I'm not an expert on nerves. All I have to go on is what I'm experiencing as I recover from surgery. But I've made up some theories of nerves. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I had a lot of nerve pain immediately after surgery and had no idea what was going on. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to explain the pain and at the time so I didn't seek help in handling it. The nerve pain in my ribs was the biggest pain I had, even more so than all my drilled bones. So when I had to take a walk down the hospital hall, I could hardly walk. It wasn't the bones bothering me, it was the nerves but I didn't know how to explain the pain at the time. Now I know the difference between bone pain, nerve pain, muscle and tissue pain. Each is handled differently, with different medications and treatment.
Since my surgery involved "untwisting" my twisted spine, that meant that nerves were stretched. Because of my injury before surgery, I wore a very tight brace 24 hours a day, only taking it off when I showered, for two and half months. With the tight brace on, I breathed fairly shallow and my waist and rib cage tightened up a lot. After surgery, I had trouble inhaling because of the restrictions I'd placed on myself before surgery. This increased my rib pain post-op. By week 4 after surgery, I was in agony and even went to the emergency room because I didn't know what was going on.
I discovered that taking big, deep breaths stretched my rib cage out and helped the nerves stretch to where they needed to be. My rib pain dramatically decreased with deep breathing exercises. I wish I had done deep breathing exercises before surgery. That would have helped post-op a lot. I also started using a heating pad held around my ribs post-op and that helped greatly and was very soothing. I'm at 4 1/2 months now and still use the heating pad on my right side any time my ribs ache.
Here are some other theories I have about the nerves:
1. Nerves grow very slowly. Which is why there will be random pins and needles and random jolts months after other pains have gone away.
2. Even severed nerves still transmit information through the nerve network. Several weeks after surgery, there was a small spot on the side of my foot which, if pressed on, even when pulling on a sock, would cause an explosive "nerve jolt" in the center of my back. My theory was that the usual path for that information through the nerve network to my brain was cut during surgery. So the nerve in my back was like a downed electrical line. When a telephone pole is knocked down, any live lines will emit sparks of electricity. So basically, I had a "downed line" in my back. So when the side of my foot was pressed, the signal would pass up through the network until it came to a dead end, where it would "explode", like a spark. This phenomenon only last about a week and then it passed as the nerves made the connection. I never felt it again.
3. On random occasions, I experience a jolt so big it makes me startle or even leap a little. My theory is that it is a nerve connecting after growing back into the nerve network. Like plugging in an appliance with the switch already on so there's a spark.
4. Once a nerve connects, usually with a jolt I can feel, I will regain feeling in some previously numb section. The numb section starts out feeling quite raw and tender and then I no longer notice discomfort.
5. Once a nerve connects, I never again feel a jolt in that exact same area.
6. I've taken note of which sections of my body are still numb 4 1/2 months after surgery - various sections on my back, a small area under my left breast and much of my right hip. These are the places in which I expect to feel the most nerve jolts in the months to come as the nerves slowly regenerate.
As mentioned earlier, these are just my own theories as I try to understand what's going on inside. Please feel free to correct me or add your own experiences. I would like to know how you have handled the nerve pains of recovery.
Since my surgery involved "untwisting" my twisted spine, that meant that nerves were stretched. Because of my injury before surgery, I wore a very tight brace 24 hours a day, only taking it off when I showered, for two and half months. With the tight brace on, I breathed fairly shallow and my waist and rib cage tightened up a lot. After surgery, I had trouble inhaling because of the restrictions I'd placed on myself before surgery. This increased my rib pain post-op. By week 4 after surgery, I was in agony and even went to the emergency room because I didn't know what was going on.
I discovered that taking big, deep breaths stretched my rib cage out and helped the nerves stretch to where they needed to be. My rib pain dramatically decreased with deep breathing exercises. I wish I had done deep breathing exercises before surgery. That would have helped post-op a lot. I also started using a heating pad held around my ribs post-op and that helped greatly and was very soothing. I'm at 4 1/2 months now and still use the heating pad on my right side any time my ribs ache.
Here are some other theories I have about the nerves:
1. Nerves grow very slowly. Which is why there will be random pins and needles and random jolts months after other pains have gone away.
2. Even severed nerves still transmit information through the nerve network. Several weeks after surgery, there was a small spot on the side of my foot which, if pressed on, even when pulling on a sock, would cause an explosive "nerve jolt" in the center of my back. My theory was that the usual path for that information through the nerve network to my brain was cut during surgery. So the nerve in my back was like a downed electrical line. When a telephone pole is knocked down, any live lines will emit sparks of electricity. So basically, I had a "downed line" in my back. So when the side of my foot was pressed, the signal would pass up through the network until it came to a dead end, where it would "explode", like a spark. This phenomenon only last about a week and then it passed as the nerves made the connection. I never felt it again.
3. On random occasions, I experience a jolt so big it makes me startle or even leap a little. My theory is that it is a nerve connecting after growing back into the nerve network. Like plugging in an appliance with the switch already on so there's a spark.
4. Once a nerve connects, usually with a jolt I can feel, I will regain feeling in some previously numb section. The numb section starts out feeling quite raw and tender and then I no longer notice discomfort.
5. Once a nerve connects, I never again feel a jolt in that exact same area.
6. I've taken note of which sections of my body are still numb 4 1/2 months after surgery - various sections on my back, a small area under my left breast and much of my right hip. These are the places in which I expect to feel the most nerve jolts in the months to come as the nerves slowly regenerate.
As mentioned earlier, these are just my own theories as I try to understand what's going on inside. Please feel free to correct me or add your own experiences. I would like to know how you have handled the nerve pains of recovery.
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