Sep 1, 2016
The Foolish Act
A simple act of using all my strength in an awkward front bent posture left me immobilized for a week. Such can be the effects of foolishness. In the spur of the moment I didn't have the wisdom to stop before a second or two, by which a damaging result could have been avoided.
Moving the Sofa
When my younger one, Sisir, left back for the U.S., I decided to fold back the Hemnes IKEA Daybed into the sofa once again, and re-arrange the furniture in our lounge. Converting back into the sofa wasn't difficult, but leaving all the linen in all 3 drawers which were full to the brim, and the mattresses on, meant a super heavy furniture to move. The coasters to help move the bed slats into a bed or sofa are convenient to move in only one direction. The same coasters make it extremely hard to move the sofa in a perpendicular direction.
I thought I could manage. Over assessment! A 64 year old is no longer a 26 year old to swing back into action as if nothing happened. Using all my might and pushing forward half bent meant asking for too much from my sensitive spine disc that kept my lower back always at risk. It has been so for well over two decades after all. I was able to rearrange the lounge how I wanted. Mission accomplished. 'Operation successful but patient died'! Fifteen minutes hence, my lower back started troubling, pushing me over to the bed for rest. And eventually leaving me over there for a week!
A Week of Trial
A day's rest allowed the pain to be in control, but the disc remained misaligned yet. My usual 10 yogasana postures helped me regain strength and relief from pain, but only momentarily. Neither my favorite hammock nor the floor sleeping helped get a full relief. Sleeping over regular beds with all kinds of mattresses we have, hasn't either.
On the 5th day, when I couldn't muster enough strength to bear the pain of getting up from the floor for nearly half an hour, I decided it was time for a change in course. A pain killer medicine needed to kick in. I could still continue with my stubbornness to not use medicines as far as possible. But the thought of this going south and a hospital suggesting a surgery eventually was even worse.
Turning to Medicine
I do not have enough confidence in the advice of the commercially oriented hospitals that exist today. So at the advice of my doctor brother, I started a pain killer medicine, and to be further helped by a lumbar support belt. My brother advised a wonderful combination medicine that would help with inflammation, muscle spasm, and as an actual pain killer. I knew that a paracetamol or ibuprofen wouldn't do enough for the severity I was in. And this medicine worked like magic.
Eighty percent of my pain was gone with just one dose. I became mobile again, also thanks to the lumbar support belt. Even after he mentioned I could take the medicine up to 3 times a day, I restricted myself to twice the next day and stopped fully after that. Just 3 doses pulled me off of bed and immobilization.
I have now also realized how supportive the belt actually was. Even if I had resisted medicines and willed to bear the pain for the body to come around naturally, nothing could have stopped me from using a supporting belt. Wisdom is everything. And I lacked some then. At least for the initial 5 days.
What Did I Learn?
Firstly, there are several ways to push the sofa easily into place. I could have eased its weight in multiple ways, even halved it by separating the bed section from the sofa mode. At the very least I could have pushed it by its back rather than test its ability to handle the strain from the front. Sometimes pushing back, leveraging the feet, is easier than pushing from the front and risking the lower back.
As for medicine, I think I did the absolute right thing. I gave ample time for my body to recover naturally. When it became impossible and there was no progress, I stopped resisting medication.
The problem with early medication is that when the body is yelling that it has a problem and cannot function normally until recovery, we should not pop a pill, make the pain go away, and go about our business as if there was nothing. Body needs rest to build damaged cells, and it needs a limited amount of movement so the muscles do not tighten and stay rigid. I have never been against the advancement in science, being a science graduate myself. But too early medication and unwanted ones do more harm than good.
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