Bad news: I have apparently re-injured my back by sleeping on it wrong, and so I have a new regiment of 9 Advils per day and strict sleeping on my back, which I hate, as well as applications of “wet heat” and avoidance of all strenuous movement . Those who told me to “stretch” the back were wrong: that just injures it more. Further, the doctor says that, on average, it will be six weeks until I’m completely back to normal, which of course stretches into my book-related activities. Well, you can’t fight the laws of physics, though I’m in serious pain. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is taking it easy:
A: What are you doing there?Hili: I’m still resting after the weekend.
In Polish:
Ja: Co tam robisz?
Hili: Jeszcze odpoczywam po weekendzie.
And lagniappe:
The orchard is blooming (still) – day nine.
Look at the Princess among the blossoms!
That shot of Hili in the tree is spectacular. Sorry to hear about your back. It must be a muscular injury?
Backpain is so annoying, poor Professor Ceiling Cat! “Wet heat” aka hot-water bottle, better than any fancy heating packs.
Get better soon!
Rotten luck… 🙁
PCC need kitty love to improve things. Send that man a cat!
Did Doc tell you to sleep on the floor?
It was a mistake coming down from the trees…
Hili realized that!
A bad back is so irritating. I hope you get well soon, Jerry. Lots of reading time, I suppose. x
9 Advils? That is a lot. You may try to strech yourself a little bit daily only after you recover. Hili is sober even in blossoms, because professor ceiling cat is in pain.
I suffer from Chronic back pain, but thats down to the lower 5 discs being blown and a narrowing of Vertabrae impinging on the Spinal Chord, thats down to Genetics, anyway, sounds like you have pulled a Muscle, so apply Heat via Pads or a Gel, Ralgex is good but that may not be the name its called over in your neck of the woods, and leave it to time and rest, it doesn’t take much to pull a muscle, I did it once just standing up and could hardly move for about 3 Days. hope your soon well.
http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/heat-therapy-cold-therapy/benefits-heat-therapy-lower-back-pain
Been there with back pain. We don’t realize what the back does until it doesn’t want to do it!
Hope you recover quickly, and speaking of your book activities, I received an Amazon notice this morning that FvF will arrive on the 25th. I don’y have Amazon prime.
Best advice concerning the back problem is, don’t take anyone’s advice. Just a guess but probably should use science. That is what Hili would say.
😉
Bummer. I too have back, neck and shoulder pain brought on by a migraine. The migraine has the lovely effect of making me pee all night and then in the morning I vomited. On the way in to work, a woman who had bathed herself in perfume set off another reaction. I’m so miserable today.
OMG, that’s awful!
Migraines are a-holes. Feel better!
I’m not sure how you manage to persevere, Diana, but I sure am impressed! So sorry about all that–get better soon!
Relpax – I am forever indebted to Pfizer!!
My H’s company…
Can I get free samples? 😉
Yep, stretching can make some injuries feel better so some people seem to think it’s a cure. Kind of the exercise equivalent of taking a cold medicine that relieves the symptoms so people think it cured their cold- my ex-wife was one of those.
Oh no, get well soon and take it easy PCC. Looks like Hili has the right idea in picture no. 1.
Sorry about the back. I, too, hate sleeping on my back. I wonder if this compromise would work for you (it usually helps me when my back goes out): if you want to sleep on your side (who doesn’t?), place a pillow between your legs.
“I, too, hate sleeping on my back.”
Me three! (Cue the surefire falling-to-sleep potion recommendations…)
I want to sleep in a big tank like Luke did after his fight with Darth Vader.
I’ve thought the perfect sleeping accommodations would be a zero-gee sphere something like 50′ – 100′ across, with air currents manipulated to keep you close to the middle until it’s time to get up.
b&
A new mattress helped my back tremendously! The G rated version of my grandfather’s words: “Getting old ain’t for wimps”. Take care Jerry!
My grandfather got a “memory-foam” mattress pad.
Dear PCC, I am so sorry about your back. I sympathize completely, as I too am suffering back pain and in fact am scheduled for an epidural today. Have you seen those studies suggesting that those of us with vertebrae closer in shape to chimps have more disc problems? http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32452250 I claim a proud heritage.
But can you brachiate?
Used to do it pretty well actually, loved those playground things.
LOL, me too!
Two good back books that helped me:
“Foundation” by Dr. Eric Goodman
“8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back” by Esther Gokhale
So sorry about the worsening of your back! Mine seems to be basically back to normal save for the same type of muscle soreness you get from overexertion…and I sincerely do think it’s a result of stretching out the muscle spasms.
Maybe it’s something else in your back causing the pain…?
b&
I share your back pain, literally, Jerry. Somehow strained my coccyx area last week, I suspect from sitting too long at my desk. Stretching works for me, but our injuries are probably not the same. Advil works.
I take Alleve (naproxen sodium) for back and other muscle/inflammation pain and it works waaaay better for me than any other OTC analgesia. But I save it for really bad episodes and times that I absolutely have to be functional because I find there is a risk of making things worse when I think I am healed.
Nothing like back pain to make me move correctly: I lift with my legs, sit down to put on socks, and no slouching! Then I’m back to my slouchy, careless self as soon as it passes.
I concur re. Alleve instead of Advil. I also posted that below.
Re: Back pain. This is my opinion only (disclaimer): While it should always be checked out by a doctor, I think much of it could be stress-related, even if it’s instigated by some identifiable event.
The reason I think this is that during the worst episode of it I ever had, I was looking for books about back pain and came across John Sarno’s book Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection. He has a theory of Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS). I don’t think it’s a widely respected theory.
Nevertheless, I started reading it in the bookstore and my back instantly started to hurt less! So based entirely on personal experience at that time and afterwards, I’m tempted to say there is something to it.
It might be worth a try.
I’d take that with a large grain of salt.
It’s true that we have limited resources to devote to various things, and that shifting those resources in one direction can leave us vulnerable in another, and the like. And come-and-go back pain is typically a muscle spasm, which is a form of excessive muscle tension. And you do tend to carry extra muscle tension when stressed — it’s even part of our language and visual cues. And that bit of extra tension could help tip the muscles into spasming, and the episode ends when the spasming muscles relax, and so on.
But to put the blame or focus or whatever on stress as the “cause” of lower back pain…rather misses the point. There’s no one cause, typically, but rather lots of contributing factors, and to single one factor out amongst all of them isn’t necessarily an healthy approach.
Besides, stress is unavoidable, and few of us would want to trade what causes us stress for a life free of stress. Jerry’s latest book, for example, has certainly been a source of stress — of getting everything just so in time for publication and all of everything else associated with it…but to fail to write the book in order to avoid the stress associated with it would be a monumental failure, indeed.
b&
It’s amazing how a bad back can completely shut you down; my sympathies. When my back goes out, I find that Alleve works better for me than Advil since it has an anti-inflammatory drug as well.
Beautiful photo of Hili in the blossoms!
Take good care! I hope with all my heart that you’ll feel better soon.
So sorry about the back! Perhaps if your book tour takes you to Colorado you could try…? 😉
Hili + cherry blossoms = sublime!
Those are two of the prettiest photos of Hili!