HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

anyone else do seemingly crazy things to stop pain?

Support Forums
>
Chronic Pain
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/14/2012 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
Some nights are worse than others for no reason that I can determine. I dont know if anyone else does this but I kick my own legs on really painful nights. Its quite a sight. I lay on the floor, legs bent and slam my calves into my thighs. Usually if I do this for 20 minutes to an hour I wear the nerves out and the shooting pains will stop long enough for me to fall asleep. This also helps with the restless leg syndrome. Last night that didnt work. Did it for hours. Even got up and stomped around trying to lessen the pain and "bee stings". I'm so tired of these numb, pain filled cement blocks that are cold at night but still burn. To add to the joy, for the last 6 months on has started to effect my hands as well. For this new pain I have begun sleeping on the floor, face down, lying on my hands so the pressure of my full body weight will help with the pain. My neuro has refused to give me any more lunesta even though it helped me sleep. He doesn't want me to get addicted. What a joke! Any one else do strange things like this? Or am I the only one? My family thinks it's odd but I dont care. They dont get that I will do anything that helps. If standing on my head with fireworks shooting out my behind distracted me from the pain, I would do it. My neuro appt is not until oct 5. Any suggestions?
Leslie
Posted 9/14/2012 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Daz,

sorry that you have to go through such measurements for pain relief, but yet I do know what you are feeling to get that relief. I myself do know what it feels like to try to get those burning nerves to stop hurting so much. I have to hold both my ankles together like magnets to try to get my burning nerves in my feet to stop jumping. Whats sad is that my nerves pain meds do not help with the burning and yes, my legs get heavy like cement logs and continue to burn 24/7. My daughter told me last night while I was asleep that my legs had the bed shaking in which i was asleep and unaware. So do what you need for the relief you need to sleep.
Posted 9/14/2012 8:17 PM (GMT 0)
Lynn,
Sorry to hear you have the burning too. I sit on my feet at work and put all my body weight on them. Of course now I have a pressure sore on my ankle that won't heal. Moving the legs while sleeping and being unaware is the same here. Hubby bought a new bed because I do that too. Its the one on the commercial where you can jump and not cause the glass of wine to spill. He sleeps better on it. Lol. Me I move to the floor... We do what we have to do. I hope you have a great weekend, and thanks for the reply. Feel better about the weird things I do. :-)
Posted 9/14/2012 10:31 PM (GMT 0)
I don't have to go as extreme, but when nerves in my ribs don't respond to ice or heat I play my guitar. The vibrations help ease the pain for some reason. I have gotten up and played guitar at 2 or 3 am for this. My wife has gotten used to it and just sleeps while I play her some songs, LOL.

Take care,
Bill
Posted 9/14/2012 11:20 PM (GMT 0)

Last year I just started getting that gone to sleep feeling in my legs. I have to be careful how I sit or I can trigger it. Mine seems to act up the more I am on my feet. Then very recently I started noticing it in my hands and arms so I need to go see a neuro. It is SO uncomfortable. I'm lucky in that mine usually goes away within a half hour but I am very worried it will start to last longer.

Have you tried Lyrica or Gabapentin? My pain doc gave me a sample of Gralise which is a LA form of the Gabapentin. But I haven't taken it yet since mine is still manageable. Glad you are seeing the neuro!

Posted 9/14/2012 11:59 PM (GMT 0)
I have recruited my kids in my quests for pain relief. Often, I'll have them "hit" my back. Might not make much sense, but it's kinda those times where it "hurts so good", if you know what I mean.

Last night, my son, who we have teased since he was a toddler of literally having a super hard head, was hitting my back for me and started complaining of his arms hurting (you know where this is going, don't you?), as they often do after a couple of whacks. So we figured out that he can snuggle up behind me (the snuggle is a wonderful added bonus!) and "ram" his hard head into my back, causing about the same end result as him hitting with his hands. When we don't want the ramming for whatever reason (heaven knows that I certainly don't ever want them to ever hurt themselves!), he can still snuggle up to me, but just give his head a firm, steady push into my back (this is all upper back).

I feel like I could take it for hours, they, however, usually only last a few minutes.

Gosh! When I put it all into writing, it kinda sounds horrible... For them *and* me!! Trust me, it's not ;-)
Posted 9/15/2012 1:15 AM (GMT 0)
I have a hard plastic ball, a little smaller than a softball.

When I lie in bed with my head propped up too high, I end up with an agonizing pain mid-back on the left. Pressure seems to alleviate it and so I will take the ball from a drawer in my nightstand and lie on it.

Basically -- a pressure-point solution. However, for it to be effective, I have to press my back firmly into the ball, hard enough that it bursts capillaries and I end up with a pattern of red spots that matches the pattern on the ball.
Posted 9/15/2012 1:33 AM (GMT 0)
Wow! All of you do incredible things to ease pain. So glad I'm not alone. I guess we all find what works. Some might call us crazy, I say we're resourceful. Yay for us! Blessings to all for a low/ no pain weekend.
Leslie
Posted 9/15/2012 1:49 AM (GMT 0)
My back hurts a lot and sometime I like to stretch it out by laying on a rolling pin of all things.
Posted 9/15/2012 4:19 AM (GMT 0)
Leslie this is a unique topic, I find it interesting  all these things that people will do to relieve their pain. I know if my lower back is really bothering me, and  it is affecting my legs, I will often get in my rocking chair and rock, and I mean rock like crazy, and push my lower back into the back of the chair, sometimes I will put a little foot stool in front of the rocker to put my feet on and then rock. I know even if I am sitting in a staight back chair, or bench, and if I hurt really bad, just rocking back and forth from my waist up  seems to help with the pain. I haven't decided if it really helps the pain or if it just the rocking action that diverts my attention so the pain is not so pronounced. Either way it does seem to help if only for a little while. Allot of times I will take a med  for break through pain first, and then rock  till the med takes affect.

 

White Beard

Posted 9/15/2012 5:34 AM (GMT 0)
I find that if I take this wire here, and this wire here, and stick it into these nice slots in the wall.... just kidding. Actually, I've found a counter top to be awesome, I just kind of lean on it, tummy first, and let it take the weight of my whole upper body. That seems to offer a few seconds of relief from my back. Seems like I'm the perfect height for almost any counter top, to just kind of plop my gut on there (which is almost no gut now since I'm down to 158lbs) and the counter just kind of holds me up. I've been wondering if an inversion table might have a similar effect, since it seems like the whole idea is to get some weight off of my lumbar area. Anyways, for a few seconds, its really nice.
Posted 9/15/2012 11:27 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for starting this thread, lol.... I know that having chronic pain isn't a funny thing.... but it's amazing the lengths that we will go through to get relief and I feel SO much better, knowing I'm not alone.

SicnTired: I literally thought I was the only one who recruited my kids as a part of their pain management team, lol - so don't feel bad at all. And I do the EXACT same thing.... it's my mid-back that causes me the most pain - and the young ones know how to give a mean massage and "pounding", lol (I don't know how to best describe it either).

I've also had such bad sciatica down my legs that I've had the youngest one "walk" on the back on my legs in their socks.

I've done the hard ball thing as a pressure point thing....

Our couch has these really big armrests - and I've had such muscle spasms in my mid-back that I've "bent over" the rounded arm rest to try to break up the spasm (is that making ANY sense, lol???? or does it just sound crazy? Probably crazy, I know).

Anyway, all of these things - yes, make quite a sight.... but - as was already said - if standing on my head or anything would help - I'd do it to get relief.

Sorry we all have to find these crazy ways to deal w/ the pain... but glad to know I'm not alone. --Tina
Posted 9/15/2012 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
Thank for the topic too! Have any of you tried Yoga for this? I only get those symptoms from the constant laying and sitting that comes after a surgery or procedure or a bad Fibro/CFS Day or when I do too much, so a lot and I have found that the stretching REALLY helps with the restless legs and the burning and the numbness. I still try to do 15 minutes a day, I'm supposed to do 5 minutes of back stretches before I get out of bed in the morning but since I either sleep for 12-16hrs(CFS) or 1-2(surgical menopause) I almost never do it. I read on the National Chronic Pain(I don't remeber the initials) that even they admit and endorse Yoga as a treatment for Chronic Pain. Oh, yeah, it does hurt while your doing it, especially for the first couple of months but it is soooooo worth it! :-)
Posted 9/15/2012 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
This actually makes sense to me. I (and one of my kids) have a very high functioning form for Autism. On thing many autistics do for relief of anxiety and tension (not realizing it, of course) is hit themselves somewhere or place something heavy on them. It seems counter productive, but I do it (I have tried to make myself aware), and it does provide a sense of calm and does relieve some pain. Maybe it is something about releasing endorphins? Maybe it is something that is hardwired in us from days gone by? I don't know. I do find it interesting that it does happen.
Posted 9/15/2012 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
Glad to know this topic is interesting. To me its just life. Lol
I do believe all the things ya'll have described. May even try some out myself. Although my peripheral neuropathy is so bad that it's painful to have someone else touch my legs or feet. But i can massage them myself. Try explaining that one. Haha. Anyway, keep them coming! Feel a little less crazy now. Maybe with some more i will be completely sane. Wow what a concept! Lol thanks for the responses. Really glad i found you. Take care all.
Leslie
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply