Apparently, I’ve got spondylolisthesis, meaning that a disk in my spine has slipped out of place (to a rather extensive degree, according to my doctor; it was a relief, at least, to have a professional tell me I wasn’t just being pathetic).

It fucking sucks. I’m laying in my bed now and I cannot describe to you the ways my back pieces currently feel like they are moving, except to say that the sensation is pervasive and unpleasant. Before I went to the doctor, I spent eleven days barely able to stand. I only left my bed to use the restroom and even that was an iffy prospect.

It’s unclear if this makes it better or worse, but the most likely cause for this that has been put forth so far is hilarious … And embarrassing.

Anyway, I’ve been enjoying this debilitating situation for a few months now and the next opportunity to potentially fix it is thirteen days from now. I wish it were today.

    • toynbee@lemmy.worldOP
      7·
      4 months ago

      It’s not all that embarrassing, but it’s an embarrassing memory because I was younger and my friends laughed at me as it happened.

      It was quite a while ago, but my ortho says that this stuff can take a long time to manifest.

      Basically I was a teenager helping my friend renovate a trailer they were going to rent. During the process, they had pulled down a lot of wall coverings. The side that would have gone away from the wall was shiny and therefore slippery; the friend had stacked up all the pieces with the slippery side downwards.

      I was, for what I’m sure were reasons, standing on top of this pile of slippery-side-down wall coverings when my friend pretended he was going to run at me and swing some chicken wire at me. (Like I said … Teenagers.) I played along and backpedalled, only because of my tenuous footing, I went nowhere and each piece of slippery wall covering went flying out in front of me due to its lack of grip on anything under it. Eventually I ran out of pile and, as soon as my foot got traction on the ground, fell straight on my ass. It hurt - rather a lot - but I just took some aspirin and moved on. Later that week I went to a doctor, who x-rayed my back. That doctor said “there are some cracks in your spine, but I’m not worried about that.”

      I was!