Cervical Spondylosis ruminations

Fellow sufferers will be aware, I'm assuming here, that a lot of prime thinking time can be overwhelmed with anxiety when you have to prepare yourself for events, despite the aches and pains. I'm sure this is true of most painful conditions. Due to the nature of my c/s, I have on many, many, occassions been almost traumatised by, having made an arrangement...work, social etc., to find that, on the day of action, my resolve has been destroyed and a huge effort is required if I'm not going to publicly declare myself unfit for purpose...there's too much to lose. I think my regular customers ( I'm a self employed decorator) see this determination in me and, although they are unaware of my predicament, they sense that I'm the type who will always overcome any problems and finish the job satisfactorally. Strangely, some of my best customers are GPs and Consultants....this I might deal with on another day, when I'm in a bad mood! Little do they know how I wobble on the edge of committment. Wouldn't it be nice to just sit back and focus on my own comforts!

Anyway, all this determination, control and managing c/s gives birth to its own negative opposite...Anxiety. To me, anxiety is like a fungus which, once it finds an area of the mind occupied by confusion and indecision, will spread it's tentacles (spores) to cause further chaos. It really only exists because we allow it a vacuum to inhabit. I'm talking traumatic anxiety here, not your normal anxieties, which are a neccessary element in coming to rational decisions. There seems to be a point of pressure, where normal anxieties can tip over into Anxiety/Depression and c/s sufferers should be wary. From my own experience, I know I must be vigilant when it comes to expecting more from myself than I am physically or mentally capable of. My current motto is \"Know your limitations and treat other peoples expectations as suspect\"...my predicament is special and must take precedence in any decision making process.

Back to anxiety (High Anxiety). Some years back I had a really bad spell...it lasted 4/5 months...when my anxieties rendered me ineffective -- no work, no social life, to be honest everthing felt a lot worse. I didn't need this on top of my usual aches/pains...so, eventually, was forced into thinking my way out of it (although at the time I didn't even realise this was what I was doing). This was my solution: Visualise anxiety as a parasitic element in your mind. As explained before, it only multiplies itself when you allow it to feed on areas where you have dropped your normal defences. Dropping these defences is a voluntary act and you are just as capable of raising them again, at will. Because, after all, your survival instincts should be master of your mind and, under normal circumstances, your instincts would kick in automatically to protect you from your own confusions. Easy to say, but when Anxiety has established itself as surrogate master ...it must be dislodged with force - mental force. A great weapon in Anxiety's arsenal ( as a Spurs fan I really hate putting that word into print!) is it's ability to convince you that you are, as if by nature, an anxious person. Not true. Your levels of anxiety depend on your willingness to allow them to proliferate. Ignore the confused areas, ignore any seedlings of negative doubt. They only exist to feed off your resolve. Focus on your primary needs i.e. the relief of aches and pains, and Anxiety will hopefully become something which is humoured rather than obeyed. I feel a Biblical complex overcoming me...\"And He didst smite the Great Evil with Cuprinol Anti-Fungal Agent, which does exactly what it says in the bible\".

Again, I hope this makes sense. That will depend on others' experiences. To get back to a more normal posting, I used to get anxious (not High Anxiety) playing guitar, because I would lose the rythym or, due to tension, get tunnel vision and eventually lose the plot and f... up. It really an

Hi Mike5172,

Didn't realise we'd moved on to Page 2. Gridlock on the Patient UK site. See what I mean? Really, thank you for your comments.

I'm humbled, and I wont forget to give a mention to your support during my acceptance speech at the award ceremony.

Onwards and upwards. I'm in the zone now. The other night I kept myself awake for hours thinking about this next bit...but it was constructive thinking and I felt quite good about where it was heading. The theme was \"What exactly is Cervical Spondylosis, what are it's causes and symptoms, and are the bodies natural healing powers capable of dealing with it, given the right circumstances\". The Biggy..Heh? So, here goes.

1: What is C/S? At some time, two bones in the neck vertebrae have clashed together causing slight splintering at the ends (which may still be lodged in the surrounding tissue) and leaving jagged ends on one, or both, vertebrae bones. The tissue ( muscle mostly) would normally try to remove any foreign bodies but, because the splinters are bone, it might not react as it would (bone being a recognisable matter which belongs in the body) and chooses to ignore. The jagged ends will, over time, try to mend themselves (the wonders of DNA) and probably include a tendency to overcompensate, as happens with bone fractures/breaks in other parts of the body. So, the meeting vertebrae may have evolved to be too big for comfort. The vertebrae, themselves, are not a direct source of pain. It is their interaction with the surrounding tissue and nerves which we know as the chronic painful condition Cervical Spondylosis. Please remember, I'm just an amateur trying to rationalise something which, I feel, has never been explained to me satisfactorally. Anybody, out there, who knows better...I'm all ears ( or eyes, in this case).

2: Symptoms. ( I almost set my notes alight just now with an inappropiately held ciggy...Is that a symptom? Also, I've just admitted that I use notes...Is that a problem? ). Seriously, I need to discard any symptoms which might confuse the issue of where the source of pain is. Any pains/aches in shoulder, arms, hands, chest etc. are referred pains, a result of nerve pinching by either bone, or tissue, or muscle in the neck. Those areas, shoulder, chest etc. are most likely perfectly ok. It is just a false signal from the nervous system to the brain. I interpret this as the nerve throwing the rattle out of the pram because it knows it is in danger (in the neck) and it is trying desperately to draw attention to it's plight. For some reason, the only way it can do this is by causing chaos elsewhere, in the hope that we can decipher it's confused messages and proceed to protect the neck from further aggravation. Sciatica in the leg is similar. So, we know the problem is in the neck...thus we can discard these referred sympyoms as useless in determining a solution for the neck.

Likewise, any headaches, muggyhead, dizzyness are caused by over-stiffening of the neck muscles at the base of the skull which, in turn, is a natural protective action, by the neck muscle, to minimise any neck/head movement which might result in further aggravation at the source of the problem. These too may be discarded for investigative purposes.

Now that we have got rid of the Great Confusors, we can deal with the real problem. Really, I know it is difficult to ignore these painful symptoms and I am expecting a lot of flak in response (go easy, Im just trying to think outside the box)...but they are false indicators. I swear, I am not in denial of any c/s sufferer's pains. Also, I am only dealing with c/s at the rear of the neck (c4,c5,c6) here, as this is all I'm familiar with. But the same logic could be applied to c/s in other areas (side or front of neck) I'm sure. I will call the prime source of the pain, the only damaged area, the \"P Spot\" for convenience.

It seems, to me, that tilting the head upwards and backwards, raising the arms above shoulder height to work, or lifting awkward things are the main culprits in aggravating the P Spot. We may not feel it at the time, but the repercussions will kick in, without fail, and continue to cause havoc long after the initial aggravation. Also, when

Hiya Gerry

I love your posts, but have one complaint (forgive the northern humour) they are too long, me heads dropping off by the time I get to the second paragraph :wink: .

I think your rumminating is in the right area, but have to say that CS sufferers will each have their own level of pain and managability, each will have their own coping strategy whcih they will have developed over the years, and most if not all of us have days when it is physically impossible to do anything.

Your point about reaching up, or lifting anything heavy, which would hit the p spot, I can't agree with you there Gerry my pain is pretty constant, but maybe my pain threshold is rubbish, but it's not only the pain we have to contend with but also the dreadful tiredness that overcomes me, the muscle and joint weakness too.

More soon

Emxx

Also Gerry,

If you go to the ARC website, (I can't put the url here, have tried, but it was removed for some reason) :roll: Typing the relevent topic in the search bar, will reveal some excellent information

Em

Hi Aunty Em.

Accepted. I didn't get out the day I did that last post. Gotta watch that! ....but I had to get it out of my system. Sorry about the dizzy head. I do try to add a little humour to ease the mind and maybe all I will achieve is end up with a semi-decent stand up comedy routine for my troubles. So it goes.

I do accept that some c/s sufferers have a more consistant and more painful condition than me and I do try to allow for this and not step on any toes, but it is difficult when the symptoms vary so much. I never did finish that last year at the Moldovan State Sponsored School of Charm...I belong to an ethnic minority myself, so I can say what I like right? I do know about the fatique and all that goes with it, but I will say that, as someone who works manually (when I can), I am quite often surprised at how these demons are pushed to the back of the mind when neccessary and are often at their worst when I'm relaxing at home. Again, this only applies to my c/s levels and I'm not advising it for anyone else. Not everyone has the opportunity to engage in physical stress at work (that one has always put me in 2 minds and maybe self cynical). However, I do wonder if, although our capabilities differ, the demons are similar.

Have read all your posts with interest and I will definitely check out the ARC site you mentioned and let you know.

Gerry

ps I've taken the unprecedented action of uploading a rather nice picture of my friend Baba the cat for some light relief.

Hi again Em

Just spotted your tips on remedies page. You are officially the first...so, thank you for helping to get it going.

Gerry

[quote:5ce9995260=\"Gerry the neck\"]Hi Aunty Em.

Accepted. I didn't get out the day I did that last post. Gotta watch that! ....but I had to get it out of my system. Sorry about the dizzy head. I do try to add a little humour to ease the mind and maybe all I will achieve is end up with a semi-decent stand up comedy routine for my troubles. So it goes.

I do accept that some c/s sufferers have a more consistant and more painful condition than me and I do try to allow for this and not step on any toes, but it is difficult when the symptoms vary so much. I never did finish that last year at the Moldovan State Sponsored School of Charm...I belong to an ethnic minority myself, so I can say what I like right? I do know about the fatique and all that goes with it, but I will say that, as someone who works manually (when I can), I am quite often surprised at how these demons are pushed to the back of the mind when neccessary and are often at their worst when I'm relaxing at home. Again, this only applies to my c/s levels and I'm not advising it for anyone else. Not everyone has the opportunity to engage in physical stress at work (that one has always put me in 2 minds and maybe self cynical). However, I do wonder if, although our capabilities differ, the demons are similar.

Have read all your posts with interest and I will definitely check out the ARC site you mentioned and let you know.

Gerry

ps I've taken the unprecedented action of uploading a rather nice picture of my friend Baba the cat for some light relief.[/quote:5ce9995260]

Hiya Gerry,

Love the picci of your friend Babba!!

Don't worry I can sense the humour in your posts, and hope that mine comes through too, it's very difficult using the typo word when you don't know the people involved, for myself, I would never ever intentionally hurt anyone using one of these forums. Ya see I've been to one of those charm schools, and I've been out today toooo :P .

Anyway back on topic, re your above post, you mention varing symptoms with cs, I don,t think the symptoms vary that much from sufferer to sufferer, I believe it's what is actually going on in ,and around the spine which causes the differing levels of capability.

i have only had this flammin thing 3 years, it came on very , very sudden, and like Vicki I was absolutly horrified, but luckily my brother who is a sufferer was able to point me in the right direction regarding docs etc, when I was offered the operation, it was a difficult desision as my brothers op had failed and left him unable to work or carry out everyday activities. Thankfully mine has had a better result in as much as that I c an use my hands, everything else is as was which I thought would be a little better after the op but after 16 months I think this is as good as it is going to get, so as you said Gerry, onwards and upwards as best we can, but god help any one that gets in my way on a bad day :wink:

take Care

Emxx :D

btw, you're welcome . re- home remedies, have you tried the ARC site yet?'

Hi Em

Charming with attitude...I like it already! Just a quickie to say I've had a quick browse at ARC site...Neck Pain and my first impressions are that I like the way they don't adopt a \"Don't worry, you'll be allright\" attitude in their advice, which makes it more reader friendly for me (there's a lot of ingrained scepticism to overcome, on my part, and thats an understatement!). Makes me think that a lot of visits to GPs could have been avoided if this sort of info had been available in pre internet days and their remedies seem to be more in tune with what I consider to be a more organic approach...for instance...when it hurts, rest it and no exercises. Nice to have the professionals support my slobbish tendencies! I will give it a thorough going over later. Glad you liked the cat..He's the Boss.

Gerry

I think I'm suffering from OCPD - Obsessive Compulsive Posting Disorder. Back to the nub of what this page started out as...an investigation into social interactions. I had an incident yesterday which I must relate to magnify the issue. I spent the afternoon with some relatives -shopping, chatting etc. blah blah and all went well. We rounded off with a meal in a restaurant. Nice. During the meal, I casually mentioned that I was spending some time doing these postings, at which one of my co-eaters retorted \"Oh yeah, chatting to a bunch of anonymous hypochondriacs ha ha ha\". I replied \"Yeah, know what you mean (should have added \"if I was a serial denier of anything that conflicts with my view of normality\" but didn't, coz I'm a nice guy). However, I was secretly affronted and proceeded to try and explain how the site has given me a great outlet for the sort of stuff I spend a lot of time thinking about anyway which is difficult to offload under normal circumstances. At this point, the table started to widen and I could hear their voices drifting off into the distance ( a distant ship's smoke on the horizon!). Not really, but I sensed a wariness, as I might be going off on one...so I diplomatically said \"Nevermind, I'm just waffling\" and we changed the subject and moved on. Fair enough, but I felt this subtext of disbelief again and on the way home I started thinking about how I could have restructured my input to help create an atmosphere that would have drawn them into a discussion rather than the alarm going off whenever they hear \"neck problem\" and the subsequent haunted silence. Any suggestions here? I did use the Holidays at Sainsbury's one yesterday on a different topic, and it got a laugh. Maybe, thats as good as it gets!

Hiya Gerry, :D

You are a caution!! :D :D

I was going to post something really useful (yeah, as if) but, I'm laughing sooo much I've forgotten what I was going to say :D :D :P :wink:

I'll get back to you later, when my senior moments subsides 8)

btw, laughter is a wonderful thing, as music is, apparently they release 'happy endorphines' that are natural pain relievers, oops off I go again :D :D :D

Em :D

[quote:b9a956fe92=\"Gerry the neck\"]I think I'm suffering from OCPD - Obsessive Compulsive Posting Disorder. Back to the nub of what this page started out as...an investigation into social interactions. I had an incident yesterday which I must relate to magnify the issue. I spent the afternoon with some relatives -shopping, chatting etc. blah blah and all went well. We rounded off with a meal in a restaurant. Nice. During the meal, I casually mentioned that I was spending some time doing these postings, at which one of my co-eaters retorted \"Oh yeah, chatting to a bunch of anonymous hypochondriacs ha ha ha\". I replied \"Yeah, know what you mean (should have added \"if I was a serial denier of anything that conflicts with my view of normality\" but didn't, coz I'm a nice guy). However, I was secretly affronted and proceeded to try and explain how the site has given me a great outlet for the sort of stuff I spend a lot of time thinking about anyway which is difficult to offload under normal circumstances. At this point, the table started to widen and I could hear their voices drifting off into the distance ( a distant ship's smoke on the horizon!). Not really, but I sensed a wariness, as I might be going off on one...so I diplomatically said \"Nevermind, I'm just waffling\" and we changed the subject and moved on. Fair enough, but I felt this subtext of disbelief again and on the way home I started thinking about how I could have restructured my input to help create an atmosphere that would have drawn them into a discussion rather than the alarm going off whenever they hear \"neck problem\" and the subsequent haunted silence. Any suggestions here? I did use the Holidays at Sainsbury's one yesterday on a different topic, and it got a laugh. Maybe, thats as good as it gets![/quote:b9a956fe92]

Think you may have passed your OCPD

If I ever discuss my problem with anyone I tell them I have a problem with my spine (osteoarthitis) which effects my neck, I'm not trying to be dramatic, just want people to understand a lickle bit better and not dismiss this condition as though one is having a bout of flu.

It's very similliar to my husbands condition which is called Cluster Headache, it couldn't be further from a headache, so when we discuss his problem with others, we tell them they are also known as 'suicide headaches' (which is the truth)so severe is the pain. People do seem to understand better, at least their eyes don't glaze over

Em

Hi Gerry, Aunty etc

Great posts! A smile definately goes a long way.

I've just pulled through another hard dose of c/s but I'm feeling unusually relaxed about the whole thing :D A strange sense of understanding has come over me - completely out of character :o I think I may be able to help with this issue of how other people relate to the condition I now refer to as 'the invisible prison'. Unless someone has been in 'the prison' they really will not understand it's effects on life. Some may have been in for a short sentence, others for a longer time but to do time without any hope of parole.... It must be difficult for friends and family as they are powerless to help, and maybe when we try to explain our problem, like a day visitor to prison, all they can do is hope the situation goes away. We know its not a nice place to be so maybe we should understand why some simply don't or can't even contemplate it.

Maybe less 'one of these days...' and a little more 'careful with that axe..' (Pink Floyd lyrics for those who are confused)(Quite sure Gerry got it )

I have also noticed how defining it in terms people can relate to can help. I just recently explained it to my cousin, who was insisting I would get better, as arthritis of the neck but with the added bonus of pinched nerves. She got a far better idea of the prison system after that

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Or even \"I don't know. I was drunk at the time\". Works every time. This Floydian lyric sparring could get interesting!

Here's one for the Doubting Thomas'es.

Some people (always be wary of any sentence beginning with \"some people\" ) just don't seem to realise that the subtext of their communication is patronising ( - Do I really have to spell that one out for you ? ). If you doubled their intelligence, then they might just be able to figure out how embarassed they are with their own ignorance! Feeling quite focussed here...no need for the usual self-analytical dribble drabble. I-----have become------ comfortably numb .(it's too easy, must be the nurofen). They must have had difficulty justifying \"comfortably\"...there's one too many syllables for the rhyming and timeing. Surely, \"suitably\" would have been more suitable.On second thoughts.....No.