Broken Ribs-Owwieee

VickiP
VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭
edited April 2021 in Encouragement

Like everyone else I have been busy getting ready for summer. I have planted spring crops, have been cleaning out and repairing my water garden and I had decided to convert an old ornamental garden to a medicinal herb garden. I had pruned some roses and was raking up the branches and some other winter debris when I had a sudden attack of vertigo I just couldn't stop falling until I hit the ground. The place I was at had a little fence that I banged my face on and a stack of stepping stones I was planning on using in this little bed. Well I landed right on top of those, smack on my ribs. Ouch!! I went to the local walk in clinic, while there I had her check a bite that had turned nasty, yep a tick bite probably Lyme but possibly another tick borne illness. Ah yes the great outdoors. So now for the next two weeks, I am under orders to stay inside as the antibiotic for the Lyme makes me sensitive to sunlight. No lifting, pushing, pulling, bending over or stretching up. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day, eating probiotics like they are going out of style and taking 10 deep breaths and hour. Meanwhile I peer out of my window watching the grass grow and the gardens lay fallow, with deep longing and a lot of irritation. The only bright spot is a friend of mine has two teenage children who are coming over today to finish the clean up and possibly do my first mowing of the year. So how does anyone else deal with an incapacitating illness or accident? I may go crazy.

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Comments

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @VickiP Glad you have help to keep projects going

    Heal fast and take care.

    If you can get knotweed tinture, get some. I order mine online. Its supposed to be good for lymes disease prevention. I have uinfortunately been bit many times but have not developed the disease

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Sorry to hear you are in pain @VickiP. Nice to hear you have neighbours to help.

    Homeopathic Symphytum might help with your ribs. Homeopathic Zinc is a strong remedy for Lyme according to one of my teachers. Seeing as you can't get out into the sunshine for awhile, additional Vitamin D might be a good idea.

    This is a link to Stephen Buhner's resources on Lyme Disease. He has a book on the subject but this link has the protocol listed. Its the second link down on the page. http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/

    This is a link to 7Song's views on Lyme. https://7song.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Herbalist-View-Notes-on-Lyme.pdf

    Susun Weed mentions two herbs for Lyme here in one of her Weed Walks. http://www.wisewomanmentor.com/wise-woman-ezine/4221138

    Since you are incapacitated, now is a good time to do some research into a project or hobby you've had in mind but haven't had time for or take a course (maybe one of the TGN courses).

    Hope you are feeling better soon!

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It is so hard to be still when you want to work! However, recovery goes faster when you follow directions. Setbacks take a lot longer to get over.

    I am a big reader, so it's not hard for me to sit still for long periods of time. Craft projects, nature study, just sitting with the cats.

    Treat yourself to foot soaks, practice relaxation techniques. Meditation was hard for me, but I did some guided self hypnosis years ago. Can probably find sources on youtube that resonate with you. It's a very particular thing, in my opinion, and some get on my nerves. Others are soothing. Experiment while you are down.

    Wishing you a quick and uneventful recovery.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @VickiP I am so sorry to hear about your ribs. I tweaked mine a number of years ago in an auto accident. It was extremely painful. After 3 or 4 days- I was given the opportunity to move, deal with a phone that got dropped into water and find a new place to reside. This time with my eyes having extreme sunlight sensitivity and blurry eyes it has given me a chance to read more. I also decided to plant some indoor seedlings. There is plenty of light in my apartment. Take care and follow the Doctor's orders.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin


    A friend of mine keeps a spreadsheet of projects and tasks she'd like to work on and sorts it by the amount of time each project would take. For example, if she has a surprise 30 minutes free, she looks at her spreadsheet for ideas of what she could work on in (or for) 30 minutes. It prevents that paralysis of analysis or just the "drawing a blank" that sometimes comes with a time windfall. It's an idea I love and that I want to emulate when I can. Such a great way to capitalize on unexpected free time, I think!

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    Ouch, I've broken several ribs! I used to be really into weightlifting and got to where I was bench pressing around 400lbs. I rarely had anyone to spot me, so it was like... dang, there goes another one! Comfrey salve really helps a lot.

  • Owl
    Owl Posts: 346 ✭✭✭

    In addition to using the time for research you could also add some of the projects that you do indoors like kombucha, cheese making or sprouting different things to eat and feed your livestock too. I have a genetic defect that sometimes puts me out of commission for weeks at a time while I heal from another surgery and I keep sane by doing these little projects that I never seem to have enough time to learn. I’m also an addicted reader so I (sort of) enjoy the time to catch up on that ‘to do’ list.

  • bellavistahomestead
    bellavistahomestead Posts: 2 ✭✭✭

    Vicki--wow, me too! I broke my rib in January right in the middle of fencing--I do all my fencing in winter to avoid ticks and stinging stuff (allergies). I also sat around with Lymes and a flesh eating infection from a hornet sting last summer. I have chronic Lymes since 1990, so antibiotics does little in my case. It was frustrating watching my to do list get not done while all the work on the homestead piled up....all I did was lean my weight on a ladder rung and "snap!" heard and felt my rib break--way to find out my post menopausal bones are crappy....so what to do. Not sure my advice is the "correct" thing to do but....

    As far as avoiding sun--I did my planting at night with a head lamp--the trees I transplanted for my food forest loved it--cool and dewy--no dried out roots! Otherwise use a BIG sunhat and a cotton, longsleeved white shirt and long pants--yes, even if it's hot. Drink a lot of fluids like fresh squeezed lemon water with a pinch of sea salt. Revives you pretty good. Take breaks often, go slower than you usually do....

    As far as the ongoing exhaustion that lymes and other tick diseases give you...this is a dance you do taking advantage of the moments you don't feel like you are about to die...I use tea--Yes, black tea!--it has a butt load of antioxidants, plus a zillion different herbs that I switch up and do on and off to keep the spirochetes in check...and I push myself when I have even a drop of energy--then after I get a job done I rest a couple days. The second or third day after working hard is harder to get through for some strange reason....but stretches and meditation help...and Prayer! God, I pray more then ever, probably almost constantly...."Please divine Angels of mercy, give me the strength of a healthy 25 year old guy, just to move this big rock and put up that fence, and...etc." It sounds silly unless you are an old lady trying to homestead by herself with a family to feed....

    As far as the broken rib goes...I eat healthy, no junk and rest first...then, I wrap my body like a fighter going into a ring. I rub arnica gel all over myself first, I use ace bandages on my bad knees, tape on my bad finger joints, a back support or the fabulous kidney wrap I purchased from here--I use whichever part of my body hurts the least that day--a pick for digging if it's my knees acting up--a broadfork when my rib was broken. I did not stay put more than 4 days with my broken rib--I'm certifiably crazy, I know. I used ice and heat on it after working outside and slept as best I could propped sitting up on two huge couch pillows propped at an angle....I did plenty of deep breathing swearing at the zillion huge rocks in my "soil"--har har--I don't really have soil here....my rib did heal and the way I figure it is: I'm 53 and nature just gets meaner to me as I get older....so it's a race against aging to get my homesteading life lived until I can't do it anymore...hard work wears me down but also keeps me from turning into a frail old lady. My sister who doesn't farm has worse osteoporosis than me and she has done everything she could to slow it down....so I say screw it, I'm not quitting no matter the lymes, the arthritis, the autoimmune diseases I deal with, the terrible things gravity is doing to my once supple body....I guess listen to what your body tells you...mine has to be dragged out of the house into my yard by shear will power but then feels much more alive once I get working. Good luck and whatever you manage to grow realize you did good under your circumstances. Don't let the frustration get you down. Hugs, Raven

  • Val
    Val Posts: 4 ✭✭✭

    Hi Vicki, hope you heal soon, but in the meantime I suggest you ask the teenagers to set you up a workstation in the shade where you can sit beside a table or potting bench and prick out or pot up any seedlings which need attention. Don't forget to ask them to bring you whatever water you need as carrying a watering can with broken ribs is not something I'd recommend.

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    Sorry I haven't updated. It turns out via the ex-rays that the ribs are bruised not broken, so good news there, They still hurt like anything but should heal up a lot quicker. The tick bite has healed and we appear to have caught it early enough I shouldn't have any long term effects from it. I am still very tired but that could be from the Fibro or Chronic Fatigue that I deal with daily anyway. I am still taking the probiotics and they do seem to have prevented any problems from the antibiotics. My main concern at this point is the vertigo that caused the fall in the first place. I am taking Gingko and Ginger for it. I am also trying to keep my sinuses as clear as possible. It has been so bad that I even fall while doing dishes! I am sure once the pollen tapers off I will be better but by then it will be hot and the yard will be full of ticks and chiggers. My Dr emphasized the need for hydration to keep the fluids in my head as thin as possible as my equilibrium is compromised and dehydration will make it worse. I would like to do some therapy to help with balance but I get so dizzy I can't really do that right now. This is so irritating!