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View Full Version : More time with my feet up ... gettin' ooooollllllldddddd.



bruceb
23rd September 2003, 23:45
Since I had to stop working, and became disabled, I have been trying to get out of this damn house, off the computer and keep my feet from going to sleep.

The only answer has been to put my feet up on my desk and kick back in my chair three or four times an hour.

Any of you guys or gals who are over forty do this same thing?

I don't know about you, but since I started to put my feet up more often, I am feeling a bit more energetic. I thought is was weird that something I did as a teenager would come back again in middle-age?

StanLee
24th September 2003, 11:28
Bruce have you tried to take your shoes off and maybe even your socks and slap the soles of your feet on the ground. Great for circulation and just a good feeling.

The other thing I like is running bare footed on tarmac? Also another great feeling! I found this out when chasing theives away from my dojo.:D

bruceb
25th September 2003, 19:20
I spend a lot of time tapping my feet on the floor and wiggling my toes. I suspect the warning label on the neurontin is correct in extremities losing feeling. Might be time to use something else to the tri-geminal Neuralgia.

I really wasn't concerned about that, more to the point, I was thinking about the last twenty years since I popped over the 30 years old mark. I really need to put my feet up more. It doesn't mattter if it is a recliner, or up on my desk or on a coffee table, the rest periods seem to be much more effective with feet up.

It has to be a circulation thing where the body is able to send blood around the body easier in the reclining position.

I wonder is reclining is one of the secrets to keeping the human body in proper order?

budojill
1st October 2003, 18:49
I never thought about any rejuvenating effects from reclining, but certainly I've counselled my older patients to put their feet up at rest for circulation- also diabetics, whose circulation deteriorates much more quickly.

I wonder if there is improved energy flow from the abdomen when the feet are up- not my area of expertise.

I started lying on the couch for a rest every other day now I approach 35, and presto- I'm asleep for about half an hour. But I have to get up at once, or I sleep too long and wake up stupefied.

About neurontin- it's also used for peripheral neuropathy pain, since it blocks nerve pain. You could try tegretol or a tri-cylclic, both of which have some effect for TN pain, but I beleive they are less effective. Ask your doc- besides, they have their own adverse effects.

I take doxepin (TCA) for TMJ pain, and it works well for me. But it is sedating, constipating, and causes weight gain. I found I couldn't tolerate neurontin. Good luck- recline away!

Steve Williams
1st October 2003, 23:31
budojill....... Please sign your posts with your full name

Steve Williams
1st October 2003, 23:34
Bruce, is your chair pressing your legs in any particular way??

It could be similar (although not so severe) to "economy class syndrome" which is the current "thing" with long-haul air travel...... sitting for an extended period can potentially cause blood circulation problems, not of the life threatening kind, but enough to affect your legs/feet....... do you get a pins&nedles type tingling in the feet also?

hyaku
2nd October 2003, 01:11
Pins and needles in the extremities. Gout? If so the last thing you should do is take your feet off the floor. I would get a blood test to be sure.

Hyakutake Colin

Steve Williams
2nd October 2003, 01:35
I asked if he had pins&needles..... he has not said if he has yet.....

Steve Williams
2nd October 2003, 01:36
Knowing Brucies posts though Gout is a definate option (excessive alcohol induced.......) ;) :D

Kimpatsu
2nd October 2003, 01:37
Gassho, Steve.
Pins and needles are a sign of claudication, Bruce (lack of oxyhenated blood to the extremeties). There are medicines you can take for it, but it can also indicate a poor cardiovascular system, particularly in obese patients.
HTH.

MarkF
2nd October 2003, 11:52
I suspect the warning label on the neurontin is correct in extremities losing feeling. Might be time to use something else to the tri-geminal Neuralgia.


I suspect you're right about Neurontin. On top of TGN it is used as last option in a long line of treatment for all kinds of incapacitating pain, from night cramps to post-laminectomy syndrome. People who go to that are taking their lives in their hands. Watch where you step (you may not feel it) and end up in the ER with major cuts or burns in your extremities.

I suspect you all ready have tried other remedies? If not, get off that stuff and try something else. Doxepin or similar trycyclic anti-depressants can help, as can their chemical cousins such as Flexeril. Don't stop it suddenly and work up another treatment plan with your health care giver.

Monocyclics (Ludiomil) sometimes are helpful. The last teatment option is surgery which will leave numb spots depending on where they cut, but it does permanantly remove the effects of TGN. The only advantage neurontin has over surgery is that the feeling will come back once you stop taking it, but don't stop it suddenly. The tics can come back with a vengance.

Tic Doloreaux is an incapacitating syndrome not fully understood. There is still no single treatment (except surgery) effective with a good percentage of people so try and try again before taking Neurontin again is a good idea -- unless you've been that route all ready then it may be your best friend. TGN does not get better it gets worse so most will eventually do whatever it takes to end the blinding pain for good.

BTW: Tricyclics have their own side effects, the milder ones have been mentioned. A dry mouth is a common side effect. That can have you losing your teeth if you're not careful. Saliva Substitute works, but it is difficult to maintain fluids when your mouth feels dry all the time. Saliva provides protection for the teeth. Without it, the opposite will happen, Tegretol is a nasty drug, as well, and I'm not so sure about the effects on TGN. Sansert is similar. All are used to treat chronic migraine and histamine headaches (clusters).

Since all head aches are cardiovascular in nature, similar drugs will help with one and may help with another. Sometimes none of them work except those at the extreme of treatment choices.

Good luck, but I think your first inkling about the Neurontin is probably correct.

PS: Have you tried muscle relaxers, Soma, Valium, Xanax, Klonopin? Soma isn't in the same class as the others and may be worth a try.

Don't listen to me, this is the Internet.


Mark

Random
2nd October 2003, 12:13
Raising the legs and massaging your feet and legs helps allot with blood flow. A doctor had a diabetic friend of mine do this several times a day every day with his one remaining leg and he swore it helped allot.

monkeyboy_ssj
3rd October 2003, 14:17
I'm only just 20, and I'm getting really scared about getting old.

I see older people in the streets, walking slowly with sticks and not being aware of whats going on, and I really don't want to get like that, especially as a martial artist.

But then again it happens to everyone...getting old.

Having leg pains sounds like the worst thing that could ever happen too me...have you thought about taking asprin to help with the blood flow?

bruceb
7th October 2003, 14:03
Originally posted by monkeyboy_ssj
I'm only just 20, and I'm getting really scared about getting old.

I see older people in the streets, walking slowly with sticks and not being aware of whats going on, and I really don't want to get like that, especially as a martial artist.

But then again it happens to everyone...getting old.

Having leg pains sounds like the worst thing that could ever happen too me...have you thought about taking asprin to help with the blood flow?

Don't get too excited, Matt, the years go by slowly, and there is a lot of fun before getting old. One day the you look back and the time has gone by, and there you are ...

I have been exposed to a number of chemicals over the years, and it is my opinion that my body has become damaged from not just that abuse, but incurs the normal Arthritus, and normal minor pains of growing old. I ain't 30 anymore, and there are natural changes that take place no matter how well you take care of that body, just part of growing old.

Despite the advice of my Neurologist, and Doctor, I have lowered my dosage of neurontin from 1200 mg( which is 3 of the 400 mg pills) to one 300 mg pill per day with a week or so every month skipping most medications to see how my body progresses to heal or return somewhat to normal. There is no substitute for verbal input, or a good diet, but somewhere along the line one must TRY to get off the drugs that relieve symptoms, not cure the body.

The fact is ... most pills are designed to relieve pain, or trick the body into thinking that it is operating normally so that the body will naturally heal itself.

Enough of my meandering thoughts.

Don't worry about getting older until you are, Matt .... remember this little diddy and apply it to your life.

Be just who you is, not who you is not, folks which does that, is the happiest lot.

bruceb
11th October 2003, 23:14
The hardest thing to learn, whether you are young, old, or whatever, is to be just who you are at that age.

Sometimes I use an old saying I learned in a cartoon called Tooter Turtle. Tooter would always want to be someone he was not, an astronaut, a race car driver, or whatever, and since he was just a turtle boy, he would go see mister wizard who was a lizard with magical powers that would transform Tooter into whatever career person he wanted to be. Always, Tooter would get into trouble and scream for help from Mr. Wizard who would bring him back to be a turtle boy, once again.

The lesson of becoming old, seeking a career, or trying to be something you are not come full circle in the advice of Mister Wizard that you will be just fine if you just be yourself when you try. Because in being yourself, or in the case of this thread, what ever age you are, with whatever infimitys or natural skills you posess, the simplicity of being yourself will let you use those talents or skills for that person to be the best they can within the definition of the best for each human being.

Those words were:

"Be just who you is, not who you is not, folks which does dat, is the happiest lot!"

I guess it is time to realize I am who I am at this stage of life, which has changed from what it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and absolutely positively what it was 30 years ago.

Sometimes it is aweful hard to do.

Maybe .... if I force myself to rest, it might sink in eventually, I don't know.

Don't ever forget to reflect now and then "... to be just who you is, and not who you is not."

With that .... feet up ... hit return and wander about for a bit .... on line.