The Illness and Injury Thread

[llanwydd]

During my twelve or thirteen years in this group I have frequently seen OT threads started by people who were worried about some aspect of their health. They express their concerns in many ways from asking for prayer to simply venting their frustration. Not a bad thing, in my opinion. Possibly even a part of the healing process.
It might be fun for some, beneficial for others to do that here. I predict one of two things; either the thread will appear in "Older Messages" after three or four posts or it will go on forever.
Let's keep this on the lighthearted side. Not necessarily humorous. Some people may be seriously ill or inclined to venting. Maybe we can help each other heal.

Here is mine. Two weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with a serious pain in my abdomen. I got up and was walking across the floor when I suddenly started sweating like a squeezed sponge. Seriously, this was the most I had ever perspired at once. I felt dizzy and somehow had the thought that if I ate something I would stabilize. When I got to the kitchen I fell on the floor and passed out. I don't know how long I was there but when I woke up I was in a pool of sweat and could hardly move. I eventually crawled to my bedroom and was so weak I decided to sleep on the floor. I woke again at some point and picked myself up and had a serious pain in my right foot.
Believe it or not this very same thing had happened to me sixteen years ago but without the heavy perspiration. That time I had woken up on the floor with a broken left ankle and spent six weeks in a cast. I had apparently twisted it when I fell. This time I had a dull pain in the middle right toe. I said "Not again!" I hobbled to bed, slept some more and went to the ER in the morning. Well, after two weeks, several x-rays and as many diagnoses including neuroma, a non-cancerous tumor and something-"itis" and a lot of pain, I found out today that my toe is broken. This is called a "stress fracture" which requires me to wear a kind of orthopedic boot (like a cast except that I can take it off when I need to).
Some of the things that have happened to me in the meantime are hard to believe. A few nights ago I limped into a convenience store for a cup of coffee. I was followed in by a man who punched me in the face for no apparent reason. I couldn't balance on my right foot, of course so I couldn't defend myself. The guy behind the counter, who I had never seen before, was laughing (I'll see that guy again when this boot comes off) and the guy who punched me told me to run, which of course I couldn't. I just staggered back to my car and took off.
I could tell more stories about the past two weeks but I just took a Vicodin and I'm getting sleepy. But all this has happened while I'm making plans to move back to NY state. I managed to get rid of my old, huge television so I'll never have to move that again but the rest of this furniture is going to be a bitch to get out of here in my condition.
I know I'll look back on this and laugh someday. But maybe some of you have similar stories that have become funny over the years. Or just vent. Whatever you please.
By the way, I never got an explanation of what caused me to pass out either this time or the time before but I figure if it only happens once every sixteen years I'm not going to worry too much.

[Vic2012]

Youch! Yeah, you need to move back to NY and get outta Dodge. I'm not making a joke out of this. Hope everything works out for you.

I had an interesting experience about 3 weeks ago that I'm kind of embarrassed to talk about but I'll just tell the story anyway because there are always wisecrackers who like to make snarky comments and shit (oh, he's embarrassed .... blah blah, yuck yuck). Anyway, I've mentioned on another thread that I'm under a LOT of stress because of my mother's health. Add to that my aunt who's in her 80s health is deteriorating as well. She'll outlive my mother (who's 6 years younger than my aunt) but she has sever osteo arthritis and she's prone to falling down (like she did the other day in the parking lot at the grocery store). It's just us three, most of our relatives are buried, and my brother lives 3000 miles away. So needless to say, I'm stressed out. Ya think? And I know anyone who goes through this is stressed out. Some people handle stress better than others.

So about 3 weekends ago I was doing my usual thing + a little o' this . I was also taking something for a few days to help me relax at night, so this may have contributed to this little thing that happened. I get in my car and start driving home. It must've been 9-930pm. I usually take some dark, back roads to avoid any cops or too much traffic. I've been doing this for years. Well, I driving through the pitch-black, rural back road and I nodded off for a second. Next thing I know I hear a big blam! and I'm jolted awake. I hit a fucking tree. The only good that came out of this was that I didn't get hurt (I use my seat belt), the airbag did not deploy so the crash couldn't have been that bad, no one saw anything, no one else was involved. But I fucked up my car. I won't go all into how I replaced the vehicle but let's just say I'm thousands of dollars in the hole now. I'll be 55 next Tuesday, so I'll be working until I drop dead. Either way, it was an expensive lesson.

This thread should be interesting.

[llanwydd]

Very sorry to hear about that, Vic. Sounds like it could have been even worse, though.

Yes, this thread could get interesting. Thanks for contributing.

[Vic2012]

Very sorry to hear about that, Vic. Sounds like it could have been even worse, though.

Yes, this thread could get interesting. Thanks for contributing.

Well, I'm not sure I believe in God anymore, but if there's a God up there, he let me get off on that one. Needless to say I've cut back on this and this . Tomorrow I'm invited to a Superbowl BBQ so I know the beer will flow, and I'll be offered shots. I DO NOT drink anything other than piss-water, Lite beer. I've never had a DUI and I don't ever plan on having one.

I found out today that my toe is broken. This is called a "stress fracture"

Ouch. I cracked a toe about 20 years ago, walking around barefoot in the dark. I jamed my little piggie against a heavy, wooden chair. There's no setting the bone or putting a cast on it. Broken toes have to heal on their own. The worse broken bone I ever had was breaking my right femur when I was 7 years old.

[Hunnibee]

Awesome thread! Not always "funny" to hear about others' tribulations, but the irony, sarcasm, and humor help to ease our pains, yes?

I'm sorry to say that I am pretty healthy these days. Now that I've left the dark, depressing arctic behind, I feel better mentally AND physically. I'm no longer sleeping in a cold storage room in a smoky, moldy house, so I'm breathing better. I will never live with smokers again! I am also under less stress, of course, because I no longer live in a state that I hate. I'll take life along the West Coast over misery in Alaska any day!

I am a little blue because I am unable to find a job in the Portland area, in spite of lots of interviews. I guess they are looking for beauty rather than substance. Also, I am actually gaining weight in my poverty because carbs are cheaper than protein, so having less money for food does not make you slimmer. I do not recommend the "Spaghettios" diet, even if a can is only 89 cents at WinCo! The bulk of my money goes for gas so I can get to the job interviews, which appears to be a waste of time since I'm not getting hired. My next step is to just live in my car and drive around the USA as long as my Unemployment checks keep coming.

My weight is not affecting my blood pressure or my blood sugar. I'm sure my triglycerides are high because of the cheap sugar I ingest, but until I get a job and health insurance, there's no way to know how I'm really doing in that regard. Diabetes runs in my family. It almost killed my sister on New Year's Day! Luckily, I've been able to avoid it so far, but until I can get into my own kitchen and prepare the low-carb/high protein foods that will make me slimmer and healthier, it's the damn beefaroni or frozen pizza for dinner, which is all I can afford on my tiny budget.

My only health issue, aside from ongoing obesity, is Reynaud's Syndrome, always bad in the winter no matter where you live. I never had it in my feet before, just in my hands, but this year, it's affecting my toes for the first time. My knees are still arthritic, of course, but less painful here in the Lower 48. There's something about -40 below that settles into your bones. I will never live in Alaska again! I could not afford a flu shot this year, so I'm crossing my fingers that I will avoid the bug. Looking forward to spring and hiking again, as long as I have gas money to get up into the hills. In the meantime, there are some snow-free urban trails I've done a little walking on. If I can't eat right, I should at least try to get some exercise, yes?

Here's hoping everyone stays healthy for the rest of the winter and avoids some broken bones!

[Dave (in MA)]

Here's my dumbest injury story, unless I think of another one. I was on my way to take a shower after midnight, walking up the hall to the bathroom, and I was pulling my T-shirt off over my head. It was at that exact moment that one of the cats decided to run between my feet. Down I go, one knee slamming into the floor and my shoulder bouncing off the clothes hamper before I go face down on the floor with my arms still over my head. Then we discover that the cat is limping. Apparently I landed on him, partly at least. Then my wife notices I have blood streaming down the back of my head, so I guess he scratched me when I fell, even though I didn't feel anything. I put some neosporin on it and then I had to take the cat to the emergency vet and pay $200-something to find out that he was OK. Ever since then I get a strange, not really painful but very uncomfortable feeling in my arm every so often, that only goes away if I raise my arm behind my head for a while. Sometimes it even wakes me up. The doctors haven't been able to figure out what's wrong. Months of PT were of no help. Stupid cat.

[Vic2012]

Funny story Dave. Well, it was comical but you coulda really gotten hurt bad.

[llanwydd]

I'm starting to wonder if my attempt to make this a funny thread isn't the funniest thing about it. Feel free to laugh at your own misfortunes while I'm the one to be sorry for you.

Very happy to hear that Hunnibee has finally moved. I thought it would never happen. Now she will never spend another winter in Alaska. I know how she feels. I am hoping never to spend another summer in Florida, although I will surely keep coming back in the winter. The comments about her diet are very true. The least expensive foods are the least nutritious. I've had the same problem in the past. Don't you just love people who say "You look well fed".

About Dave (in MA)'s story, I couldn't laugh but I'm glad if he does. I have actually been injured by PT. I mean it was serious negligence at best. The best I could do was call her supervisor and say "That woman has got to be watched". I hope they did.

[Greg]

I'm starting to wonder if my attempt to make this a funny thread isn't the funniest thing about it. Feel free to laugh at your own misfortunes while I'm the one to be sorry for you.

Yeah, I've nothing funny to add.

But, if you're into reading about long-term misery: http://lifewitheczema.wordpress.com

[Dave (in MA)]

About Dave (in MA)'s story, I couldn't laugh but I'm glad if he does.

You have to be able to laugh at a story about a guy getting tripped by his cat when he has his shirt over his head. I wish I had video.

[meimjustalawnmower]

So about 3 weekends ago I was doing my usual thing + a little o' this . I was also taking something for a few days to help me relax at night, so this may have contributed to this little thing that happened. I get in my car and start driving home. It must've been 9-930pm. I usually take some dark, back roads to avoid any cops or too much traffic. I've been doing this for years. Well, I driving through the pitch-black, rural back road and I nodded off for a second. Next thing I know I hear a big blam! and I'm jolted awake. I hit a fucking tree. The only good that came out of this was that I didn't get hurt (I use my seat belt), the airbag did not deploy so the crash couldn't have been that bad, no one saw anything, no one else was involved. But I fucked up my car. I won't go all into how I replaced the vehicle but let's just say I'm thousands of dollars in the hole now. I'll be 55 next Tuesday, so I'll be working until I drop dead. Either way, it was an expensive lesson.

Imagine how expensive it would have been if instead of the tree, you hit a car with a family in it.

[Jefferson James]

Imagine how expensive it would have been if instead of the tree, you hit a car with a family in it.

Imagine how expensive it would have been if he'd smashed his car into the Superbowl.

[SteveSly]

You guys realize we have now become our parents. When we were younger we used to make fun of how all old people seemed to want to talk about were their ailments and health issues. As evidenced by this thread, many of us here are now there ourselves. For me, within a month either side of turning 50 I suddenly had a bunch of health issues crop up. Thankfully they were mostly minor things, but it was a bit of an eye opener. As Neil Peart once said we are “learning that we are only immortal, for a limited time………..”

Steve Sly

[Hunnibee]

Yes, we have aches and pains as we get older, but we are still "young at heart" and enjoying doing the fun things we did when we were younger... to a point. I can't party much past midnight anymore, but back when I was 21, I'd go out drinking all night with the girls, go out to breakfast, and then go to work. Those days are long gone! That being said, I'm still going to ride a few more roller coasters and go see a few more great rock bands before I hang it up completely. (If I ever even hang it up at all )

Very happy to hear that Hunnibee has finally moved. I thought it would never happen. Now she will never spend another winter in Alaska.

Yes, thank you, I'm a much happier person having escaped my exile, but I have a lot of "trauma" still to overcome.

[Facelift]

Broke my hand over the weekend.

[Jefferson James]

Broke my hand over the weekend.

Yikes -- that's a tough injury (been there, broke that). Hope it's not too serious (I see you can still type).

[Dave (in MA)]

You guys realize we have now become our parents. When we were younger we used to make fun of how all old people seemed to want to talk about were their ailments and health issues.

BULLxxxx! That's not true at all. My father's PILL ORGANIZER is way bigger than mine.

[llanwydd]

Yeah, I've nothing funny to add.

But, if you're into reading about long-term misery: http://lifewitheczema.wordpress.com

I had heard of eczema but never knew what it was. I knew someone with those red blotches I saw in your picture. She had them on her arms. It looked very uncomfortable. Great to see your progress, though. You seem to be making a lot of right decisions about your health. Thanks for participating in the thread.

[Facelift]

Yikes -- that's a tough injury (been there, broke that). Hope it's not too serious (I see you can still type).

Typing is possible, though a bit painful. It's the 4th metacarpal, which means that only the ring finger and pinkie are affected. If I give my hand support and position it just right over the keyboard, I can get through a day's work without too much pain. Dressing and showering are two different things entirely, but they aren't always expected from prog fans, so...

[tom unbound]

So I wake up tied to a hospital bed, iv's in my arm, and sore as *%#@.
There's 3 or 4 ladies talking Spanish over by the door. They notice I'm coming to, and quickly leave.
I'm all alone.
There's the sound of helicopters coming and going outside, but the curtains are drawn.
I have absolutely no idea of where I am, or why I'm here.
After what seemed to be an eternity, I figured (probably because earlier in the summer I went to Mexico with friends on vacation) that I was kidnapped, put in some illegal Mexican clinic, and was having my organs harvested for transplanting.
Eventually someone came in and told me what actually happened.

I can flat out laugh at the story now, but it was no fun at the time !!!

And that was the 2nd time I woke up....maybe that one next time. This thread could run for years with the crew around here......

[progeezer]

There are others on PE that could tell you about my various mishaps JUST at festivals!

[Greg]

I had heard of eczema but never knew what it was. I knew someone with those red blotches I saw in your picture. She had them on her arms. It looked very uncomfortable. Great to see your progress, though. You seem to be making a lot of right decisions about your health. Thanks for participating in the thread.

It's been a long and frustrating journey to get where I am now--and this is the second truly severe period of it that I've had to deal with--both time it was triggered by exposure to inordinate amounts of perfume and body sprays in enclosed office environments.

It can be extremely painful. At first the inflammation itches like crazy, but as it worsens it just begins to burn incessantly, and the only things that help are lots of ice and high potency corticosteroids.

I'm surprised, but appreciative, that you actually got through my "Moby Dick" length ramblings ;-)

[hippypants]

I used to have bad eczema as a kid growing up through my teens, but it has sort of more or less recessed, which I'm grateful for. Back when I was a kid the didn't know of very good ways of controlling it. I remember at night I used to apply some pastey medication, and then cover it with saran wrap (so the paste would soak into the skin, I think), tape it down, and try to get to sleep. There summers were the worse, as the saran wrap would make you sweat. The whole process wouldn't help to cure it, but it seemed to help some. At least the eczema helped to keep my out of Vietnam with the wet hot environment there, I got a deferment.

Good luck while you get over your recent illnesses. Llanwydd, it's funny the doctors didn't comment on your stomach ache or what caused it.

Hunnibee--I'm cooking dried beans and rice tonight--a good way to stretch the budget and eat fairly well, also I eat eggs a couple times a week, and generally cook up some sort of big soup in a crock pot, which last nearly all week.

[Enid]

I have bridge phobia and it just suddenly 1 day, bit me on the rear-end. It all started in my mid-40's with the heat. If the heat was on in the car midwinter.. I would roll down the window or turn the heat off. I could play on stage at an outdoor festival in mid July and breath perfectly. I could sit in front of a fireplace and feel comfortable. Musicians drive me over the bridge and I'm fine, but if I drive myself...my legs freeze up and I go into a real panic. I would love to know how and why this nightmare developed. I crossed bridges for decades with no issues. Last summer I drove over the Walt Whitman bridge from a gig. My wife said "Are you ready to switch?" and I just kept driving with confidence and faced a huge apparent fear. Everything was fine and I was laughing at how stupied I felt. The following night I was unable to cross the bridge into Philadelphia again. What does that mean? If you know...please let me know. It must be a panic disorder like being trapped in a submarine or trapped in the middle a huge crowd at Disney World that will not budge. A traffic jam in the heat of July where the heat from the windshield and the air conditioner in your face affects your breathing passages. It's very pathetic and moronic. I would like to find a solution, but I'm not sure the root of the issue and because of that realization...I can't apply technics that are unknown to me and so the problem lingers.

[Greg]

Cognitive behavioural therapy is usually the treatment for specific situational phobias and panic disorders.

This might be interesting for you read (review and recommendations for DSM-V for the criterion): http://www.dsm5.org/research/documents/lebeau_sp.pdf. It's a bit "heady", but it may give you some insight into why it began.