• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Down and out for a while...

Rich Z

Rich Z

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Insiders Club
Well it appears I may have a bulged disk in the vertebrae in my neck. Not sure how it happened, though. But I am in excrutiating pain. My choices are to either put up with the pain and trust my chiropractor to be able to fix the problem through traction treatment, or go under the blade for surgery. Either way I am going to be out of commission for a while.

Unfortunately my workload is going to fall on Connie's shoulders for the duration, or at least until I get the OK from the doc that I can do at least some light labor. Right now he doesn't want me to do ANYTHING at all so I don't make it worse. Heck, even typing on the keyboard hurts my shoulder.

I guess it could be worse. If this were the breeding season, I would just have to keep popping pain pills and "to hell with the torpedoes, full speed ahead".

Luckily sales have slowed down a bit so I don't have to worry too much about packing up shipments. Plus it is getting pretty slim pickings on the 2004 stock anyway.

So if emails get pretty slow getting a response, or you don't see me on the message boards, that's the scoop......

:sobstory: :sobstory: :sobstory: :sobstory:
 
Rich, I feel for you. There is nothing more painful than neurologic pain...and nothing more difficult to control. Obey your doctor and rest that spine and get better soon.

:)

P.S. I wish I were down your way, I'd come in and help out Connie with the chores.
 
Will keep you and Connie in our thoughts and prayers Rich. Wish I was close enough to help out as well~

Get well soon!
 
Hope You Feel Better Soon!!!!

Hi Rich, :wavey:

I'm So Sorry to hear your not feeling well!!! I will pray for you and Connie and that you will get to feeling better soon!! DO take care of yourself and keep us posted on how your feeling!!
Look forward to seeing you again in Daytona!!

God Bless!!
Warren C.
 
Thanks......

Well, I had x-rays taken today and my chiropractor found that the cause of the pain is from bone spurs and not a bulged disk. He seems to feel that is a more controllable situation, but it doesn't sound real good to me. Sharp points of bone in my vertebrae rubbing against my spinal chord is GOOD news????

I got two different pain/inflammation controlling drugs yesterday and neither one even fazes me. Kind of surprises me since I don't drink or do any recreational drugs. I would have thought that even a whiff of pain medication would have clobbered me. Getting another pain killer tonight to see if that helps. I had to dig out some old pain meds from 10 years ago when I had kidney stone problems so I could sleep last night.

I just this doesn't drag out and then right at breeding season the docs decide that NOW I need surgery...... Of course, having the pain that I am in for several months would be a little hard to take, so I guess I wouldn't be able to allow that to drag on that long anyway.
 
what have you been perscribed rich? i messed up my arm bad three weeks ago and have had to get surgery since. I was on morphine and oxycotin when the pain was too much for the percocet i originally had. Now Im just taking a boatload of vicodin, isnt that strong but u take enough and its easier to relax and just let the arm heal.
 
Rich I am so sorry to hear your news - hoping you feel better real soon,
Best Wishes,
 
Hmm... I suspect the 'good news' is more relating to treatability/managability and recovery prognosis... Neither of the conditions suggest to me that they'd go away on their own. Here's hoping you make a full recovery with no complications, and on the first treatment they try.

-Kat
 
Rich,

Sorry to hear about that...I hope you get well soon...Here's to a speedy recovery and lots more pain-free days in the future...

Gregg
 
most pain meds just get you a little high. I had a problem about a year ago my regular doc gave me some pain meds and sent me home. I ended up in the emergency room about a week later and was given diluated and had surgery the next morning.
The diluated was the only thing that gave me real pain relief. You may want to request it , but I don't know if it comes in a take home pill form or just IV . I think most docs are reluctant to give out the stuff that really works well for fear someone may become adicted.
Hope you get well soon.
 
Well, I actually had a spell today where my pain was GONE. I was walking out to the refrigerator and something didn't feel "right". The pain was just GONE! Just like turning off a switch. Well it did come back later, but I think that might be a sign that I am on the mend. Got my fingers crossed anyway.

As far as me becoming addicted? Nope. I had to scrounge around in the refrigerator to find some percocets I have had in there for 10 years when I had kidney stone problems. So I use stuff like this when I need it, and that is it. I never saw much sense in getting my brain scrambled on purpose for a "high".

Anyway, my chiropractor seems to feel that I might be all straightened out by Monday. Man, I really hope he is right. Connie is talking ALL of the workload off of me until then so I don't do something stupid and do something I shouldn't.

Oh well, the percocets are kicking in right now, so maybe I can get a decent night's sleep tonight.

Thanks everyone.....
 
So dealing with all of us is a pain in the neck:shrugs:?

I can relate, I have one herniated disc in my lower back and one in my mid back and a bulging disc in my neck. Meds send me to the hospital with tachycardia (fast heart rate) so I just deal with it. Some days my 96 year old neighbor moves faster than me.

With herniations and bulges the body absorbs the material but the spurs are another story. Either way limitation of activity is very helpful. Now if I could just take my own advice.

Take it easy and get well soon.
 
Well, I took a look at the X-rays of my neck on Friday. I think there is little doubt about what needs to happen. Those bone spurs are going to be a constant dagger over my head until they are removed. Even if/when this present situation gets better, one wrong move, slip, or stumble, and I would be right back in pain again. Having this happen during the breeding, egg-laying, or hatching season could be a REAL problem around here.

I'm going to talk to the chiropractor on Monday and get all of the cards laid out on the table. I pretty certain there is surgery in my near future. Well I dodged the surgery bullet for 54 years but I guess I couldn't hold that luck forever......

I am going to have to contact some wholesalers to take my surplus animals off my hands pretty shortly. NO way I want Connie to have to take everything upon her shoulders while I am laid up. Hopefully the recuperation period won't be extensive with something like this. I don't think it could be much worse then what I am going through now with just this inflammed nerve going to my right arm. With any luck, getting the bone spurs removed will be the end of this for good.
 
Good luck Rich! Sorry to hear of your troubles. I'm with DAND, I have a herniated disc in my lower back and the pain meds freak me out. Super fast heart rate, naussea, everything spins. Horrible. Out of all of your possibilities, bone spurs is probably one of the better ones. I know that doesn't help right now with the pain, sorry.

Hope you feel better soon.

Mike
 
Gosh this is like back pain city, I am another with 4 herniated discs in my lower spine, nothing legal really stops the pain for me. But if meds work for you....good luck.
 
Yeah, I got some pain med prescriptions from my doctor, but once I looked them up on the net and saw all of the problems associated with them, I just discarded them. I told my doc that I wanted percocet. I KNOW these work for me from when I had kidney stone problems about 12 years ago. Matter of fact, I still have some of them in the refrigerator from way back then. They just numbed the pain and allowed me to fall asleep. That is exactly what I want. I can manage the pain during the day, but when I want to sleep, it's pretty darn tough with the pain nagging at me.

I contacted the doc on Thursday and the sob never bothered to even get back to me. So I called the emergency number for his office Friday night and told the person on call to give my doctor a message: "He is no longer my doctor." This *was* my general practicioner. My chiropractor is pretty good, but he cannot prescribe meds.

Monday I will probably be making an appointment with a neurosurgeon in the area who has a real good reputation for back surgery successes. I just need to get this all behind me NO LATER then when breeding season kicks into gear.

Thanks everyone. This too, shall pass.
 
I recently bought a waterbed which gives me great relief at night, I used to wake up screaming in pain nearly every hour, so far 3 weeks of pain free sleep, it feels odd.
 
Well, I went to a neurologist and a neurosurgeon on Thursday and they think that I do not need to have surgery. They are saying I have something called brachial plexitis. Basically this is an inflammation of the nerve bundle in my shoulder. My chiropractor thinks there is some pressure being applied on the nerves coming out of my neck. Since I can relieve some of the pain and aching by pressing on the right side of my neck towards the left side, I'm tending to agree with the chiropractor. But even with his diagnosis, surgery is not indicated.

So this doesn't appear to be a bone spur related problem, even though I definitely do have bone spurs in my neck. Since surgery apparently will not solve the problem, I can't see any reason to undergo it just for "fun".

My arm and shoulder are much better now then they were a month ago but I am still popping a percocet before going to bed so it will help me sleep. I suspect that it may take a little while, but it looks like it will eventually clear up completely on it's own.

Now the big question is: What do I need to NOT do that could make it happening again?
 
Rich,

Glad to hear that surgery is not in the near future for you. Have you noticed that when things are stressful your pain is worse? That's what happens with mine. The main problem with that is things here seem to always be stressful. Take care and I hope this will pass quickly for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top