Get well soon, AJ

[H]

Poor old AlbertJohn is laid up in bed after damaging his back, no doubt doing something guitar related. Unless Mrs AJ tells us different... :-

 

Get well soon

[ksdaddy]

Or AJ could TRY to tell us he hurt his back doing something IN bed and Mrs AJ tells us he threw it out picking up a pencil.

 

Back trouble is no fun. Hope you make it through okay!

[albertjohn]

Cheers boys. I suspect we've all had really bad ones - it's no fun!

 

I have no idea how I did it. Friday night I was watching Fred (12) in his school production of Cole Porter's Anything Goes. He had a small part in the chorus. The quality of the production was fantastic.

 

I was, as we say, gobsmacked!

 

Hard plastic school chair!

 

Gradually got worse over the weekend and is certainly not a bedroom related injury.

 

The painkillers are good ones.

 

Going to risk a trip to London tomorrow despite all the paranoia (touch wood) about G20. I received an internal email today advising not to where a suit in London tomorrow as "city types" are likely to be targetted. Not that I could be classed as a City Fat Cat on a huge bonus - I wish!

 

I haven't attempted any guitar since Friday but I'm off to see Robbie tomorrow night so might need an extra dose of whatever they are called.

 

Sorry for the ramble - these painkillers are good!

[Gilliangirl]

I hope you at least hurt it by having too much fun??!!

 

[AustinNoName]

AlbertJohn.... tough break buddy, hope it is nothing serious? As with GillianGirl, rest up where possible... the back is a nasty thing to damage long-term so I hope it can be cured with high strength painkillers!

 

oh... and if I see a gent strolling the city in his best sunday suit, bent over double trying to walk in London town, I promise to not tip your starbucks over you!!

 

(ok, so I won't actually be up in the big smoke, but you get the gist!)

[albertjohn]

AlbertJohn.... tough break buddy' date=' hope it is nothing serious? As with GillianGirl, rest up where possible... the back is a nasty thing to damage long-term so I hope it can be cured with high strength painkillers!

 

oh... and if I see a gent strolling the city in his best sunday suit, bent over double trying to walk in London town, I promise to not tip your starbucks over you!!

 

(ok, so I won't actually be up in the big smoke, but you get the gist!)[/quote']

 

Thanks Karen, if it was through having too much fun, I can't remember! DOH!

 

Austin, since the advice is to wear civvies, I'll be the one in the Farrers, US Army jacket with a target on the back, wellies, walking stick in one hand, bowler, with a copy of the Daily Telegraph neatly wedged under my free arm. That'll fool these trouble making types. They'll never recognise me.

 

Between you and me, the Starbucks is actually water and toilet cleaner - that's gonna hurt when they get it in the eyes!

[H]

Just to hijack my own post, I'm a City gent of 20 years standing - last time this kind of thing happened it was pretty scary I'll be working from home and tending to my new Les Paul Classic on Weds and Thurs

[albertjohn]

Just to hijack my own post' date=' I'm a City gent of 20 years standing - last time this kind of thing happened it was pretty scary I'll be working from home and tending to my new Les Paul Classic on Weds and Thurs [/quote']

 

We must get the same train! I commuted from Witham for about 8 years. Now I only go in about once a week. Usually get the 07.38 or 07.49 from Chelmsford these days.

 

In all seriousness, it can be pretty scary. I was in London on 7/7 and missed the Aldgate bomb (at Liverpool St) by 20 mins. I felt the bus go at Tavistock Sq - my office at the time was just down the road.

 

Given the condition of my back, I may be at home as well.

 

Have fun with the Les Paul.

[Gilliangirl]

AlbertJohn, is it possible that this is a case of sciatica? If so, I had that in the early 1990's. It was incredibly painful, and the university physician (I was at uni at the time) told me it was from sitting in chairs at school. Anyway, her suggestion was to take megadoses of B complex vitamins for about 2 weeks, as B complex vitamins repair nerves and sciatica is the sciatic nerve acting up. Anyway, I followed her advice and I swear my sciatica cleared up within two weeks! Now, if it starts to come back, I start popping B vitamins again and it goes away.

 

Just a thought......

[Deadgrateful]

Just to throw in my useless advice, I injured my back last July in a climbing accident, but the physio said it mimicked a sciatica or disc injury. If it's either of those, then you should really see a physio and ignore any advice a GP dishes out, although taking the co-dydramol will certainly help (assuming you got prescribed those, if it's anything stronger send some over my way!). Mine had got progressively worse, and got to the point where I could no longer walk. Apparently this was due to movements which were "reinforcing" the injury, and as soon as I followed his advice, it started to improve.

 

Anyway, hope you recover swiftly, and get ready to dodge the rubber bullets if you make it into the smoke.

[mooseguy]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery- something to try-get on your back, grab your knees and pull as hard as you can-this will hurt but the stretch should relieve some of the pain. also

if you are carrying a wallet in a rear pocket switch this to a pants pocket this will help.

 

Regards,

 

Moose

 

P.S. i have also been through it and nothing suggested seems to help

[TWilson]

I feel your pain, literally, AJ. I tweaked the back at work several years ago. Found out I have a compressed disc and bulging disc in the L5 (lumbar spine) area, plus spinal stenosis. (The opening for the nerves etc to travel through are smaller than normal). The toes on my left foot and the outside of the left leg up to my knee are partially numb all the time. Don't aggravate this injury!! Do what the good Dr. tells you. I eventually got an MRI, paid for by Workers' Comp. of course and learned all these nasty things about the back. I'm much more careful now. I also got rid of the old chair I used to vegetate in and go a good one and have been avoiding the back pain. Knock on wood!! Good luck to you mate. If you end up going down on Denmark St, don't let you-know-who talk you out of half your pain pill stash!! (Rhymes with tohng)

Thorium

[ksdaddy]

In May 07 it took me abut 20 minutes to get from the bedroom to the bathroom in the morning. I couldn't stand up at all. A few visits to a chiropractor gained nothing. An MRI said I had bulging discs but supposedly not enough to pinch off the sciatic nerve. 3 trips to the emergency room in two weeks and finally conected with the right Dr. She gave me a shot of Demerol to shut me up and prescribed Hydrocodone and Valium. I didn't know if I was bored or punched. My wife had some thin cigarettes that took the rest of the pain away remarkably. Although the 70s are a distant part of my history I am now a strong proponent of medicinal use of the stuff.... although I can't stand it otherwise. Fortunately the good Dr also prescribed steroids which took the inflammation down... remember at this point they figured it was a bulging disc. During the time I was out of my brain I did and said things I don't recall, like the day they thought they had put me to bed and took off for the mall. I got in one of the cars and drove to a garage sale and bought some stuff and then came home and put it on ebay. No memory of that at all. They claim I walked around with a loaded little pocket pistol saying I was going to put an end to the pain once and for all. I finally went to sleep and the took it away from me and also put a new padlock on the gun cabinet. I mounted a small shelf on the wall of the living room to mount my laptop so I could check my email while standing; the main computer is out in the shop, down three steps, which was a no-no. After I healed up a little I saw the shelf had been ripped off the living room wall and nobody wants to talk about it. I still have no clue.

 

I did walk with a cane for a couple weeks and that was no fun. The pain felt a lot like a toothache that ran the entire length of the right leg.

So the steroids worked freakin' wonders and a few days later I could move a lot better. I still was nowhere near healed though. I did manage to make it to Bozeman and I had a big stash of prescription meds, which thankfully I didn't have to resort to using; Motrin and Tylenol kept it to a dull roar so I could be lucid and enjoy the Homecoming. I walked from the hotel to downtown Bozeman many times just to keep myself convinced I could walk again. The day after I returned from Bozeman I drove the 180 miles to a pain clinic so they could give me a shot directly into the disc. After discussing it with the Dr he gave me another med-pack of steroids.

 

I never did heal up completely and went for another MRI in April 08; no better, no worse. Because I was no worse I was informed an operation to trim the excess disc was out of the question. I then bought a Nordic Track inversion table which takes up a big part of my living room but it works wonders. I mean to say it hurts but in a good way and I feel better overall, although my right leg was still numb and weak.

 

Well for reasons unknown, maybe it came to me in a dream or an angel whispered it in my ear, but I kept thinking about this word, piriformis. What the 'f' is a piriformis, I thought, and why does it keep popping into my head? Google told me it's a muscle that goes from the base of the spine to the upper part of the thigh bone and the sciatic nerve runs right alongside it... in fact in 20% of the population the nerve runs THROUGH the muscle! Further research told me I could have done damage to it on the night of April 30, 2007 when I overexerted myself walking, taking too-long strides (I have no idea why I did that, I thought I would stretch myself in a good way, not bad). I found several stretching excercises for the muscle and the first time I did one it felt just like there was a head of lettuce being ripped apart behind my hip bone. I think I saw my dead father telling me to come towards the light. I have been stretching for about a year now and I do see improvement but i think the damage is done.

 

Maybe I'm luckier than most but I will never be 'right' again. If I sit for more than 1/2 hour I get up like a really old man. For whatever reason I can walk a mile or so with no pain and I can lift about as much as I used to, I can push cars, etc... I just 'lame-up' if I sit too long.

 

I shouldn't *****, there are people a lot worse off, but this was no fun... for me or anyone within earshot.

[spanishoaknc]

Poor old AlbertJohn is laid up in bed after damaging his back' date=' no doubt doing something guitar related. Unless Mrs AJ tells us different... :D

 

Get well soon :D[/quote']

 

Prayers going out to you my friend / Get Well Soon / God Bless - spanishoaknc

[Jinder]

Feel better soon mate...at least you're not laid up to the extent that you can't post here!

 

There is a history of back problems in my family as we're all tall (I'm 6'6", my brother 6'5" etc), so I feel your pain...literally!

[albertjohn]

Thank you all so much for your kind messages.

 

I've decided to spend the day at home again. Fred's new laptop that I bought him for his birthday a few weeks ago was half the price and is twice as good as the house computer. So I'm able to post stuff, do some work and watch the highlights of the Australian GP, while in bed.

 

For those who are following mine and Johnt's efforts to organise a UK event, I've even caught up on loads of emails.

 

Couldn't walk last night and sleeping was tough. But the anti-inflammatories and painkillers appear to be doing their job slowly and after I finally managed to crawl out of bed, it's a little better this morning.

 

Karen, I've had sciatica for as long as I can remember. I was running (probably to get some beer and tobacco) to a shop when I was about 19 and all of a sudden my left leg gave way. It's never been right but in 2001 it got so bad I tried to do something about it. Luckily I have the luxury of private health care so had x-rays, MRI scan, acupuncture, chiropractor, physio and 2 injections under a local, watching the needle on a TV screen - wierd!

 

Nothing worked so now I work around it. I can't lay on my back or stand still for more than about 1 minute before it kicks in. And cycling is difficult. But soon goes if I start walking or sit down.

 

I have not tried B complex vitamins and fear that if I order anything from the internet it won't help the back but my sex life could take an unexpected turn for the better! I think I'll try Boots instead.

 

Albert (15) and Walter (4) have both been to see a Homeopathic Doctor over the last year and in both cases was a complete success. I'll admit to being a bit of a cynic but I think I'll be trying this as well.

[H]

I've decided to spend the day at home again. Fred's new laptop that I bought him for his birthday a few weeks ago was half the price and is twice as good as the house computer. So I'm able to post stuff' date=' do some work and watch the highlights of the Australian GP, while in bed.[/quote']

 

Careful AJ, that's how Davros started out