Hi, my name is maddave!

maddave

Been told I have ddd from l2 all the way to my skull,herimniated and prolapse disks.only  52 and have copd depression and a wee little dog. .can't lift bag's of coal or bottles of gas anymore (if live on a narrowboat).
Gabapentin helps but I find that it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I wake.
Had bowel problems since 1999 when I was spun round 180 degrees in a accident.
I would appreciate any advice on any thing that would help me.
   Md

Sandy_123

Hi @maddave welcome to the forum. I have DDD too, it's no fun is it.  How's life on the narrowboat? Good to have a pet for company 
If you want to join in with the conversations and try our games on the forum. 

Cartini

maddave said:

Been told I have ddd from l2 all the way to my skull,herimniated and prolapse disks.only  52 and have copd depression and a wee little dog. .can't lift bag's of coal or bottles of gas anymore (if live on a narrowboat).
Gabapentin helps but I find that it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I wake.
Had bowel problems since 1999 when I was spun round 180 degrees in a accident.
I would appreciate any advice on any thing that would help me.
   Md

Hi,

I was diagnosed with lumbar & cervical spondylosis (another name for DDD) in 1998.  In 2022 I had an MRI resulting in a diagnosis of lumbar stenosis.

Over the years I`ve been treated with primarily opioids, but my surgery now flatly refuses to dispense these due to concerns over addiction.  The opioids only gave short term pain relief; as short as it was, it was welcome. 

A couple of years ago I was prescribed Naproxen, but to no effect. 

I`m now taking 30mg of Amitriptyline at night and 15mg of Meloxicam in the morning.  I can`t say either are that effective for pain relief, but Amitriptyline certainly helps me sleep (knocks me out).  The down side to that is I feel really groggy when I wake up.

When I saw the spine people in the hospital (to discuss my MRI), their opening question was "what do you want from us" to which my reply was "effective pain relief"; that was 3 wasted words because they said it`s down to my GP........ The wheels on the bus go round and round.

I`ve now self-invested in a TENS machine which I`m finding helpful to a certain degree.  I strap it on my back, turn it up to a powerful setting and leave it for 3 hours - this allows me to move around the house a little more flexibly but the pain hasn`t completely gone.

I met up with my son last week, we went for a "few" beers and a meal whilst wearing the tens pad.  I don`t know if it was the tens, the copious amount of cider we had or a combination, but I could walk a few feet more than usual before having to stop and rest.  I suspect it was more to do with the cider

The only advice I can give you is:

Talk to your Dr about Amitriptyline; if it doesn`t stop the pain, it might give you a good night`s sleep.

If you don`t drink, start drinking copious amounts of cider

Investigate a TENS machine; either self-purchase or NHS provided.

It can be an incredibly debilitating disease and I hope you find something that alleviates the pain you suffer.

Andy

SueHeath

Morning @maddave welcome to our great group. 
Sounds like your living the life on your narrow boat, but can understand the problems this can cause, when joint issues happen, no doubt you will find a way round things, with a bit of help from friends etc.
I will say this group is the best for support, friendship and distraction so i hope you enjoy it.

maddave

Hi.
Thank you for the pleasant welcome and unjudgement.is that a word? Anyhoo I have realised that I should take things easy....but I find asking for help is hard for me to do.
My last mri results were "no surgical action could be taken as no single point of action could be identified".
But the gabapentin works but I do wake on the sofa at 2..3 am and go to bed..
Can't take amitripytine as it messes with my other anti depression pills.
I haven't been able to talk to anyone bar my sis who lives in Canada.who has also been diagnosed with alpha 1 antitypsin definency .so at least we got summat in common.
..
Yours MD

SueHeath

Morning @maddave i know what you mean with having to ask for help, i found that the hardest part of lossing my independence we don't realise how much help we do need until things start going wrong.
Have you had chance to look around the forum yet and find out how it works, there's some great stuff going on - lots to help with distraction as well as helpful tips.

maddave

I'll give it a go looking 
Around but I'm a spanner chucker and  smart phone and o
Internet is all Greek to me.
I have to use a
 Pen cos my fingers are too big to use phone keyboard 
And getting to my post is confusing to me
I can strip a engine apart and rebuild it in two days. But tech I'm not savy.

Mdxx

SueHeath

I'm rubbish with tech - i dont have an all singing all dancing phone either ha ha, i use my lap top - do you get notifications via your email, thats the way i get on to scope ha ha