a little help, here?
Feb. 7th, 2010 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lolaraincoatSo, okay, my back is really, really bad.
It has been bad since early November, though it was not very good to begin with, and got significantly worse in late December and then somewhat better again. My usual solutions for dealing with it - new orthotics, massage, ice, lightening up on the exercise, stretching, core strengthening, massive doses of NSAIDs - have been not so helpful, though presumably better than nothing. I have a tentative diagnosis, based on an xray, but no MRI yet, though I'm having one soon, but so anyway so far what they can tell me is that it's degenerative disc disease, moderate to severe, between the L4 and L5 vertabrae (no space at all there between the vertabrae, good spacing between all the others), plus moderate arthritis in the facet joints of vertabrae L1-S2. Plus, p.s., incidentally, I have a good-sized kidney stone. Fun!
Anyway, moderate pain sustained over a long period, plus forced reduction in exercise, plus occasional days of complete immobility or severely curtailed immobility, are making me insane. It doesn't help that it is winter and hard to move around anyway, and also dark. My massage therapist recommends - and by recommends I mean that she is actually yelling, with the waving-around arms and everything - that I try an Aquafit class, which they offer at my gym. I am aquafit-averse for several reasons, including that it looks so dorky. But the main thing is, I can't figure out how I could take a class in the pool without wearing my glasses, and I can't wear my glasses in the pool, can I? On the other hand, so far the RMT has been totally, completely right about everything else, so maybe she's right about this?
So, okay, internets, tell me - how do people who need glasses in order to walk from one end of the room to the other manage around swimming pools? And if any of you have any experience of aquafit, in particular, good or bad, I would be glad to hear it. Because otherwise I am going to say fuck it and just get back on the elliptical trainer, hip flexors be damned. And then my RMT will yell at me some more, and I'd prefer to avoid that, thanks.
It has been bad since early November, though it was not very good to begin with, and got significantly worse in late December and then somewhat better again. My usual solutions for dealing with it - new orthotics, massage, ice, lightening up on the exercise, stretching, core strengthening, massive doses of NSAIDs - have been not so helpful, though presumably better than nothing. I have a tentative diagnosis, based on an xray, but no MRI yet, though I'm having one soon, but so anyway so far what they can tell me is that it's degenerative disc disease, moderate to severe, between the L4 and L5 vertabrae (no space at all there between the vertabrae, good spacing between all the others), plus moderate arthritis in the facet joints of vertabrae L1-S2. Plus, p.s., incidentally, I have a good-sized kidney stone. Fun!
Anyway, moderate pain sustained over a long period, plus forced reduction in exercise, plus occasional days of complete immobility or severely curtailed immobility, are making me insane. It doesn't help that it is winter and hard to move around anyway, and also dark. My massage therapist recommends - and by recommends I mean that she is actually yelling, with the waving-around arms and everything - that I try an Aquafit class, which they offer at my gym. I am aquafit-averse for several reasons, including that it looks so dorky. But the main thing is, I can't figure out how I could take a class in the pool without wearing my glasses, and I can't wear my glasses in the pool, can I? On the other hand, so far the RMT has been totally, completely right about everything else, so maybe she's right about this?
So, okay, internets, tell me - how do people who need glasses in order to walk from one end of the room to the other manage around swimming pools? And if any of you have any experience of aquafit, in particular, good or bad, I would be glad to hear it. Because otherwise I am going to say fuck it and just get back on the elliptical trainer, hip flexors be damned. And then my RMT will yell at me some more, and I'd prefer to avoid that, thanks.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:01 pm (UTC)On the other hand, if Aquafit doesn't involve ducking your head, there's no reason why you couldn't just wear your glasses. With a bungie or something to keep them on, if needed.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:11 pm (UTC)I can't wear contacts, alas. I'm thinking, based on the convo over at my LJ, that I may try out the goggles - there are some cheap ones on the model of supermarket reading glasses, which won't be perfect but will be good enough, I think ...
Also, and I say this because I know you're interested in this kind of thing, this has been an inadvertant experiment in social networking media - I posted essentially the same query/complaint on DW, LJ, twitter and FB. Biggest response on LJ, smallest here, FB and twitter tied in the middle. Hmmmm.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:16 pm (UTC)(Also, I read you on DW because that's what I thought you wanted - but if all the cool kids are reading you on LJ I guess I need to read both! That's why I manually crosslink. Hmm.)
no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 12:07 am (UTC)And no, not normalizing for number of readers - low in all four venues, but lowest on twitter and highest on FB I think.
I used to close off comments on LJ so as to consolidate comments here, but that just meant nobody commented, so I gave up. Will probably try again at some later date. Maybe.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-08 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 02:54 am (UTC)Sorry I didn't answer anywhere. To be honest, I sometimes find it harder/less likely to answer some things you post *because* you post them everywhere. That's not meant to be harsh or personal - it just diffuses it somehow. As to LJ & DW, clearly the decamp to DW en masse did not happen, but, as I'm saying everything in French, je m'en fou - DW much better.* (Did you see how they did/have been doing an epic battle with the evils who have tried to get them in trouble for "child porn"?)
*Clearly I said something else in French earlier and deleted it. Oh yeah, it was "crie de coeur."
None of which addresses the POINT, as you have no doubt noticed. YOU POOR BABY! POOR LOLA! WAH! HUGS! I detest pain, especially persistent pain. I don't know how you can stand it (which, I guess, you can't). Fucking bastard, your pain! I attack it mentally!
Finally, and this also speaks to why I didn't answer in the shorter form, I just don't know at all about glasses. I mean obviously a lot of people do it, I assume with contacts + goggles, or they can get by w/o, or script goggles. Is it possible to get big ass goggles that go over glasses? I'm farsighted, which only gets worse with age, but it gives me no overall understanding of the struggles of the permanently bespectacled. Also, I can read signs at distance, to amuse my friends.
Oh, and I think Aquafit sounds like a good idea. I think it might be kind of fun, actually, but I really like being in the water. I can certainly see where it doesn't have the same self-image benefits or general excitement as jogging, x-country skiing, kicking bags, etc - none of which I've ever been much good at.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 03:17 am (UTC)Argh.
Anyway. Yeah, I think I should just pick a social-networking platform and stick to it, or at least find a different use for each of the various platforms. I don't know. I love DW in theory, but in practice, most of my peeps aren't here ... eh, too many networks, what a first-world problem ...
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 03:36 am (UTC)I know several people, including me, who use FB, Twitter, & LJ/DW w/o overlap. It seems very intuitive & natural to me, but I have no way to communicate that. I'm just saying it to point out that you certainly don't *have* to give up any, unless you want to. Anyway I'd miss you.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-10 03:37 am (UTC)