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May be done riding...


deerekillr

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So after a year of building this basket case shee i got a few good months of riding in before this shit happened. Past few months my back and legs have been screaming in pain. Can barely function at work, def no riding. My old lady convinced me to go to the doc to get checked and after all sorts of tests they tell me I have Degenerative Disk Disease. Apparently this happens to everyone when they get alittle older but only a lucky few get nerve damage from this shit. I'm one of the lucky ones. Whats great is that theres no fix for this and it doesnt get better. So since i've been a heavy equipment mechanic for 10yrs and now fixin trucks, the doc recommends i find a new line of work or deal with my knees buckling in pain for the rest of my life. So being totally fucked and not knowing how to do anything else in this world but fix shit and piss people off its time to find a job getting paid to piss people off, either post office worker or DMV clerk I think! Anyway, i remember reading about guys whos hands were fucked from doing windshield work and shit like that and couldnt ride anymore so I figured id share.

 

BTW, if anyone in the tri state area is looking for a clean, rebuilt shee with a worked engine for $2500 let me know. I can get pics up and all that. I hate to get rid of it but its not as bad as looking at the bike sit there.

 

-james

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Sry to hear this man, i know a few people like that. it sucks for sure. although ive hear a few people who have minimal nerve damage and the vertebrae squishing the nerves, they can but a cylindrical clamp around the worst vertebrae to hold them apart. but now your talking major surgery to relieve the pain and hope they dont damage any nerves permanently while doing it. jst a thought if its worth it

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I was a mack and volvo tech and had to quit due to disk slippage and bulging. At 20years old i was super scared but surgery fixide it and i started riding again this past weekend. Scary at first but then remembered why i fell in love with riding. Sorry to hear about you though. I can relate with the disk issues, pain pain pain. My advice is get a second opinion. I had 3 docs tell me they couldnt help me and the 4th rushed me into surgery and now im great again. No more tech'n but i still love to wake up every day-Dan

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backs fucking suck, youd think thered be a better design right? I got a bad back too and tell my chiropractor everytime i'm forced to go in because of pain that when I die I'm gonna come back from the dead and rip my spine out and smash it into a million peices and take it up to god and say "what the fuck do you call this asshole?"

 

why dont you see about getting a job operating the heavy equipment. Thats what I do, sit on my ass all day and pull levers. Just stay off dozers, they'll bounce you around like you wouldnt believe.

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Thanks guys, hearing some of your experiences makes me feel alittle better. Right now i've only been to one doc and am going to see a neurologist on fri. My in laws will probably be dragging me down to some top notch doc in Manhattan after I see the local guys.

 

I love turning a wrench, been doing it since I was 15, now at 30 i'm told i shouldnt do it anymore. Sucks to hear that. I actually got out of workin on heavy equipment because of the toll it was taking on my ,as a field tech I was alone with my truck in all types of weather. Figured working on trucks in a shop would be better. Forgot about bustin tires and shit like that. Hopefully it turns out for the best but i'm bummed right now. I was blown away when the nurse told me that theres really nothing you can do to fix degeneration. Nobody mentioned surgery yet but if it fixed it and my benefits covered it I would go for it. I dont have any kids yet and will be gettin married this summer and would like to get back to normal.

 

The job market up here is so tight lately, especially in construction. Nobody is building anywhere. I would love to operate and excavator. I used to love workin on them and testing them after they were fixed.

 

I guess time will tell!

 

-james

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Hey James...

Thats me with the fucked up hands..........Once you calm down from docs telling you don't do shit it''ll be allright. I was at the specialists again today and they tell you to "limit" the things that will affect you. I sold my street bike but I still have my Shee and don't plan to sell it.

Anyway your back is a different story, but I'm sure it will work out for you bro, things always do. I am sure there is a doc out there that will have something to at least help your back.

I am also "lucky" cause my problem is degenerative too....yay!

Good luck, stay posative man......thats the best you can do.

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Hey James...

Thats me with the fucked up hands..........Once you calm down from docs telling you don't do shit it''ll be allright. I was at the specialists again today and they tell you to "limit" the things that will affect you. I sold my street bike but I still have my Shee and don't plan to sell it.

Anyway your back is a different story, but I'm sure it will work out for you bro, things always do. I am sure there is a doc out there that will have something to at least help your back.

I am also "lucky" cause my problem is degenerative too....yay!

Good luck, stay posative man......thats the best you can do.

Mee too , bad hands ! I also sold my dirt bike and went to back to 4 wheels ! hands don't bother me at all riding now . mine was all caused by the twist throttle . I even tried a thumb throttle on my kx 500 , that was just plain crazy ! way too touchy ! and hard to control . I would also agree on multiple opinions , a guy at work has 4 bad discs in a row and they are going to take them out ! and instal artificial discs ! sounds too scary for me , but maybe do research on it .

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My father has the same problem with his back he has been a mechanic all his life

 

He was also told he is out of luck without extensive surgery which might not fix anything

 

One thing they did to help was give him a pulley thing that hooks to the top of the door in his room. It hooks around his neck then to the top of the door then to a weight bag. You put a certain amount of water in the bag for what vertibrate is messed up and it pulls on it to releave the pressure

 

That and lots of Vicadin.

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That really blows man. Not just the fact that you have to stop riding, but you have to pretty much change your entire lifestyle. I worked in cranes and big excatators for a while, and it put a hurtin on my back and knees. Jumping up and down from them big ass things really does some damage on your body. I can't believe that their isn't some kind of surgery to help it any. Have you tried excersizing or weight lifting any. I screwed up my back bad almost 8 years ago. The only thing that would help it feel better was excersizing. It still bothers me today, but nowhere near like it did back then. Just a thought. Keep looking up, though. I'm sure with today's technology, they'll eventually find a fix.

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Sorry to here about your back. I am a mechanic also but for small equipment and have problems with my hands too. Like bell mentioned earlier had to get rid of my street and dirt bikes because I couldn`t hang on to them. went to 4 wheelers and now 9 years later I am starting to have the same issues on the 4 wheelers as the bikes. I have severe tendonitus {spelling} in both hands nothing can be done for it. 4 wheelers with steering wheels may be in my future. It`s getting harder and harder to work on things these days particulary in cold wheather, but I keep plugging along. Do get more opinnions though.

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Sorry to here about your back. I am a mechanic also but for small equipment and have problems with my hands too. Like bell mentioned earlier had to get rid of my street and dirt bikes because I couldn`t hang on to them. went to 4 wheelers and now 9 years later I am starting to have the same issues on the 4 wheelers as the bikes. I have severe tendonitus {spelling} in both hands nothing can be done for it. 4 wheelers with steering wheels may be in my future. It`s getting harder and harder to work on things these days particulary in cold wheather, but I keep plugging along. Do get more opinnions though.

Yup , I too am a mechanic for 23 yrs ! I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel in both hands , and I tore the tendon in my elbow . I have just changed my work habbits and its not getting worse , but it will always be there . Sucks when you loose the feeling in your hands and keep dropping wrenches and parts into the waste oil ! :confused:

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I f-ed my back up at the dunes back in april and it took me 3 months to get back on my quad. I just had a compressed disk though, looked like a smashed pancake in the MRI. I still have to be careful with it but its mostly better now. My sister in law is only 38 and she has degenerative disk disease and has had back surgery 3 times on three different vertebrea and is only marginally better. If it is really degenerative disk then not riding your shee will be the least of your problems. I would definitley get several opinions and I would not have surgery unless there is just no other alternative. You might try a pain specialist they can do spinal injections of steriods and pain blockers directly on the vertabrea that can sometimes help and is less invasive. Sorry to hear about your situation but hopefully it wont be as bad as that first Doc said. Also there is no way that doc can know you have degenerative disk disease if he only took an x-ray. you need an MRI. Hold off awhile on selling the quad you might be surprised in 3-6 months you might be back in great shape again.

Good luck!

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