[N2Fun]

Thank you all for your caring thoughts and nice replies. I am in the process of seeing my docs again this month so hopefully I will have more answers soon. I agree that I am young to have to mess with this and I never saw it coming, but that is my reality right now so I need to face it head on to ensure good times in the coming years. Maybe my age can work as an advantage in healing.

As far as pain managment: 1) advil or aleve - I have tried all types of RX meds and none work better than OTC stuff, also I am trying as hard as possible to stay away from narcotic pain killers 2) stretching as directed by my PT 3) avoid sitting at all costs which is difficult at work - sitting is by far what gets me the worst. As far as traction, hanging from my feet seems to provide some temporary relief, but it is not long lasting and that has also been the case when my PT has done manual traction. Still, whenver I feel able to get to the gym to walk I try to finish by hanging for a bit.

Terry, you said that you ruptured your first disc at 22 and then rode across the country at 25 - how did you recover from that first disc to be able to ride, I miss riding so much.

I am hopeful that with time things will improve and that if I am able to feel better I can now apply the knowledge I have to take proper care of my back and keep it that way, but we'll see. I appreciate all of your thoughts and support so much. I look forward to hearing more.

Best wishes.