OMFG PLEASE make the pain stop NOW I can’t effing take anymore of this.

[quote=Morrada]Jever

Been there…doing that! What dose of Neurontin are you taking? I am on the max of 3600 per day and it does help me now but didnt when I started at 1200 per day. From my experience ( I am 43 and was dx July of 05) I went back to work full time in September of 05 and that was just way to early. I had the same problems with pain and fatigue and was working my usual 50-60 hour work weeks (leaving me iin bed all weekend everry weekend). Man was I stupid…typical male ego run amuck! You have to give your body time to heal and recuperate. I had a relapse this past July (partly due to becoming diabetic) and I am still unable to work full time. I am currently on diability and I am playing it day by day and do not plan on working full time till the first of 07.

Vent all you want, that is why we are here for you, and please take care and rest as much as you can…and yes I know I not your mommy. I can also relate to the car issue…I have a 1978 Alfa Romeo (resotred with on 28,000 original miles) and have problems with the clutch on most days. Luckly I also have a regular car to drive around.

Take Care and God Bless
Stephen[/quote]
Unfortunately I don’t have the luxury of not working. In April I came to Cali for a BMW car show in Santa Barbara. Due to an unfortunate, or fortunae depending on how ou look at it, I ended up staying here. My cab was late so I missed my train back to LAX so I missed my plane. I crashed for a couple nights at a buddies place in Glendale while I tried to figure out what to do next.

In order for the airline to honory my return ticket I would have to pay a $100 fine + the difference in new airfare price (short notice ticket) and give at least 7 days notice. I ended up in a hotel in Glendale for a while. I was in agony, didn’t have any meds or even know what was going on with me. I then ended up at another friends house in Moorpark. I was planning on going home but in this timeframe my then roomate managed to screw around and get us evicted from our place back in KS. At this point I was pretty much stuck. I’ve been in Moorpark since early May. Things aren’t working out so well b/w me and a couple of her kids so I’m trying to save up and get a place of my own.

Just renting a room in someones house is going to run in the 500-800/mo range. A studio in Oxnard (where I found a job), Port Hueneme or Ventura are going to run me 800-2500/mo plus deposits plus I need to have my stuff shipped out here. As you can probably see, I’m kind of in a bind so not working isn’t an option. I’m not eligible for Medi-cal b/c I’m too young, don’t have kids, and am a U.S. Citizen (that’s not really a reason but w/ all of the illegal immigrants out here on medical it sure seems that way.)

Right now I’m able to cruise around in my friends BMW 330ci. I’m a BMW freak, the car is a blast but the seats make my legs start to go numb, then they ache. The clutch she’s got in it is a bit stiff under the circumstances, but I can’t stop driving. It’s got a modified suspension, exaust, light-weight rims and a CAI. Not a race car by any means but lowered w/ that 50/50 weight balance the thing is a monster on the twisties. On the way to Oxnard there is a nice 35mph S curve section where anything under 65 feels too slow!

edit: forgot to say that I’m on 1500mg’s of neurontin right now up from 900 a few weeks ago. Sometimes it feels like changing the amount makes things worse for a while although when I first went on it I felt relief within hours of taking it. I talked to him about the Vicodin. They are 5/500’s and he’s said up to 8 a day are ok and maybe a couple more if absolutely necessary. I usually only take enough just to make things tolerable, not to completely take the pain away. I hate the “high” feeling they give me plus being stoned out of my gourd and trying to stay on a canyon road/dodge SoCal drivers doesn’t exactly mix well. Last thing I need to do is complicate things by adding on the severe physical injuries that my friend would cause me if I wrecked her car. lol

[quote=racer13]Hey Jev,

Having had the pleasure of working at a high-end service repair shop until 1999 when my life was interuped, I drove many BMW’s. All the M-series down to a plain- jane 320’s and older Bavaria. Every single one of them are nothing but fun. As most German cars are. Not a race car by any means?? After those mods?? What SCCA class do you have to enter before you consider it a race car? 😀 I had a customer’s Porsche come in one day that was slightly modified like that. A factory slant nose 911 and the enjine was done by Andial. After my test drive to see if things are working properly, it wasn’t a race car either. Wouldn’t hesitate to enter it in a class to compete though.:D I prescribe, for your comfort and pain, a M-6. Now take your medicine and hit the canyons boy![/quote]
An M6. ROFLMAO. that thing is so long you would never know if your rear end was through the chicane before you started turning the other way. nice power though. BMW is finally catching up w/ the torque game. 333HP making 270 at the wheels w/ about 6lb/ft of torque just doesn’t do it for my well calibrated butt dyno. 🙂

One of my goals once my life gets back in order is to pick up an e46 M3. It’s been my favorite “realistic” dream car ever since the e30. If I win the lottery though, the new Aston Marton DBS is all mine. 280k USD or not, that thing is one sweet whip. If I can’t pick up some women folk in one of those then I’m driving it right up to the doors of the nearest monastery and never coming back out.

I think the canyons are a good idea. I’ll have to see if my friend is up for a drive tomorrow and see if we can’t wear out the rest of the tread on the rear shoes. Thanks for the idea!!!

[quote=suewatters1]Jever I was on 1800mg a day of Neurontin before I switch to Lyrica because the pain I had was from my nerve biopsy. So I would say that since you are a lot worse then I am that you need to up your dose of Neurontin or try a different type of pills. Medications such as Lyrica and Neurontin and good for neuropathic pain and are appropriate, but if you are have fatigue, there are other options including Cymbalta, Pamelor and Desipramine (talk to your neurologist about these). One note, these medications work over time, and do not work on an as needed basis. When you take a medication for neuropathic pain, build up to the largest dose you can tolerate, and maintain that dose. This prevents the pain. Some people feel it is not doing anything, but if you stop it the pain is likely to return.

Hope this helps you

Sue[/quote]
I was started out on Lyrica. I wasn’t getting much, 150mg’s a day and it did nothing but eat 350 bucks out of my wallet for no good reason. Now that I’ve found Costco and have insurance again I might give neurontin until the rest of my current rx is up and switch back. I do notice a lot more pain when we up my nurontin, but nothing like what today blessed me with.

I spent over an hour talking to my doc today. He offered up some darvocet for pain instead of vicodin but I turned him down for now. I’m only taking my narcotics to get the pain to a level where I don’t want to pull a “falling down” on greater LA. Darvocet and I can become very good friends very quickly and I didn’t come down w/ this disorder just to become a junky. 😉 (not that any of you are junkies, but I loved that stuff and I’ll be selling my sister for drug money within the week if he puts me on that.)

What do you mean by “the largest dose you can tolerate?” Are you just getting super tired when you move up or is something else happening? My doc said he’ll take me up to the max recommended dose if I think it’s going to help but of course we’re going to do it over time.

[quote=Suzanne]Jever,

I forgot to mention about the leg and foot cramps- I was having a problem with the a couple of weeks ago and several of our forum family suggested drinking more water/fluids. This really helped for me. A simple thing, but dehydration can really make the cramping bad. It’s so easy to forget to take enough water, especially when you are busy and stressed out, but it’s so important.

Also quinine (or club soda which has quinine in it) is good for cramping, and if you like sports drinks, Gatorade or PowerAid are good for this too.

Hope this will help.[/quote]
I drink water like crazy. At least 3 litres per day, every day. I am good at getting low on potassium though. I’m not much of a fruit eater (I’d rather eat feces than a banana) and in all honesty have a horrible diet most of the time. Im amazed that I’ve been able to keep my weightloss where I wanted it to be considering how much I love McChicken sammiches.

Anyway, thanks all. I appreciate you letting me vent (and especially talking about SCCA) on a day like this. I was taking Pamelor to help w/ my mental state. I just got a refill RX today so hopefully I’ll start to be a rational person again. It’s just so easy to get down on myself when I look back at where I was not too long ago to where I am now and then wondering if this is how it’s going to be for the rest of my life or is this just a hurdle.

You guys rock. If I believed in a god I’d thank him/her/it for letting me find this place. It’s comforting knowing that I can come and vent or brag or boast or smile about having a bad or a good day and most everyone knows what I’m talking about. Trying to explain to someone why my feet hurt so bad that I can’t walk however they aren’t very painful to the touch is a very frustrating thing sometimes.

[quote=racer13]Hey Jev,

Take one of these, and see me in the morning by the side of the road overlooking the canyans. Had to downsize for this forum, and a lot of quality was lost, but it should do. This is what shows up on track practice days, when I went to one a month ago. Otta see their race cars.[/quote]
That pic was better than any super dose of Vicodin could ever be. The 330 is gassed up and I might just have to go hit the canyon’s tomorrow.There is a run just past Pepperdine going away from Santa Monica (west/northish I think) that dumps you off close to Westlake Vilage that I might have to go and drive. It’s super twistie and some of the most fun you can ever have under 25mph. After the first time I drove that I was convinced I’d never need to join a gym for a leg workout. You’re on and off the clutch and heel/toe’ing like crazy. Let the rear end hang a bit too much and it’s a good 1000ft of rocks and bushes to climb back up. i love SoCal!!! Ks never had roads like there are out here.

Too bad it’s a holiday weekend. A spirited run up PCH is always good times but I’m betting CHiPS is going to be out in force looking to generate some revenue off of us folks who might be trying to set the pace of traffic rather than flow with it.

[quote=racer13]Hey Jev,

Now I know why you have an infinity for short wheelbase cars. Like M-3’s. The M-6 I mentioned, was to add the comfort, and I understand. If those roads there get you excited, you should come up here in Washington, and I can show you some roads of equally adrinaline filled excitement. As I read your post, one came to mind starting from a small mountain top, that drops down about 2500 feet to the stop sign, that just twists and turns mostly, very short straight shoots, mostly blind corners, with no gaurdrails, but we have stout trees here, so hopefully, those will catch and hold your car, and save another 800 feet of elevation drop. What I like about going down hill all the way on a road like that, is to go fast, it’s all in the braking. This is what lesson a friend of mine learned when he showed me this road for the first time. I was in my 911, he was on a 1000cc crotch rockit motorcycle, that he raced, and we went out for some fun one day. We had stopped to gather our breath on this long country straight away, and he said the road leads down to the valley, and this time, (he-he) he thought to himself, I’ll just follow you down there. My turn to lead, so lets hit it. To shorten the story, I was at the stop sign, pulled over, had my harness belts undone, and was opening my door to get out as he pulled up. The look on his face was priceless. I just said, “You do know I was a 2 time champion in Solo2 racing, don’t you?” He said “Oh yea, I forgot about that.” Where I lived, rural country roads, cut out of forests with farm land on each side, are but miles away from anyplace around here. I called some that I found, my test tracks where I’d shake down my car during the week after work, before hitting any track on a weekend. Pick your poisen. Small, medium, or big, all with great turns, take an information slow jaunt stroll down them, then turn around at the ends, and well, you no the drill. Should you ever be up here, I’d glady show you where the tourist attractions aren’t.[/quote]
Decker Canyon Rd is what I was thinking of earlier. Miles and miles of twisties. Your arms will be dead tired after a spirited run through there. I’m not sure of the actual elevation #’s but I’d say it’s a good 2-3k up and down. You start off on PCH just outside of Malibu right on the water an end up by Westlake Village, near Thousand Oaks. Going up from the water is fun, going down the hill is nucking futs. It’s an open road w/ houses mixed in so you get the occasional delivery truck or family hauler to contend with. The road would probably be a bikers wet dream. Being in a cage it’s still scary knowing that getting the rear end loose and it’s all over.

There are plenty of loose spots on the tarmac due to falling dirt and rocks. It’s almost like a WRC course but it’s paved. Grimes Canyon is another one just outside of where I’m living right now. There isn’t squat to do in Moorpark but a few miles down the road and you can get a real appreciation for RWD while you’re stomping on the right pedal hoping that the rear end keeps connected to the ground when you realize that 15mph turn you thought you could take at 40 is really a 5mph turn. FWD car and you’d be doing your best lawn dart impression off the side of a mountain.

I’ve got a good buddy up in Portland that I want to go visit one of these months. If you’re anywhere near there, maybe we could hook up. Once I get my health and bank account back in order I’d love to get into SCCA. One of my interweb friends from the site I’m usually on is a huge SCCA nut. He and I talked about 3 years ago about it (I didn’t know it existed at the time) and I’ve been dying to give it a shot ever since…just can’t get the finances to work in my favor to get started.

I hate to sound cocky but I think I’m a natural at driving so I’d love to give auto-X and some driving schools under my belt. Being a BMW CCA member gets me some access to schools, just never had the time, funds or the whip to make it to one. I went several years w/out a car since I didn’t need one where I lived. Now the urge to go and tear up the countryside is back and driving me crazy. My last car was a modded Talon TSI that I loved to death. I’ll have to get a beater soon while I do the job hopping game to find something that’ll pay me decently enough and hten it’s back to E46 land.

[quote=racer13]Hi,

Well, every region has an autocross somewhere. Put 50# in your tires, pay the $25, and try one on for size. Every type of car has a class. Don’t have to be a member of anything either. Run in novice class or a specific class. I remember seeing Jeff Gordon try a Solo2 out a few years back. In his own words “I’ve never been more throurghly embaressed”. What Jeff? Not as easy as it looks? I’m about 100 miles north of Portland. By the way, my autocross car was a FWD. The E-brake is for keeping up with RWD’s in the slow corners. 🙂 Used to freak friends out in the snow all the time. Wanna see me turn around and go the oppisite direction, staying in my lane all the way? About the time I heard, Huh?? Crank wheel that way, pull e-brake up and smile. Who says you can’t WRC on pavement?[/quote]
How’d you get your start?

[quote=racer13]Hi Jev,

That’s me, by the way, in the pic at a national Solo event. Taken off a video from a spectator. Had a print made but the guy did the wrong frame. The one I wanted was the car at it’s peak. Lost 3 feet in elevation, and it’s on the way back down. Caught my front tire in a divit in the pavement, rolled the tire under, and up I went. Hard to practice that maneuver. lol
Check out the SCCA website, look for Solo2, and what’s in your area, or the closest to it, should be listed. Check their links, and a local club might be running events in the area too. I just wanted to try it one day, drove down to an event, paid the money and ran. Didn’t have to be a member of anything at the time either.[/quote]
I’ve been in BMW CCA for the last 3 years or so. Sadly the KC chapter didn’t do a lot of events and the ones they had I couldn’t make. I just got my first LA chapter newsletter. Looks like they might be a bit more active so if I can talk Tina into letting me steal the 330 for a few hours I’ll check it out.

like I said before, once I get some bankroll going again I’d love to take up SCCA but it’s one hell of an expensive hobby! lol

[quote=racer13]Hi,

Up here at least, every major car club, has track days. Porsche and BMW clubs are the two top clubs here, often going to each other’s track day. The more the merrier I always say. With two tracks, road coarses on the west side of our state, is why a lot of us dream of living where you do right now. Expence, and being married, is why I went autocossing in the beginning. I had to get my ya-ya’s out someplace other then oiled down streets and roads, before something eventially caught up to me, which you know what that is. Borrow the car, put 50#s of air in the tires, make a run, see how far you are scubbing the tires, which should end up right at the edge of tread, ok, maybe on a letter or two on the sidewall, an adjust accordingly. Are you aware that you can buy “R’ compound tires like from TireRack, that are street legal? Might only last for 5 to 8 thousand miles, but that’s what the spare steel rims are for. That alone, will up your smile factor considerably.[/quote]
Tire Rack are good people.

I’m down for a canyon run, geriatric style tomorrow. Threads are looking thin on the rear end of the 330. I need to do something for myself so I’m thinking I’m going to go get lost in the mountains and hopefully not become a lawn dart in the process…not that I would realy care, no more pain right?

Tomorrow is going to be a good day gawd damnit. I don’t give a flippen phuk if it rains, snows, shines, a meteor lands in my lap or what not. tomorrow is going to be a good day. If not then you’ll hear about a Schumaker wanabe who took a 330 tail end first off the top of a canion road. Porkchops hate having their rear end behind them…we’ll see if BMW still likes to point in the right direction. We just put on new pilot sports (I hear these suck) and threw on new brake pads (got to seat them, traffic be darned.)

[quote=racer13]Hi Jev,

If you haven’t run R compound tires on your cars, treat yourself to just that. The most inexpensive way, to transform a 330 and bring out the best in a machine. You will not believe, trust me, how much just that change, will up your fun meter considerably. Those corners you slide through, will become rails, and you’ll have to learn all over agin to get the tail out at 10mph faster speeds through a hair pin.[/quote]
Sorry for the delay. I ran R’s once on my old Talon. Nice tires.
Anyway, today I saw 2 2008’s M3’s back to back being tested in Port Hueneme/Oxnard. We ended up playing cat & mouse for a few min this morning. They were decked out in full cammo. I didn’t even know they were bimmers until I saw the quad pipes. Once the first driver saw me whip out my camera it was on line donkey kong. Totally like Ronan through the streets of Pt Hueneme until I broke things off. Not worth killing a kid or someone over a couple of blurry pix but I thought I’d share that w/ you.