In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Word to the wise...

Clorox bleach spray is not "safe".

I've been cleaning my basement with it today since it has been absolutely gross down there for years. It looks and smells great, but I've got some mild bleach toxicity going on now. I should have done this during the nice weather with all of the windows open. I've been at this for hours without any windows open because it's too cold outside.

My lungs aren't on fire like they were last time when I cleaned the visqueen in the crawl space with undiluted bleach and a mask, and until very late into the game I didn't even notice that I was suffering from any irritation until my eyes started bothering me.

I went to grab a cup of coffee and realized that I was in trouble when the coffee smelled like bleach. Everything tastes like bleach now too. I'm not having any problems smoking a cigarette, but even the cigarette tastes like bleach.

Read the labels.

Clorox bleach spray is not "safe".

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 8, 2019 9:40 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Ouch.

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Sunday, December 8, 2019 10:49 PM

That alone wouldn't be so terrible, but I'm suffering pretty badly today from a lower back pain that is becoming worrisome to me. I don't think it's a muscle pain. I'm wondering if I have an internal infection of some sort... possibly a kidney infection.

It's been bothering me on and off for about 10 days now, although I haven't mentioned it before. All the way back when I had first started working on my computer. It got pretty bad there one night that I had stayed up particularly late and I think sitting in the same position was really effecting it.

I've been loading up on vitamin C for about a week now and getting more sleep than usual. For the most part it has seemed to work and it wasn't feeling as bad as it had before. Today though it's on fire. I've got a few more things I would like to get done tonight before I call it quits until tomorrow. Hopefully a good night sleep and I'll feel better.

Do you know if I would be feeling feverish or sick if I had a kidney infection, Kiki?

Maybe it's not as bad as I'm imagining it is. It hasn't effected my appetite or made me feel sick. It's just really painful and it feels different than any pulled muscle I've ever had before. Risking some TMI factor here, I'm also pretty gassy as well.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 8, 2019 11:36 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Oh dear. Jack, do you have a local Urgent Care (Doc in a Box) you could run off to? They are the people you need to see to say either 'OMG !!' or 'you're OK'. At least you know they're not attached to a hospital !

I also PM'd you.

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Sunday, December 8, 2019 11:44 PM

Yeah. I've got something like that.

Got a deal with the city tomorrow that needs to be taken care of though, and Tuesday I start my dental project. I think I'll just take it easy the next few days and keep loading up on the vitamin C and see how it feels. The more I think about it, the more it seems like terrible gassyness than anything else. It's just that it's been like this for a pretty long time now and it seems rather concentrated on that one spot. I'm no stranger to the occasional gas issue, even when I'm on a good diet like I am these days, but if that's all this is it's certainly behaving differently than it ever has before. Usually it's up front and more spread out all over the place. After working all day long it is a project just bending down to get something right now.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, December 9, 2019 12:02 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I would really love to unload all my tips and tidbits of info. As you know, I do tips and tidbits of info quite a bit ! This just doesn't seem the time. I'm really, really sorry. I truly am.

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Monday, December 9, 2019 7:43 PM

I'm good. No worries. Feeling better today, but it's still a problem.

Better that you don't give advise and tell me 10 things that it probably isn't that would make me freak out.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, December 9, 2019 8:02 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I'm glad you're doing better! But if that should change, I hope you skedaddle on over to a doc.

FWIW I always tell everyone I know irl - did you / will you see a doctor? It's my standard answer. I'm a big fan of people seeing a doctor for things that are troubling them.

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Monday, December 9, 2019 11:20 PM

I don't know if I can say that I'm doing "better" just yet.

As bad as it felt a week or so ago, it had pretty much gone away or at least become minimal enough that I was easily able to ignore it. That's about where I'm at right now, but I haven't been all that active today compared to yesterday. It doesn't hurt to sit still or to lay down. It doesn't even really hurt when I'm moving around much either. But it is hard for me to get up from a sitting or lying position without pain.

I'll keep an eye on it. Might go to that clinic if it's still bothering me next week. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 1:02 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I think that's a good idea. There are sort of levels of pain, and the trigger as to what could use a professional visit is if it affects your normal functioning - ie you either have to do things differently than normal, or you've given up doing them at all.

How's the bleach taste/smell doing, by the way?

And I know you said you had some stuff to do today, and your mouth project starts tomorrow - how was today? Everything go smoothly? And good luck tomorrow with your mouth!

BTW, this isn't an entirely random question - did you have chickenpox as a kid, or did you get the vaccine?

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 1:14 AM

The pain has never been bad enough that I haven't been able to do things. It was really annoying last night though, even though I did manage to work hours after the sun had set.

I'm just a worrier by nature though, and over the years and all the abuse I've become pretty in tune with my body and what it's trying to tell me. Especially now that I'm sober. This just doesn't seem like something run of the mill is all.

I did have that terrible fall down the stairs while I was drinking heavily all those years ago, and come to think of it, I have been sneezing quite a lot lately. It was a sneeze back then that made the pain about 10 times as bad a week or so after the fall that pretty much kept me bed ridden for about a month. Maybe the fact that I'm not as physically active as I was at the old job combined with a few bad sneezes did it to me now? It certainly does hurt when I sneeze right now, and it's in the very same spot that I had fallen back then.

The bleach thing is done. It went away pretty much before I went to sleep last night. I wasn't really worried about it after I was able to smoke without any ill effects. I don't think that it was good that I got to that point last night, but it was nowhere near the level of toxicity I had subjected myself to the last time years ago.

Today went great.

Hopefully tomorrow goes well...

Yeah. I had chicken pox and the vaccine. If you're wondering if I'm suffering from shingles, nope. I've had those before, and they're not fun. That is not what this is.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 1:29 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Yeah, I WAS wondering about shingles. I've had them too, more than once, and sometimes it's just this subterranean pain that runs along a nerve tract, that never quite gets to the blister stage, except maybe a leeeetle one or two you wouldn't really notice.

I think it's really hard to evaluate oneself medically. Either you're in denial out of fear, or you're hyper-worried out of fear. Besides knowledgeable, you have to be pretty cold-blooded and unreactive to do it right.

Anyway, I'm glad you have a trigger level and a plan to see someone !!! That seems like a good place to be !

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 2:25 AM

Sorry to hear that you've had them too. :(

Yeah. Those subdermal ones are the ones that I've had before. Left a few hardly noticeable "tracks" on my back while they were there, but were annoying as hell as I suffered through them.

You know I didn't see a doctor for that either.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 3:00 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

The worst shingles I had I did have a HUGE, +1' wide swathe of deep, deep blisters from my spine to my sternum. And I DID go to a doctor when it started not because it hurt, but because I felt so allover crappy. They very quickly determined I was allergic to Zovirax which would have knocked to virus out. (My neighbor took Zovirax for her shingles that ran down her sciatic nerve from her butt to her heel, and from start to finish it lasted about a week.) Anyway, they did give me codeine/Tylenol, and though I was actively weaning myself off them the whole time, the pills ran about the same time the shingles did about 6 weeks later. It was gnarly. I'm just glad it wasn't anywhere near my eye.

Given that I know I can't take the anti-virals, I did get the shingles vaccine, (I paid for it myself because it wasn't covered and it was well over $200 at the time. I have no idea what it would be now.) and plan on getting the newer one, now that it'll be covered.

This might be TMI, but generally shingles heals well, although up to 15% can have chronic pain as a residual. Mine seems to have destroyed a patch of subcutaneous tissue, because while I have normal skin I do have a rather large deep divot in my back.

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 3:09 AM

Geez... Sorry to hear that.

Mine was mild by comparison. Quite a bit of pain and a general not good feeling, but it only lasted a few weeks and didn't leave any permanent pain or cosmetic problems behind.

I've read that if you get them once, you're pretty much bound to get them again though. Hopefully I'm as lucky the next time they pop up.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 3:37 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Hey all, hd a service outage that lasted quite a long time! No phone, no inet, no TV. Good thing we have a different mobile service provider otherwise we might have been sol. I noticed a couple Spectrum trucks while walking the dog so being a nosy person I asked them what happened. Apparently our local power company cut the power to THEIR service, and Spectrum had a generator in one of those trucks, powering their service until our electrical utility could turn the juice back on.

With the service back on I called a Habitat and St Vincent de Paul for donation pickup. But in looking at the garage door, which we will have to open so they can have access, hubby noticed that ... aside from having a metric crap-ton of wood piled against it, one of the springs had broken. So dd and I did the monthly recycling and boogied down to HD to get replacment springs and "C" clips, and now I know more about garage door srpings than I ever thought possible, including the fact that there is no way in hell I could ever stretch one out by myself to pull over the C clip!

*****

SIX ... when evaulating pain, aside from figuring out EXACTLY where it is and whether it inteferes with daily activities and/or sleep, there is the "what makes it worse/ what makes it better" metric. I have never had kidney pain, but it seems to me that if the pain gets better with rest and worse with motion, then it's probably not kidney or any internal organ.

Here is a back pain v kidney pain website
https://www.healthline.com/health/kidney-pain-vs-back-pain

Most likely you're dealing with a muscle spasm. Another possibility is that one of the nerves that emerges directly from your spine (they ennervate your arms and wrap around your torso) could be pinched.

I've had ongoing muscle spasms that have lasted for weeks, and one thing that has alwasy set them right - much better than ibuprofen/tylenol, stretching, warm showers or oointment are those chemical heating pads .... essentially iron powder which warms as it turns to rust. Put one on directly over the pain on clean skin just before bed, wear a tight-fitting Tshirt to help hold it in place, and you should feel better ... not completely well, but better ... 12 hours later. Another heating pad the next night should do the trick.

If it's a pinched nerve (radiculopathy) it's usually positional ... something you're doing while sitting at the computer, sleeping, or standing. Having had a couple of rounds of radiculopathy I can tell you that the pain is grinding, and nothing ... and I mean nothing ... not ibuprofen or tylenol or hydrocodone or heating pads or oinment .... made it better except 150 mg of Lyrica (specifically Rx'd for nerve-based pain).

In my case, it was related to bad glasses ... I had to crane my neck towards the paper because the focal length was too short. If you've been sitting awkwardly at the computer, that could really do a number on your nerves! The fix for that is to adjust your seating/sleeping/standing situation/posture.

I hope that helps!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 12:59 PM

Glad you're back up and running.

I dunno. It could be one of those things. Admittedly, my current setup with that all-in-one computer is not ideal for long times sitting down in front of it. And I did spend the better part of a week doing exactly just that.

Maybe it didn't bother me while I was working the old job because I was getting such a great workout all the time and was in better shape. This would mark the first time since my unemployment where I spent so many hours just sitting on a futon with a computer on a coffee table in front of me.

I dunno though. It just seems "deeper" than muscular to me. I'll just have to keep an eye on it for now and maybe try to take better care of myself.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 1:22 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Don't forget the pinched nerve scenario!

I'd try the heat pads anyway. One of the things I like to do is try different common remedies and add that to the list of "what makes it worse/better" because that itself can be diagnostic. Does it respond to ibuprofen? Heat? Rest? Gentle motion? Ice? Change position? More water?

DD had an unusual persistent deep "pinpoint" ache in her calf, and one thing that sprang to my mind was deep vein thrombosis, but I tried the heat pads anyway and it went away, so I could safely rule out that scary possibility!

Just a thought.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 5:32 PM

Rain, rain, rain.

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 5:40 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Brag all you want, Brenda !!!

Just teasing a bit. Could you please send it south of the border? Thanks! in advance.

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 11:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Brag all you want, Brenda !!!

Just teasing a bit. Could you please send it south of the border? Thanks! in advance.

Hey Kiki. I would soo love to send this wet stuff south of the border. And the fog as well.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 1:49 AM

Geez...

The pain took a serious downturn today. Wasn't that bad while I got my molds for my teeth, but I didn't sleep well last night... I turned out I wasn't actually getting teeth pulled today and we're doing them all next month, and even though it's old hat for me now just the littlest thing can screw with my sleep these days...

After I took a nap it's been bad. The worst it's been so far. I have to roll out of bed and get down on my knees and brace myself to get up. I can't get to a sitting position from lying down without an extreme amount of pain. Once I'm up and moving around it's not too bad. It's also hardly notible while I'm laying down. It's just the act of trying to get up that makes it flare up.

Not noticing any discoloration on the surface or any puffed out tissue down there, and I still don't feel sick.

I'm wondering if maybe I have a stone.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 2:23 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SIX, apparently you didn't check out the link that I posted on back pain v kidney pain, so I thought I'd bring that here

Quote:
Kidney pain ... won't get worse with movement ... it usually won't change with movement

https://www.healthline.com/health/kidney-pain-vs-back-pain

I passed a kidney stone once. It was right up there with giving birth in terms of pain; blessedly it was much shorter than labor! It hurt so bad, I could barely breathe, and lying down didn't help. Neither did sitting up or writhing in pain. All I could do was sit and pant until it went away ... after four hours.

Given that the pain is really associated with movement, it might be a muscle spasm, a slipped disc, or a severely pinched nerve. Does the pain radiate down your leg? Is it associated with numbness or inability to hold urine or stool?

Seriously SIX, try a heating pad, try ibuprofen, try rest ... try all of the above. Try to move the situation in a direction and see what helps and what doesn't. If aggressively treating it like a back spasm doesn't help in a couple of days you really should see a doctor.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 3:08 AM

I've been using a heating pad while de-hoarding for the last 4 or so hours now.

It's gotten even worse now. It's almost as bad as it was after I fell on it years ago, and it hurts no matter what I'm doing... even lying down. Once I'm up it still hurts quite a bit, but it's manageable. It's actually better when I'm standing than while I'm lying down. Trying to get up it feels like I just don't have any strength because the pain is so bad.

I don't exactly know what it is I did to my back all that time ago since I never went to the doctor. I'm thinking at this point the sneezing that I've been doing since the weather turned might have thrown something out of alignment or something.

I can't afford a doctor. I'm putting $4,000 on dental work right now. I'll just have to rest and hope it goes away soon because I need to be working soon with the unemployment almost out.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 6:27 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well I'm really worried about you SIX. Don't you have any friends or family to appeal to? Someone who can check on you to make sure you just haven't curled up on the floor of an unheated house and died?

I'm still going with something muscle-related, maybe even a muscle tear. People have a lot of small muscles attached to their ribs and spine.

So REST, damnit. Stop trying to power your way thru this, whatever it is. Do whatever you need to do to make it better, even if it means grabbing a bunch of pillows and sleeping semi-reclining on a couch, or propped up against a wall on a futon on the floor, and popping the maximum recommended dosage of ibuprofen and tylenol for several days. (There's a problem with muscles: pain begets spasm begets pain. so just easing the pain can speed you on the road to recovery) Hot pad helps but be aware that you can get a significant burn when lying on one, pressing against even a low-heat hot pad. (Ask me how I know) That's why I like the chemical heating pads: the heat is so mild it will absolutely not burn. Stay warm enough so that you don't bunch up from the cold. Keep a bottle of water nearby, and an empty bottle or bucket to pee in. You shouldn't have to do this for more than three days.

But just on case, who is your emergency contact? Who can boogey over to help in case some new sympom appears? Please, give it some thought!!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 12:06 PM

I've got family. They're in the know about it today. Unless this is something really serious that I haven't considered, I doubt it will ever get to the point that I couldn't at least crawl over to the phone to make a call.

If that were to happen, somebody would probably come check up if they couldn't get a hold of me. Back in my drinking days I sometimes went weeks or months without being in contact with anybody. I talk to everybody 3 or 4 times a week now that I'm sober. It's very unusual for me to get a call that isn't returned within 8 hours, and since they know of my back issue I'd like to think that they've got my back.

I think I know why I thought it was an infection of some sort though. You don't really notice chronic gas issues when you live alone. You just don't. But I have them. And when my back is screaming at me I have to imagine whatever is going on is causing some swelling, and that swelling is not playing nice at all with the gas. Risking TMI again, it's like opening a valve and relieving pressure when I can let one go or I go to the bathroom. It doesn't make the pain go away completely, but it immediately feels better afterward. I think I'm going to try to go a day or two without eating anything while using the heat pad and see how that goes.

That won't be easy, because my appetite hasn't been effected. I still show zero signs of being feverish or otherwise ill.

Maybe I'll set up my new firestick and see if there's anything worth watching on Netflix. The political stuff has been agitating me more than usual because of the back pain. I think I need to shut the brain off for a while.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 2:46 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Running though your list of symptoms, I can't imagine what it could be. Some of your symptoms point in one direction, but other symptoms point in the opposite direction. Some of the possibilities could be very serious.

Do you have a county hospital nearby? I don't know about Indiana, but here if you arrive at an ER by yourself they have to take you. If you arrive by ambulance they might wave you off, on the excuse that you're being medically stabilized. Can you drive yourself at this point?

BTW, when I woke up with some serious pain that was causing me to start to black out every time I picked my head up off the pillow, there were 2 things I couldn't imagine doing - getting to the phone to call 911, or getting to the door to unlock it for them. If you can, as a backup plan, keep a phone literally at hand - and I do mean AT HAND very literally - at all times, and leave at least one door unlocked while you're going through this.

And try to determine a crisis point at which you'll definitely call family and/or 911. Try to VERY SPECIFICALLY come up with contingency plans.

I hope you come out of this OK on your own Jack !! But don't be afraid get help if you need it.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 3:00 PM

If I can't get into a standing position at any point I think I'll consider that my crisis point.

It actually feels somewhat better right now. I'm not eating or drinking anything and mostly just laying down on the heating pad. Feels a lot better than it did last night and earlier this morning when I woke up. We'll see how it goes.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, December 11, 2019 3:04 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I'm glad it feels a bit better! And I'm glad you have a trigger point! Sometimes you can 'slow walk' yourself into a bad situation step by step because you don't have a point that you won't go past, and every little step seems not too bad by itself.

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Thursday, December 12, 2019 11:09 PM

Felt a lot better again today. Still not close to 100%, but as the day went on for the most part it wasn't near crippling anymore. I've been trying to move around and do some stretches, but I think I still need a few more days of R&R and time with the heating pad.

At least at this point I don't think it's an infection or a stone anymore. That wouldn't really fit any of the symptoms.

Who knows what I did to my back when I fell on it though. Being no stranger to giving it a workout, it's been years without any back problems and then out of nowhere I almost can't even get out of bed for a few days after a week or so of it progressively getting worse.

Maybe I pinched a nerve? I don't think it would be a slipped disk because it's doubtful that would straighten itself out by just laying down on a heating pad and taking it easy.

Hopefully it's even better tomorrow. I really want to get started on putting up that trim soon.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, December 12, 2019 11:21 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Good for you SIX! I think most of us here are no strangers to back pain, and it can come on suddenly for almost no apparent reason. Back when I was a smokestack climber, I recall letting down a piece of catwalk hatchway somewhat awkwardly. I felt a twinge but was good enough to go bowling that evening, but next morning my back was so bad I couldn't bend down to put on my pants and shoes, I had to have hubby do that for me. It took a half week of R&R before I could really function again. bTW, that tweak has never come back to haunt me, it was just a strained muscle.

So take it easy! Your #1 priority for the next few days is getting better!

And take a break from arguing with idiots, too. I'm sure there's something more enjoyable you can do with your time.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

I'd nuke a BILLION PEOPLE if it would save the other 7 billion from living under Putin. Hell, I might go all the way to the last 100 people on Earth to keep this planet from being under fascist rule.- WISHIMAY

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Friday, December 13, 2019 3:32 AM

Splurged on a Christmas present for myself.

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Friday, December 13, 2019 11:57 AM

Nice, Brenda. What did you get?

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Good for you SIX! I think most of us here are no strangers to back pain, and it can come on suddenly for almost no apparent reason. Back when I was a smokestack climber, I recall letting down a piece of catwalk hatchway somewhat awkwardly. I felt a twinge but was good enough to go bowling that evening, but next morning my back was so bad I couldn't bend down to put on my pants and shoes, I had to have hubby do that for me. It took a half week of R&R before I could really function again. bTW, that tweak has never come back to haunt me, it was just a strained muscle.

Yeah... Until that fall I've never really suffered from any back pain in my life. I had a very active youth, and I think that helped out many years later, even when I was doing a lot of bad things to myself.

I'm just a little concerned right now that this could end up being a chronic issue after the fall. If memory serves, the fall happened sometime late summer in 2015. By early 2016 I was 100% again, and until the last few weeks it's never once bothered me at all.

But it got really bad, and for no real apparent reasons. Is it cold in my house? Sure... somewhat. I have the thermostat at 65 on the 2nd floor though, just like I did last year, which is much higher than I ever put it before last year. Was I working too many hours on the futon hunched over the computer on my coffee table? Sure... but that's the same computer that I put a ton of hours into my project on... although I did have a more comfortable L-shaped couch there before I did the de-hoarding. Have I been sneezing a lot? Sure... but people sneeze. I'd like to think that I don't have to worry for the rest of my life that a stray sneeze is going to snap something in my back. Relatively speaking, my sneezes aren't very violent, and most people probably wouldn't even notice I was sneezing. I sneeze like a mouse compared to my brother who seems to make a good show of it and you could hear him sneeze from a block away.

Quote:
So take it easy! Your #1 priority for the next few days is getting better!

Will do.

Feels even better today. I'm much more mobile than I've been in days. I can still tell that it's there though, so I'm still taking it easy. No point in rushing anything and regressing back to where I was 2 days ago.

Quote:
And take a break from arguing with idiots, too. I'm sure there's something more enjoyable you can do with your time.

lol. Having nothing else really to occupy my time and the fact that I really just can't be bothered with getting interested in watching any TV shows or movies, arguing with idiots is a good distraction from the boredom.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, December 13, 2019 1:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Nice, Brenda. What did you get?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Went into a local electronics store and bought myself one of those all in one numbers. They have a record player, tape deck, cd player, radio and Bluetooth in it.

Got it on sale and my boss' husband helped me pick it up last night after work.

I've been eye balling these things since they came out a couple of years ago but they were expensive and where I was living I couldn't do it.

So, I managed to save up some money over the summer being in this new place and bought one.

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Friday, December 13, 2019 1:25 PM

Things to do. Later peeps.

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Friday, December 13, 2019 1:30 PM

Nice. With that bluetooth I bet you could back up your records to mp3 files and listen to them on the go too.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, December 13, 2019 6:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Nice. With that bluetooth I bet you could back up your records to mp3 files and listen to them on the go too.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Guess so. But I don't have an mp3 player and I would need some help to do that if I decide to.

But it will be nice to see what kind of shape my records are in for sure.

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Friday, December 13, 2019 8:23 PM

Bah... MP3 players are a dime a dozen used these days now that everyone with a smart phone has one built in.

If you ever go that route, it's a lot easier ripping the mp3's off of youtube videos for anything that's on there, but I'm willing to bet you've got some more obscure stuff that you might only be able to get off of your record collection.

If you ever want to do any of that once you're all set up, let me know and we can figure it out.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 3:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Bah... MP3 players are a dime a dozen used these days now that everyone with a smart phone has one built in.

If you ever go that route, it's a lot easier ripping the mp3's off of youtube videos for anything that's on there, but I'm willing to bet you've got some more obscure stuff that you might only be able to get off of your record collection.

If you ever want to do any of that once you're all set up, let me know and we can figure it out.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I've got a few Bay City Rollers records that someone I used to know called "Bubblegum music". Jerry Reed albums, at least one Cher album. Haven't been through them in years so I've forgotten.

Don't have a smartphone. So, I would need something to record my stuff on to.

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 6:27 AM

I bet a lot of that stuff would be on youtube. It gets kind of sketchy with older performers though since they had a lot more control over the rights of their stuff than the last 20 or 25 years. But if it's up there, there are a few sites that you can use to easily convert the video to an mp3 online and download it. It's a lot easier than converting a record to mp3, but with your new hi-tech player it might be a lot easier than it was back in the day.

I knew you didn't have a phone. I was just saying that you could pick up an old mp3 player dirt cheap these days since most people are walking around with mp3 players on their phones.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 1:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I bet a lot of that stuff would be on youtube. It gets kind of sketchy with older performers though since they had a lot more control over the rights of their stuff than the last 20 or 25 years. But if it's up there, there are a few sites that you can use to easily convert the video to an mp3 online and download it. It's a lot easier than converting a record to mp3, but with your new hi-tech player it might be a lot easier than it was back in the day.

I knew you didn't have a phone. I was just saying that you could pick up an old mp3 player dirt cheap these days since most people are walking around with mp3 players on their phones.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Ah, I see what you are saying. My apologizes Jack. Think I forget all these cell phones can do nowadays.

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 3:21 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I bet a lot of that stuff would be on youtube. It gets kind of sketchy with older performers though since they had a lot more control over the rights of their stuff than the last 20 or 25 years. But if it's up there, there are a few sites that you can use to easily convert the video to an mp3 online and download it. It's a lot easier than converting a record to mp3, but with your new hi-tech player it might be a lot easier than it was back in the day.

I knew you didn't have a phone. I was just saying that you could pick up an old mp3 player dirt cheap these days since most people are walking around with mp3 players on their phones.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Ah, I see what you are saying. My apologizes Jack. Think I forget all these cell phones can do nowadays.

No need to apologize.

I'm only vaguely aware of what they can do, having only ever owned an early one for a few months before I got rid of a cell phone service entirely and lived without it.

MP3 players are really cool though, if you put the time into getting your music put together. Over the years, I'd only owned some crappy off brand ones that are a huge pain in the ass to set up and maintain, and have crappy little screens that don't allow you much freedom in how you want to listen to it.

Two years ago though, while helping my parents move, we dug out an old iPod that had hardly ever been used. It's a bright purple color that wouldn't have been my first choice, but it still had the receipt inside the box and it cost nearly $200 when they bought it!

I haven't done anything with it yet since my life has been so disorganized and I lost a network storage hard drive that apparently had my only backup of the tens of thousands of mp3's I'd collected over the years.

I'm slowly re-building my collection and organizing it. It will be nice to listen to music when I'm out doing yard work or working on the house in the spring.

If you'd like to get started, let me know. You can probably find a really good mp3 player for pennies on the dollar if you ask around. I've got a few websites that will rip the audio to a folder you specify on your computer hard drive with the exact name it was given on youtube. The names are easy enough to change however you'd like too. As long as you get a decent mp3 player it should be easy to transfer the music and (more importantly) it should be very easy to set up playlists or easily get to a specific song that you want to listen to.

BTW... a cursory search on youtube has a lot of results for the performers you mentioned earlier. A lot of it is live stuff, which usually is never removed for copyright violations, but there are quite a few studio versions of tracks too. It just might be hard to get some of your favorite "B Side" material in this fashion from that long ago. But you never know. You might be surprised.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 7:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I bet a lot of that stuff would be on youtube. It gets kind of sketchy with older performers though since they had a lot more control over the rights of their stuff than the last 20 or 25 years. But if it's up there, there are a few sites that you can use to easily convert the video to an mp3 online and download it. It's a lot easier than converting a record to mp3, but with your new hi-tech player it might be a lot easier than it was back in the day.

I knew you didn't have a phone. I was just saying that you could pick up an old mp3 player dirt cheap these days since most people are walking around with mp3 players on their phones.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Ah, I see what you are saying. My apologizes Jack. Think I forget all these cell phones can do nowadays.

No need to apologize.

I'm only vaguely aware of what they can do, having only ever owned an early one for a few months before I got rid of a cell phone service entirely and lived without it.

MP3 players are really cool though, if you put the time into getting your music put together. Over the years, I'd only owned some crappy off brand ones that are a huge pain in the ass to set up and maintain, and have crappy little screens that don't allow you much freedom in how you want to listen to it.

Two years ago though, while helping my parents move, we dug out an old iPod that had hardly ever been used. It's a bright purple color that wouldn't have been my first choice, but it still had the receipt inside the box and it cost nearly $200 when they bought it!

I haven't done anything with it yet since my life has been so disorganized and I lost a network storage hard drive that apparently had my only backup of the tens of thousands of mp3's I'd collected over the years.

I'm slowly re-building my collection and organizing it. It will be nice to listen to music when I'm out doing yard work or working on the house in the spring.

If you'd like to get started, let me know. You can probably find a really good mp3 player for pennies on the dollar if you ask around. I've got a few websites that will rip the audio to a folder you specify on your computer hard drive with the exact name it was given on youtube. The names are easy enough to change however you'd like too. As long as you get a decent mp3 player it should be easy to transfer the music and (more importantly) it should be very easy to set up playlists or easily get to a specific song that you want to listen to.

BTW... a cursory search on youtube has a lot of results for the performers you mentioned earlier. A lot of it is live stuff, which usually is never removed for copyright violations, but there are quite a few studio versions of tracks too. It just might be hard to get some of your favorite "B Side" material in this fashion from that long ago. But you never know. You might be surprised.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I actually did own an mp3 player a few years ago but gave it away as I couldn't do anything with it at the time.

I know I can find Cher on YouTube. Songs like "Halfbreed" and some of her later stuff from the late 80s and 90s. Think I found some Bay City Rollers. Might find some Jerry Reed too.

Never know Jack. For now I just like listening to my music sometimes during the week in the afternoon and on Sunday afternoon. And now I have a choice of what I can listen too.

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 7:56 PM

Yeah...

I forgot to install an alternate browser when I did my PC setup initially and I used my own youtube account to listen to some music the other day.

That's always a huge mistake. I don't usually ever listen to music through youtube and I have very specific videos that I like coming up in my feed based off of my tastes. All it takes is a few hours of straying off of those subjects with other things like music and now my Recommended feed is 50% music videos that I have no interest in watching.

OPPS

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, December 14, 2019 8:06 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hey Brenda - that sounds really enjoyable.

Just to share some humor - and don't take this the wrong way - I enjoy Cher's stuff and I like the persona she projects ... but some time ago I stumbled into an obscure website called 'misheard lyrics' (or something like that). Anyway, one of the misheard lyrics was ...
... but every night all the men would come around
And lay the monkey down.

Another one I remember - not Cher - was ...
dirty deeds, dunder sheep

I wish I could remember more. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe.

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Sunday, December 15, 2019 12:00 AM

My favorite video for misheard lyrics on a song that I believe to this day has never actually been translated by Eddie Vedder.

One of my all time favorite songs, although I only have a vague idea of what it's about.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 15, 2019 12:06 AM

Back is a ton better today, BTW. Still a minor tweak in it, so I'm not going to do anything crazy, but hopefully this week it's as if it never happened.

Dodged another bullet.

Thanks for the heating pad suggestion, Sigs. It completely slipped my mind that I found one during the de-hoard and had the foresight to stick it in the linen closet even though it's missing the cover. I wrapped it with a towel and it seems to have done the trick.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, December 15, 2019 1:31 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hey Jack

I'm glad you're feeling better!

However ... and not to be a Debbie Downer but ... if you caused actual injury to your back the first time (and it sounds like you might have) you are likely to have the issue return ... again ... and again ... in one form or another. And what worked the first time might not work the second time.

I'll give you some examples ... when I was in my early 20's (I believe) I tore a few small muscles - like perhaps part of the pyriformis near the sacroiliac joint - and the pain was excruciating. And I never had it looked at. Fortunately, after I took WAY too much aspirin (salicylate toxicity induced permanent tinnitus which I have to this day) and tylenol for a few days, I remembered I had some co-tylenol from a wisdom tooth extraction that I never took. Ahhh ... blessed relief. Anyway, a few years later I was awkwardly trying to put a desk drawer on its tracks, and the pain in 'that spot' came back. Fortunately it was at work, and it was all part of a big move we made from one city to another, so they sent me to a work-rehab place they had a contract with. That place did heat (didn't help) but also TENS - which was like magic. To the point I actually ordered one. So I used that on and off whenever I had pain, but after a couple of years it stopped working. I just kind of learned to live with pain. Then one day I was at work and I awkwardly stood up. I felt something in 'that spot' subtly go bonk. And within a few minutes I was literally on the floor writhing in pain and groaning out loud and completely unable to move in any meaningful way - not to turn over, or sit up, or anything. They were going to call 911 for the reason that there was no other way to help me up. But FORTUNATELY one of the people at work also with back pain had some serious (darvon?) pain meds. I remember he looked at me and said 'you're going to need two'. Well, I tried just one just to see, and nothing much happened but the second one did the trick. I went home and went to bed with significant apprehension I wouldn't be able to get back up again when the meds wore off. But the next day, which happened to be a weekend, while I was pretty sore, I wasn't incapacitated. So I thought I'd pull some weeds. I was thinking 'this could really put me in a lot of trouble' but oddly enough the rocking back and forth on my knees and stretching and relaxing helped a lot. After a few hours, I was all better. But a few weeks later I was outside my car door and knelt on the driver's seat to reach over to the passenger side and grab a really small grocery bag and BAM. I tweaked 'that spot' all over again. Fortunately I wasn't incapacitated, so I prescribed for myself some more weed pulling, thinking that since it helped that last time, it would help again. That was a mistake. I couldn't stand up straight for weeks. I ended up getting myself a cane so I could push myself upright when I walked.

And so on. I've had many, many adventures with that spot in my back that I injured many decades ago.

ETA: you might think of me as a dumpy old decrepit woman - and you'd be right! But as recently as 15 years ago I was pulling wiring, installing drywall, taping and mudding and sanding, painting etc. And when I was younger I was extraordinarily fit and athletic. It was pain that ground me down over the years.

And I think the lesson I learned - from seeing myself and other people age - is that the injuries you get when you're younger don't -really- go away. I believe that when you're younger relatively high levels of 'human growth hormone' aka HGH allow you to carry them. But as you age the HGH level drops severely, and that scar tissue you have ends up hurting. (The same is true of bad diet, lack of exercise, bad genetics, and so on. High levels of HGH are protective in earlier years, but HGH drops with age.)(BTW, AFAIK the ONLY tissue that heals by making more of itself is bone. Everything else is knit together with scar tissue, which is unlike the original tissue of muscle, tendon, ligament, skin, internal tissues etc.)

Anyway, my belief is that if you want to avoid problems in later years, get whatever is wrong fixed while growth hormone is relatively high and your ability to repair yourself to a normal state is at its maximum. It might mean shaving a small piece of 'popped' disc away from a nerve. It might mean building up muscle to prevent imbalance or instability wear and tear. It might mean GENTLY stretching scar tissue to keep it from contracting and causing mechanical issues, or even contracting and pinching nerves, muscles etc. (And it means good diet, reasonable exercise, plenty of rest, and whatever medications you have to take to fix bad genetics like intractable high cholesterol, etc.)

Anyway, that's my advice, when you have the time, resources, and inclination.

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Sunday, December 15, 2019 2:58 AM