On being aged

[XFool]

They didn't tell me it would be like this...

Several(?) minor strokes... Go down at bus stop. Ambulance crew have disgreement over what is wrong with me. End up in A&E.
Given aspirin and kicked out at 2am with Locomotor Ataxia.

Get a "cold" - so bad I feel I may die by suffocation, can't breathe and speak at same time. (This is before COVID was even 'invented') End up in A&E.

Can only walk a few steps. First day out from home for recovery walk - get attacked by an American Bulldog. Back to A&E!

COVID & Lock Down - Go out for walk as exercise.

End of Lockdown - Stay home don't go out for walk as exercise. Bad mistake?

Get "strain" in buttock, from too much sitting on sofa?

Gets worse, can hardly walk from pain in right buttock and right lower leg. Stay indoors.

Can't really walk. Pain in hips so bad can't even get out of bed. Can't stand through pain.

Get hip X-Ray. "Some osteoarthritis in hip". OK. "So why is my foot cold and numb?"

Acoustic scan of leg. "Not cause". OK. "So what is?"

MRI scan of lower spine - "Degenerated Disc Disorder and some stenosis" OK. "So why does my left hand get pins & needles when I put it in pocket?! "

"I can walk!" Not far, still too much pain in lower leg and no energy, even standing. As a special treat decide to give myself food poisoning with mushrooms...

Concentrate and 'learn' to walk again. "Why do I need to concentrate to walk at my age? "

"I can walk." BTW - "Whatever happened to my arthritic hip? "

"What's this? Now right foot is very hot and red and... I have all the apparent symptoms of gout(?) in my foot, again!" Can't walk.


"What's going on? "

[88V8]

They didn't tell me it would be like this...
Get "strain" in buttock, from too much sitting on sofa?

Gets worse, can hardly walk from pain in right buttock and right lower leg. Stay indoors.

Can't really walk. Pain in hips so bad can't even get out of bed. Can't stand through pain.

Get hip X-Ray. "Some osteoarthritis in hip". OK. "So why is my foot cold and numb?"

Acoustic scan of leg. "Not cause". OK. "So what is?"

MRI scan of lower spine - "Degenerated Disc Disorder and some stenosis" OK. "So why does my left hand get pins & needles when I put it in pocket?! "

"What's this? Now right foot is very hot and red and... I have all the apparent symptoms of gout(?) in my foot, again!" Can't walk.

"What's going on? "

Bad luck.

On Monday I will have an MRI scan. I have peripheral neuropathy, which manifests in reduced feeling in the feet and lower legs and a slight degree of poor balance when walking.
Recently, I also have moderate lower back pain which may be a return of damage done in a car smash 42 years ago. Worse after sitting or driving, so it first manifested last month after driving 220 miles to The Lakes.

And I now have some variable pain in my right hip or upper right leg.

All these lower-limb symptoms could arise from spinal compression, as may yours.
Hopefully something remediable may show up in the MRI scan.

As to your pins & needles, I have tendonitis from years of DIY, and elbow bending sometimes has that result.

If you're being treated by the NHS, they may not really have the capacity to look out too much for us old codgers.
So I would be inclined to book a private consultation with a neurosurgeon.

Wish you well.

V8

[Lootman]

Recently, I also have moderate lower back pain which may be a return of damage done in a car smash 42 years ago. Worse after sitting or driving, so it first manifested last month after driving 220 miles to The Lakes.

And I now have some variable pain in my right hip or upper right leg.

My son was in a bad accident and has pins in his hips etc. He was told he would recover 100% but that later in life he would have problems as a result.

If you're being treated by the NHS, they may not really have the capacity to look out too much for us old codgers. So I would be inclined to book a private consultation with a neurosurgeon.

The NHS is baseline service at this point. If you have money what would you rather spend it on than doing better than that?

[monabri]

Getting old...it's sxxx!

[Dicky99]

You have my sympathy. I've been having to live with sciatica in my right leg and buttock due to osteoarthritis arthritic disc degeneration on and off since my late twenties. It doesn't just affect the aged.
The truth is that when I was working I didn't commit to managing the condition. It took a really long miserable and very painful episode to realise that medical science had only 2 answers for me, prescription medicine and surgery. The NHS osteo service was quite evidently stretched to the limit. Strong meds didn't work for me and I realised surgery was only gonna happen if it got to the stage where I was already screwed. I came to the realisation that I had to manage it myself. During my working years a tokenistic approach to exercise didn't help. Since stopping work 2 years ago I walk a lot, every day in fact, do some beneficial stretching exercises most mornings and have less reason to be seated for any more than short periods. Too soon to say I'm cracking it but I haven't had a bad episode of sciatica for a bit more than a year now and that's not been the case for a long time.

[XFool]

You have my sympathy. I've been having to live with sciatica in my right leg and buttock due to osteoarthritis arthritic disc degeneration on and off since my late twenties. It doesn't just affect the aged.

You have my sympathy. Interestingly, I remember, following an incident at work in my twenties, I suffered really bad sciatica and was off work for several weeks. But since then (apart from when I suddenly lose weight) I have had no trouble whatsoever with my back. But I do now wonder if the recent diagnosis could be related, although now, I don't actually have sciatica.

Although the "spinal compression" thing seems to make sense, I find I am still wondering about it...

I may be overthinking the issue, or just trying to avoid admitting to my age, but there has always seemed to me something "fishy" about my experience. It seems odd and doesn't seem to quite make sense to me in a number of ways. Particularly the slow but continuous progressive evolution of the symptoms - it's always in very slow transit, from here to there. The pain seems 'exaggerated'... almost 'silly'. I was told I had "signs of" osteoarthritis of the hips, when I had severe pain in my hips such that I was pretty well crippled and housebound. But no sign whatsoever of any loss of freedom of movement in my hip joint...

The truth is that when I was working I didn't commit to managing the condition. It took a really long miserable and very painful episode to realise that medical science had only 2 answers for me, prescription medicine and surgery. The NHS osteo service was quite evidently stretched to the limit.

I am waiting on my first physio appointment. I spoke to the guy over the phone, describing my symptoms only a couple of weeks ago. If I spoke to him today my symptoms might be rather different...

Strong meds didn't work for me and I realised surgery was only gonna happen if it got to the stage where I was already screwed. I came to the realisation that I had to manage it myself. During my working years a tokenistic approach to exercise didn't help. Since stopping work 2 years ago I walk a lot, every day in fact, do some beneficial stretching exercises most mornings and have less reason to be seated for any more than short periods. Too soon to say I'm cracking it but I haven't had a bad episode of sciatica for a bit more than a year now and that's not been the case for a long time.

Good for you!

I thought I would try to "decompress" by lying on my front on the floor. Felt OK. But getting up was agony. At least, it was then, until it wasn't.

But now suddenly it's damn gout(?) in my right foot. Or is it...?

[dionaeamuscipula]

But now suddenly it's damn gout(?) in my right foot. Or is it...?

When I first had an attack, I was sure that someone had spiked my foot in a line-out, but it just wouldn't go away. My then boss - a fellow sufferer - correctly diagnosed it. At its worst, I had a two week long attack in one knee followed by a two week long attack in the other knee which left me only able to walk with a stick. It is one of the most unpleasant conditions to have, not least because all non-sufferers think it is hilarious and make terrible jokes about too much port and the 18th century. I would not wish an attack on anyone, but I sometimes feel it would be just for the joke makers to have just one little go.

Fortunately, a little bit of care with diet and alcohol consumption plus a daily dose of Allopurinol is a highly effective treatment, and I have not had an attack for about 25 years.

DM