I staggered along to the Doctor. I thought I might have Shingles again, my pain is so intense. He says no. The doctor says no. Actually the Nurse Practitioner said no. It can’t be shingles because the blistery sore on my left leg is not on a ‘nerve path’. So it’s no. And if it were Shingles, it’s too late to treat it.
So it’s no.
“Go home, keep moving and take two Paracetamol every four hours”. Or was it every six hours? I can’t remember.
Everywhere people and the Internet tell me to exercise.
I am in pain. Every step I take is so painful in my hips/bum, I have to cry out and groan. Surely that is telling me don’t do this step. My pain is saying “Avoid this!”
But everywhere else is telling me “Exercise!”
Take pain killers and exercise.
Question – If I take pain killers and exercise am I not simply covering up the cause of the pain that is telling me NOT to exercise? What the hell is EXERCISE? I couldn’t even make the corner one house down the road yesterday on our ‘walk’.
If I fold myself over and walk, I can manage – Zombie pose – and bending down is fine – I can still touch my toes. Sitting and lying is fine. Bedrest attracts me.
But I might try this – it’s Yoga. And it makes a bit of sense to me. But I’d try it BEFORE becoming a skeleton in fact.
The Last Furlong 
Jul 20, 2017 at 10:41
Only thing I can say is that 2 Paracetamol (2x 500g) are NOT going to do anything. IF YOU CAN AND CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR first, at least take the Paracetamol 500mg+CODEINE 8mg medications you can buy OTC at every apothecary in the land but not at supermarkets and petrol stations. Much better still, if you can, would be to take ibuprofen or other NSAIs preferably with Zantac so it doesn’t burn a hole in your stomach.
AFAIK the ‘exercise’ myths have all been debunked. It is simply ‘what works for you’. People will tell you should exercise and others will tell you to not to. Find what helps you and do it.
To be honest at your time of life I would recommend lots of alcohol and paracetamol +codeine. Or if you like the stuff smoke some dope . Just ‘feeling better’ is half the battle.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Jul 20, 2017 at 10:52
Love The Alcohol Treatment, It works for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 10:55
What do you mean “At your time of life”? Cheeky young man!
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:03
No for once i wasn’t being lippy, Gran. After about 70 it really doesn’t matter much what you pour into your body or swallow. If you’ve gotten that far then a few weeks of industrial grade alcohol consumption ain’t gonna do you much harm…and i say that as a dry alki myself. The rule is “milk stout on your cornflakes and by lunchtime you’ll be tight”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:12
Well, my last drink was in 1981 – wouldn’t chance it – Sonny Boy!
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 10:56
I would take to my bed, if it was me. With a hot water bottle on my lower back.
I don’t know about the blister. Try Google.
What ever else you do, don’t bend over to walk. You will finish up with a bent back that we all to often see in older people.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 13:16
I’d echo elena re Google if the blisters look at all different from the Shingles. I had shingles as a freshman in college so if you’re saying it’s like them I know what you’re going through.
JUST IN CASE it IS shingles or something close to it, DO A LOT OF HAND WASHING while trying simultaneously NOT to touch it and ***NOT*** to touch your face or rub your eyes. One of the worst side effects of shingles is when people transfer it to their eyes.
Re the nerve trunk thing: It’s true that shingles tends to locate itself in one particular area along a nerve trunk (whatever a “nerve trunk” is!) although I don’t know why it does that or whether it’s a 100% of the time thing.
Re exercise: My philosophy has always been the same as yours: covering pain up makes me feel like I might be injuring things that my body is trying to warn me about. I have a fairly severe scoliosis (an internal spinal curve) and my approach to it has always been to find ways of doing stuff that won’t aggravate it rather than walk around all day taking pain medications and maybe doing things that could REALLY injure my spine.
There are likely some exercises you can do that don’t hurt. Figure out what they are, and make sure you do some every day just so you don’t let your body slide into a state of “Well, gee, I’m not a teenager anymore. I guess I’ll just sit here in my rocking chair and not move all day.” They don’t have to be extreme exercises or exercises done till you’re tired. Even two or three minutes a day of doing some isometrics or opposing pressure exercises with your arms will keep them strong. And walking in whatever fashion does NOT hurt will keep your leg muscles strong.
(Opposing arm exercises: Hold one arm out in front of you palm up (or, if you’re lying down, just by your side). Grasp that palm with your other hand and push down. Then what you want to do is use your stronger biceps muscle to curl the arm up to your shoulder while you’re pushing down on it, and then let the opposing arm push it back down in a more relaxed state. Repeat, five or ten times for each arm per day at first, and then gradually work up to 25 each day. It’s a quick and easy exercise and will keep your arm muscles strong.)
(Modified push ups are also good: Face the kitchen counter or whatever from about two feet away. Stretch your arms out to the edge of the counter and lean forward till your chest is just about touching it. Then do a push up from that angled position. It’s ***MUCH*** easier than doing pushups from the floor yet it still gives your arms and chest a bit of that pushup type exercise.)
LOL! OK… I went on a bit longer than I meant to. Best wishes with it and if you find out more about what exactly is happening with those blisters let us know, OK?
🙂
MJM, a Yank who’s not only not a doctor, but who also gets his main exercise from about ten hours a day on his computer keyboard! LOL!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 13:20
OH! One more thing about pain explicitly: I’ve found ordinary ibuprofin to be VERY effective. If you get a prescription for it (e.g. Motrin?) it’s simply ibuprofin in a dose of 400, 600, or 800 mg instead of the Over The Counter dose of 200 mg.
I believe the maximum dose is something like 800 mg 3 times a day if you’re having really severe pains, but check with your doctor on that. I’ve almost always found that 400mg provides enough relief for almost anything fortunately.
– MJM, again
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 17:55
Probably because Ibuprofen (or “Daddy’s Candy” as it is known in our house) and other NSAIs don’t just ‘mask’ the pain but are rather good anti-inflammatories which mean -as a lot of pain is to do with inflammation- they also heal. Only downside is their stomach unfriendliness (they actually killed my sainted Mother-in-Law- t’wasn’t the body full of cancer but the hole they burned in her stomach).
BTW 3x 800mg of Ibu is quite a dose-according to the latest thinking and you really don’t want to be doing that very long. I’d only take that kind of dose for something like a dental infection. If you find 2x400mg a time is failing to ‘cut it’ then you can always add in some codeine phosphate (in the UK you can buy bottles of Codeine Linctus OTC) that kicks it up a notch.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:13
Going to investigate Thanks.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 16:13
I’ve suffered with sciatica in the past – a real pain in the backside 🙂 ! After taking painkillers as instructed by the doc for several months – about 6 or 7 months as I recall – which only MASK the pain and do nothing for the symptoms CAUSING the pain – in desperation I looked up alternative treatments and practitioners and took myself off to a chiropractor. Unfortunately it’s not on the NHS! I had no idea what to expect but I thought some form of manipulation of the joint/s was what I needed – nobody knows exactly how our bodies feel except us as far as I’m concerned! The docs only guess after all!!! (I had tried a physio previously who was afraid to touch me in case he hurt me – I kid you not!)
The first treatment was like being tied in a knot by Mike Tyson BUT after two or three treatments I was back to walking upright again (as elena advises above) and I was told how to exercise safely to strengthen that area of my spine. Prolonged ingestion of painkillers is not a route I personally would choose and Life is too short to be in pain when one doesn’t have to be! Hope you are soon painless! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 16:34
Mmm – I was wondering about a chiropractor. Right now I’m sitting on ice pack! Thanks for your experience.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 17:43
The only way I could get relief at first was lying face down on the floor with a very large cushion propping up my upper body and an ice pack wrapped in a towel (frozen peas sometimes when I’d forgotten to refreeze the ice pack 😀 !!) stuffed down the back of my jog pants!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 17:47
Actually a lot of doctors and ‘health care professionals’ now recommend bags of cheap frozen peas (ie doesn’t have to be your actual ‘Birds Eye-Capt’ Paedo) over commercial ice packs. Peas mould themselves better around the affected area. I’ve used them to great effect on all my ‘war wounds’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:09
I’m using iced gels as you speak – 10 min on, 30min off. I’m feeling a bit impressed – feels a bit easier.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:16
Same here! But today I have cullottes on with big tropical leaves printed all over.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 17:44
Whilst a chiro might indeed help , you might do better to try an osteopath first. Osteopaths are like chiros but without as much pseudo-science (although they still have some and a hang to 2ndary ‘degrees’ in Magical Thinking or ‘homoeopathy’) .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:07
Oh – that’s an idea! Homeopathy! I forgot about that. Arnica I think?
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:15
It really doesn’t matter whether it’s labelled ‘Arnica’ or ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger’ -it’s all just water. If you want to try homoeopathy then save yourself some money, grab a glass of water from the tap and mumble whatever you can recall from your zulu over it. That will be as effective as any homoeopathic ‘remedy’…infact more so if you happen to have some of the results traditional African ‘medicine’ can achieve by auto-suggestion and placebo.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:28
My chiro had a day job as a Police pathologist! He studied chiropractics after his wife broke her spine giving birth to their daughter and the prognosis by the medical profession was that she’d never walk again but would be confined to a wheel chair for the rest of her life. With his help she did and she isn’t! Their daughter is about 30 years old now, I think….
http://treatment.hpathy.com/homeo-medicine/homeopathy-sciatica-sciatic-nerve-compression-pain/ and if you google Ainsworths (her majesty’s homeopathic chemist) you can get the stuff sent to you direct and you can e-mail them for advice on strength and dosage. (We use 200c for us humans and 30c for the canines). The other thing I remembered re yoga that was recommended was the “Cat” stretch.
If all else fails there’s always a drop Dalwhinnie’s – my “medicine” of choice! 😀
Bon courage! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:40
Nice website – I scrolled down and have nearly every remedy in my collection. But only in 30’s. Except I do have Pulsitilla 200c which is actually fantastic for MEN of an older age who have depression – whose glass is half empty! Only one dose separated by about 6 weeks. I’m wondering if it would help BlockedDwarf! 😀 I’ll avoid our local chiropracter (small town) he’s a bit of a clutz!
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:45
If my SAD ever got so bad that I would consider the Magic-water cure then I think I’d have myself committed as a danger to myself….except I couldn’t as they have banned smoking in psych-wards. So no thank you, i’ll stick with the 5htp which does seem to help. If only the Horny Goat Weed would do it’s job too I might be a little happier in general (Seriously, I really have nothing against ‘alternative’ but water masquerading as Snake Oil really pisses me off).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:48
Are you just repeating stuff you heard? Try 200c Pulsitilla – one dose – it’s the middle aged man thing. 😀
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:57
“Are you just repeating stuff you heard?” No- as I’ve tried to let shine through my comments, i do know something about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:21
Well – you scorn ‘magical thinking’ but I don’t. Living in Africa taught me that there are things that the scientific mind hasn’t a clue about. But actually, I also remembered I have an ultrasound machine that might help. But I’m doing the ice first.
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:32
Don’t think anyone would ever describe me as having a ‘scientific mind’ , as far as I am concerned my car runs on pure magic…and diesel (not quite sure what role the diesel plays, mind). I would never underestimate the power of the mind to heal the body (i went through quite an eye-opening experience myself last year as it happens). But homoeopathy is just water, it’s been tested time and time again. As a vaper you must be aware of how some people react to doses of water (as steam). The coughing and athma attacks aren’t fake-they truly believe you are POISONING them and so their body reacts. Same with Homoeopathy, Bach and the rest of the Quack ‘cures.’
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:44
That is why medical porn nocebos on cigarette packs are criminal violence against the people. You may think what you like about homeopathy, they are no more quack than lots of stuff given you by the doctor!
LikeLike
Jul 20, 2017 at 18:47
I agree entirely about the Path-porn-packs.
LikeLiked by 1 person