Overweight and dealing with a spinal cord injury

Being overweight certainly comes in to the picture when you have a spinal cord injury and it is tough to maintain a healthy weight without over doing it. While most Spondylolisthesis patients will be able to get back to a normal life, some of us are left standing on the side with arachnoiditis and that adds another strike to the count.

Arachnoiditis leaves 100% of its patients in moderate to severe pain which leads us to lifelong regimine of pain management. Since pain management is going to be at a minimum long term the use of drugs with acetaminophen must be kept at a minimum due to liver toxicity. That leaves us with Opioidslike Oxycontin or MS Continthat leave you with a depressed metabolism.

Couple that with the fact that any exertion is likely to lead to a flair up which for lack of a better term, is a pain in the ass, literally. Depending on where your arachnoiditis is located in your spinal column a flair up will leave you unable to do much for at least a day most likely a couple while you recover. Flair ups are not a common occurrence but to say they are rare would be a lie. Generally any kind of extended physical activity will leave you down for a bit. Simple tasks like riding the recumbent bike can take 3 days to be able to do it again. Running or jogging? Not going to happen at all, many of us are unable to walk extended distances we sure the heck are not going to try to run it (although I have indeed tried it).

What ends ups happening is you find yourself in a vicious circle. You need to eat but your diet needs to stay healthy. Ok, not a difficult task but stay away from the fad diets. You need to consult a dietician who will help you taylor one to your specific needs in conjunction with a physical activity plan. Nothing fancy, even if it is only walking a few hundred feet. Anything is better then nothing.

My diet is higher in protein and divided up across the day. This helps prevent snacking and it seems the higher the protein content the less hungry you will feel afterwards. If I have to snack I might have a banana or something but what really satisfies is a cup of hot cocoa (Hersheys Goodnight Kiss) with some fatfree carnation creamer to make it richer.

I went to Barnes & Nobles and purchased a series of cookbooks by Linda Yoakam & Sue Spitler. They are excellent cookbooks and have helped me keep a healthy diet in check. I also subscribed to Cooking Light for about 2 years. I would love to re-subscribe but my sons school magazine drive is not until March...Anyway, they have wonderful seasonal recipes that are all lowfat and excellent. If you are going to eat lowfat you might as well eat tasty food right?

It is a constant battle not only against the pain of arachnoiditis but to keep my weight at a level where it does not have an adverse effect on my injuries. One begets the other, keep a healthy waistline and you will help keep the pain in check. My family is also eating much healthier which is good. My wife who is a toothpick works in a restaurant (not fast food) like I used to and one of the most difficult things not to do when you are working is to "graze" the line. We counter that by making sure she is eating well enough at home and that she knows what she can grab while at work and maintain the diet. Luckily her restaurant has a wieght watchers lineup on the menu.