5 ms·

I have nerve damage from arthritis in my spine. Mine is definitely not correctable with current medical technology (degenerative discs, bone spurs and pinched

I have nerve damage from arthritis in my spine. Mine is definitely not correctable with current medical technology (degenerative discs, bone spurs and pinched nerves & spinal cord from the above). Most days, I'm resting at a 4-5 on a 1-10 pain scale. It can easily reach a 7-8 on bad days. When I go for allergy shots, I dont even notice the injections, typically. Thing is, most pain meds dont even work. NSAIDs don't make a dent. Opiods dont work either (not that I could get a doc to prescribe them if they did). Muscle relaxers do help quite a bit in reducing the pinching of nerves. I recently did a 7 day trial on Celebrex, and after 3 days, I was in the least pain I'd been in for years (apparently it's one of those that builds over a few days). I see my PCP tomorrow and will hopefully get an ongoing prescription. Ive been on Lyrica and gabopentin for the nerve pain in the past. While they helped with the nerve pain, I had a lot of side effects with both, and don't want to go back on either.

astazangasta 7y ago
Have you tried much acupuncture? I've found it extremely effective for nerve issues, although nothing approaching what you are dealing with. But in general western medicine seems bad at resolving these kinds of things, it might be worth investigating. If you are in SF competent practitioners abound.
- dotancohen 7y ago
  There is no reason for this comment to be downvoted. It is both informative and insightful.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    It's completely unsolicited advice. The comment it is replying to is adding first-hand testimony to the discussion, not asking for suggestions for how to manage their own condition. Mere mention of one's own medical situation should not generally be deemed to be open season on the entire internet tossing out medical suggestions, no matter how seemingly insightful. Most people with serious, long-standing conditions know a lot more about it than the average person on the street, have tried myriad approaches to treatment and get incredibly sick of having everyone "helpfully" toss suggestions at them at the mere mention of their diagnosis. It's exhausting to have to say over and over "I've tried that or have a good reason why I am not doing that. I'm aware of those options. My short comment here is not remotely a comprehensive medical history." Everyone puts it on the chronically ill person to be polite and respectful and make them feel good about wanting to help. But it's an incredibly negative experience to be constantly bombarded with such "help" and the implicit expectation that you should be politely appreciative of their good intentions. I'm one of the people that downvoted it and that's why I did so. I'm chronically ill and also post as openly female here. I'm abundantly familiar with the desire to simply say "Oh, hey! I know something about that!" only to get a slew of advice I didn't ask for. The subjective experience of that is that the entire world clearly thinks you are an idiot who isn't trying hard enough and that's the only reason you can't fix your chronic, intractable problems for which the world has no real solutions or you would have already long ago sold your soul to the devil to finance the slam dunk answer. This is part of why some parts of Twitter are awash with bitter complaints about Ablism and how terrible Abled people are.
    - monort 7y ago
      As a counter-argument - my quality of life was greatly increased by an unsolicited advice here.
      - DoreenMichele 7y ago
        Can you point me to the exchange in question?
        monort 7y ago
        Can't find it - it was a long time ago. I was getting strong headaches while traveling, it was a caffeine withdrawal, but I didn't know it until someone here mentioned the possibility. I started drinking caffeinated beverages while traveling, and the problem was gone.
        DoreenMichele 7y ago
        Thank you for trying to find it and for replying. Please note that you getting strong headaches while traveling due to caffeine withdrawal really doesn't fall under what I was describing. I'm talking about people with much more serious, chronic conditions where the entire world would like to act like "Your genetic disorder would totes go away if you would just eat this thing here/take this supplement/read this article!" And I struggle with this myself because I actually have a genetic disorder and it actually has responded well to dietary and lifestyle changes, so I am prone to wanting very much to spread the good news and it tends to not go over well with other people. So I've had to learn to curb my own enthusiasm. I'm not suggesting no one should ever offer unsolicited feedback on Hacker News. I'm just suggesting people be a little sensitive when talking to folks with overwhelming and incurable problems who have probably heard your suggestion umpteen other times and will probably just find it to be an imposition, not a brilliant insight. Most of the time, they aren't commenting about their condition because they are hoping some random stranger will know the miracle cure that they hadn't heard of and be able to somehow back it up credibly. Most of the time, they are just trying to distract themselves from unremitting agony by engaging in a little discussion and their medical situation is something they happen to know something about, so they offer their two cents worth in hopes of feeling like a normal human being for thirty seconds. Intruding on that with "Have you tried X! You should totes try X!" tends to be a super negative experience in most cases for such people. It robs them of their moment of normality that they were reaching for as someone who can simply talk to other people, just like anyone else. You have a great day.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Western medicine is not "western", is THE medicine based in proved facts. Scientifically proven. Anything that experimentally works, being chinese or icelandese, is included in medicine so there are a fair possibily that anything working in chinese medicine is yet included in medicine. The rest is just in the category of "dubious traditions, superstitions, fairy tales and non trustable until proven". The basis if acupuncture is to selectively "stimulate" nerve fibers so the pain dissapears, but the nerve funcion is temporarily damaged. Is not different than blue scorpion poison against cancer, or being struck by an electric current. Killed nerves can't feel or transmit pain sensations but pain is an important defense system for animals. Anesthetics do not cure nerve issues, just hide the problem, as acupuncture does. Sticking needles in a finger maybe could be acceptable. Touching the spine with several hot metal objects has a much higher risk and probably unaceptable in the balance of benefits and cons IMHO.
- hermitdev 7y ago
  I have not tried accupuncture. Personally, I'm skeptical of it. My wife, while also being skeptical, has recently tried it and she reports she's aeeing benefits, so I might try it, but I have not so far.

astazangasta 7y ago

Have you tried much acupuncture? I've found it extremely effective for nerve issues, although nothing approaching what you are dealing with. But in general western medicine seems bad at resolving these kinds of things, it might be worth investigating. If you are in SF competent practitioners abound.

dotancohen 7y ago
There is no reason for this comment to be downvoted. It is both informative and insightful.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  It's completely unsolicited advice. The comment it is replying to is adding first-hand testimony to the discussion, not asking for suggestions for how to manage their own condition. Mere mention of one's own medical situation should not generally be deemed to be open season on the entire internet tossing out medical suggestions, no matter how seemingly insightful. Most people with serious, long-standing conditions know a lot more about it than the average person on the street, have tried myriad approaches to treatment and get incredibly sick of having everyone "helpfully" toss suggestions at them at the mere mention of their diagnosis. It's exhausting to have to say over and over "I've tried that or have a good reason why I am not doing that. I'm aware of those options. My short comment here is not remotely a comprehensive medical history." Everyone puts it on the chronically ill person to be polite and respectful and make them feel good about wanting to help. But it's an incredibly negative experience to be constantly bombarded with such "help" and the implicit expectation that you should be politely appreciative of their good intentions. I'm one of the people that downvoted it and that's why I did so. I'm chronically ill and also post as openly female here. I'm abundantly familiar with the desire to simply say "Oh, hey! I know something about that!" only to get a slew of advice I didn't ask for. The subjective experience of that is that the entire world clearly thinks you are an idiot who isn't trying hard enough and that's the only reason you can't fix your chronic, intractable problems for which the world has no real solutions or you would have already long ago sold your soul to the devil to finance the slam dunk answer. This is part of why some parts of Twitter are awash with bitter complaints about Ablism and how terrible Abled people are.
  - monort 7y ago
    As a counter-argument - my quality of life was greatly increased by an unsolicited advice here.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      Can you point me to the exchange in question?
      - monort 7y ago
        Can't find it - it was a long time ago. I was getting strong headaches while traveling, it was a caffeine withdrawal, but I didn't know it until someone here mentioned the possibility. I started drinking caffeinated beverages while traveling, and the problem was gone.
        DoreenMichele 7y ago
        Thank you for trying to find it and for replying. Please note that you getting strong headaches while traveling due to caffeine withdrawal really doesn't fall under what I was describing. I'm talking about people with much more serious, chronic conditions where the entire world would like to act like "Your genetic disorder would totes go away if you would just eat this thing here/take this supplement/read this article!" And I struggle with this myself because I actually have a genetic disorder and it actually has responded well to dietary and lifestyle changes, so I am prone to wanting very much to spread the good news and it tends to not go over well with other people. So I've had to learn to curb my own enthusiasm. I'm not suggesting no one should ever offer unsolicited feedback on Hacker News. I'm just suggesting people be a little sensitive when talking to folks with overwhelming and incurable problems who have probably heard your suggestion umpteen other times and will probably just find it to be an imposition, not a brilliant insight. Most of the time, they aren't commenting about their condition because they are hoping some random stranger will know the miracle cure that they hadn't heard of and be able to somehow back it up credibly. Most of the time, they are just trying to distract themselves from unremitting agony by engaging in a little discussion and their medical situation is something they happen to know something about, so they offer their two cents worth in hopes of feeling like a normal human being for thirty seconds. Intruding on that with "Have you tried X! You should totes try X!" tends to be a super negative experience in most cases for such people. It robs them of their moment of normality that they were reaching for as someone who can simply talk to other people, just like anyone else. You have a great day.
pvaldes 7y ago
Western medicine is not "western", is THE medicine based in proved facts. Scientifically proven. Anything that experimentally works, being chinese or icelandese, is included in medicine so there are a fair possibily that anything working in chinese medicine is yet included in medicine. The rest is just in the category of "dubious traditions, superstitions, fairy tales and non trustable until proven". The basis if acupuncture is to selectively "stimulate" nerve fibers so the pain dissapears, but the nerve funcion is temporarily damaged. Is not different than blue scorpion poison against cancer, or being struck by an electric current. Killed nerves can't feel or transmit pain sensations but pain is an important defense system for animals. Anesthetics do not cure nerve issues, just hide the problem, as acupuncture does. Sticking needles in a finger maybe could be acceptable. Touching the spine with several hot metal objects has a much higher risk and probably unaceptable in the balance of benefits and cons IMHO.
hermitdev 7y ago
I have not tried accupuncture. Personally, I'm skeptical of it. My wife, while also being skeptical, has recently tried it and she reports she's aeeing benefits, so I might try it, but I have not so far.