!dev

To anyone suffering from chronic pain, especially lower back pain: Don't get fooled by shitty doctors. And don't expect doctors to magically heal you. If you want to stop your suffering, you need to be proactive.

What? But my herniated disc from 10 years ago... bla bla bla. So what? It's not going to get better when your only exercise is putting on your socks. Chances are 99% that your spine has shit to do with your pain. Go to a proper chronic pain therapy instead of downing opiods and getting sick notes.

Note to self: Do your sports every day you lazy bastard. Eat healthy, sleep regularly, don't stress out over every damn thing and don't forget to fucking relax!

and don't start eating pain killers like gummibears

I've never had it, but folks I know with back issues all kinda told me the same story, there's no magic bullet for them and exercise was the only thing that consistently 'helped' but not cured.

It sounds horrible.

@IntrusionCM

DO take NSAIDs for acute (!) pain, but
DO NOT take them for more than 3 months

You want to take them to prevent chronification.

Stronger painkillers like opioids can be good for acute pain, but if things are not improving within 3-6 months your problem might not be your back anymore.

Thanks, will follow the advice. This wirk from home life just sucks :P

This.

My back pain improved a lot when I started working out more 🤷🏻‍♀️ do you all have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, crossfit?

Also getting up every 30 minutes or so to do back stretches helps SO much.

As someone with slipped discs, I agree 100% with this. There's no magic bullet, painkillers are a stopgap measure that should only be used in an emergency. Get a proper chair, a proper bed, a proper desk, a proper diet, and proper exercise.

A standing/sitting desk helped my back, along with regular exercises

Tell that to the author of HunterxHunter

For those dealing with pain and unable to find a good pain specialist / get treatment (and even if you do/did), you can check out the book "Explain Pain". The clinic I've been at has recommended it (and they involve lots of its models), personally I didn't read it yet.

https://noigroup.com/product/...

(If you can't afford it or don't want to: It is available in your favorite online library, the z one)

@nibor The sitting standing desk is new for me, curious did you get any nice alternative chairs to go with your desk?

I've been thinking to get a leaning stool or something like that but in reality I may just have to keep changing positions idk

@EDragon I have a chair with lumber support and neck support. I usually spend 30-60 minutes sitting, then 30-60 minutes standing.

@EDragon I got a HAG Caspico 8106 / 8107 and it's the best chair I've ever had (second is a Haider Bioswing 360). Works best with a adjustable desk, I mostly use it for a high sitting (half standing) position. It's pricey (ca. 900€), but I got lucky to get two leather ones for 450€ and 250€ (secondhand).

It doesn't work like that for everyone, too badly.

In my case, back issues/pains is a genetic thing and while I can control it sort of with tons of exercise and ergonomic chairs and such, I always have back pain.

Treat the problem, not the symptom.

@linuxxx
I am the same!
you can only lessen the pain never be rid of it completely

@EDragon Very annoying, right?

@linuxxx in deed my friend

@linuxxx
I am chronically ill with an autoimmune disease (also through genetic predisposition). I have been in more or less pain for the last 5 years, now for the last 2 years I have rarely been in daily pain that has taken over my whole life.

The goal is not healing (i.e. not having that pain anymore), but being able to live with it - reducing the impact is has on your life. As you said: Controlling it (instead of letting it control you). In the end it is your brain that decides if a neuron signal should be interpreted as pain or not. While I have pointed out exercise as a good measure, chronic pain is rather a neurological issue. All you need is in your head.

This is mostly written for chronic pain syndrome, but that doesn't have to come alone. You can have some other (chronic) issue and chronic pain, and with long-standing issues you often do. It becomes obvious when the underlying issue should be in remission (by lab results and MRI), yet the pain is still there, as in my case.

I can only speak for myself:

I had really bad pain (constantly ∅5 ±3 while taking 3*150mg Tilidine) before the 4 weeks of treatment, which made me unable to concentrate on anything.

Now my pain is much more manageable (ranging from 0 to 6, ∅2-3) without (pain) medication (I do take medication for my illness, but it doesn't affect pain directly). I feel much better and I can read a book and work.

I still need to work on my bad habits, particularly compulsive procrastination, but if I can manage to keep my balance with sports and relaxation (and all that jazz) I hope to further improve within the next months and with some dedication and some luck, I might actually be (mostly) pain free.

When my disc jumped out in the lower back, my muscles shut down and cramped in a way that I could not sit or stand anymore for 2 weeks.
was stationary in the hospital for 10 days and filled with opioids and muscle relaxers.
Now i am doing exercises from. my therapy and I am almost back to normal levels. That and the standing desk helped a lot!