The Vent and Rant Thread

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Please do, any port in a storm.

It's not so much the stiffness and loss of tactile sense that bothers me, it's the loss of balance… and the consequent inability to negotiate stairs and broken footpaths/sidewalks/pavements etc.

This was from an advertisement, so take with a grain of salt, but a shoe insole seller said that the normal "really soft insoles" are bad for one's balance, cuz your foot doesn't know where the ground is. It made sense, so I bought their AKUSOLI inserts and have liked them. I swap back occasionally if something gets sore, but I come back to these and they seem to make walking better. They're flatter, with magnet inserts -- but they feel surprisingly good and helpful. Amazon has them. search them for B0F2F64DCN or B0F2F6NSDH (I forget if actual URL's are a problem?)

Creams, etc:
Mama Bear Oasis magnesium cream - it sinks in really nicely, so I like it better than the cheaper brand I also have and use. $35 once (Amazon; search Amazon for B0DJYXR31R since there are many copiers), and since I liked it I went to their home site (www dot mamabearoasis dot com ) and got a 6 at $20 ea package, then an sell-more push I added 3 more for $15 each. If you can handle the bill, that gets you 9 jars to use at leisure. I'll go back for more when I finish those. It's relieving my shoulder joint aches.

Lune Nerve Balm also on Amz ($60) and then slightly cheaper at home web site (www dot luneusa dot com). Beware the click box for "auto re-ship in 4 weeks", but I liked it, so I'll keep using it. Magnesium plus other stuff. Sometimes I use Lune then top it with another magnesium cream. Feet, so far.

Cheaper, slightly stickier feel, but great for knees, hands, feet (see previous item): Magnum Nighttime Magnesium Lotion. Currently $15; has been $10; B0F1QHNFJP -has with or without Lavender versions, at Amz. Also soothed my "restless legs" in the middle of the night, a few days ago.

Magnesium really seems to help lots of things - arthritis, muscle cramps, restless legs, and neuropathy pins and needles. I've "taken" magnesium for 10+ years, but rubbing it on the skin helps more obviously.

I've been trying lots of things shown me on facebook.

FrostAid.com also has a penetrating cream/lotion that claims to support the nerve health. I can't prove that it does, but it relieves the pain without magnesium. I'm going to keep using it, to see if any healing actually occurs, tho they say you have to keep using to see change. I guess after 6 months I may stop; except that it does relieve pain, so there's that at least.

-------
I just got neuropathy around Dec 2025, but since the doctor offers nothing, I'm seeing whether herbal medicine can do better. I don't want to wait till nerves are wholly dead, so I'm trying scads of potions. (err, not internally, since my blood thinners require I be more careful of what I swallow)

Good luck!
Deb

edit: just looked you up; you are in Australia. Maybe use the USA amazon.com to check my part numbers, then move to your version to actually find the product??

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

. . . I just got neuropathy around Dec 2025, but since the doctor offers nothing, I'm seeing whether herbal medicine can do better. I don't want to wait till nerves are wholly dead, so I'm trying scads of potions. (err, not internally, since my blood thinners require I be more careful of what I swallow)

Good luck!
Deb

edit: just looked you up; you are in Australia. Maybe use the USA amazon.com to check my part numbers, then move to your version to actually find the product??

Thanks Deb.

I have a couple of pairs of bespoke orthotic insoles from my podiatry clinic. They have a factory that creates them on 3D printers from images of client's feet. They do help.

On Tuesday I saw a consultant physiotherapist at the hospital. The doctors & physios who treated me while I was a patient arranged it. It's a major teaching hospital attached to Sydney University.

I've seen quite a few physios over the past decade or so… in hospitals, physio clinics, gyms etc… few if any would have been older than 40, and all very fit and healthy. But the one I saw on Tuesday would have been in her sixties, overweight, with walking problems. She asked lots of questions, some more than once but with different phrasing, with follow up questions if my answers were inconsistent… reminded me of University tutors 50+ years ago.

And she wrote copious notes… in purple on yellow legal notepaper!

She noticed how I used my walking stick. On flat surfaces, I only use it when standing still, turning around, negotiating un-railed steps and such. But she wants me to use it when I'm walking, not as a prop to hold me up, but to tap the ground with each step to send a signal to my brain to let it know where the ground under my feet actually is.

She is of the opinion that my peripheral neuropathy has multiple underlying causes. After our session she asked me to wait while she discussed my case with one of the consultant neurologists. As a result I'll be seeing him on the 25th.

Despite the adverse events arising from my fall… getting Covid-19 in hospital, the robbery whilst was there etc… I seem to have found a channel within the health system that doesn't just shrug and tell me… if its not diabetes, or excessive alcohol we don't know what it is… you should walk more and drink a litre and half of water a day.

Before trying the magnesium remedies I'll consult with my "Care Team". Maybe it's the same elsewhere, but the individuals in my "Care Team" don't communicate with one another… it's me that has to fulfil the role of Team Leader. Example: I have to finagle the system to get the data the hospital extracts from my pacemaker once a year to my electro-cardiologist.

BR

[Rumpelteazer]

There's this virus going around work these last couple of weeks. I got it last week and it gave me a lot of stomach problems. But luckily by Friday afternoon my stomach had settled. Throughout I also had a bit of an irritated throat off and on. On Saturday evening it got worse, but on Sunday morning it was gone again. Until later that day when it started getting more sore. Yesterday it was swollen and painful, I got through the day with painkillers and lozenges. Luckily this morning the soreness is now back to a dry, irritated throat. But now I got a runny nose.

I had planned on doing something fun on my day off on Thursday; we've had hot weather for so long that I just didn't have the energy to do much on my day off and just need to get out of the house I feel. I hope by Thursday I'm feeling good enough to do so.

[Renate]

Interfacing with the public is an invitation to disease.

[Martinoptic]

Very true. Glad I no longer have to.

[DNSB]

Another reason that I was happy to retire from working in K-12 education.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Renate

Interfacing with the public is an invitation to disease.

Interfacing with service providers can be worse, particularly large corporations - banks, telcos, utilities, retail chains, government bureaucracies etc.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

There's this virus going around work these last couple of weeks. I got it last week and it gave me a lot of stomach problems. But luckily by Friday afternoon my stomach had settled. Throughout I also had a bit of an irritated throat off and on. On Saturday evening it got worse, but on Sunday morning it was gone again. Until later that day when it started getting more sore. Yesterday it was swollen and painful, I got through the day with painkillers and lozenges. Luckily this morning the soreness is now back to a dry, irritated throat. But now I got a runny nose.

I had planned on doing something fun on my day off on Thursday; we've had hot weather for so long that I just didn't have the energy to do much on my day off and just need to get out of the house I feel. I hope by Thursday I'm feeling good enough to do so.

That sounds a lot like the virus I had 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I think it's going around in LOTS of places. I'm in the USA, so very far from you!

[JSWolf]

When I get a sore throat, it gets as bad as it's going to get and then it goes away. I also can get a dry throat. It's been a while since I've had a painful belly.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Renate

Interfacing with the public is an invitation to disease.

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Interfacing with service providers can be worse, particularly large corporations - banks, telcos, utilities, retail chains, government bureaucracies etc.

I mostly work on self check-out and there's no barrier between you and the customer (like on a regular register) and some people have absolutely no problem coughing right into your face, and I'm not just talking about little kids.

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

That sounds a lot like the virus I had 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I think it's going around in LOTS of places. I'm in the USA, so very far from you!

My department manager is still sniffling after more than two weeks. I seem to be cycling through the cold/flu symptoms pretty quickly. My throat is now getting better, but I have a very runny nose.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When I get a sore throat, it gets as bad as it's going to get and then it goes away. I also can get a dry throat. It's been a while since I've had a painful belly.

My throat is my weak point. When I get a cold/flu/covid it always starts with my throat. Excluding the time I had appendicitis I'm not one to have stomach aches. It usually doesn't last longer than a day, once it's out of my system I feel better pretty quickly.

I've given up on the idea of going out and doing something fun tomorrow. I'd rather postpone it for a week than not being able to enjoy the experience. I've already done most of the chores I do on Thursday, only the grocery delivery is planned for tomorrow morning. So I've decided to just make it a fun day; get some snacks and drinks, order lunch and just do whatever I feel like doing. Which will probably include a nice nap, some cross stitching and finishing my book.

[JSWolf]

Have a really good movie night with buttery cheesy popcorn.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have a really good movie night with buttery cheesy popcorn.

Thanks. I haven't watched TV (yet) today. The day started early since the groceries were delivered just after 8am. After that I went out and got some snacks and drinks (no popcorn, though you've made me crave Snickerdoodle Cookie popcorn). I tried cross stitching, but gave up pretty soon since I was sneezing a lot this morning.

I ordered lunch and curled up in bed to finish my book. I also treated myself to some retail therapy and ordered a bunch of Aerosmith cd's (most of them second hand), I used to have them but they got lost along the way. The store also sold several possible live bootlegs, so I got those, too. And the next Alter Bridge album on my list. So over the weekend I have to catalogue and digitize them.

I'm feeling a lot better already than even this morning, the sneezing and runny nose have subsided so that's a big win.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Thanks. I haven't watched TV (yet) today. The day started early since the groceries were delivered just after 8am. After that I went out and got some snacks and drinks (no popcorn, though you've made me crave Snickerdoodle Cookie popcorn). I tried cross stitching, but gave up pretty soon since I was sneezing a lot this morning.

I ordered lunch and curled up in bed to finish my book. I also treated myself to some retail therapy and ordered a bunch of Aerosmith cd's (most of them second hand), I used to have them but they got lost along the way. The store also sold several possible live bootlegs, so I got those, too. And the next Alter Bridge album on my list. So over the weekend I have to catalogue and digitize them.

I'm feeling a lot better already than even this morning, the sneezing and runny nose have subsided so that's a big win.

Glad you are feeling better.

Sounds like a very enjoyable day.

[PeterT]

For the first time in what must be two months of walking most days I had a fall We've had some rainy days of late and the trail I'd decided to walk had some muddy patches. The walk out was curtailed by a section where the path had been washed out, so I turned around and started on the return phase.

I got to a point where there was mud across the gravelled path and was doing my usual gingerly steps. Obviously not careful enough as suddenly my left foot slipped and down to my knees I went

With my damaged left foot and ankle (long time sufferer from Charcot Foot as a side effect of diabetes) getting to my feet after a fall is a challenge even at home or on a dry, smooth surface I started looking around to see what I could crawl too to help me stand.

Luckily there was a cyclist coming from behind me who stopped to offer a hand and helped me back to my feet. Only damage was to my pride.

Sigh. Now it's time to clean my shoes and toss these muddy pants in the washing machine.

[JSWolf]

I'm glad your OK.

My last fall resulted in fracturing my right hip and fusing the bones. At first we thought I may have a muscle sprain. I managed with it for a month. I did feel like it was getting better. But then it stopped and started feeling worse until one day I told my wife I was really hurting. So off to ER we went and two days later, I had a hip replacement. After the fall, I used a cane to get around. I used a HurryCane. It folds and has three feet and can stand on it's own and is height adjustable and has a nice handle.

I do need to do more exercising. I've been looking at exercise videos on YouTube for seniors. I do walk everyday at least twice a day with the dog. I'll use the small kitchen stool for steeping up and down and some stretching. The bed will be good for glute bridge, and clamshell.