Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Here's the lousy part of AS

Last Thursday for the fifth time this year I went golfing. It was actually the third consecutive week. I used to play about 20-25 times a year now if I play 10 its been a good year.

So far this year not too much pain playing and not great aches the next day. Thus as bent as I am with very limited swing I feel pretty good and am thrilled not to be in apn and ...starting to get used to it.

Thursday I play as well as I can and its an annual match between the lawyers of Staten Island, (New Yorks forgotten borough) and those from Brooklyn who are as loud and boisterous as one can imagine.

I feel fine when I am done.

However I go stright from work an dput my shoes in the trunk of the car and wear sneakers home. The next day the lovely Diane swaps cars so my usual work shoes are off to work with her early in the a.m. I wear another pair that are more professional looking and have an ever so slightly firmer sole and a heel like normal men's dress shoes. The other ones were very flat and not really meant for wearing with suits but most folks didn;t notice.

That night one of the girls had a rough night sleeping so I hop in next to her to chase nightmare away with her extra pillow. Sure enough Saturday morning my left leg feels like its mean through a meat grinder. It hurts worse than it has in a decade. The type of pain that throbs but everynow and then as yu walk gingerly on it it stabs a jab and gives way without warning. You folks know those.

Now most folks are telling me it was the golf. It probably was the choose or changing a pillow to the one I don't usually use. Maybe it was nothing at all just a starchy mishap.

Last night I gave in had a beer an ALLeve and put my TENS unit on for about an hour and the pains vanished. I awoke to them raging tnefold worse as if to sneer at my feeble attempt to send them off with such a lame attack.

During the day it usually ebbs to make getting around at work bearable but not today.

Now with the artificial hips this requires x-rays just in case and of course its vacation time so the timing is lousy and more than anything like always with AS pinpointing the causation of this one is and will remain a mystery.

I'm used to the pain. I'm used to getting knocked down when things are in some sort of painfully bearable equilibrium. I just hate the randomness and the lack of explanation. Folks who saw me sneaking out to golf with my bent body for the last three weeks notice the hobble today but can't imagine how differnetly I feel and wonder why its taking me fifteen minutes of wincing to get in and out of my car.

Got to go and try the TENS and some ALleve. I think they may go better with a dry rde wine rather than an icy cold beer.

Maybe that's my get rich scheme. RAhter than a gourmet book on wines that go with foods at pricey restaurants I could write the book of wines to match therapy.

Chablis for acupuncture.
Merlot for massage. ...etc. or maybe not.

I love your sense of humor!
And you are such a good dad.
I hope you feel better soon!
Jan

wonder if its really always a mystery, or just something i'm not figuring out?

what i mean by that: when things are pretty good, i can often pinpoint to something specific, like if i get the feet ok, then if i wear a pair of shoes not proven to be good, i can tell that's the culprit. my podiatrist (along with PTs, chiros, physiatrists) all say i pronate in. but i've tried the over the counter orthotics, paid for the $300 custom made ones, tried crocs that everyone loves, sneakers with good arch support, but in the end, and finally my podiatrist agreed with me, all my feet can tolerate are the flattest of shoes, so i wear my white women's keds or huaraches. my feet get sore by the end of the day, but a lot less pulling and tearing of tendons and ligaments, go figure!

or about 2 weeks ago, went to one of those summer arts and crafts festivals, carried my "healthy back bag" (very light too i might add, i carry almost nothing with me to ease things further) that has this tear drop design and really takes all the weight off the shoulder and back and distributes it, where? i never knew until this weekend. well, i'll tell you where, to the hip! so now for the last 2 weeks, "sciatica" down the front of my right leg and a very achy hip! but looking on the bright side, at least it was good enough before hand that i could tell when something was bothering it. so now, seems that for any length of time, i just can't carry any bag, a regular one hurts my back, the "healthy back one" hurts my hip. the only solution, get hubby to carry the purse! yeh, right, like that's gonna happen! LOL.

but most of the time, there really doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason, just a new spot to become inflamed for awhile til its tired of that spot and decides to move on. except of course some spots that inflammation takes up permanent residence in.

it is interesting though that most people would blame it on the golf, where as i'm more prone to think its an unusual sleeping position, unfamiliar shoes, they're the kinds of things i've learned are the real culprits.

hope this new flare dies down soon for you

Thanks

If I am a good Dad all I can say about that is that being a good Dad is like accepting the coolest gift in the world graciously and lovin' every minute you have it.

Its a mystery and something I can't figure out but then I started thinking about it and I can't pretty muuch figure out anything. Light switches producing light are a marvel to me and as mystifying as the concept of dark energy connecting and exisiting in every space of the universe.

I am easily mystifeid and often found misty eyed.

As for AS, which looks redundant it is for me this ever so delicate balance and effort to achieve equilibrium in an equation for which I am yet to be advised what the variables are.

Does that make sense?

I look skyward and inquire of the universe, do pillows count more than shoes? or is it starch and hours on the exer-cycle? If I eat the calzone do I need an hour of scream therapy or hydrotherapy or just a nice down five inch pillow?

To have hunched health in my grasp for weeks and not notice it in all its glory despite neck and shoulder aches only to be reminded of what a blessing it is when I step out of bed is the universe thelling me to appreciate or is itchastising me for some failure?


Oh if I only had the handbook and knew the rules. Perhaps knowing would be boring. SOme say that Utopia is tedium because if everyone is perfect ... well then noone is perfect. so I will bumble blindly on striving for balance in a world where I can see the tightrope and I am hoping on one good leg.

Whatever ya do, DON'T blame it on the golf

I shot an 63 which I haven't done in a decade. SO if there was a sniper who swore only to shoot me if I struck a good shot and photographic evidence I still wouldn't blame it on golf. Golf comes under the heading of my diligent effort to move it or lose it.

Hey Steve,

sorry to hear about the pain, even worse when it is a mystery what brought on flare. I know for me, even though I do well, the wrong shoes do me in every time. Went to wedding and wore some nice dress shoes. At reception, after an hour, had to change into tennis shoes with my suit... sure I looked odd, but if I did not, it was going to be much worse in the morning.

Know that SI pain all too well... remember nearly collapsing many times and leaning on grocery carts to get through my weekly grocery adventure, crawling up stairs etc..

Pray it improves pretty quick for you.

Tim

Yea you had me at one of the girls had a rough night with nightmares so I hopped in with her....I had a Dad like that, as do my kids....such a good Dad!

good to know i'm not the only one pondering the mysteries of the universe!

i've found that every time i think i've figured out the rules, they go and change them on me anyway, LOL!

but never blame it on golf or anything you do with your kiddies! better to blame it on things like shoes!