a little help, here?
Feb. 7th, 2010 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lolaraincoatSo, okay, my back is really, really bad.
It has been bad since early November, though it was not very good to begin with, and got significantly worse in late December and then somewhat better again. My usual solutions for dealing with it - new orthotics, massage, ice, lightening up on the exercise, stretching, core strengthening, massive doses of NSAIDs - have been not so helpful, though presumably better than nothing. I have a tentative diagnosis, based on an xray, but no MRI yet, though I'm having one soon, but so anyway so far what they can tell me is that it's degenerative disc disease, moderate to severe, between the L4 and L5 vertabrae (no space at all there between the vertabrae, good spacing between all the others), plus moderate arthritis in the facet joints of vertabrae L1-S2. Plus, p.s., incidentally, I have a good-sized kidney stone. Fun!
Anyway, moderate pain sustained over a long period, plus forced reduction in exercise, plus occasional days of complete immobility or severely curtailed immobility, are making me insane. It doesn't help that it is winter and hard to move around anyway, and also dark. My massage therapist recommends - and by recommends I mean that she is actually yelling, with the waving-around arms and everything - that I try an Aquafit class, which they offer at my gym. I am aquafit-averse for several reasons, including that it looks so dorky. But the main thing is, I can't figure out how I could take a class in the pool without wearing my glasses, and I can't wear my glasses in the pool, can I? On the other hand, so far the RMT has been totally, completely right about everything else, so maybe she's right about this?
So, okay, internets, tell me - how do people who need glasses in order to walk from one end of the room to the other manage around swimming pools? And if any of you have any experience of aquafit, in particular, good or bad, I would be glad to hear it. Because otherwise I am going to say fuck it and just get back on the elliptical trainer, hip flexors be damned. And then my RMT will yell at me some more, and I'd prefer to avoid that, thanks.
It has been bad since early November, though it was not very good to begin with, and got significantly worse in late December and then somewhat better again. My usual solutions for dealing with it - new orthotics, massage, ice, lightening up on the exercise, stretching, core strengthening, massive doses of NSAIDs - have been not so helpful, though presumably better than nothing. I have a tentative diagnosis, based on an xray, but no MRI yet, though I'm having one soon, but so anyway so far what they can tell me is that it's degenerative disc disease, moderate to severe, between the L4 and L5 vertabrae (no space at all there between the vertabrae, good spacing between all the others), plus moderate arthritis in the facet joints of vertabrae L1-S2. Plus, p.s., incidentally, I have a good-sized kidney stone. Fun!
Anyway, moderate pain sustained over a long period, plus forced reduction in exercise, plus occasional days of complete immobility or severely curtailed immobility, are making me insane. It doesn't help that it is winter and hard to move around anyway, and also dark. My massage therapist recommends - and by recommends I mean that she is actually yelling, with the waving-around arms and everything - that I try an Aquafit class, which they offer at my gym. I am aquafit-averse for several reasons, including that it looks so dorky. But the main thing is, I can't figure out how I could take a class in the pool without wearing my glasses, and I can't wear my glasses in the pool, can I? On the other hand, so far the RMT has been totally, completely right about everything else, so maybe she's right about this?
So, okay, internets, tell me - how do people who need glasses in order to walk from one end of the room to the other manage around swimming pools? And if any of you have any experience of aquafit, in particular, good or bad, I would be glad to hear it. Because otherwise I am going to say fuck it and just get back on the elliptical trainer, hip flexors be damned. And then my RMT will yell at me some more, and I'd prefer to avoid that, thanks.
