on dehydration) is another. In those times, the second I feel anything coming on, I'm taking something, even something mild, to try to stop the pain before it gets bad. It's always easier to maintain pain at a constant level than it is to reduce it, so I just try to catch and maintain it as quickly as I can. Coupled with this, I try to always have access to something in case the pain sets in, which means keeping some meds at work and in my car, and taking them anywhere we go for an extended time. I've saved many an outings because I was able to take something quickly at the beach rather than have to go home miserable. This all probably sounds like basic common sense stuff, and I know my pain is mild compared to a lot of other people posting in this thread, but really nothing has worked as well for me long term as just trying to maintain daily healthy habits and just being conscious about planning around unavoidable breaks in those habits. Voodoofly fucked around with this message at 19:26 on May 2, 2014 |
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May 2, 2014 19:23
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 04:13 |
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