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Old 05-23-2016, 06:22 AM
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Cynlite Cynlite is offline
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I'm so glad you made it through the worst of times! The body and the mind are indeed intertwined. I learned early on that anger and stress escalated my levels of pain to the unbearable so, I am certain that my personality changed because of pain. I learned to not engage in battles that really didn't matter and just let things go. Our ego is a part of all of us and it is like a demanding teenager wanting attention. My sister and I have learned that we have to always go back to a place of love when dealing with each other. The details of what is upsetting us is usually unimportant in the end. Everyone around us is affected by our journey through pain. It changes the entire family dynamic. Having a spiritual practice or meditation practice helps us to make it day to day I think because it is unrelenting at times.

When we have a big career and life that we worked so hard to create and it gets ripped out from under us because of illness, there is a huge amount of grief involved. I went through several years of intense depression when this all started. My family just didn't believe what was going on because I had always been the strong warrior in the family. I think it's particularly hard for men who have built strong careers too. You expect to take care of your family and when you can't because of illness, it's very hard to accept. I have seen a counselor from time to time to help take the edge off of the depression. Sometimes having a uninvolved person helps to take the pressure off our psychology so we can just cope with what your mind says is unthinkable madness.

The drugs are a blessing and a curse. I think they help in short periods of time like what I'm going through right now but, I know they will build up in my soft tissue and ultimately do just the opposite of what they are intended to do. They will add to the pain and sickness in the body. I brought herbs and tea with me to clean out my bowels before my surgery and then did the same thing several days after the surgery. I know that the anesthesia needs to come out and that my organs had to work hard to get rid of those drugs. There is a reason they always make me so sick. I will take the prescribed drugs because they are in important part of the healing process but, I'm also being sure to drink plenty of water and take as good of care of myself as I can. I'm more afraid of all the acetaminophen and nsaids than the opioids. The organs can only process so much before they start causing damage.

So, our mind, what we put into our bodies, our family, our state of peace... all are connected and we need to take care of all of it to get well and stay well. I don't think science can account for how these non-drug things will impact the healing process. I use both western medicine and naturopathic medicine in my life because I think they both have a purpose.
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2006: epidural shots did nothing; 2 surgeons recommended 2 level fusion, I declined.
2007 - 2010 4 foraminotomy and cord decompression cervical surgeries and 2 endoscopic discectomy T7-T8 surgeries; total 6 with Dr. Jho (Pittsburgh,PA) My C6/C7 autofused around 2009.
2013 - 2015: epidurals 3 times (again did nothing) and 4 Radiofrequency ablation (or RFA) procedures.
2016 more RFAs, hit the 10 year mark of this insanity and pain, 3 level M6-C ADR with Dr. Clavel May 19, 2016
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