Isn't Chronic Pain Fun???

I dis-located my shoulder in 2000 playing raquetball whilst deployed to Saudi Arabia. Since then, I've dislocated it a total of 10 times. 8 of those times I had to reduce it myself. I finally hurt it to the point where Jack Daniels and pain killers could not get me to sleep. That was on duty in a training accident summer of 2004. I had surgery to repair it & now I'm the proud owner of 3 TI screws. I hurt it again this summer doing push-ups during my annual fitness test for the USAF. I hurt it again last week helping my sister & BIL move. Every single minute of every single day, my shoulder hurts. If I say anything to the USAF flight docs, they will take me off flight status. What a great situation huh? Enjoy the job I love & deal with pain or get it looked at it again and most likely not be able to fly anymore. I've got at least 5 years to go before I retire so I'm not happy right now.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

Man ,I feel for you. Sounds a bit like what I put up with every day with my back. From my point of view it is quite remarkable how much pain you can put up with but it sure does wear you down with time. I find this time of the year is the worst, the cold, damp, shorter days just seem to make it worse. I find it is always better in the spring and summer. As for the job. So long as you can still do it properly I would say hang in there. Nothing worse than giving something up because of pain and then having the pain get better. You just end up kicking youself. Pain is a part of life and it just seems to get worse as we get older .

I find the odd bottle of red wine helps.

 

You have my complete sympathy!
Twice this year I've screwed up my neck mostly, I believe, from the cramped conditions on Aeroflot planes. 3 oxycodones to get through the day, and morphine to try and sleep and about all it did was reduce the pain level below mind numbing.
Rest as much as you can, and I hope you find some relief from this soon.
Dean

 

Ok, my wife, who was Active Air Force Physical Therapy, says to do what you love. I say do what's best for the future. I am a Crew Chief, have worked several different airframes. I love to teach, and I have that job here at Spang. However, I don't have any classes to teach, so my job is now really boring, and not any fun. However this is giving me the opportinuty to finish my Bachelors degree, and finish my A&P before I need to test for MSgt. I have 8 years to go. I'm not really enjoying what I do now as much as I used to, but it's better for my post Air force career. I know you'd be losing a great amount of $$$ from flight pay, and yes, that really sucks, specially when our pay raises are getting smaller every year it seems. However; I say to you this, if you can deal with the pain, do it. You'll be happier doing what you love. Not too many ppl get to do what you do. Perhaps look into a special duty as an Instructor(My job isn't a special duty BTW, so that instructor job would be better). There are other options out there. If it's what you love, stick with it, unless you can do something better.

 

Tough situation KC, It must be great to have a job you love, I wouldn't know the feeling at the present time. Are you going to endure the pain for the next five years and then get it completely checked out? So far I've been pretty lucky on body injuries even though I've been into sports all my life, can't imagine knocking my shoulder into place, only seen that in the movies...

 

I did forget to mention that we "supposedly" get disability, if the problem wasn't existant before we joined, and that the problem is documented in your medical records. although this didn't help/apply to my wife. Because they said that it was chronic, even though it was job related/caused. She didn't have shoulder problems before, now she jst lives with it. Mind you, it's nothing like what you're going through, just muscle/tendon inflamation. So, ensure that it is in your records, and hopefully that will help you out in the future.

 

I'm probably not going to the Flight Doc unless it gets to the point that I can't live my life normally anymore. That's how it was in 2004 when I got the surgery the first time. As it is now, it's more annoying than anything.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

KC, I am an Army aeromedical PA, so real familiar with what you ca/cannot take while on status. Happy to give you some medical advice, (least I can do for all the advice I've gotten from you over the last 3 months) but would prefer to get with you over e-mail or in some other private manner. Any idea how to go about doing that?

 

Sorry to hear about your pain, but I understand the need to fly (friends not me --- although I wish I did! Have done a little and it's really coooooool!). Brother-in-law was a fighter pilot .....

here at Spang .... wow! talk about 6 degrees separation .... I taught school in Bitburg for a couple of years and used to shop at Spang ....

 

I am 26 years old and just getting to the age were I found out that life involves pain and I am not 18 anymore. I have been dealing with severe low back pain since last june. I have learned to live with it but it stinks because I had my kx500 all ready to race before I screwed up my back. Hopefully I will be in racing condition this summer. The good news is being bent over on the VFR really helps relieve the pain. So now I have a perfect exuce for my wife to go riding for hours on end

 

I hurt my back/neck in a tracked vehicle (M113) accident in the Army after I had 5 years in. At 18 years they medically discharged me because I could no longer pass the physical fitness test. When they looked at the scan of my back the doctor commented that I had the back of a 60 year old - I was 28 at that time. I guess what I am trying to say is don't put yourself in situations that will cause more damage to your shoulder. I hung on in the Army to go for retirement and as the doctor said, "You should have gotten out long ago when your back pain wasn't too bad because you have only accelerated the wear on your back by staying in and abusing it further." I now take anti-inflammatory and two different pain pills to get through the day. And it will only get worse.

And the worst thing is I don't know how much longer I will be able to ride or still be riding when my son is old enough ride with his dad. And I'm only 45 now.

Don't be stupid like me and think you are being a man by sucking up the pain and driving on. Take care of your body while you can.

 

KC, tough spot to be in; I crushed a vertabre 15 years ago in a ATV accident. Right after beginning my carreer as a diesel technician, not a good business to be in w/ a bad back. I didn't have insurance @ the time so I only received physical therapy from myself. I've managed to do my job for the last 15 years no worse for wear, though I've had management positons for a few of those years & currently am a direct customer warranty rep which is 50/50 shop/office work. Transmission work & tires turn me into an old man very quickly though & takes days to recover from. I'm 35 now & don't really expect to still be functional as a technician by 45. But never really intended on being a wrench professionally that long anyway. That is why I've set my self up w/ management experience. So I guess my advise is do what you love for as long as you can, but set yourself up so that your not totally detached from it once you can't do it anymore.

 

The trade off of riding or not

2 years ago I slipped on some ice at work and dislodged two vertibrae in my neck. Now everytime I ride I have to "premedicate" to ride. If I forget the aleve pain reliever I feel the pain. Man does that really suck. because of another moron's inability to clean the parking lot I got two chunks of Titanium and six screws. what a deal!

 

Sorry to hear so many pain stories.:frown: Some of the folks might disagree based on personal experience, but I found alot of relief using chiropractic, before you all shake your heads violently back and forth hear me out.

It is key to have the correct chiropractor perhaps more than other medical specialties. How gentle/decisive/talented your practitioner is makes all the difference.

I had always been against chiropractic, somewhat psychologically after seeing Jacob's Ladder in the 90's.:help: Long and short my sister in Law is a gifted CHP and she is the BOMB.

I used to get really bad neck and back pain, especially due to Karate and being "too tense" sparring, and just being generally out of wack. She totally fixed me, many times actually and once every month or 2 and I'm fine. At first it would be every week until you retrain you muscles to be in correct adjustment, but if you keep dislocating, it could be muscle memory actually helping push your shoulder out. Heavy workouts could axacerbate your condition.

Not sure if it would help if you are already to surgery/pins but it definitely could retrain your shoulder muscles to not go out as much. Good Luck.

Rich in Virginia

 

Wow, and I thought I was all alone! I have been nursing a destroyed back since 97'. I should have quit football long ago when they told me not to play. 20 years later my back finally gave out and ended it for me. Now I live a subpar existance with pain all the time. Although I refuse to medicate unless absolutely necessary. My doctors have told me to pick the things that make me happy and do them because your quality of life is really dependant on you mental and emotional state. So live your life to the fullest and don't look back because you only live once. I don't think I would have changed it if I could do it over again. I would love to be healthy again but I wouldn't give up those years of football either. It's mind over matter! Be strong,men! Be strong!

 

BTW, yes the "chronic" is fun!!!

 

I'm in the AF to. I was involved in a car accident last September and only sprained my knee and the medics wanted to put me on profile, so I couldn't work. I had my doctor clear me because that was bull.

Don't cause yourself further damage, but if you love what you do and can deal with it then press on.

Good luck!

 

Wow, Hang in there KC, sorta know how you're felling even thou I'm in the private sector flight surgeons are brutle,, so I keep my shit to myself for the most part or I wouldn't be flying. I have 8 pins/screws holding my shoulder together, live through it, been 8 years now, so I can say I'm use to it driving me nuts, when I have a bad day I just have to buckle down and work through it. cheat and take meds. Funny thing is I actually ride the bike better than drive thy car, could be a mind set but it really doesn't matter, in long term sitting in one spot will have me climbing the walls in a couple hours, even here at the computer I need to watch out.
No Hi jacking intended KC, Short story to me being this way, Drunk passed out on I-5 taking out 3 cars and me on my 96 VFR, I slammed up the back side of a 96 Buick sending me over the top kart wheel style ending up in the meridian, luckly as traffic was 65mph nascar. was sure I'd been run over more than once. Not a fun time. took the better part of two years to be where I'm at now.

 

RVFR--- you are lucky to be here. That is one ugly photo.

 

OUCH!!!!!! Man that was one bad wreck! RVFR is one tough cookie!