The Bumpiest Ride Ever

The bumpiest ride I ever took was NOT in the back of a pickup truck—it was in the back of an ambulance. It might as well have been a pickup truck, except that my hair wasn’t blowing around! And believe me, when you’re lying flat on your back with a very unhappy spine, every bump in the road gets your full attention. But how did I end up in an ambulance in the first place? That’s where this story begins.

It all started with something as innocent as reaching for, and tugging on, a bedsheet. Within 30 minutes I was in intense back pain and writhing on the floor. I could not get up. I knew I needed to go to the ER, but the only way to get there was by those three special numbers “9-1-1.” (I could not have stood up and gotten into a car to be driven there if my life depended on it.)

How blessed we are in this country to have help arrive at our house within minutes of requesting it. Fortunately, I had my husband ready to dial the “911” number. What if I had been alone or did not have my phone nearby? I can’t imagine how that would have ended.

A few minutes after the ambulance crew hoisted me into the back of the big red “pickup truck,” I was on my way down the road. I remember every bump and swerve. I was thinking, “This thing has NO shock absorbers!” How can that be? We arrived at the ER just before my motion sickness kicked in. When the nurse asked me what my pain level was (a number from 1–10, ten being the worst), I said “twelve.” I am sure she wrote down “ten.”

The morphine barely made a dent in the pain. It was about that time that I noticed that my right thigh was numb. That couldn’t be good. In the ER, I never really saw a doctor, only the nurse and maybe a PA (physician assistant). Nobody offered to run an X-ray to see if I did something really bad to my back, and I was in too much pain to ask for more tests.

A couple of hours later, with not much improvement in my comfort, the nurse indicated that I should be on my way. They were ready to discharge me. Not much compassion displayed here! Maybe they needed my room for other patients that would surely arrive soon? I struggled into my husband’s car and I made it back home.

In the next couple of weeks, I saw a gradual improvement in the pain—not without some very bad sleepless nights. This was the kind of pain that even extra-strength acetaminophen and ibuprofen do not touch. They gave me some codeine in the hospital, but even that did not work. There was no position that I could take that relieved the pain. It was constant. The pain totally sapped my strength. Kidney stone pain is the same, and it doesn’t end till you discharge the stone. The pain of childbirth is on a par with this, but at least that ends with the birth of a baby!

TYLENOL

I did take Tylenol (acetaminophen), but I stayed well below the maximum dose for a day. Did you know that there is a hazard in taking too much Tylenol? It can seriously damage the liver. The liver uses glutathione—the body’s “master antioxidant”—to detoxify NAPQI, a highly reactive metabolite of acetaminophen (ref). With an overdose, glutathione can become severely depleted, allowing that metabolite to damage the liver. Since I value my own anti-oxidant levels, I took a glutathione supplement during my recover (like this one). Some individuals may differ in their capacity to metabolize this widely used over-the-counter drug-

• There is continuing research into acetaminophen and possible neurological effects in young children. (ref)There are also serious questions about the effects of acetaminophen on the developing brain. Researcher William Parker and his colleagues have assembled numerous lines of evidence that they argue support a causal connection between acetaminophen exposure and autism in susceptible infants and children (Tylenol and Autism: Evidence, Scientific Blunders, and Medicine Gone Wrong, William Parker, PhD.  (learn about the book here).

• These are topics for another blog

Have you ever been in so much pain that you can’t even eat or drink? You just suffer. But the body needs to repair itself. Somehow, you have to force yourself to eat some food, and it should be healthy food. But alas, the appetite is gone, so you resort to a cracker here or a cookie there. The best foods for bodily repair are things like bone broth soups, soft-cooked vegetables, or a nice pastured egg. Protein is important. I had to force myself to eat enough protein every day.

Back pain can often be ameliorated by using an inversion table. An inversion table is a “table” that you lay on and it tilts back so that you are hanging almost upside down. This takes the weight off your lower spine. You hang there for a few minutes, a couple of times a day. I borrowed an inversion table from a neighbor and used it for a few weeks. It may have helped.

Over time (a couple of weeks), the pain actually faded away. Ah! I must be healed! Off I went to lead a yoga class. But within a couple of hours the pain had returned. I guess I was not healed. More sleepless nights ensued. I learned my lesson. One can’t hasten healing. One must be patient and wait it out. Besides that, my leg was still numb.

Next, I wrestled with the medical system in order to get orders for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). I discovered that no doctor in my area would even see me without an MRI in hand. But how do I get an MRI without seeing a doctor first? A medical catch-22!

After much frustration and finagling, I got an MRI. Long story short, the MRI didn’t show a large herniated disc or other obvious culprit. It did show some narrowing around the nerves in my lower spine, along with changes from back surgery I had 30 years ago. And previous back surgery can sometimes leave changes that contribute to problems years later. Wonderful.

Eventually, I saw two doctors, and it appears that I may have “angered” some nerves—and nerves can take a long time to settle down. Nerve tissue repairs itself much more slowly than most other tissues in the body. As of this writing, my thigh is still numb. In the meantime, I take it easy, and, I do as a wise neighbor suggested—I don’t make the bed anymore!

Always talk to your health professional before starting anything new.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any condition and is intended only for entertainment. I welcome your comments.