Sitting, standing, tired of being horizontal

[Clay]

I'm really realizing just how important it is not to sit.

I've searched around here and found links to the $700 chair with the split seat, the bladder cushion, and the description of using the ring from a toilet seat in a pillow case. I'm using foam pads now, the kind made to kneel on while gardening, one or two under each haunch. What other techniques have you guys found for those unavoidable sits like driving and eating in restaurants?

One weekend I was walking down a beach in severe pain. I stopped to rest on a log, which was uncomfortable. I shifted back a few inches until the log was under the tops of my thighs instead of under my buttocks. Lo and behold, the pain in my penis stopped instantly. I've brought a section of a beach log home and mounted it on top of an old stool. I only sit there for a few minutes at a time, because I don't think of this as a sitting tool. I think of it as a therapy tool for applying pressure across my thighs. It doesn't work as completely as it did that first time, but I feel definite relief for a short time.

Do you really get used to only standing and lying down? It's making me a little crazy.

[carld]

Clay just think that sitting is really not a natural position for humans. I tell my self back in the day we would hunt and gather. I would suspect that left very little time to sit on our behinds. So I try to use it as a tool to keep up and moving and sit for short rests. Over time as we heal and get better we can rest for longer periods. I find sitting outside of the work place to be less of a problem because you are most likely doing something you want to instead of doing something you have to do. Hang in there.

[So. Cal. Accountant]

I also noticed that my lower back pain is now almost as bad a symptom as my urinary frequency / urgency and related penis / urethral pain. I think that my lower back pain is being exacerbated by my sedentary job. The sitz baths that I do in the evening do seem to help somewhat, but only temporarily. Do you guys have any suggestions? Please let me know.

[Clay]

This may be obvious to everyone else, but I've only recently broken the 'sitting' problem into two parts.

First, it may hurt when I sit. Muscles are pulled, pain referred. Easier to deal with in some ways because of the instant feedback.

Second, it may NOT hurt when I sit. In fact, it felt pretty darn good yesterday to sit on a heating pad. I got sloppy and didn't really think about how much I sat during the day. Today it hurts, it hurts in the morning when I usually am in better shape. I surmise that even though sitting didn't hurt, it irritated the muscles and today I pay the price. I suspect that even when lying down, I need to keep my knees down. Anything that puts an angle between hip and thigh is a problem.

My wife gets charly horses up the back of her thigh. She finally learned that she could stop them by bending as far as possible at the hip, putting her feet out in front of her with straight legs. It stretches those muscles. That's exactly what I shouldn't do if I'm reading this right.

[LightningTree]

Hey Clay,

Four important points

(1) I PERSONALLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT SIT ON A HEATING PAD. The heating pad will dull the pain and that is not good. You don't know when you are injuring yourself. That's my opinion. I think you figured that out the hard way, though. I made that mistake a few times.

On the other hand, sleeping with a hot water bottle or one of those microwaveable gel things is a great way to get some comfort while trying to get some needed sleep.

I suppose that if you are lying on a couch, that will help to. I used to have a hot water bottle and an electric heating pad around with me for at least 6 months. Those are a great thing to use when you can,but don't use them as pain mitigator to sit.

(2) There was another poster here about a year ago who described a VERY similar event while sitting on a rock. He was sitting with the back of his butt drooping off of the rock and his pain melted away. You two have something very in common.

If I had to guess, I would layman's guess that this relates to the position of your leg bones and your muscles. How tight are your hamstrings and thigh adductors? Any knee problems?

(3) I'm the guy who used the toilet seat in a cushion. It works great for driving, but can make the butt cheeks a little sore after two hours. But it did seem to avoid some of the next day pain like you just experienced.

I avoided sitting for two years. I can now sit ok.

(4) The Horizontal Blues: This is normal. I felt the same way. Believe it or not, you get used to it after a while. Even though I can now sit just fine, I still find myself reclining more often when I am at home , on a bus, etc. It just starts feeling normal after about a year or so. I can understand that feeling but you will adjust, and then in the future you will be able to sit again when it is useful. (I will still never sit for hours in a chair at home, ever again. I figure it would just injure me. So I do things lying down or standing up in my hobby room. Desks at home are an anathema.)

[BigStoneMax]

Clay,

I have been unable to sit without pain for the past seven years. I have tried various treatments, but unfortunately I have not received any long-term relief.

I would say at this point that I am use to not sitting. Being able to sit for a considerable amount of time would feel so unusual. I have tried many items to help with sitting, but none have helped much.

I do wish you better fortune than myself in finding relief. It appears that, at least for the immediate future, I am going to need to rely on opiates to ease the pain.

[LightningTree]

BigStoneMax,

Don't give up hope. My twin brother had this for four years before he started to figure out how to get better. THere was a time where he was on a lot of vicoden.

[Clay]

The part about a heating pad dulling the pain is an excellent insight.

I've only recently come up hard against how I've dulled pain with advil for so many years so I could continue doing the destructive activities - and causing more damage and more pain. What a cycle. So now I'm up to opiates, and I feel like the pharma industry hooked me with advil like a pusher does with a kid with his first meth hit.

Time to listen to the pain instead of yelling at it to shut the *$@ up.