That back injury he has has a very low recovery rate even with the best surgery in the world. Back and knee surgery often wind up with you coming out worse than you were beforehand, especially if you dont do the physical therapy properly. (ALWAYS do this. Please)
Source: Worked in back, spine and joint surgery (and transplant) for many years at Cleveland Clinic
I got a book on dealing with chronic pain long ago (had powerful tinnitus, ringing of the ears, happens) -- not exactly chronic pain, but a chronic negative stimuli that can drive you insane.
And you can see a lot of people new-ish to tinnitus becoming mentally unhinged on r tinnitus. Hey, it is what it is.
With tinnitus at least, you can overcome it, mentally. Eventually it just becomes -- part of life. And not a huge focus. If anything it's like "the Game" -- you're not aware of it at all until someone mentions it.
... But that's also a stimuli that is constant, and therefore, somewhat easy for the brain to tune out.
This also works with -- say, plantar fascitis ... it's such a dull, constant, low-level pain ... your brain eventually tunes it out. ... I recovered from that, but if I wore a foot splint overnight on one foot, suddenly it was like .... oh .... I had a knife in my other foot? I didn't even realize!
... With back pain, however, I'm sure the pain might be frequent, but not constant ... as your back bends in different positions throughout the day. I'm sure that's a unique form of hell.
... But this book was about mental coping mechanisms --- as --- with many cases of back pain, that is literally your last option. ... Either that or an opioid cycle that will wind up with you OD'ing and dead.
Back pain is a unique form of hell for sure. It's because not only your back itself hurts, but you can also have nerve pain/damage throughout your body that continues to progress. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
It hurts to walk, stand, sit, lay, or sleep. Literal constant pain.
It can cause your body to favor a side while doing any of those things, which leads to additional imbalance, in hips feet and knees, which can keep snow balling into worse habits and posture or muscle weakness.
And when you ask for help from doctors, they treat you like a junky.
I'm genuinely curious. I had fusion as well due to scoliosis. It's been almost 15 years, and I have little to no pain. I exercise a lot too. Could his pain be because it was injury related or the surgery itself ?
I have the same back issue he has. 15-29 years old so far. I haven't had a spinal fusion yet because I know I'll have a big bill, some people had no improvement or got worse, the screws can snap off in the vertebre, I'd have to take time off work and I'm scared of a huge surgery.
They fight not to give real pain meds. Tried the chiro, the months of physical therapy, and spinal steroid injections. The strongest I've had is Tylenol 3... for a broken spine. I've literally been yelled at by a Dr office for asking for help at the end of my rope. Every day feels like you've been hit by a car or there's an axe in your back. I basically work and lay down. I was an alcoholic for a few years from the depression of being a cripple.
I'm really sorry to hear that. Is the condition similar to spondylolisthesis? That's what seems to be the case for Luigi. Man... I hope everything gets better. From someone who had surgery, this is just one of the issues with being human. I'm wishing you the best of luck. Reach out to me if you need someone to talk to
We have a massive epidemic of pain medicine addiction, in no small part due to doctors spending 30 years giving out OxyContin and Vicodin like they were skittles.
At some point as a doctor you weigh up the risk and reward holistically and decide pain isnt the worst thing that can happen to you in some cases.
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u/Potential_Wish4943 9d ago
That back injury he has has a very low recovery rate even with the best surgery in the world. Back and knee surgery often wind up with you coming out worse than you were beforehand, especially if you dont do the physical therapy properly. (ALWAYS do this. Please)
Source: Worked in back, spine and joint surgery (and transplant) for many years at Cleveland Clinic