My Back

[minijoyj]

Went to see a Spine Surgeon yesterday. He told me that he would not do surgery, at least not now. If I did it would be a 12 hour surgery & 9 months to recupe, but it may not even work. Not Good. Would be worse than open heart surgery. Well the solution is to loose weight & physical therapy. Wants me to loose 70 lbs, yeah right!!!!!!!!! We are going to really try to do this. I think I am going to do the Cabbage Soup diet to begin with. Has anyone else done this? I have Scoliosis & advanced degenerative disease. I have not weighed less than 180 since I was young now I am 60. We will try because of the pain.

 

[Bluerocket]

Have never tried the cabbage soup diet - probably would not as I would expect it to cause major GAS!! not good for me.

Sorry to hear about all the complications - best wishes with your diet. Sounds like you have some real motivation to succeed with it. Weighing less can only help (in my opinion) -- Think that 70 pounds is like carrying around 1 1/2 bags of horse feed (50 pound bags) - awfully hard to do!

I need to lose at least 40 pounds myself - maybe more than that. Getting motivated now as I have high cholestrol - and thinking about carrying that bag of feed around is getting me worried about myself.

Soooo --- good luck to you --- I know you can succeed if you really want to do it.

Thinking of you.

JJay

 

[Reble]

I do know how hard it is to loose weight, I need to loose 50 lbs. Easier said than done.

I have been trying green tea, now that it is colder hard to drink water, which I know I should be doing.

Maybe someone that has had to loose weight can give us some great eating habits daily menus might help.

Good Luck and thinking of you & your pain. :new_shocked:

Maybe we can group together and start sharing our daily intake might help us.

First who would like to join a diet session........ :aktion033:

 

[shortymisty]

I know of what you speak, doc wants to do a spinal fusion on me and yes said at least 4 months of recuperation on that end. I have a herniated disc and also arthritis in my lower back. What type of surgery is the doc wanting to do. Have you done the cortisone shots in your back? I just went through three rounds of that and at least can walk without pain and they even said I could ride a horse as long as I have on a therapy brace for my back. Of course they told me to lose the weight thingee too, maybe we can help each other, but I don't think I could handle the cabbage diet thought

:

 

[minijoyj]

Yes, I have done the spinal injections. 1st one worked for 6 months & the 2nd one fo 2 days only. I am not sure what they would do, if I had surgery. My pain specialist said it is the 3rd worst back he has seen. Pain is in lower back around my waist on left side mostly. The spine doc gave me a new med, Lyrica & it is making me light headed, so I have to watch my self. You have to show your drivers lisence to get this stuff, so must me like a narcotic. I am supposed to take 1 two times a day for 5 days then 2 two times a day, hopefully my sytem straithens out & not so dizzy with it. It is for nerves in the back, like for shingles. It will be hard to diet during the holidays, so will have to really get down to business the first of the year. It would help if I had a tread mill & used it slowly. Oh, the Cabbage Soup is like vegatable soup without the meat. It consists of cabbage, carrots, celery, green peppers if you want, V8 juice, you can use boullion cubes for seasoning, I love vegetable soup, but can't eat anything else with it. It is not a permanant thing, they say it is not good for you to do over a week, but can loose quite abit with it.

 

[sfmini]

I need to lose more than you guys to lengthen the life of my knees before they have to be replaced. The cabbage soup or grapefruit or any other extreme fad diet is a bad idea because your cravings will eventually drive you off of it.

I just ordered the new book YOU On A Diet. This is a common sense approach written by two doctors and it is really a change of diet for good, much more healthy, and could lengthen your life. Fairly simple premise, there are 5 ingredients that you are to avoid, can't remember them off the top of my head, but you could google that book and you will get an eye full of information.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

I also have degenrative disc disease and live with 5 "sorta healed" herniated discs. If you'd care to Pm me I can tell you what worked for me.

 

[RAPfrosty]

I have scolioses. Wore the back brace but then we discovered that I have a syrinx (not sure on the spelling) which means that unless I had surgary, my curve would continue to grow until it popped my lung or smashed my heart (YIKES). So obviously, I had the surgary. I was 13 and remember my biggest fear was the IV! However, during my surgary when the were putting the rod in, my legs temporarly paralyzed and they had to take the rod out, wait a week, and do it again. It was a terrible time for me, I lost a ton of weight (bad for me since I was already skinny) from the loss of appetite from the pain medication , I almost became addicted to morphine, I had trouble breathing (they had to deflate one of my lungs for the surgary), I got a drainage tube stuck on my rib, and more! However, I can tell you know that I can't even imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't had that surgary. It was a terrible recovery but it was worth it! If you have any questions, feel free to PM or email me, I'd be glad to share my experience and help you out!