Spine Force

So I did manage to have two visits with Dr. Meadows and his staff last week - despite the fact it was Thanksgiving weekend. I went in on Tuesday, and when Dr. Meadows overhead me say that I was taking off the following day to take my daughter on errands on her birthday - I was told to come in then too.

On Tuesday last week, the 25th, I got worked on the Spine Force machine for the first time. This is after I had a just over a week of doing exercises on the exercise ball to strengthen the intrinsic muscles in my back.

This is a picture of a spine force machine, but it's not at the Spinal Relief Center. After reading up on them on the Internet, I see that they are used for muscle rehab as well as disk rehab. There seem to be a fair amount of them in California, but Rochelle (in Dr. Meadows' office) told me that the ones in that office there in Redmond were the only ones in the state of Washington. That's pretty wild. Hard to have the only one of ANYTHING these days.

Okay, about the Spine Force machine...hmmm...I've only had one session on it, so I can't say much other than the fct that it didnt' cause me any additional pain. It seems to be a lesson in not only working the intrinsic muscles, but controlling them as well. You are asked to pull or push on the handles you see there on the machine, and to do so in such a way that you achieve a specific pressure reading on the machine. Your success or failure is based on how close you can get to the mark and how often. Rochelle said that I did pretty well for my first time with a score of about 70%.

At the writing of this blog entry, I find that I've needed several pain pills this week. My back has acted up and decided to hurt quite a bit again. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have to say that the overall pain level has increased to a 4, with spikes to 6 and 7 - and I'm back to being in pain about 40% of the time. **sigh** Don't know what to think about that. I sure want this treatment to work - and I am honestly trying to do everything in my power to help it. I am doing as I'm told. I haven'y gotten in my hot tub, I have walked and not on the treadmill, I've done the strengthening exercises - and yet here I am. Still in pain. It's much better than it was, but I'm still going to treatments, and I'm wearing my disc disctractor belt when I'm on my feet.

I have high hopes, but I'm skeptical. Okay...that's it! I'm going for another treatment on Tuesday. We'll see how I am by then.

We're in the Home Stretch Now . . .

but still no Hot Tub! Waaaaah! It's a cruel world, baby....a cruel world indeed.

Well, it's been a few days since I checked in, and I was reminded of that fact when I went in for my treatment this morning. My back has been feeling pretty good (knock on wood), with the exception of some time this weekend when it hurt like all HELL because I guess I over-did it in the kitchen or something. Something like that... I had to make a CARROT CAKE...and some homemade white bread! I have stuffing coming up here at the end of the week and you can't just use any old crappy croutons you find at the store for Thanksgiving, y'know. So...I guess standing up in the kitchen, kneading bread dough and baking for three-and-a-half hours was overdoing it.

But the back held up until the very end of all that too. However, when I finally did sit down, it was telling me about it. ALL about it too. Other than that one day when I obviously did way too much, the rest of the weekend was a pretty low pain time. I was able to do pretty much everything I needed to do and the pain never got above a 2 or 3.

Dr. Meadows has changed my exercises and I started doing some strengthening stuff on the exercise ball this weekend. They look really simple, but when you concentrate and do what you're supposed to do, they get kinda hard. But I've increased my walking to 50 minutes a day (with doctor permission, so if you're reading this, Renee, you'll know I'm still doin' what I'm told!). And that's working out fine for me.

So not much to tell, other than the fact that Dr. Meadows also said that he was going to start me on the spine force machine on my next visit...I believe that's what he said anyway. Talk to you then!

Treatment after 5-days Off

So I went for another back treatment today. It was the first since last Thursday, which has been a whopping five days ago. I've experienced a variety of pain and pain management over those five days. I had average pain on Friday - about 30% of the time - but on Saturday, the pain kicked up to the point that it was scary and I was concerned that maybe the treatment was somehow reversing. Now what did I DO to make that happen? Nothing. Surprisingly, I didn't over-exert myself and I still had a day of pretty big pain. Sometimes it hit 7 on the 1 - 10 pain scale, and it's been a while since I've seen sustained pain at that level. (Thoughtful pause: that statement alone actually a pretty good testimony for the effectiveness of this treatment). You know something else that is strange is that before I decided to have the spinal decompression treatment, I couldn't seem to find any information on it - and now, I find a ton of information on it. Lots of differing opinions, etc... What do I attribute that to? Well, I'll tell ya....I've noticed that my concentration levels are much higher now that I am out of pain. You may say "Duh!" - but let me tell you, when you slip into chronic pain, you are just so focused on making it stop or trying to block it out, that you don't necessarily notice all the lovely side-car baggage you are getting - such as the inability to concentrate. Now, given the fact that my job is sometimes all about intense concentration, I did, in fact, notice this phenomenon late in the game - just a few weeks before I contacted Dr. Meadows. But I'm certain that the same websites I'm seeing on the subject of spinal decompression existed in mid-September, I just didn't have the concentration levels needed to feret them out. And now I find that I can sit down, read a book, look stuff up on the Internet, think about stuff, and am generally getting back my mental agility. I'm sure that there is no small part of this attributable to the fact that I am now generally off of the pain medication except on the occassions when it is absolutely necessary - like this past Saturday. I finally succumbed and had to take a pain med about 3:00 p.m. that day. I wasn't happy about it because 1 pill almost always leads to 2 pills to get through the day.

Oh, and I'm not sure whether I've already mentioned it or not, but Dr. Meadows told me to increase my fish oil intake to 3 tablespoons per day....3 tablespoons. (Not really that much if you talk to the people at the health food store who think that a pint a day is about right). But gotta tell you....weird things are happening....such as I think the guy in the picture to the right is quite attrative.... I'm just sayin! One thing that's not a joke about the fish oil intake is the expense. That's something that you'd better budget if you decide to get these treatments. The fish oil alone is an additional $23.00 a week if you are taking the 2 tablespoon dose - at 3 tablespoons, that number goes up to $30 at least. Oh well....if it helps, it's well worth it, and you'll have the heart of a young Inuit when you're finished with your treatments. I think that taking fish oil on a regular basis is part of the maintenance of your back when you're done with your course of treatment, but it's at a much lesser rate. I think 1 tablespoon per day. I've gotten to the point that I actually look forward to it! I'm turning into a flippin' seal! The fish oil recommended by the good doc is Barlean's. I've been really happy with it, and I think it's a nationally known high-quality product that's made right down the road in Ferndale, Washington. Click here to check out their website. I think I'm going to take my own advice and see if I can't get it a little cheaper off ta Interweb!

So...bottom line: Here it is....week 8 of my spinal decompression experience, and my overall rating for the treatment and my decision to have it even WITHOUT insurance coverage is an 8.5. Why not a 9 or a 10? Well, because I'm reserving that mark for completion. I still have quite a bit of pain, and there's soreness and general sensitivity. But we're not done yet. OH! And I haven't yet taken another picture of Dr Meadows, but since I have pics up of the staff - including the Kangarooo, I thought I'd use a photo of him that you can find all over the internet. Better than nothin! I'm going to try to get a current one really soon. My treatments go on through this month and into mid-December, so I've got some time.

Another 3 Treatments Down the Road

Well, I'm another 3 treatments into my course at the Spinal Relief Center. I have been doing my 30 minutes a day walking, and I've been riding my stationary bike on alternating days for about 15-20 minutes at a time. However, as I sit here and type this entry, my back is hurting. It's actually hurting mostly in my butt. I am, sitting down in this spanky cool chair that I work in which seems to be the most comfortable thing I can manage. It's got a mesh seat pan that gives really nicely when you sit down on it. But I know that if it doesn't get better pretty quickly today, I'm going to be forced to take a friggin' pain pill. I will hold off as long as possible though. I know that the only thing I have not been as diligent on as I might are the intrinsic muscle exercises. And even then, it's only that I haven't done the position that requires I be on my knees as much as I've done the seated ones. Oh well. I know that things take time, and Allison has told me when she's put me on the table, that this is the norm. It tends to go up and down in cycles. So I still have faith in the process. I'm not due for another treatment until next Tuesday, and I look forward to it. I thought I'd post a little update though - it's not all sweetness and light. And it's not a miracle cure. I'm just hoping that it will actually work when it's all said and done. One of the variables that was intraoduced in the past few days is that I went to Dr. Meadows' other office, which is a straight chiropractic practice, and they determined that my left leg was 7 mm shorter than the right. They provided me with a heel lift - so it may be that the heel lift being in there has been just enough to irritate the already very delicate back. We'll see.