Quote:
Originally Posted by anniemack
I have decided that I am going to put off surgery as long as possible.
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Hi
anniemack,
You mentioned that's what your doctor had recommended in the first place:
Quote:
Originally Posted by anniemack
Lastly, he said that lots of people live with this everyday. and that i should hold out as long as possible before i have this procedure done.
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IME, it's unusual for a surgeon to suggest/recommend that; I'd go with it. (Actually, my surgeon said something similar, and I AM going with it!
) My Ortho surgeon said some natural healing/fusing will take place over time, and acknowledged more risks and statistics than some. Perhaps your doctor is hoping some natural healing/fusing
may happen in your case too(?)
Quote:
Originally Posted by anniemack
i have 2 broken vertebrate. L5 and S1. I am already fused from T14-L4 and he now wants to fuse the L5 and S1 to fix the breaks then fuse that to my pelvis. Also he wants to remove my current hardware.
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This sounds like it could be one of those cases/situations where the initial surgery (T14-L4) hardware may have weakened adjacent vertebrae above & below (below in this case). Did your surgeon happen to mention anything about this, or if overdoing the athletics (bowling & golf can pretty hard on lower back) may have been a contributing factor? I really don't know, but can't help but wonder/ask...
Moving along... Historically, I always found it easier to lose weight after I figured out what body/metabolism type I am/have. I'm carboholic, so protein/good fats and no/low carb diets work best for me (my wife is just the opposite). If you already know your type, cool
; if not, google:
body type dieting. Those articles will help you figure that out and tailor the best diet for
you.
Like you, I also have problems losing weight from the pain & inability to exercise actively. There's a diet in the back of
The Intractable Pain Patient's Handbook for Survival (Pg 34) that's helped me a LOT; it's
also a low carb diet, and helps with the pain as well.
For exercise, I'm still pretty limited, so we've taken up Tai Chi (DVD - some programs are tailored specifically for people with spine issues, pain, arthritis, what-have-you - we found one for folks confined to chairs), we walk when we can, and throw the ball for ol' slobberpuss...
Injections didn't work for me, so I'm not much help there. Other than that, there are a lot of things to try, but not being you, it's hard to figure out what might work
for you. You mentioned pain being worse after exercising than during; if this (or some significant part of your pain) is from muscle spasms,
myofascial triggerpoint therapy may help (it helps us a LOT).
Pain meds may be necessary to afford you a reasonable quality of life and functionality. There's a lot of information on this and other PM therapies in the
Intractable Pain Handbook I mentioned/linked to above. I urge you to download, print & read the whole book (40 pgs). It's free and indispensible.
Doc