ups and downs of symptoms/pain

[rob_zzz]

well its good that things are going so well thats for sure.

[fortitudine]

Hi Rob,
My symptoms don't seem to be as bad as yours but they do fluctuate. You know about caffeine - and by the way, you said you drink tea, did you know it is full of caffeine if it's not herbal? Maybe you should try cutting it out for a while. Then there's cold, which probably isn't an issue with you, and here's the one I can't figure out - sitting on a wooden bench for a while, as in lunch or watching sports! I think it must be that it doesn't allow enough movement in the lower spine and things stiffen up. I still think you might give aquacize a try. I swear it helps. Stress is also hard on the spinal cord - if the theory is to be believed, stress causes the production excess cortisol which can affect the nerves like caffeine.

I think keeping track is a great idea. That way you can determine if there really is progression or if it's simply a fluctuation with a possibly explainable cause.

[rob_zzz]

I'm getting pretty confused about the fluctuations. I'll take on board what you say in relation to caffeine and see if that makes a difference - though I don't think this is the cause. When everythings flared up then sitting at a desk causes all sorts of stuff to go on and my legs feel very strange, the tingling is very intense and lately includes pins/needles in arms and legs, and a bone aching sort of pain in the legs. I've also been getting strong tingling/mild numbness from time to time in the legs. Plus the fumbling/clumsiness of the fingers is quite noticeable when it flares up.

But its doing my head in at the moment how it can go from being so bad a week or so ago to almost gone the past few days.

I'm pretty sure heavy lifting and activity does aggravate it - seems that whenever I do any really vigorous activity (rowing, swinging my daughter around, carrying stuff about etc.) then a few days later its no good.

I'm thinking this idea of local inflammation that occurs as part of the healing process for small tears in the discs, which then produces chemicals that irritate the nerve roots and spinal cords is possibly making sense. This could explain why it flares up - and when flared up movement etc. irritates it - then if the small damage heals it can be ok for a while, but then flare up again.

[Maria]

edited as necessary