Last night I took painkillers (which are not accurately named) and had an early night. Then I had a lie in, told Julia I was going to have to have a day lazing round in front of the fire doing nothing and limped downstairs for breakfast.
She said she doubted that it would be any different from one of my normal days and carried on preparing for Christmas.
She later asked me a lot of questions and diagnosed my problem as sciatica. It seems to fit with the variety of symptoms I get and has improved today after making a few changes. I might even try the recommended exercises, but on the other hand, might not. It would be embarrassing to end up on my back with my arms and legs moving aimlessly like a tortoise on its back.
Losing weight should help, as should giving up smoking. Unfortunately I gave up smoking 20 years ago, so it looks like a diet or going to the doctor. As I usually end a visit to the doctor with more problems than I had when I went in, and orders to lose weight, I try to avoid that.
I must have had the new computer a month, as I keep getting pop-ups about signing up for virus protection. The pop-ups are a lot more annoying than the viruses, particularly as Microsoft seems able to keep my computers clean these days.
And, a final thought for the day – I see that the train stations of London are full of people wanting to get home for Christmas despite being told not to by Boris Johnson. We should take a leaf out of the mediaeval treatment of besieged cities and give it a new twist. Instead of catapulting infected carcases into cities we should stop the trains at a pre-set spot, take all the Londoners off, and start catapulting them back into London. After the first few are sent flying through the air, I expect the rest will volunteer to return
Come on, do the exercises..from personal and continual experience, I say, get on the floor slowly, move about and relax. After some days it will help. Painful yes, but keep on moving whether it be gentle yoga from a chair, Tai Chi for seniors (using that term loosely), and just walking and wiggling. Okay, Ib and Tylenol do help as well as hot compresses and showers for loosening things up. I hope you feel better!
I’m beginning to recover. It’s time to take action, because I don’t want to feel like this again. Exercise is better than salad. 🙂
sorry to hear!~. Sciatica is often highly over diagnosed but can mirror other things but compression of the nerve is the pits. loosing weight will help for sure. Get up and move and yes do your exercises and it will help for sure. I have a back routine on my site. You might want to check out. If you are friends with Yvette at Priorhouse she posted a mini interview about me there and put some of my workouts there. Hang in there and take care, ❤️ Cindy
Yes, weight loss and exercise are definitely on the cards for 2021. This is a timely reminder to start taking care of myself.
we always need the reminders!❤️
🙂 I certainly do.
and sometimes it takes loud warnings but getting there is the main thing! 👏👏👏👏
🙂
I hope your pain eases enough to start chucking Londoners about
🙂 It is easing thank you. Now I just need a catapult…
🙂
We are in the same situation as Lavinia. It really is awful here when it comes to health care. I have been exercising regularly since May. That, along with losing weight, has been a big help.
Yes, I know it makes sense. I’m just lazy and I love cake. Something will have to go…
I agree with Tootlepedal on the power of exercise. Exercise and diet can prevent a lot of grief and unnecessary visits to the doctor. In the U.S., we are not as civilized as the U.K. in the medical coverage department. The deductible on my medical insurance is now up to $8000 starting in January (up from $6500 in 2020), and I will be paying $278 a month for that privilege (up from $127/month in 2020). Covid-19 has probably upped the rates significantly. It is basically catastrophic insurance (the only affordable kind for me over here) and I try hard to avoid going in unless it is necessary, and even then I have to put things off. Good self care is a must over here unless one is a trust fund baby.
Yes, if I was paying for treatment I would probably be taking better care of myself. This is probably an argument against free healthcare.
It’s totally up to the individual as to what they will do in one situation or another. Given human nature, it probably doesn’t make a difference. 🙂
I am an almost religious believer in the power of exercises. Try them and keep doing them. They don’t work after one or two goes, you need perseverance. If all else fails, rub in some Savlon. That cures almost everything,
It’s like so many things – I’m not a natural enthusiast. 🙂 I will however, listen to you words of wisdom…
I hope that you do as it has been of inestimable benefit to me. I do my exercises every night like a good boy.
I’ve been stretching my leg all night and did a few hand exercises. It’s just establishing the habit, though some of the hand exercises do give me problems with my thumbs so it’s a bit of a trade off.
You’ll have to get a thumb exercise to add to the other ones! Well done for doing them. You are right about getting a routine going. It is the only way.
My normal non-exercise routine stops the thumbs hurting! Another exercise to correst the damage done byb the frist exercise seems counterintuitive.
My physio said to me when I complained about her vigorous suggestions that I couldn’t actually pull my thumb off my hand no matter how hard I tugged and waggled it so just get on with it. I thought that she was a bit unsympathetic.
Hope your up and moving again soon. Just coming off a bout of gout I get the pain and not moving. It stinks! We had 2 million people going through airport screenings in the US despite being asked to stay home for Christmas. Maybe we should just drop our people from planes? Happy Holidays!
Your plan, though harsh, may well improve the quality of the gene pool. 🙂
You have my sympathy. I used to get gout. It was caused by some of my blood pressure pills and the doctor offered me pills counter-act this. I just stopped the offending pills and haven’t had gout since.
It is possibly the most painful condition I’ve had so I hope it stays away for you.
Thanks! I will have to explore that BP meds may cause it. Thanks for that!
Unfortunately I can’t remember which one it was. I hope it provides a solution.