I had more than a couple surgeries and injuries growing up. So I knew aging wasn't going to be fun. Didn't expect to age like milk though. Then again I started losing my hair at 20, so maybe I should've seen it coming, lol
But at 36 I began having acute issues with my back which I injured first playing baseball of all things in HS. Dove back into 2nd base on a pick-off attempt, and pitcher threw the ball into center field, and SS did the old "Oops I fell over onto the runner," and basically did a knee drop onto my spine.
Turns out it wasn't just that old injury, I basically have saltine crackers masquerading as discs in my spine, had to get a epidural at one point just to walk, and then got addicted to pain meds dealing with the consistent pain and muscle spasms, sciatica the works.
But I got clean, got my weight down, do my PT, and now I just deal with the consistent pain on a daily basis any way I can without opiates. I can't sit upright in a chair for more than 30-45 minutes, and less than that if it's a shitty chair like typical stadium seating. So even sitting in goods seats at hockey games, I'm standing up at every stoppage in play just to stretch, and I take a lap around the arena between every period. Long drives aren't fun either, and are guaranteed to lead to a couple days of unpleasantness.
Lifting at all isn't much of an option. Docs say to make sure I bend my knees even if its just lifting a gallon of milk up from the bottom shelf at the market. So my only workouts are really just the PT exercises and walking on the treadmill, getting my steps in.
Now I'm turning 49, and things are getting worse of course. Used to be only my lower back that was a problem (L4-L5) but now my neck is almost as bad as my lower back. I tend to have shooting pain going down at least two limbs every day, usually left arm and right leg, but some days I get to enjoy all four. Also a lot of numbness and tingling at times, and other phantom pains because my spine is lying to me. Half the days it feels like a Hobbit is stabbing me in the calf, but I look down and can see that isn't the case.
It's to the point that whenever I run into a friend or family member, the first thing they ask me is, "How is your back?" because everybody I know has probably seen me hobbling about at some point in time, or had me cancel something and not show up because I couldn't make it because of my back.
And the worst of all is the affect it has on my sleep. I've always been a bit of an insomniac, but I used to be able to play catch-up and sleep like 12-16 hours sometimes and refresh. Now I'm lucky if I get five or six hours, usually I make due with 3-4 and try to sneak in a 45 min nap at some point in the day. But basically sleep is my White Whale now.
My 50's and 60's are clearly going to suck assuming I'm lucky enough to make it that far.
