Tag: shoulder pain

WizOrb PSP Mini

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

wizorb_titlescreen

I have been spending a lot of my time lately either resting in bed, getting a shiatsu massage or a vibrating massage because of the chronic pain that I have been suffering in my back lately.  I say lately, but I have had Degenerative Disc Disease for a few years now, or longer, I only found out a few years ago from an MRI that I had it because of my shoulder pain.  I have actually been suffering chronic pain for a long time, but it comes and goes and this time it seems like it doesn’t want to go because I have been in constant pain for the last couple of weeks.

Because I’ve been spending a lot of time resting my back, I have been wishing I had a more mobile computer than my Chromebook which doesn’t seem to want to be used anymore since it disconnects from my WiFi as soon as I start typing.  I have many devices that I can use besides my desktop and my Chromebook, but they don’t load websites as well.

My cell phone is, as I like to call it a dumb phone, since it’s not a smart phone.  I would love to buy an android phone from Virgin Mobile so I can do all of my internet stuff while laying in bed, but since I don’t have one, I figured I would go onto the MediaGo Sony Store to see what new game I can download for my PSP.  I had $2.09 available in my account, so I figured I’d find something around that price, and I found WizOrb in the Mini section for $1.99.  That should keep me busy since it’s a new game I’ve never played before.

I loaded the game and played the first bit of it and was a little confused because it basically looks like I’m playing pong, but with better graphics lol.  Speaking of the graphics, it reminds me of The Legend of Zelda for my old Game Boy from 1994, except in color.  It’s like Link’s Awakening to Pong.

That’s just my first impression, I haven’t really gotten to know the game yet so I can’t really form an opinion of the game until I get really into it.  I do look forward to playing it though because it does look like a ton of fun, even though it’s a PSP Mini lol.

I will come back and blog about how much fun I am having when I get to play it more.

Update: This game is really hard lol.  I give them props for difficulty, even at normal pace.

Doctor Visit

On By Michel McDonaldIn DoctorLeave a comment

I went to my regular doctor today and told him that I’m still having shoulder pain despite the steroids and muscle relaxers the RN from the Neurologist gave me.  I told him that she was going to give me a referral for another specialist but that could take weeks, months even and I just can’t suffer like this for months.  She said that I would have to see a specialist before I could get a cortisone shot.

Well, my regular doctor said if they had those x-rays they could just give me the shots there.  I called the neurologist office and asked them to send the x-rays to my doctor’s office because I’m tired of messing around.  This has been going on for too long now, 5 weeks in excruciating pain.

In the meantime he gave me a prescription for Vicodin (SWEET) and that should be ready soon.  The thing is, I’ve taken that for this pain and it doesn’t help.  Well, then again, that prescription expired on 2/09 so maybe that has something to do with it lol.

When my toenails were taken off I was in a lot more pain than this and the vicodin numbed the pain so if it works for that then it should work for this.

Sad news about my doctor though, today was his last day.  He’s moving back east and he said something about making more money so that’s good I guess.  It’s not easy working for the city in a clinic I guess, you just don’t make as much as you would’ve thought you would when you went to Medical school.  I’ll miss him and have to get used to yet another doctor.

Home Gym

On By Michel McDonaldIn ExerciseLeave a comment

weiderI’ve said before that I’m going to do it but then I wuss out because of my shoulder pain but I really need to do it for my shoulder pain.  I need to bring my Weider Total Body Works 5000 home gym into the patio from the back yard and start using it.

I think that if I work that muscle, the shoulder muscle that hurts and my back muscles, that I might be able to strengthen it up.

I’ve had this shoulder pain for almost a month now and it seems like it’s moving from my shoulder to my neck and also down my left arm as well as being in my shoulder.  So I think that the only way I’m going to fix this is by exercising those muscles.

When I was going to the Chiropractors office in 2005 they would give me a massage, I would lay on a hot water bed with jets shooting at my back, they would put these electric things on my back that would shoot electricity into the muscle then the doctor would adjust my back and then they would send me over to their gym room where I would use the weight machine and do the exercises that they told me to do.  I still have the paper with all the exercises too.

They had me pull on the weight cable then hold for about 5 or 10 seconds or whatever, I forgot.  Then I would do it again, so about maybe 10 times for 5-10 seconds.  So I believe that this worked so I think I should do the same.

I’m giving myself shiatsu massages, vibrating massages, putting cold then heat on my shoulder.  I can’t adjust myself but I do try to crack my back when I can.  I don’t have a little twin sized water bed with heat and jets and I don’t have one of those things that you put on your muscle then push the button to electronically stimulate the muscles by zapping it (as seen on Jackass the movie where they put it on their balls lol) but I do have a home gym and it’s about time I use it.

I really want this pain to go away.  It’s been almost a month and I haven’t been on my bike in that amount of time.  I’m told to just go to the Chiropractors office but how am I going to get there?  Bus then have to walk the rest of the way?  Every step I take causes pain in my shoulder.  In 2005 I was going 3 days a week, that’s $3 a week in bus fair that I just can’t spare.  I would ride my bicycle but then I’d be paranoid that it’s going to get stolen the whole time cause you are in there for 2-3 hours at least.

So my best alternative is to just suffer and use the options I have available to me I guess.  Maybe if I had a person to drive me then it would be easier but I don’t.  We have a perfectly good SUV in the driveway that I could get there with but… don’t know how to drive and even if I did, it’s gonna cost me a lot more than $3 a week in gas.

Back Problems

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

I don’t know what’s going on with me lately but it seems that since I got that new bicycle seat I’ve had nothing but back problems.  It could be that I still don’t have it adjusted right, I don’t know for sure.  I’m sitting back in my desk chair with the vibrate turned on the upper back selection and it does help some.  Sometimes I go sit in the shiatsu massage chair and that just hurts.  I have to sit funny for it to even get to my shoulders.

What happened is a few mornings ago I wasn’t wearing my bipap machine mask because sometimes I can’t breathe with it on so I have to go without for 1 night.  So when I sleep without it I sleep on my stomach and I sleep so weird that it puts a crick in my neck.  So I can’t put all the blame on this new seat but it doesn’t help my back either.

Yesterday I went on my morning bike ride despite the bad neck/shoulder pain but this morning I decided I was in too much pain to go out so I stayed home.

I’m really thinking about going to the chiropractor again because I get massages 3 days a week and they make me use their gym which helps with my weight loss lol.  The last time I went there I think I lost 10lbs in 1 month from using their gym doing the machine exercises as well as the ball exercises.  Maybe that will help me out some then I can learn what exercises I can do at home on my home gym so I will start using that again.

The only issue right now is that I’m broke.  I mean totally broke.  I have $1.75 available in the bank lol.  So I can’t take the bus there and they moved to across the street from the DMV which is a very long bus ride.  I wouldn’t want to take my bike because well, I’m going there because of my bike and I don’t have the proper locks for my bike yet until I get money.  So I’m kind of stuck until I get money.

I hope the pain will go away soon because I don’t have any pain pills or the money for them.  I do have a couple ibuprofens still for my carpel tunnel syndrome and I’m seeing that doctor on Friday so hopefully he will renew that for me.