Long time lurker with several ?'s

[Brenden]

Yes-things get Hijacked here once in awhile!!
I plead guilty as charged!!!

This happens on friendly forums occassionally!!

No more FA notations from me on this thread...

Back on track-I may be willing to take donations to do the 600 rounds a month test..

[theirishguard]

worst than F1 drivers.....no one except ice hockey goalies  Tom

[pbwe]

Since it's in fashion, here's another hijack:

BytorJr:  two principle components of spinal column soft tissue (as distinct from the spinal nerve complex) are collagen and cartilage.  Lumbar issues can be due to either one breaking down, deteriorating, etc.

I suggest you try the supplement regime detailed below before going for an operation, which effects are not reversible and which associated physical and quality of life consequences are never fully detailed by the medical employees, who need the work.

All the below are available from a vitamin vendors, I use Vitamin shoppe Brand and Solgar because diversions to other brands indicated a loss of potency.

For collagen integrity:  glycine + proline + lysine + gelatin + vitamin C.  These are "essential" and "nonessential" proteins that exist in the body normally.  Google "collagen" and you will eventually find its composition is essentially these proteins.  Start with 2 grams a day of each and later go to 1 gram a day maintenance.  Gelatin must be animal origin, not vegetable origin.  Vitamin C can be kept to 1 gram a day in any case.  Take with food, I do a set at breakfast and a set at dinner.  

For cartilage integrity:  chondroitin + glucosamine.  Start with 2 grams a day of each and later go to 1 gram a day maintenance, with food.    I use the separate nutrients rather than the "complex" of the two.  The thing about cartilage is that it is "avascular", that means the tissue matrix does not have blood vessels going through it.  Thus, and nutrient transport through cartilage must occur by the much slower process of diffusion.  So, when taking chondroitin and glucosamine, wait about 6 months before saying with certainty whether or not it works.

All the obligatory caveats about alergic reactions apply, though I would say the likelihood for such is nil.

Make sure you see all the radiograms the doctor sees.

Best regards.

[riffraff]

BytorJr,

I must disagree with pbwe and warn you about spending a lot of time on a mode of treatment that, if you are accurately describing your spinal problems, will not help you at all.

I do agree with pbwe in that you should avoid surgery as long as possible.  You can try injections from a Neurologist that uses a floroscope type setup.  These can help tremendously but they are not a cure and only prolong the inevitable.  Physical therapy will only help but not cure you and the improvement will not last and a "tens" unit is pretty much useless IMO.

You will need pain killers to put of any surgery as long as you can.

People that have never had serious back problems have no idea how easily it can destroy one's quality of life.  I have osteroarthritis in C5-6-7 and in my lower back.  Without going into all the other spine related problems let me just say that it really sucks.  It really is difficult to say this but these problems I have are slowly turning me into the kind of person that I have always detested:  I gimp that is becoming incapeable of doing all the things I used to do because everything hurts.  I am really screwed because my conditions are not operable.  They can't fix me.

Good luck BaytorJr.  I hope they can "cure" you.  Unfortunately I believe the medical business in this country really has no interest in cureing anybody.  If you are cured you won't have to keep going back to them.  They can't add to their portfoleo if they can't keep you in their waiting room.

Mike

[BytorJr]

Thanks for your concerns.  My doctor, and my initial Dr. Google has indicated that this IS actually do-able without surgery.  And, better yet has almost the same success rate.  Unfortunately, I moved from Dallas-Fort Worth where they have one of, if not the best, Back institutes in the world.  VERY conservative, but were one of only 2 places in the US allowed to do clinical trials on disk replacement.

I'm voting this has been around and my inactivity since moving to NW Florida where the only gyms around are guys named Jim.  Unless you want to drive 20-30 miles.  Which...now given this, I shall.  

As for the supplements.  I did take glucosomine & chondroitin until I moved and forgot about it for a while...hmmmm, interesting isn't it.  As for vitamin C, etc...well Linus Pauling was a big proponent of this and he won a Nobel prize when they were still real.  

The other thing is that some of the disk tissue can actually be reabsorbed.  I doubt very seriously I hurt my back watching CSI and 24 DVD's the last 2 months.  Yard work...didn't lift anything weighing more than 5 pounds.  So I'm going back to the old I'm atrophying away.  

But, the statement that nobody understands is true.  My folks are like very concerned, but bless my Mom's heart I don't think she even understands after undergoing hip replacement, knee reconstruction and then knee replacement.  That's painful, I know, I broke quite a few bones in my younger days, but the back...you just don't appreciate it until it konks out.  

Oh...and ya'll are right...MOST docs don't care..they want to suck more money out.   My GP here even warned me about that, and my previous doc in the Tampa Bay area only laughed at me because she happened to be married to an engineer and either had a dad and/or father-in-law who was one too....so she was VERY conservative on her approach.

I've walked out of one docs office in DFW when they told me my blood pressure was too high...hmmm, white coat syndrome perhaps...or more likely, and Tom can appreciate this one, LBJ Freeway (635) when they were tying in the turnpike trying to get off on MacArthur Blvd!!! .

Again, thanks for all the concern...I certainly appreciate it.  I'll get better, if only to spite myself .  I can be rather ornery, and "us types" usually don't like to lose.  .   See I'm thinking positive....right?


Oh...and what's a "tens" unit?   I haven't been to PT yet.  My back is feeling better, and I'm about ready to just start working out again.  That's what the Texas Back Institute's book recommends...and after my bone spur on C6 hit me...well, I waited a week, went back to working out and haven't had a problem since...knock on wood...

[riffraff]

BytorJr,

A tens unit is an electronic device.  It is a black box about 1X2X4 that has many different settings.  There are some electrode strips about 3" long that you place in areas around where it hurts and the box provides electrical impulses at varying frequiences to the electrodes.  If you get in to PT this unit will probably be suggested.

You seem to be doing pretty well.  Your problems are not as chronic or constant as mine are.  My back does not "go out" sometimes.  It is out all the time.

We have quite an ecclectic group on this forum.  I would expect this of Rohrbaugh owners though.

Mike

[riffraff]

I remember hearing when I was much younger from various people whom I thought were "old" at the time:  "if you have your health, you have everything".  As I get older I more fully understand the wisdom of the ancients.  Youth is wasted on the young.  That is a quote from some other wise one.

Sorry to go so far off topic on the forum.  I like conversing with you deep thinkers more than the people I interact with in my offline life.

Mike

[BytorJr]

I didn't think I was getting old until this year.   This did it. .

And I had that TENS unit thingy on my first visit.  Ok...it's just a fancy signal generator....did it help?  Who knows.   I do know the therapist was rather shocked I wasn't in as bad of pain as she wou ld have thought with as tight as my back muscles are.  I still say it's from not working out that triggered it.  

Of course, every "Xpert" at work says your back cannot atrophy in 2 weeks.  Well, PT says so, Texas Back Institutes book says so...that's 2 folks trained in the field, vs let's see...a bunch of know-it-all fat folks at work who are obviously at peak health condition.

More than likely my problem has been because I've worked for tight companies who didn't provide better chairs which caused me (with my own stupidity as well) to sit poorly....Personally, we're going to see a lot more of this as more people do sedentary work instead of physical work.   The body was not mean to sleep 8 hours, then sit another 8 or 10, then eat and repeat.

And I, like riffraff, enjoy these conversations sooooo much more than anybody I currently work with.  

[Bill]

Hi,

I just joined the forum, it's pretty good. I'm definitly of the "you need to shoot what you carry-on a regular basis". I carried a Seecamp for years and the only thing wrong with it was it didn't shoot a real bullet. The Rohrgaugh does.

I live in the country and go to town sometimes. I've used the gun most often on snakes. Yep, it ain't a target gun, but, it'll hit a snake at 10 feet.

I ain't real good on reading directins- and  I've just carried and shoot the little gun. Umm, have cleaned it a time or two. It's always worked, does keyhole sometimes when shooting at paper.

Been meaning to order some springs, might do that today. I'm still useing the orginal ones-don't know how many rounds through it-some reloads. Never have understood why you shouldn't shoot reloads. Any decent reload it better than any factory load you can buy. Also, you can load light and not work the gun as hard.

By the way,  I've been to several training sites Thunder Ranch, Chapman, and some more (not with the Rohrgaugh). But, did  go thru a BUG (Back Up Gun) class  with Tom Givens with it. We only shot about 100 rounds in this class-just 3 hours with about 1.5 hours on the range. Didn't clean it, just pulled out of my pocket and went to work with it. Did just great, nary a boble.  Ooops, wrong about that; it did a failure to feed, Tom Givens wanted to use it for a demostation gun. All the students in the class shot it. it did fail to work when on the students loaded .40 Cal. ammo in it. The ammo fit just fine in the mag, but would not chamber. Made a hell of mess trying to get things undone. Other than that, it did just great.

It's the gun in my pocket all the time-S.N. # 1XX.

bill

[Richard S]

Bill:

Welcome to the campfire.  It sounds like you may have one of the early "Farmingdales" there -- same "litter" as mine.  

[cgmees]

Just found out about the R9 and from reading this have a couple comments/questions.

1.  I belong between the shoot a lot and carry a lot group.  I currently have a Seecamp LWS32 (over 15 years of daily carry).  I shot about 300 rds initially to be comfortable with the recoil and reliability.  Then about 30-50 a year to cycle magazines and clean the LWS32.  Still have  100 rounds left of the initially purchased 1000 rds of Silvertips.

2.  Spare magazines are a must for me.  Minimum for a carry gun is 3.  One in the gun, one carried for resupply and one resting (actually a spare in case one of the carried magazines get damaged).  I have had function problems that generally are related to magazines so 3 is the minimum.

3.  Spring replacement is not a killer, 100 rounds is not much in normal circumstances, replacing a spring every 2 years is acceptable.  From the comments it appears that Rohrbaugh honors their Lifetime warranty so I don't expect any critical problems with the R9 that won't be repaired by the factory.  Is that the opinion of the Forum?

4.  I purchase defensive ammunition in 500 to 1000 rd lots.  The first 100 to 200 are test fired to insure that the weapon works with the round.  Then the rest is stockpiled to be sure that manufacturing changes do not decrease the reliability of my weapon.  Does anyone else do this?

5.  I don't really care about the looks.  Heck I purchased one of the first Glocks because I was impressed with the funtioning of it and have never been disappointed with my purchase.  But I do find that internal cleaning up and trigger jobs do enhance the shooting experience.  Does anyone  know of gunsmithes that do this work on the R9

Thanks

Hopefully will get the chance to handle a R9 in the near future and decide if it will fit my needs.

[Aglifter]

I can't imagine 50 rounds/month would hurt the gun, as long as it's kept up w.

Recoil springs don't cost very much, certainly not compared to ammo now -- seems reasonable to me...

Personally, I like shooting 22s at the range, esp. 22 versions of my defense guns -- still get practice drawing, shooting while moving, etc, but w.o. the recoil, and at a fraction of the expense -- I went back to shooting my 22 rifle everyday (haven't done that since HS) and I've been amazed how much my marksmanship has improved.

[Aglifter]

As for the back problem -- a GOOD chiropractor is almost impossible to find, and invaluable...  Mine, along w. a glute-ham bench and a reverse-hyper machine have done wonders for my back and neck.

[Richard S]

Just found out about the R9 and from reading this have a couple comments/questions.

* * *  But I do find that internal cleaning up and trigger jobs do enhance the shooting experience.  Does anyone  know of gunsmithes that do this work on the R9

Thanks

Hopefully will get the chance to handle a R9 in the near future and decide if it will fit my needs.

I missed your post when it was made and take this opportunity to welcome you to the Forum. If you haven't already purchased an R9, I urge you to do so. I think you will find that it is quite simply the ultimate in pocket pistols.

As for improving the R9's trigger, mine had a silky smooth pull of about eight pounds when it came out of the box. That was nearly four years (and a lot of trigger pulls) ago. It still has a silky smooth pull of about eight pounds, which I find to be just right for a DAO pocket pistol of this type. The trigger assembly is brilliantly simply in design and is held in place by the right grip panel. I personally would not want a gunsmith to attempt to change mine in any way.  

Welcome again, and give us a report if you "join the Club."

[tracker]

I fully agree with Richard and a gunsmith has done action
jobs on most of my others but not the R9; it just doesn't
need it, especially for carry purposes.