I love to keep house. I enjoy a very clean house and having things look nice. It's not drudgery for me, it's rewarding. But my least favorite thing to do is to empty the dishwasher. Ever since I broke my neck, this has been something that has subtly been irritating. The reason? That bending over and looking left and right, up and down, it causes me to feel dizzy, even a little nauseous. I can't think of any other way to get the job done than to just do it, but I always hate it.
To me, it was interesting in the summer of 2006 when Dr. Bolognese had me first try the "over the door" cervical traction unit. He had me try this for diagnostic purposes, to see if traction would make me feel any better. I worked my way up to 8 lbs on the traction (when they perform the traction for the fusion surgery, they will use up to 30 lbs) for 15 minutes, once a day.
My results were, according to Dr. B, "spectacular." I kept a log and turned it in to him to review. And he did review it and told me that the fact that for 45 minutes after doing the traction, I felt
almost normal was a spectacular result. I remember feeling so good, being able to breathe and think clearly, and I remember today that back then, after traction, I could empty the dishwasher without feeling dizzy. Of course, after those good feelings wore off and the weight of my skull settled back down onto my C1 and whatever nerves it is pinching, I felt much worse and ended up in bed for days.
I wanted to note here for my own journaling purposes that one symptom is definitely gaining strength and frequency. That is the little "losing balance" episodes that I experience several tims a day. I lean slightly to flush the toilet and have to catch myself from falling. I step flat-footed up to a cupboard on an even floor, and I will often have little "off balance" episodes.
Some of the symptoms I've dealt with since my injury have fallen by the wayside, some are still with me, and a few have amped up. The latter include, besides balance stuff, weakness in my legs, painful nerviness all over, painful feet/legs/hips, difficulties with thinking, poor judgment, and suboccipital pain.
2 comments:
I am happy that cervical traction worked for you- you may want to try a pneumatic cervical traction unit because it will be more comfortable. YOu can get up to 35 lbs of pressure as well.
Thanks Arc! It's something I'd need to talk with my surgeon about. He only wanted me to use it for diagnostic purposes, which he says was fulfilled when I achieved a lot of relief at 8 lbs. I could have gone higher on the weight, but the rebound was SO bad, I asked him if I could stop. He said yes. So, I do not use it at all (the over the door traction unit)...unless we are wondering if some symptom is related to the instability. Do you have instability as well?
thanks and thanks for reading.
BHG
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