"How is your back?"

[Joel]

I will echo the same as others--mostly I just say something like, "Ok, but could be better." Sometimes though, I get a question something like, "When do you expect it to improve?" or "What are you doing to make it better?" That's when I tend to lay it on them in detail. Maybe it's good for me to hear myself say it too--that after 5 years it is never going to get any better, and probably it will continue to get worse. They are very tough words to say and I'm still trying to get my arms around it. It is depressing, but it is also reality.

[Oscar Medina]

Hey Bill:

I find that no one really understands me when I try to explain. I specially get annoyed when people try to compare their back pain, say for example, after they've worked on their computer, with the kind of pain and sensations I've just described to them. What I do then, is show them the pictures my wife took just after surgery. She took lots of pictures and video, so I just show them that. Once they see the 8 inch scar in back of my neck they seem to understand a lot better!

i started a new thread on "Tramadol and other medications". Can you give us some insight as to the kind of meds you take and their effects. I'm finding that as I slowly get rid of Tramadol, i'm feeling better and I don't have as many bad days in the week as I used to. It's the last of many meds I was taking post op. Very difficult to get weaned off of! I don't fatigue as easily for example and I do sleep better.

Oscar

[Jody]

You might want to respond by asking them if they want the truth? If they do they will tell you, if not, then it shuts them up.

Always works for me.


Jody

[Charity R.]

I've just gotten tired of answering with what I'm really feeling. If I'm having a very painful day I make sure my coworkers know so that they will understand why I'm not my normal happy self. But I rarely go into detales because they just get a glazed look.

The real truth is that NO ONE understands where I am coming from even if I try to explain it... ie...legs feel like they have been asleep, lack of balance, back muscle spasms, headaches from the pain and not being able to feel most of my left leg.

I get lots of comments in the winter time when I wear sandals or flat ballet type slippers in the snow. I try to explain that when I wake up if I can bairly feel my foot that I have to wear shoes that have mostly no heel to them so I can walk without falling.

Most people just laugh!

They don't get it. Even my family doesn't get it, so I just try not to complain and mostly say "I'm doing okay today"

Charity