How did you find the Ford Owners Club?

[jimbro]

Recommended by Kev in Orkney(Knew him from Pajero owners club)

[Phil 87]

Looks like Google is the popular choice, same for me. I think I googled something like "Fiesta owners club" and this was one of the top ones listed. Also tried a couple of other sites but this seems to have the best and most active community.

[Philf1]

My missus says it because we are all sad, haha. Says she playing bubble mania or some such crap

[SeanW]

Phil - just remind her that you are still interacting with real humans (albeit hidden behind a screen somewhere...well, I'm fairly sure most of you lot are real...except Lenny - pretty sure he's a ghost - Vicki must have murdered him looonnnngggg ago...)

...unlike Bubble gum popping sweetie farm drama or whatever it is

[Stoney871]

I'm not real either.

I am a figment of your imagination.

Think of me as a whispering voice in your head as you fall asleep ;)

[Marks12]

it will come to you as no surprise but i found this forum through Google........ i just browsed 08 ford focus chugging problems, found the mk2 common problem thread so went there and here i am.

or hes the blue flashing lights behind you :P

I'm not real either.
I am a figment of your imagination.
Think of me as a whispering voice in your head as you fall asleep ;)

[Marks12]

I'm not real either.

I am a figment of your imagination.

Think of me as a whispering voice in your head as you fall asleep ;)

I don't know why the quote didn't work in my first post well I can't see a quote anyway

[Stoney871]

No point asking me as I'm not real 8)

[Marks12]

No point asking me as I'm not real 8)

Oh I know that your just a figment in my imagination its weird you wont leave my imagination either ha ha :)

[Stoney871]

I'm worried now

[Marks12]

didnt know someone who didnt exist could get scared ? <_<

[Lenny]

Phil - just remind her that you are still interacting with real humans (albeit hidden behind a screen somewhere...well, I'm fairly sure most of you lot are real...except Lenny - pretty sure he's a ghost - Vicki must have murdered him looonnnngggg ago...)

...unlike Bubble gum popping sweetie farm drama or whatever it is

Im evidently alive pictured at the first ever FOC Ireland meet two weeks ago,

Not as active online in recent weeks due to being back at work and on medication for degenerate disc disease in my lower spine,

Ive not got much input in recent times,

Pending arrival of third baby due late October, any progress on the focus is on hold until early 2015

[jeebowhite]

How are you adjusting to life with a disease lenny :-P

Seriously though, how much does it affect your day to day and especially with the two kids as it is, are you going to be able to do much with number 3?

[Lenny]

How are you adjusting to life with a disease lenny :-P

Seriously though, how much does it affect your day to day and especially with the two kids as it is, are you going to be able to do much with number 3?

Well as im sure you can understand and take for granted that its a shock to the system discovering you have a medical condition when you never felt any earlier warning signs, and bo family history of such condition.

Basically one of my discs in the lumber region has worn down to the point where the vertebrae is in contact with the nerve,

This particular nerve sends sciatic pain down my left leg,

I'm in constant pain since it happened on may bank holiday weekend.

The doctors have prescribed me pain killers which lower the pain level but doesn't remove the pain completely.

I've been to physiotherapy and have learned various exercises designed to strengthen the muscles in the lumber region to ease the pressure on the vertebrae,

Day to day life is not that difficult to be honest,

Well setting aside the fact that i can't lift anything over 1kg, cut the lawn or bring out the wheelie bin,

In work then i can lift any thing or drive the forklift as it involves lifting myself in to it so no physical strain allowed.

I'm currently awaiting a nerve block injection to kill the pain in the nerve that is between the closing vertebrae,

After that I'm due an operation to fuse the vertebrae. At least a six month waiting list for both these

In terms of mobility

I choose not to drive while on the medication,

I can very much interact with the children but not when it comes to playing football or trampoline

Also sitting on the ground is a difficult task but other than that things are normal.

The difficult parts are shaping life around the condition and performing the exercises to prolong the encounter of stage three.

Ultimately the operation will prevent the degenerate process in the existing area but it can manifest further upstream difficult to tell.

Overall i hope the operation will be a success and ill be back to my old tasks again so fingers crossed time will tell.

A work colleague has the exact same condition as me in the upper region of the spine back of his neck, he's twenty years older than me though and his vertebrae have trapped his spinal cord causing loss of sensation in his left upper arm and thumb so it could always be worse.

Thanks for asking mate.

[Marks12]

Very true Lenny could be worse I hope you get your operation and all the care you need so u can go back to daily life activities I don't know if your southern Ireland or northern Ireland but if your down south I prey to god that you will only be waiting that 6months and not more but hopefully less. As you said yourself time will tell have you ever tried acupuncture that's very good for your back or anything for that matter

[Philf1]

Get yourself a tens machine Lenny, Vicki might even have one they really help just that you walk around buzzing and vibrating a bit.

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC mobile app

[Phil 87]

I hope everything works out for you Lenny, it sounds like you have a good chance of getting better even if you have to wait.

[SeanW]

Ouch!!

My Mum has suffered with something similar (bulging discs that pinch the nerves) for years.

She found the injections to be fantastic! Like you, she was offered the operation to fuse the discs - but at the time (we're talking best part of 20 years ago) it was a very low success rate. These days she's on quite an impressive cocktail of painkillers and makes the condition live with her, as she puts it.

For some things, she has gotten creative in accomplishing day to day tasks - and managed to incorporate several of the physio exercises into her creative solutions lol

Hope you get better soon - or at the very least no worse!

[jeebowhite]

Ouch lenny, I know what you mean thankfully my life changing conditions where generally speaking at an age I adapted quickly, but other than that physically speaking I am fortunate enough to be able to continue day to say unaffected.

I will definitely be keeping fingers crossed for you and your operation though, it's a shame you can't do All the physical things with the kids, I hope that when your recovered from the operation you get a bit of that back.

I sympathise use with anyone who suffers anything that changes day to day life, physically, restrictively or side affectly speaking from meds. When's your op date?

[Lenny]

Very true Lenny could be worse I hope you get your operation and all the care you need so u can go back to daily life activities I don't know if your southern Ireland or northern Ireland but if your down south I prey to god that you will only be waiting that 6months and not more but hopefully less. As you said yourself time will tell have you ever tried acupuncture that's very good for your back or anything for that matter

Thanks Mark, I'm in Co. Wexford been through twelve sessions of Chiropractic felt better for a few hours but then the disc would slip out again, go costly at 42euro per session twice per week so i quite going, now do physiotherapy every Wednesday,

I've paid private as much as i could afford to in a bid to speed up the process,

Paid 704 euro to chiropractor in total 280 for the MRi scan in Dundrum and 250 to a pain physician in black rock just to read the images and process the information,

The nerve block injection would be 6,000 euro if i was to pay private so I'm now at a point where i must sit and wait in line lol don't have it to hand over,

Hopefully won't be much longer than the six months though cheer's

Get yourself a tens machine Lenny, Vicki might even have one they really help just that you walk around buzzing and vibrating a bit.

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC mobile app

"vicki might have one" made me laugh to think why she would lol ill have a look in Argos for one and give it a go mate but vibrations may aggravate the nerve because the vertebrae are touching it plus id you press a certain point of my back it lifts me out of it with further pain,

I hope everything works out for you Lenny, it sounds like you have a good chance of getting better even if you have to wait.

Thanks Phil,

Walking helps and doing the physio I'm determined to prevent it getting worse now that I'm aware of it so its comforting to be determined in improving it and working at that.

I used to be quite relaxed and not exercise much, ive no concept of miles but i walk a total of 8-10 hours a week now to keep the back mobile,

Because if it gets stiff you're almost convinced that your legs are not supposed to lift or waist bend,

It all goes solid.

Ouch!!

My Mum has suffered with something similar (bulging discs that pinch the nerves) for years.

She found the injections to be fantastic! Like you, she was offered the operation to fuse the discs - but at the time (we're talking best part of 20 years ago) it was a very low success rate. These days she's on quite an impressive cocktail of painkillers and makes the condition live with her, as she puts it.

For some things, she has gotten creative in accomplishing day to day tasks - and managed to incorporate several of the physio exercises into her creative solutions lol

Hope you get better soon - or at the very least no worse!

Sounds good mate,

Some of the physio is going on steps just like going up/down stairs others are balancing on a gym ball with arms in the air and one leg out straight lol supposed to strengthen the muscles,

Also sitting on chair with arms crossed to shoulders then standing up 20 times stand up/sit down

Ouch lenny, I know what you mean thankfully my life changing conditions where generally speaking at an age I adapted quickly, but other than that physically speaking I am fortunate enough to be able to continue day to say unaffected.

I will definitely be keeping fingers crossed for you and your operation though, it's a shame you can't do All the physical things with the kids, I hope that when your recovered from the operation you get a bit of that back.

I sympathise use with anyone who suffers anything that changes day to day life, physically, restrictively or side affectly speaking from meds. When's your op date?

Thanks mate,

Im glad it happened when i was playing football with the kids because its something i can't do with them now,

Had it happened while lifting somthing in work id be all arrogant now thinking i hadn't done enough with the kids, so understanding that it was going to happen no matter what

I'm happy it happened outside of the work place and while doing something most definitely worth while and purposeful.

Ive not gotten any date yet for tge operation,

I just got a letter to say that they received my details and im on file pending an appointment for the nerve block injection,

Then says please note: there is a minimum of 6 months waiting time for this procedure.

Going to be a while,

Im sticking with the tramadol paun killers they slow down your breathing and heart rate, i only take them before bed as I'm asleep then for the impact stage, leave you very chilled and there Wierd because if you become agitated by somthing they actually make your more drowsy instead of what should be anger. And they only dim the pain they don't stop it. But trance music seems fantastic lol

Pain physician asked if i was experiencing side effects and i told him the above,

So he recommended Neuronten instead,

But Neuronten are not designed for pain relief,

No they are for people with high level epilepsy,

They slow down the electronic pulse in the brain,

Slowing down your every single function,

I read the leaflet and googled them then decided just to stick with the tramadol rather than risk any of the side effects of Neuronten no thanks.

Can trigger epilepsy if you were to stop taking them suddenly aswell as flu symptoms and hallucinations lol crazy stuff.

[Lenny]

Sorry to side track the thread guys

[VickiW]

Get yourself a tens machine Lenny, Vicki might even have one they really help just that you walk around buzzing and vibrating a bit.

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC mobile app

I'm not a wuss like my darling husband (who didn't know wat a tens machine was) gas &air wud be my only vice!

[Lenny]

I'm not a wuss like my darling husband (who didn't know wat a tens machine was) gas &air wud be my only vice!

[Marks12]

Thanks Mark, I'm in Co. Wexford been through twelve sessions of Chiropractic felt better for a few hours but then the disc would slip out again, go costly at 42euro per session twice per week so i quite going, now do physiotherapy every Wednesday,

ah but acupuncture is different from chiropractic work, and cheaper than buying a tens machine. I have seen how acupuncture works, My mam is an acupuncturist, she was recently at a conference where she watched how this chinese guy thought acupuncture and how his method worked, she told me that there was one guy he had in that could barely walk and she seen this first hand (anyone in audience did) so he had him sit them and stuck a few needles into him and he could walk better after he was done (now its not a miracle one session wont cure it) cause the pain was relieved he was told that he would need to attend an acupuncturist using this method for 3 days every week untill the problem went away

[Phil 87]

I thought acupuncture was just a placebo, or am I thinking of something else?