My results are not particularly great news....
I have early degenerative lipping of the vertebral margins at all levels scanned with facet joint osteoarthritis at all levels. Also severe disc narrowing at L5/S1 (where the spine meets the tail bone) with degenerative gas formation in the disc. There is also mild impingement on the thecal sac at L2/3 and L3/4 and at L5 there is more severe impingement.... blah blah blah
Sooo in every day terms I have early arthritis and two dics compressed which between the arthritis and the dics is the nerve that runs around my arse, down my thigh, across my shin and onto my foot.. yep that's about where it has been numb or hurting so they got that right...
Cure... none, at "my age" it is early to have the arthritis but there is nothing to be done for it... I was advised to take pain killers and anti inflammatory drugs if it hurts... not being great at popping random pain killing pills that will be a last resort for me...
The discs will not recover totally even if I sit still for the rest of my life, which of course I am not going to do LOL, I was advised to do moderate to light exercising like brisk walking... If I did insist on weight training I was to not do any exercises that made my back hurt... he could not tell me what those exercises may be, so I told him what they may be....
Soooo I am to try everything but when it hurts - stop. OoooKaaayyyy that makes sense...
This morning I trained calves but didn't use the standing calf machine as I do load the bejesus out of that one, then did abs and found I can't do decline crunches or twists, well not at the moment, maybe in a couple of weeks... LOL
My brisk walk ended up 30 mins of HITT on the cross trainer and ok so I have a twinge, I know.... I will take a Nurofen!!!
I will stay away from squats for a couple of months... and just try every thing else and if you hear a scream that's one more exercise I can no longer do, I wont be screamin gin pain I will be screamin gin frustration.. LOL
It is Remembrance Day today and I will be wearing my Poppy proudly, My Grandad fought in WW1 and was standing shoulder to shoulder with his twin brother when a German sniper killed his brother.... These young men went through horrors we will hopefully never understand, and to all the currently serving armed forces I would like to say a simple but heart felt Thank You.
LEST WE FORGET...
3 comments:
DAMN!! Well, at least they were able to put some names to it (for a change!) Surely there are some alternative therapies for the arthritis; but all of the disk stuff sounds a bit scary-you gotta be careful with that stuff babe-no matter what age! It's going to be a matter of working around certain things that's all there is to it. I can't do regular squats at all anymore because I have scoliosis and it really hurts to put that much weight on my shoulders. And I haven't done standing calf raises in years for the same reason....but, well-you've seen my pics -I'm not too shabby without that stuff...LOL
I'm just sayin' -don't give up hope(though know that you won't!)-it just may take some fiddling around to find the stuff that doesn't hurt.
It sounds like you have quite the challenge ahead of you Cathy, but given your family history I doubt that will stop someone such as yourself. You strike me as the kind of person who when they can't go headfirst through a problem, finds a way to get around it. Don't forget Michelle Nazaroff was told she shouldn't compete again, OR have a baby. Look where that got the doctors... LOL!! xxx
Hey Cath. Damn, not great news...but I'm here to tell you...not the end of the world. I was diagnosed at age 29 with arthritis throughout my vertebrae (result of fracturing some of the bones in a massive car accident when I was 20)...and yeah it sucks, and yeah there are days where it's too painful to do much... BUT (and there is a big BUT in here) it doesn't stop me from living. I have had to modify several exercises (don't free squat at all, if my back is feeling good I will sometimes squat on a Smith Machine, but if it hurts, I stop)... I often leg press with my hands underneath the lumbar part of my back... the other bonus is that I have been told that the weight training is slowing the progression of the arthritis.
If my discs are flaring up...then I usually won't do anything at all that may aggrivate them... it's not worth it.
I also find that depending on the type of pain I am getting chiropractic treatment or accupuncture helps (I have come to know which I need at what time over the years)... and another think I find helps sometimes if my lumbar spine is aching, lying on my front with a pillow under the lower part of the belly...it takes the pressure off the spine and relieves some of the pain (along with voltaren!)
Chin up babe...just make sure that you don't do anything to aggrivate it - listen to your bod!!
Whew...sorry to take over your comment section!!
Take it easy xx
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