The Illness and Injury Thread

[SteveSly]

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.

Phobias are very strange things. I have one (I am not going to discuss here), that pretty much only my wife and a few family members know about. It is very very very real and very weird (at least I think it is). There are certain things that I just can’t do without freaking out. You’re right, in certain situations it makes you feel pathetic and moronic, but it is something that I have never gained much control over. I have a very vivid early childhood memory that I think was the trigger, but I have no way to prove it. Most people in my life have no idea this resides within me, but it is there.

Steve Sly

[llanwydd]

...The following night I was unable to cross the bridge into Philadelphia again. What does that mean?

You are not the first ever to panic while trying to cross the Walt Whitman Bridge. Could it have been the toll?

[progeezer]

Many snowy, icy winters ago, within a 14 day period, I was almost killed on 2 separate occasions by a semi passing me on the interstate and then cutting back into the right lane too soon and both times causing a white-out that made my car do a couple of 360's and wind up in a ditch in the median. The first time, had it happened about 75 yards farther up the road, I would have died from the drop.

Up until it happened the 2nd time, for the next 2 weeks I put 2 hands on the wheel and like everyone else that's sane, drove as carefully as I could on snowy, icy roads without incident. Ever since my 2nd brush with death on the highway (over 40 years ago), however, I now work myself into a frenzy of fear anytime I have to drive in wintry snow & ice. A leadfoot in warm weather and a 90 year old grandmother who shouldn't be driving (people honk at me for going too slow for them) is now my reality. If I have to, I'll still drive and my hands will ache from clutching the wheel white-knuckled. I try not to drive on any days like that and procrastinate anything I can until the roads have been plowed & salted. I even used up many paid sick days strictly because of the weather after my vacation was depleted because my boss actually understood what it did to me and was one terrific lady. Shit, I can't even drive with music because I need to psychotically focus on not having an accident.

That's my long-standing phobia.

[meimjustalawnmower]

I now work myself into a frenzy of fear anytime I have to drive in wintry snow & ice. A leadfoot in warm weather and a 90 year old grandmother who shouldn't be driving (people honk at me for going too slow for them) is now my reality. If I have to, I'll still drive and my hands will ache from clutching the wheel white-knuckled. I try not to drive on any days like that and procrastinate anything I can until the roads have been plowed & salted. I even used up many paid sick days strictly because of the weather after my vacation was depleted because my boss actually understood what it did to me and was one terrific lady. Shit, I can't even drive with music because I need to psychotically focus on not having an accident.

That's my long-standing phobia.

Dude, you are living in the wrong part of the country. What you need is one of those nice 55+ condos in Boca Raton, with a golf cart and a grocer that delivers.
Seriously tho, I understand completely, having had to drive many times in the worst kind of ice and snow for many winters. I'm just glad I won't have to do that again tomorrow.

[Greg]

Phobias are very strange things.

Yes they are. While mine is not very debilitating at all, I suddenly stopped enjoying being submersed in water, either while swimming, or in a full bathtub, when I was around 13 years old. Before that, I would swim a lot, and almost always under water. But, now if the water is up to my chest I get a strange claustrophobic sensation, and have a bit of difficulty breathing. I can get past it, but it's strange how it suddenly began, and seemingly for no reason (that I can figure out).

Many snowy, icy winters ago, within a 14 day period, I was almost killed on 2 separate occasions by a semi passing me on the interstate and then cutting back into the right lane too soon and both times causing a white-out that made my car do a couple of 360's and wind up in a ditch in the median. The first time, had it happened about 75 yards farther up the road, I would have died from the drop.

Wow. Far worse than my 18-wheeler experience that engulfed me in a watery deluge when the truck passed me on the left on Route 17 in NY on the way to Niagara. Also decided to cut right too early, but I had enough room behind to break and avoid hydroplaning. Still a terrifying experience.

One snowy Novemeber back when Penn & Teller Get Killed was hitting theatres, I almost ran over Ray Teller after losing traction around a bend on a hill. Darn good thing the guy's got good reflexes.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Phobias can be debilitating. I cured mine through the mental tools of "general semantics." Don't worry, I'm not getting all culty on you, it's just a set of tools...

[Klonk]

Gosh what an upbeat thread!

[Enid]

[QUOTE=llanwydd;48003]You are not the first ever to panic while trying to cross the Walt Whitman Bridge. Could it have been the toll?[/QUOTE

Thanks...that made my day..lol!

[Enid]

Phobias are very strange things. I have one (I am not going to discuss here), that pretty much only my wife and a few family members know about. It is very very very real and very weird (at least I think it is). There are certain things that I just can’t do without freaking out. You’re right, in certain situations it makes you feel pathetic and moronic, but it is something that I have never gained much control over. I have a very vivid early childhood memory that I think was the trigger, but I have no way to prove it. Most people in my life have no idea this resides within me, but it is there.

Steve Sly

A strange and disturbing experience during childhood may be my case. It doesn't matter if I reveal something and no one cares. I was chased down and dragged through the mud by a Satan cult and some of my friends suffered Satanic ritual abuse. If deep down...that is the reason for phobia..I am not aware of it. I can't seem to connected the 2. Many of my friends have testimonies they wrote based around the experience. Although I haven't spoke with them in years, maybe they have phobia too? Supposedly phobia can be linked to a bad childhood experience.

[Dave the Brave]

I was almost killed on 2 separate … doing a couple of 360's ….

Happened to me twice. First time I was going home from a lady friends home the morning after (nudge, nudge, wink wink). Driving on a major Highway I hit a patch of black ice and spun out and across 3 different lanes. Luckily it was Christmas morning about 8:00 am and almost devoid of traffic.

Next time it happened I was driving on a downgrade curve, I lost control and the car actually spun twice the westbound side of the road and then jumped a 6 inch high median into the eastbound lanes. Man I shit my pants, figuratively speaking. Again I was lucky traffic was light. Both times it was in the same 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. Ever since then I also am a very nervous driver in winter weather.

That's the injury side now the illness side.

Bad pain in my feet. Thought I had gout until my mother in law made me go to the doc, I try to avoid the health care system. Turns out it isn't gout but osteoarthritis.
Lots of inflammation and pain. Trying to avoid too many pain meds, just a couple of arthritis Tylenol a day to help me with my walk home from the train station. Recently stated SierraSil supplement. Doc recommended glucosomene but the smell of those suckers, its made from crab shells and such, as well as the size of the pills makes me gag. SierraSil is a mineral supplement made of some exotic clay found in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Iv'e only been taking it a couple of weeks and if I feel no relief by the time the $45 90 pill bottle is gone it will be gone.

Well I'm gonna go brave the weather and head for my train ride home.


DtB

[Vic2012]

I'm starting to get a phobia about trees. . Couldn't resist. I know, phobias aren't a joke. I hate bees and wasps. They give me the willies.

[Hunnibee]

Is the "Walt Whitman Bridge" the one that goes between Camden and Philly? I got lost after a Blackfield concert in Philly in 2011 and ended up crossing that bridge, then I couldn't figure out a way to go back. I finally stopped at a donut shop and the nice folks showed me how to get back on the westward side of the bridge. People tell me I'm lucky to be alive after being lost in Camden, LOL, but I was okay. So, I'm crossing the bridge and I panic because I see a toll booth ahead. All I have is a $5 bill on me. My debit card was at my hotel. Then I'm frantically trying to get the window in the rental car to go down so I can pay at the toll booth, and I end up rolling them all down because it's dark in the car and I'm unfamiliar with all the buttons, so the wind is blowing inside the car and I almost lost my driving directions to get from Philly to Gettysburg (for RosFest). I pay the toll and then I still can't roll up the windows, so I had to pull over once I got through downtown Philly with the wind still buzzing my ears and finally got all the windows up. Hilarious now, but frustrating back then.

So if that's the bridge, then yeah, I'd have a phobia, too!

Seriously, though, Enid, I can understand a little. My phobia is enclosed spaces. I cannot stand elevators or small rooms with no windows. I love hiking, but I cannot enter caves, unless the mouth is very wide and I can see the light. I once panicked when I was hiking alone near Mt. Charleston, Nevada and found myself in a narrow canyon. I backtracked immediately! I can't dive, either, although swimming and snorkeling are okay as long as I'm close to the surface. I can't sleep in a sleeping bag that is zipped up. Large crowds don't bother me if I'm outdoors and can breathe real air. I can handle short plane trips, but after a few hours, I start panicking. Deep snow suffocates me, another reason why I had to leave Alaska. Driving through long tunnels, OMG! Forget it. I can't even sit through an automatic car wash, for christsake. I have to wash the car by hand, and I actually like that anyway... good exercise.

Like you, Enid, it's the lack of fresh air, I think, but it all started when I was 4 years old, and I was stuck alone in an elevator for several hours. No one knew I was in there until someone heard me screaming. Yes, my mom was looking for me, but I have been known to wander off and explore on my own. This was back before "stranger danger", and a little girl could play on the playground by herself. In any case, to this day, I am a certified Claustrophobe.

I hope you can find answers to your bridge problem, Enid.

[beano]

Mental Illness since childhood..But more recently , an OJI resulting in a rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder and a herniated disc in my neck..had arthroscopic surgery in December, on the mend...

[Greg]

...an OJI resulting in a rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder and a herniated disc in my neck..had arthroscopic surgery in December, on the mend...

I know what you're feeling. I'm a bit prone to rotator cuff/shoulder/upper arm injuries due to training.

About six years ago I went to an orthopaedic surgeon and had an arthrogram done of my shoulder--THE most painful experience of my life. let me tell you. Nothing I have experienced before or since compares to having a four inch long needle slowly snaked through your pectoral tissue, and reposition several times, while injecting contrast medium into the joint tissue.

To make it all worse, there was no tear to be found.

Ultimately it ended up being a biceps long-head strain, and I was pretty darned pissed off.

Right now, I have pain in the left medial-deltoid, biceps long-head, and brachialis insertion. But, it's far more painful while I sleep, than when I move around and train.

When I was nineteen, I fractured the odontoid of C2 and spent a year walking around with a potentially fatal cervical spine injury while the eejit doctors my mother had been bringing me to floundered and just told me to "relax for a while". Ultimately, I ended up with a C1-C2 spinal fusion and a seven inch scar down the back of my neck.

Even the pain from the broken neck was nothing compared to that arthrogram.

But, get well soon. Glad to hear you were a good candidate for arthroscopic surgery.

[llanwydd]

Gosh what an upbeat thread!

It's not for everyone.

[Dave (in MA)]

I think Greg is winning this thread.

[Greg]

I think Greg is winning this thread.

I don't think I like this kind of winning.

[yogibear]

y'all are some effed up peeps. for sho . well i had sleep apnea bout 3-4 yr ago and had surgery to fix some thangs. so i had a polyup in the sinuses and they removed it and had the tonsil's and adenoids removed so that hepped a little bit and also the doctor removed/shaved a little bit of my tongue on the back side to give more room to the air that wasn't going into my lungs lol. so now when i sleep i don't stop breathing which i suppose is a good thing. at least i don't scare the shit out of the wife like i used to . lol .

[meimjustalawnmower]

I know what you're feeling. I'm a bit prone to rotator cuff/shoulder/upper arm injuries due to training. About six years ago I went to an orthopaedic surgeon and had an arthrogram done of my shoulder--THE most painful experience of my life. let me tell you. Nothing I have experienced before or since compares to having a four inch long needle slowly snaked through your pectoral tissue, and reposition several times, while injecting contrast medium into the joint tissue.

I had arthroscopic surgery for a torn rotator cuff about 3 years ago. The most painful part of the entire ordeal was the physical therapy after, and that wasn't even a big deal. It took a while. It was inconvenient. I had to re-learn how to use my left arm. It definitely wasn't fun, but I've had way more pain from gout in my foot.

[Enid]

Is the "Walt Whitman Bridge" the one that goes between Camden and Philly? I got lost after a Blackfield concert in Philly in 2011 and ended up crossing that bridge, then I couldn't figure out a way to go back. I finally stopped at a donut shop and the nice folks showed me how to get back on the westward side of the bridge. People tell me I'm lucky to be alive after being lost in Camden, LOL, but I was okay. So, I'm crossing the bridge and I panic because I see a toll booth ahead. All I have is a $5 bill on me. My debit card was at my hotel. Then I'm frantically trying to get the window in the rental car to go down so I can pay at the toll booth, and I end up rolling them all down because it's dark in the car and I'm unfamiliar with all the buttons, so the wind is blowing inside the car and I almost lost my driving directions to get from Philly to Gettysburg (for RosFest). I pay the toll and then I still can't roll up the windows, so I had to pull over once I got through downtown Philly with the wind still buzzing my ears and finally got all the windows up. Hilarious now, but frustrating back then.

So if that's the bridge, then yeah, I'd have a phobia, too!

Seriously, though, Enid, I can understand a little. My phobia is enclosed spaces. I cannot stand elevators or small rooms with no windows. I love hiking, but I cannot enter caves, unless the mouth is very wide and I can see the light. I once panicked when I was hiking alone near Mt. Charleston, Nevada and found myself in a narrow canyon. I backtracked immediately! I can't dive, either, although swimming and snorkeling are okay as long as I'm close to the surface. I can't sleep in a sleeping bag that is zipped up. Large crowds don't bother me if I'm outdoors and can breathe real air. I can handle short plane trips, but after a few hours, I start panicking. Deep snow suffocates me, another reason why I had to leave Alaska. Driving through long tunnels, OMG! Forget it. I can't even sit through an automatic car wash, for christsake. I have to wash the car by hand, and I actually like that anyway... good exercise.

Like you, Enid, it's the lack of fresh air, I think, but it all started when I was 4 years old, and I was stuck alone in an elevator for several hours. No one knew I was in there until someone heard me screaming. Yes, my mom was looking for me, but I have been known to wander off and explore on my own. This was back before "stranger danger", and a little girl could play on the playground by herself. In any case, to this day, I am a certified Claustrophobe.

I hope you can find answers to your bridge problem, Enid.

We have a lot in common! Lol! I suffer through the same situations...like being a passenger in a car and traveling through a tunnel or the car wash. I gotta have fresh air in a situation like this and I will run outside on the porch when it's 20 degrees below zero with a tank top on. I can't watch a scene from a movie where a car falls into a river, people are trying to get out , swim to the top to breath again and so I leave the room. Or someone falling through ice. My body starts to freeze up and I become dizzy. Someone told me this was related to bad childhood experiences..like for example when I was chased down by cults. I wrote stories about the nightmarish experiences with my friends and recorded music which revolved around the theme of it...as a means of releasing the emotionally charged inner reaction inside of me. I hope it is not the reason as I thought I closed the lid on the coffin long ago. I use to wear black everyday. Not because I thought I was a mysterious witch, but as a childish act of spite. I didn't like those people because of the ritual abuse they inflicted upon my friends.

[llanwydd]

We have a lot in common! Lol! I suffer through the same situations...like being a passenger in a car and traveling through a tunnel or the car wash. I gotta have fresh air in a situation like this and I will run outside on the porch when it's 20 degrees below zero with a tank top on. I can't watch a scene from a movie where a car falls into a river, people are trying to get out , swim to the top to breath again and so I leave the room. Or someone falling through ice. My body starts to freeze up and I become dizzy. Someone told me this was related to bad childhood experiences..like for example when I was chased down by cults. I wrote stories about the nightmarish experiences with my friends and recorded music which revolved around the theme of it...as a means of releasing the emotionally charged inner reaction inside of me. I hope it is not the reason as I thought I closed the lid on the coffin long ago. I use to wear black everyday. Not because I thought I was a mysterious witch, but as a childish act of spite. I didn't like those people because of the ritual abuse they inflicted upon my friends.

I'd be interested to know what sort of people these were who abused you, especially their ages. I know that many stories of satanic ritual abuse have turned out not to be true and innocent people have suffered as a result. However, I'm certain that these these things occur occasionally within the "metal" community. When I was younger I knew a few teenagers who were very serious about the devil and I wouldn't have put anything past them. I tend to think, though, that such ritual crimes are not perpetrated by anyone of a responsible age. When I hear stories like yours I don't form any conclusions but I never dismiss them because I have suffered other kinds of abuse and no one would believe me because of the good reputations of the people involved. Anyway, to be more concise, were these a bunch of teenage metalheads?

[Vic2012]

I used to have this phobia about needles and drawing blood. Not sure why but it's something I inherited. It's not that it hurt, it's just the thought of a metal tube being inserted into a vein to draw out my life. There were a few times as a kid (even as an adult) that when I gave blood (lab work, or whatever) i'd turn white, my skin would get clammy, and I'd wanna throw up (I actually passed out a couple times). A few years ago I finally got over it. Since I have to do blood work every 3 months it's become routine. I just can't watch the blood being drawn.

I still get the creepies around flying, stinging insects though. That was because of a childhood trauma. I was stung by a wasp at 3 years old. Never been stung by a bee or wasp since. I'm not as freaked out by them today though. But I remember as a kid people would give me this patented, canned response ... "ignore the bee and it'll go away." Um right, fat chance. The fuckin' bee would just head right for me like it knows I'm freaking out.....

[Dave (in MA)]

I still get the creepies around flying, stinging insects though. That was because of a childhood trauma. I was stung by a wasp at 3 years old.

When I was 3 or 4 I was playing outside and was wondering why what I mistook to be one of these was stuck to the drainpipe. You can fill in the rest of the story yourself.

[Vic2012]

Wazzat? All I see is some round thing.
???

[NeonKnight]

I suppose I have a list as long as the rest of you when it comes to injuries and illness. Only thing recent is a bad cough and my first ever experience with lovely pink eye. All under control now with some anti-biotics.

Greg: I noticed you mentioned food allergies. Have you heard about ALCAT? I used their testing last year for weight loss and it worked like a charm. (Down 30 lbs in about 90 days, and maintaining.)

I don't have any allergies (thankfully) but many people have had success using ALCAT for food and chemical allergy control.