[mrsmoggles]

So the neuro said to exercise, not giving creedance to my pain...it seemed like fate that moggles alarm woke me up at his normal time...so i called my mom to go with her to the gym and work out...i peddled for 20 minutes and did about 100 crunches...nothing major, or so i thought...not. i am sick and sick of feeling sick...my head, my tummy, my GI, dizzy, i dunno what to do anymore...i feel as if i am slipping, not doing good enough, not keeping up with cleaning, appts, time, hell getting up and dressed poses a problem some days...i came home, showered and slipped into some flannel jammies...oh well, i am just ranting, sorry...melanie

[wisewoman]

Oh Melanie, give yourself credit and a little old fashioned support. I live in flannel most of the time. Do the best you can, don't push too hard.

[silver_moon]

... give yourself credit
glad you're giving the exercise a chance... just keep taking things in small steps
certainly helps you feel better (in time)... its the motivation that you need to find

[OldGeezer]

Aloha Melanie!

I've been dealing with chronic pain due to 3 failed spine surgeries. It's been 11 years now and I'm still waiting for that "miracle" to appear that will fix me. I remember back in the early days of my CP, a doctor would suggest (or tell me) to exercise, or write a 'prescription' for physical therapy and I'd just sit there in astonishment and disbelief and look and her/him. Of course they kept insisting that even though all the MRI's and other scans/xrays showed the herniated disc and bulging discs that exercise was the one thing that would FIX or HEAL it!!

It took until my 3rd surgeon to look at me with disbelief and say, "how will exercise help your herniated disc to heal or fix itself?". Of course, I'd just kind of be taken aback and quickly agree with him and tell him what kinds of tortures I had to endure to convince other doctors that exercise wasn't the "way" for ME. Maybe some others without such severe damage, or no herniations...but for me, no exercise.

Of course now I find that if and when I do have a "good day" where my pain level should drop to a constant 5 when it's usually a constant 7 ormore, I'll make the huge mistake of doing something I shouldn't just so I can prove to myself that "I CAN". Then i'm bed-ridden for several days to a week and can barely walk for longer, however, it felt SO GOOD to be able to do something I used to do again.

It's foolish behaviour, I know. I just HAVE TO. LOL!

Melanie...if your doctor or doctors are NOT treating your pain adequately, and you still have acess to some others, PLEASE don't be afraid to go to at least ONE appointment with them to see if they might have a better way to treat your severe pain.

I've been very fortunate in that I live on one of the most remote islands in Hawaii and yet, I really only had to put up with and suffer due to a doctor being afraid to adequately treat my severe pain properly for the very first 18 months of this "new life" of CP. It's a long story and I'll get into it another time, but I just couldn't take the way she was treating ME and my pain. I got tired of staying up all night laying across an oversized footstool for 'traction' just ot get some relief from the pain and crying, crying and crying. Oh the crying was just too much. Anyway, I've been spoiled rotten compared to most CPer's in that my pain has almost always been properly treated so I no longer have to suffer needlessly.

Of course we all have to remember that all these doctors are really hired by US. We should be the ones to hire or fire them if we feel they are not doing the "job" that we expected them to. Don't you feel that way also?

Sure, don't be so obvious when you see other doctors that the doctor(s) you see now feel that you are "Doctor Shopping". We have all had to play by the rules of "The Game".

Don't let these or this doctor drive you so crazy because he/she won't properly take care of you. I've been in that kind of "crazy" mode and what it made me do wasn't something I ever want to attempt again. I sure don't want to see anyone that I've dealt with EVER go down that road. I think we all know what I mean.

Please...there are so many doctors and it may take you some time to find the one you like or at least the one that is the least "mean" when it comes to your pain. I've always disliked the thought of when I am in the small exam room talking with my doctor and then get nothing but a bunch of "no's", "I won't do that" or "You'll just have to deal with it"....grrrrr...and then leave feeling a lot WORSE afterwards and the doctor probably forgets about you and what suffering you have laying in wait ahead of you....sometime you have to point these things out to them also.

Doctors may be smart, but there are lots of them that aren't very WISE. Agree?]

Aloha Just For Now,
Old Geezer

[(JD)]

I have spine issues too, and while I can't do exercise in the truest sense of the word, I do have to do stretches and the like. Each of us with this type of problem has to find what types of exercising we can do. It's imperative that we keep our muscles toned, or they act up and make our initial problem worse. (Think: more pain.)

I must do physical therapy, but it isn't to exercise, it's to be stretched out because I'm not strong enough to maintain full function of my muscles by myself. I can not lift anything over 3 lbs without consequences, but I do flex my muscles and work them when I pick up those 3lb items. I cannot walk ,but walking is a great exercise for maintaining most muscles.

I think you overdid in the gym. Keep going, but cut back on what or try new things instead. Keep track of what you can get "away" with doing without any more effect than perhaps fatigue. We all have to push ourselves, otherwise, the pain would prevent us from doing anything.

((((gentle hug)))

[mrsmoggles]

I had another appt, I guess a psych also that is in therapy role for me to get the 'right' services...I dunno, she told me to go back to my primary doc and tell her I want chronic pain management...I have gone back to gym but just to soak in hot tub...it seems I may have picked up some sort of virus that hubby and room mate and I are passing back and forth...whole headache, tummyache, cold, feverish...

My MRI was done 10 days ago, but I have heard nothing about the results from that. I went to the therapy because the p-doc that prescribed the cymbalta suggested talk therapy for my kind of depression...so basically so far, i came off three meds and started 3 new ones, I have been told by one dr fibromyalgia and the neuro scoffing at that and added a new type of neuropathy...then there is the p-doc who said it was probably all my pent up depression...ummmm i dun think so but i have had major depressive moods even as a teen though my childhood was not bad...

Last night was a high stress misunderstanding with the mr., and it was hard to move today...i bought a book on fibro and myofacial just to see what i can do...my lower back i have problems with, they are fusing on their own...pms'ing with a headache and nausea is not fun...and i know i am &%itching moaning and groaning...I have stopped most functions...but i did decide to try harder on caring for myself better...i am taking the alpha lipoic acid and my sugars are getting better, i am not missing my morning or evening meds...i am eating 1/2 of what i was in evening...actually i am eating less period and the things i am eating i am trying to be healthy...i have been cooking rather than letting mr pick something up on way home...now i need routine in going to gym...

i hurt and i cannot explain it...sometimes i feel so alone...i am so tired of being this way...and yet i am hopeful, i want to get out and work and yet i cant...there is something stopping me...pain...and a great fear i will bumble around and finally know for a fact i can't work...that would be the worst fear confirmed...now i know i am going on and on...thank you (((hugs))) for reaching out ...ty so much...melanie