Your mental health

JAS_OH1 said:
I'm leaving town for a couple days (leaving this afternoon) and looking forward to it on my end. I am worried about my husband eating properly while I'm gone, but looking forward to traveling and being on my own a bit. I think it will be good for me, I love driving and I love Pennsylvania and New York. My husband, on the other hand, gets separation anxiety when I'm away. Usually a few days is fine but if I'm gone longer, he kinda has a meltdown.
Click to expand...
Well, it's good that you're taking time off for yourself despite this. Nobody can be on all the time. I hope you return refreshed!
 
I'm in a good space but I'm helping my mate through it. Hes checked in to a psych unit atm. His meds are being reset and he finds it easy to talk to me knowing I had an episode 15 years ago. Hes been there just over a week.
I'm ringing him shortly. His marriage was horrendous.

Russ
 
Well i spent the day getting a nuclear bone scan done. 1½hrs in total in 2 stints in the machine, before and after... left home at 9am, got home at 4:30pm...

The report was waiting for me by the time I had brought in a load of wood.

Reading between the lines and translating from what I know if this type of scan having had one done when I broke 12 ribs in one fall, there's a valid bone reason for why my lower back is painful, there's a valid bone reason for why my neck is painful, there's not a bone problem with the left hip (the one I had the replacement in) and the jury is out of the right hip (there is a problem but the bone side of matters doesn't explain all of the pain).

So this translates to my arms are getting pins and needles for a valid reason (my neck is giving up and I possibly need to see my specialist again), my left leg is going numb for a valid reason, again I probably need to see my specialist again (luckily the same one), my neck and lower back both hurt for a valid spinal reason, my left hip pain is likely muscular and need to carry on with the physio and my right hip is a combination of bone and muscular pain, physio until he can no longer manage it and then hip replacement...

At least I know I'm in pain for a reason. :o_o:

I'll talk with my physio tomorrow. I've appointments with my doctor in a couple of weeks, and I'll probably get a referral to see my neurosurgeon and I may be seeing my pain consultant again on Thursday this week, but if not I've got an appointment with him anyway at the end of August.

Thankfully the changes to my medication, the neuro stimulator and not doing as much is helping, though sleep is still a major problem.

I can remember as a child my Grannie always slept in a neck brace (so from her early 50's.) My mum didn't seem to know why, but I know she had rheumatoid arthritis in her hands very badly, and always held herself very erect and rarely leant back in a chair especially if it was a hard back and I find myself doing the same. I can't help wondering if she had osteoarthritis in her neck?
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Well i spent the day getting a nuclear bone scan done. 1½hrs in total in 2 stints in the machine, before and after... left home at 9am, got home at 4:30pm...
Click to expand...
Sounds like it was a long, tiring day. Maybe getting some confirmation on the cause of your pain is a little bit of a positive…I just hope it leads to some effective treatment.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
At least I know I'm in pain for a reason. :o_o:
Click to expand...
Well I know it helps to have confirmed that there's a reason for your pain, because having pain and not knowing why can make you feel like you're going crazy. I'm in that process now, because they are still testing me so there's no answer yet.
But it doesn't really help in the end does it? Because even if your pain is valid, it doesn't change by being confimed. Of course, you might get treatment for it but it all takes time.. and pain demands so much mental resilience!
I'm impressed by how you cope with all this, it's not easy. I hope there will be new treatments for you soon, so this may cease to be as much of a bother as it is now. Hugs from me! :hug:
 
rascal said:
I'm in a good space but I'm helping my mate through it. Hes checked in to a psych unit atm. His meds are being reset and he finds it easy to talk to me knowing I had an episode 15 years ago. Hes been there just over a week.
I'm ringing him shortly. His marriage was horrendous.

Russ
Click to expand...
You're a great friend for that, cheers to you! :bravo:
 
Windigo said:
Well I know it helps to have confirmed that there's a reason for your pain, because having pain and not knowing why can make you feel like you're going crazy. I'm in that process now, because they are still testing me so there's no answer yet.
But it doesn't really help in the end does it? Because even if your pain is valid, it doesn't change by being confimed. Of course, you might get treatment for it but it all takes time.. and pain demands so much mental resilience!
I'm impressed by how you cope with all this, it's not easy. I hope there will be new treatments for you soon, so this may cease to be as much of a bother as it is now. Hugs from me! :hug:
Click to expand...
Talking to my physio today, he confirmed that I had interpreted the results correctly. His long term diagnosis is that I will be going through a 3-5 year cycle needing to get more of my vertebrae fused each and every time. Right now he says I likely need 3 or 4 more fused. I'll get 3-5 years where I'm OK and then the next ones in the 2 sequences will need to be done.

In addition to that there is the OA in the spine to be addressed and that can only be treated by repeated surgeries removing bones spurs that are pushing into the spinal column or SI joint nerve bundles.

He doesn't believe I food be looking at returning to work but actually looking to get a disability pension and signed off permanently. Working will only make things worse. He agrees that my next move is probably to see my Neuro surgeon again but that I need to try to delay each series of surgeries for as long as possible because with each fusion I'll loose movement and become more disabled. The question is simply a case of how long before I'm back in the wheelchair rather than if. It's what I suspected. The bigger issue is when and for how long I have to put up with the pain in the meantime, between each surgery as opposed to the same issues further down the line. There is no treatment for my condition, only a management of the pain and the primary management is something I can't have for medical reasons.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Talking to my physio today, he confirmed that I had interpreted the results correctly. His long term diagnosis is that I will be going through a 3-5 year cycle needing to get more of my vertebrae fused each and every time. Right now he says I likely need 3 or 4 more fused. I'll get 3-5 years where I'm OK and then the next ones in the 2 sequences will need to be done.

In addition to that there is the OA in the spine to be addressed and that can only be treated by repeated surgeries removing bones spurs that are pushing into the spinal column or SI joint nerve bundles.

He doesn't believe I food be looking at returning to work but actually looking to get a disability pension and signed off permanently. Working will only make things worse. He agrees that my next move is probably to see my Neuro surgeon again but that I need to try to delay each series of surgeries for as long as possible because with each fusion I'll loose movement and become more disabled. The question is simply a case of how long before I'm back in the wheelchair rather than if. It's what I suspected. The bigger issue is when and for how long I have to put up with the pain in the meantime, between each surgery as opposed to the same issues further down the line. There is no treatment for my condition, only a management of the pain and the primary management is something I can't have for medical reasons.
Click to expand...
I've PM'd you about this, you know I'm here for you :hug:
 
88326

This pic is quite accurate for how I frequently feel at the moment. Some of you know why, but it's got to do with some medical testing I am undergoing. If the results are definitive I will post about it, but not yet.
The difficult part is that it might a very serious diagnosis and I have to wait until mid september until I will know because the doctors who have to do the tests are on holiday. That's anxiety inducing.
I've got meds against anxiety right now, but I still notice my brain doing this at least once a day. It's tiresome to live in uncertainty, no matter how capable you are of dealing with mental or physical problems. Only when there is certainty you can really work on your perspective.
 
Windigo said:
Well I know it helps to have confirmed that there's a reason for your pain, because having pain and not knowing why can make you feel like you're going crazy. I'm in that process now, because they are still testing me so there's no answer yet.
But it doesn't really help in the end does it? Because even if your pain is valid, it doesn't change by being confimed. Of course, you might get treatment for it but it all takes time.. and pain demands so much mental resilience!
I'm impressed by how you cope with all this, it's not easy. I hope there will be new treatments for you soon, so this may cease to be as much of a bother as it is now. Hugs from me! :hug:
Click to expand...
I am amazed at how much she still manages to get done! I don't have any of those issues and reading some of her "to-do" lists make me exhausted!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I am amazed at how much she still manages to get done! I don't have any of those issues and reading some of her "to-do" lists make me exhausted!
Click to expand...
Yesterday exhausted me. I went to bed at 9pm. Slept until 6am, waking twice during the night (twice that I got up and walked around bathroom and sitting room to check on the fire that is). After breakfast, by 8am I was falling asleep again, so went back to bed and slept till 10am then until 12pm. I'll probably sleep extra tomorrow as well. It's the only way I survive...

I've bailed on cooking today. We're having our Saturday night usual tonight. I'll cook tomorrow when I've a like more energy, inbetween chopping wood, cutting the lawn and monitoring a wood stump i need to burn out. I think that's all I've got to get done tomorrow, possibly. Ahhh, no. We've a house inspection next week, so I've got to clean the house every room and remove the dust I can write messages in.... plus I need to dry clean the sofa hubby sits on, but I think that will be a next week job when he's working because it needs to be unused for 2hrs... the kitchen floor needs to be deep cleaned, so that's the carpet cleaner job with the hard floor adaptor...

That's just made me realise I've got another busy weekend... darn it.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Yesterday exhausted me. I went to bed at 9pm. Slept until 6am, waking twice during the night (twice that I got up and walked around bathroom and sitting room to check on the fire that is). After breakfast, by 8am I was falling asleep again, so went back to bed and slept till 10am then until 12pm. I'll probably sleep extra tomorrow as well. It's the only way I survive...

I've bailed on cooking today. We're having our Saturday night usual tonight. I'll cook tomorrow when I've a like more energy, inbetween chopping wood, cutting the lawn and monitoring a wood stump i need to burn out. I think that's all I've got to get done tomorrow, possibly. Ahhh, no. We've a house inspection next week, so I've got to clean the house every room and remove the dust I can write messages in.... plus I need to dry clean the sofa hubby sits on, but I think that will be a next week job when he's working because it needs to be unused for 2hrs... the kitchen floor needs to be deep cleaned, so that's the carpet cleaner job with the hard floor adaptor...

That's just made me realise I've got another busy weekend... darn it.
Click to expand...
Do the people around you help you out at all?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom