Ask Someone with 9+/10 chronic pain anything (SRS)

[dzj]

now im scared to do bent over rows


how much weight were you pulling OP and how was your form?

This, I feel that if you tell me the number I can just stay 5lbs under this magic number and be okay.

How much weight were you moving?

[ralphlauren55]

its medically imposble u having a 9+/10 chronic pain and ur here just chatting, at this level ull be having problems breathing

it is possible bro, just ask Lunatic. His pain is probably around the same level as mine and he will testify that it his is normally 9+/10.

[TroyMM]

my heart goes out to you bro. just do your best to strong. mental control is a big deal on how we percieve life and happiness.

i'm gonna also take this as lesson to be more careful in the gym. i've pretty much already quit deadlifts and squats, dont plan on going back to them either...

[Sgt T-Man]

yeah my hamstrings are so tight I cant straighten out my leg either even though I have been stretching every day after getting warmed up for 3 years straight. Foam roller is beast for upper back pain. Best way to stretch them is warm up for 10 mins on a bike or walking 10 mins and then stretch them with a rope.

its on the first page


yeah I got off all of my pain meds/benzos/sleeping meds at Mayo clinic. It wasn't **** to dealing with chronic pain. Junkies make me laugh when they say withdrawals are horrible. They aren't **** compared to a day in my life LOL. ******** helped me at first and yeah it works on your serotonin kind of like an SSRI so I cant take it anymore b/c I am on antidepressants and would get serotonin syndrome. Pain meds are not a long term solution in any situation. You always have to go up and up and up until you eventually stop breathing because the dose in so high. Just like what happened to Michael Jackson

The things they taught me at Mayo clinic when I was there for 3 weeks from 8 am-9pm every day were things like deep breathing, meditation, distraction, humor, positive self talk, etc but these things are all minimally helpful. The main thing I learned there was that I can still live life like a normal person though I just have to moderate my activity levels like crazy and carry on like normal even when I'm having a horrible pain day.

I started ******** while i was on Zoloft, the chance of getting seratonin syndrome is slim to non as my Dr said they act on different receptors.

Ever been to therapy? Such as a psychologist, as you said the results will be minimal but they can teach you alot, i started going to cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety & ALOT of the things i learned are also applied to chronic pain it may not stop the pain but it will keep you mentally healthy & happy and IMO that is 60% of the battle.

People who have not experience years of pain & going in & out of hospitals & spending countless hours with doctors can not truly relate, maybe try to find a support group? I know there are some chronic pain/disease support groups.

[ralphlauren55]

This, I feel that if you tell me the number I can just stay 5lbs under this magic number and be okay.

How much weight were you moving?

it was on this machine and I had 4 or 5 plates on it, don't remember exactly. Don't use these type of machines. I will get flack for this from bodybuilders/powerlifters but listen to me not them. ****Don't squat or deadlift****. you WILL have knee or back problems in the future even with perfect form because of arthritis type issues just from moving heavy weight for many many years. If you bench heavy you will probably have problems with your shoulder capsule as well. Its just part of the game.

[MEDITATE]

it is possible bro, just ask Lunatic. His pain is probably around the same level as mine and he will testify that it his is normally 9+/10.

lunatic doesn't feel pain, he's paralyzed, i had a long conversation with him like a couple weeks ago concerning this issue.

he might be in pain but nothing chronic

[TOMMAX2]

Thanks for the inspirational quotes. Im gonna think of that next time I find myself getting down.

What is your current daily stack of meds btw?

Mine is: oxycontin 20mg x 2, ******** x 2, .5 mg ****** x2, celexa 20mg, marijuana 3gs.

I still feel pain after taking pain killers but it helps take some of the edge off. Just like you I am limited to a couple of walks per day and spend most of my time on the couch or in bed. The only exercise I can tolerate is mountain biking on paved roads with no inclines so I do that for now to get my cardio in and try to keep the legs strong. I try to keep the bike rides around 15 mins not to over do it too much and really pay for it the next day.

[ralphlauren55]

I started ******** while i was on Zoloft, the chance of getting seratonin syndrome is slim to non as my Dr said they act on different receptors.

Ever been to therapy? Such as a psychologist, as you said the results will be minimal but they can teach you alot, i started going to cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety & ALOT of the things i learned are also applied to chronic pain it may not stop the pain but it will keep you mentally healthy & happy and IMO that is 60% of the battle.

People who have not experience years of pain & going in & out of hospitals & spending countless hours with doctors can not truly relate, maybe try to find a support group? I know there are some chronic pain/disease support groups.

thanks for the advice. yeah the chance is low but I am on a tricyclic antidepressant at high doses as well as celexa so I could easily get it. I am starting CBT tomorrow actually! Hope it helps me. Good thing about mayo is that I met about 10 people going through the program with me that also have chronic pain so they can kind of relate although theres wasn't as severe as mine, its still something.

[biggestmuff]

aware

I have nearly the same injury at L4; spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis with degenerative disc disease. I've been living with it for 9 years now. The first time my back went out was in '02. I had no clue what was happening.

Now, the pain is constant and always present, but my pain doesn't sound as bad as yours. I get back strains a couple times a year and have to skipped work from 2 to 4 days when it happens. Sucks sack.

I've tried the epidural steroid injection. It was supposed to last over 6 month, but only lasted about 4 for me and made me gain about 20 pounds. Currently taking various muscle relaxers and pain killers. Only next option is a spinal fusion. I think my doc wants to do the one where he bores out a hole in my vertebral body and inserts a titanium cage packed with bone shavings. Ffffuuuu. Too skerred to try it. I'm tired of the daily pain, though. It's wearing me down.

[Solanum]

How did you hurt your lower back on that machine? Doesn't seem possible. And only moving 4-5 plates I would think it had to be terrible form or a condition that already existed and was waiting to happen.

And saying you have 9+/10 pain seems very unrealistic. I basically sat in a recliner chair for two months on percs (which are useless) with a misaligned/out of place vertebrae. It was excruciating, I had to lift my head by grabbing my hair some days. I would imagine yours is worse but to call it 9+ is just shenanigans.

[lee902]

Very sorry to hear this man. You've scared me shiitless for doing deads and squats now.

[ralphlauren55]

Thanks for the inspirational quotes. Im gonna think of that next time I find myself getting down.

What is your current daily stack of meds btw?

Mine is: oxycontin 20mg x 2, ******** x 2, .5 mg ****** x2, celexa 20mg, marijuana 3gs.

I still feel pain after taking pain killers but it helps take some of the edge off. Just like you I am limited to a couple of walks per day and spend most of my time on the couch or in bed. The only exercise I can tolerate is mountain biking on paved roads with no inclines so I do that for now to get my cardio in and try to keep the legs strong. I try to keep the bike rides around 15 mins not to over do it too much and really pay for it the next day.

currently off all my meds but I will tell you what I was on at one time. keep in mind these are all in one day. 20 mg ******, cymbalta 120mg (the max dose), Elavil 100 mg, ******** patch 100mcg/hr which is about ~300mg oxycontin equivalent, 15mg restoril. you can switch restoril with ****** up to 4 mg, 40mg ******, 3 mg *****, or like 6mg klonopin. And I still couldn't sleep even with all that

If you know anything about meds you will know that I could have easily died at these doses. I used to have the most vivid nightmares you can imagine. Me being tortured all night long in my dreams just to wake up screaming and then be tortured by pain all day. Thank God now that I am off all the narcotics the dreams have stopped. They really wear on you after a year straight because you get no relief at any time, even in your sleep.

[Volta55]

im real sorry bro..

them opana's eh?

[wicked2]

have you passed out from the pain before? Come back when you have gotten 100+ spine injections with no anesthetic lol. they give you local ******** before they put the needle into the epidural space. Im guessing you have a herniated disc at l4 or car accident? How is the fusion going?

yes, not from a car accident but it was blunt force trauma (time of initial injury coincides with a bad landing while skydiving) all said and done I had 1 ruptured disc w/ stenosis in the L4/5 1 bulging disc, 2 fractured vertabrae and 2 severly degenerative discs.

The fusion is healing slowly it's been over 3mo so far I just wish I had elected to do the surgery 2 years ago and not listen to people saying that it was a huge mistake and that it would heal on it's own.

I wish you the best in what ever choice you make but strongly reccomend a corrective surgery, I'm not going to lie, I cried like a little girl the night before going in due to all the complications that could arise but I had good support from friends and family and got through the worst of it.

I wish I could post up my before pic (PC is dead and don't have it saved on my laptop) to show how much my spine had shifted, looked damn close to the pic you posted except higher up on the spine

[skinnySerb]

How do you rate pain on a scale of 10 anyway? I think 10/10 would be like burning slowly to death.

Sorry to hear that bro though. I hope you feel better one day.

[ralphlauren55]

How did you hurt your lower back on that machine? Doesn't seem possible. And only moving 4-5 plates I would think it had to be terrible form or a condition that already existed and was waiting to happen.

And saying you have 9+/10 pain seems very unrealistic. I basically sat in a recliner chair for two months on percs (which are useless) with a misaligned/out of place vertebrae. It was excruciating, I had to lift my head by grabbing my hair some days. I would imagine yours is worse but to call it 9+ is just shenanigans.

they said it could have already been weakened and this just made it slip the first time. 9/10 seems accurate to me because if it was any worse I would kill myself. It never goes away, no positions give me relief, I can't sit for more than 5 mins and can't stand for more than 10 mins so I am constantly switching positions.

aware

I have nearly the same injury at L4; spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis with degenerative disc disease. I've been living with it for 9 years now. The first time my back went out was in '02. I had no clue what was happening.

Now, the pain is constant and always present, but my pain doesn't sound as bad as yours. I get back strains a couple times a year and have to skipped work from 2 to 4 days when it happens. Sucks sack.

I've tried the epidural steroid injection. It was supposed to last over 6 month, but only lasted about 4 for me and made me gain about 20 pounds. Currently taking various muscle relaxers and pain killers. Only next option is a spinal fusion. I think my doc wants to do the one where he bores out a hole in my vertebral body and inserts a titanium cage packed with bone shavings. Ffffuuuu. Too skerred to try it. I'm tired of the daily pain, though. It's wearing me down.

what grade is your slip? If it is above 3 I would seriously look into minimally invasive surgery before it gets worse. I'm glad you at least got relief from the epidural because they didn't help mine at all. Are you a candidate for nerve ablation? Emory in Atlanta is good, of course Mayo clinic, and also John's Hopkins. I would personally go to Emory or Hopkins. PM me if you want specific surgeons names at Emory, they are world class spine orthopedic surgeons according to the neurosurgeon at Mayo.

Very sorry to hear this man. You've scared me shiitless for doing deads and squats now.

Then this thread was a success. Thank God someone listened to me.

[ralphlauren55]

yes, not from a car accident but it was blunt force trauma (time of initial injury coincides with a bad landing while skydiving) all said and done I had 1 ruptured disc w/ stenosis in the L4/5 1 bulging disc, 2 fractured vertabrae and 2 severly degenerative discs.

The fusion is healing slowly it's been over 3mo so far I just wish I had elected to do the surgery 2 years ago and not listen to people saying that it was a huge mistake and that it would heal on it's own.

I wish you the best in what ever choice you make but strongly reccomend a corrective surgery, I'm not going to lie, I cried like a little girl the night before going in due to all the complications that could arise but I had good support from friends and family and got through the worst of it.

I wish I could post up my before pic (PC is dead and don't have it saved on my laptop) to show how much my spine had shifted, looked damn close to the pic you posted except higher up on the spine

One thing the pain doctors said is that my pain is worse than my injury, so they don't know if my brain rewired itself wrong or if nerves grew into the injured space or what is happening because I shouldn't have the pain going down both the backs and sides of both legs and all the way to the bottom of both feet. This is why I am not considering surgery seriously because my injury doesn't coincide with my pain so I am afraid the surgery won't help the pain much and will only help a portion of my pain. what/where was your pain like before you went into surgery and what is it like so far post op?

[qwark1]

To all people that are too scared to squat and deadlift now you do realize he hurt it doing it bent over rows and either had bad form or an already degenerated spine right? Squatting and deadlifting correctly will stregthen the muscles surrounding the spine and decrease chance of injury. op also mentioned that he used a belt all the time which also could have been a problem because his core muscles were not getting the work they should have.

[Fire8085]

What type of physical therapy have you tried?

[seboobie]

To all people that are too scared to squat and deadlift now you do realize he hurt it doing it bent over rows and either had bad form or an already degenerated spine right? Squatting and deadlifting correctly will stregthen the muscles surrounding the spine and decrease chance of injury. op also mentioned that he used a belt all the time which also could have been a problem because his core muscles were not getting the work they should have.

Your core/abs are still being flexed with a belt. All a belt does is assist with posture and good back form. A deterrent from back injury due to bending your back under heavy stress.

[qwark1]

Your core/abs are still being flexed with a belt. All a belt does is assist with posture and good back form. A deterrent from back injury due to bending your back under heavy stress.

Belts do more than just assist posture and form. Just about anyone can squat and dead more with a belt and over time they can become a crutch if you always use one. My abs and core got much stronger after I stopped using a belt.

[FrankHWhite]

op have physical therapy/occupational therapy been helpful at all?

interesting thread btw, convinced me to drop bent over rows, deadlifts and squats

[GC29]

Belts do more than just assist posture and form. Just about anyone can squat and dead more with a belt and over time they can become a crutch if you always use one. My abs and core got much stronger after I stopped using a belt.

Using a belt is necessary though for people who already have back problems. The only way I'm going to be able to lift again is by always using a belt and never doing exercises that put pressure on my spine. Brb never squatting, deadlifting, rowing, doing overhead presses ever again

[FrankHWhite]

Using a belt is necessary though for people who already have back problems. The only way I'm going to be able to lift again is by always using a belt and never doing exercises that put pressure on my spine. Brb never squatting, deadlifting, rowing, doing overhead presses ever again

lol cosign

[ZenBowman]

To all people that are too scared to squat and deadlift now you do realize he hurt it doing it bent over rows and either had bad form or an already degenerated spine right? Squatting and deadlifting correctly will stregthen the muscles surrounding the spine and decrease chance of injury. op also mentioned that he used a belt all the time which also could have been a problem because his core muscles were not getting the work they should have.

How many people squat correctly?

10%, maybe.....

I feel for you op, hope you get better soon somehow.

[benlfc]

My dad has chronic pain from a lower back injury that happened about 8 years ago and he is depressed/hard to deal with because of it. I know hes in pain but because its all the time it wears down the family dealing with him. Thanks for opening my eyes OP to the sort of thing my dad is going through

[Dual]

wtf brb never doing bent over row.s

[Quick_1911]

Damn bro, And I thought my hip flexor/IT band problems were bad.

[TheBroBrah]

Feel really sorry for you OP and hope for the best.

This thread has really opened my eyes. I've had bicep tendonitis for the past 2-3 weeks and i haven't been able to workout at all. I've been depressed. But it's only temporary. I'm taking everything i have for granite.

Thanks for the thread OP it really opened my eyes to a lot of things, i need to stop stressing over something that will only take a month to recover from.

[KaptKrunch]

brb juiced to the gills bent over row 275 for reps. fukk a spine.

jk kunt, bent over rows with 135 with perfect form.