Getting shot 4 of 4 today

Posted on by

I’m off to get my last epidural today. The last two had decreasing amounts of effectiveness, so my hopes aren’t all that great. I’ll need to weigh options after this. What next?

Some Ask Metafilter threads:

I have a pain in the butt. Help me fix it.

Grade 4 Spondylolisthesis: your experiences, please.

Help with my lower back pain issue

3 thoughts on “Getting shot 4 of 4 today”

  1. Karl,

    I’m so sorry to hear about your problems with back pain. I’m not a doctor, as you know, nor do I have any particular knowledge about your specific situation, but have you considered yoga?

    It’s not that it’s a “cure-all” for whatever ails you, but it seems like it might be worthwhile from a couple of perspectives, and again, I’m mostly talkin’ outa my butt here…

    Your pain may be distorting your body kinematics, perhaps exacerbating the problem. Undertaking a yoga practice might help to kind of get things back into the normal alignment. Maybe? Plus, strengthening your core would seem to only be a positive development.

    Second, a yoga practice might alter your experience of your body and your pain. That is to say, it may mitigate it in some sense, by bringing you a larger perspective of your body and the things that are still working right. I think the pain tends to make you focus your attention on that issue, magnifying it, so to speak.

    If you were to undertake a yoga practice, I’d look for a “gentle yoga” approach, with a beginners’ class. I think if you went about it the “wrong” way, you could make your issue worse. But if you went about it with a slow, gentle, methodical introduction, you might see some improvement.

    Anyway, just a thought. I really hope the epidural brings you some relief!

  2. Hi Dave,

    One worth considering before surgery – and I will.

    A while back I asked one of my doctors about tai chi – which is a martial art particularly focussed on breathing, your posture, and spine.

    I’m not sure the benefits of practicing tai chi or yoga would be all that different – but I will look into it and following this round of shots, while going back to physical therapy (I exercise 40 minutes to an hour every day on my own), I’m going to do it.

    The irony about all this is that I feel in better health than I’ve felt in ages. I am stronger, I’ve lost weight. I stopped smoking long ago. I rarely get sick.

    Thanks for the idea though. I will look into yoga.

Comments are closed.