D O'Conner

Since I was about 16 or 17 I have had mild lower back pain (not chronic, sudden, and usually brought on by strain, standing up suddenly, if I fell down etc.) recently the pain has manifested more frequently and with less provocation. Examples: I am a server in a restaurant. I carry trays, buckets of ice, etc. one day, not a particularly busy one, wasn't strained, I was leaning against a counter, bent forward slightly on my elbows sending an order to the kitchen thru the computer. obviously leaning forward on my elbows allowed the weight of my legs to straighten my back. it felt nice. when I tried to stand back up my lower back (always a sharp sudden pain from the same spot, i count up from my tailbone and can feel three or four vertebrae, so not sure which one it is) anyway, i feel a sharp pain and my legs completely fail me and i fall to the floor. it takes a moment for me to be able to get back up. Recenltly i have noticed the pain manifesting in a similar fashion but much less painfully, however it radiates down to my hip and buttock, one day my left, the next no pain, the next my right buttock may hurt, then the next just that spot in my lower back, and so on. Three days ago i put down cigarettes, and to numb the cravings i am taking up exercise. tonight i went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for fifteen mins on incline (i am always aware of my lower back pain and rarely pick anything up unless my back is straight and knees bent, if anything hurts my back, i don't do it. the pain almost makes me cry sometimes). then i went to work on my delts, biceps and triceps with free weights. my arms were sore after about fifteen mins so i grabbed the pull up bar to stretch. i was holding onto it and letting my legs dangle, loosening my back muscles, just like at the restaurant, but my feet werent on the ground at all. I've heard that inverting your body stretches your back and can relieve pain and since my back wasn't hurting i hung there for a moment. when i let go the pain was immense and i fell completely. i had to lie on the floor for a few mins, then sit forward and wait for my back pain to stop before trying to stand. when i did i used a bench for support and leaned forward slightly, massaging the muscle with my fingertips, it started to ease the pain so i went deeper and closer to the spine where it feels like the pain originates and all of a sudden my legs failed and the pain returned again. after it stopped i carefully got up and just went home.

so, to summarize:

- sudden onset of lower back pain that to me feels spinal, not muscular

- the pain is sharp and intense, sometimes provoked, sometimes not

- recently it has begun to manifest in a less painful degree and radiate to my buttocks and hip, on either side

- the pain is always from the same place in my lower back

- either the pain or the source of the pain sometimes causes temporary loss of function in my legs. whether it is the pain itself or some pinched nerve that causes this, i haven't a clue

- also my mother has undergone surgery for degenerating and ruptured discs, though hers are in her neck

**What could this mean? What doctor should i see about it? How can i stop the pain?

muscle relaxers (i've taken some of my mom's prescriptions before, i know illegal and all but when you're desperate you don't care) don't help at all, and the radiating pain lead me to believe the source is nerve-related and not muscle-related.

over the counter medications such as advil, tylenol and aleve do not relieve the pain either.

I am now 22 years old so i have lived with this for 4 or 5 years. I'm too young to have back problems. SOMEONE HELP

This tree bloomed for the first time since we've lived here it's got pale pink azalea shaped blooms with super long anther and stamen the flowers are in clusters at the end of every branch and appeared before any leaves have sprouted

I live in Mississippi. when i was young i remember seeing hundreds of fireflies at night in the summer. they would come inside sometimes and sit on the walls and we would catch them and keep them in jars until they died. now, though, i never see any. where have they all gone? is there a certain plant they like to eat or that attracts them? is there somewhere i could order thousands of larvae and set them free around my house? Where have they all gone, and how can i get them to come back????

is there a site or a store i could go to and get the raw ingredients for a CHEMICAL fertilizer. i am doing this for orchids, so compost is out of the question and will not help me at all. i need to design three specific types of non-urea nitrogen fertilizers

30-10-10

30-30-10

10-30-30

i would buy them but anything i find similar to those have urea nitrogen which inhibits orchids from absorbing certain micronutrients.

i'm basically looking for a build-a-bear workshop but for fertilizer instead of stuffed animals.

also, if anyone knows where fertilizers like these with trace elements of iron, manganese, zinc and other such micro-nutrients pre-made with NO urea-based nitrogen in them, i would love to know where to find them.

thanks

Hi. I have five orchids. one baby with two leaves and about 6 roots or so that won't be large enough to bloom for a long time, two adult phals, one white with yellow labellum, one white with tiny numerous flowers. i have one cattelya that i have had for over a year and still haven't gotten it to grow much or god forbid bloom, and an oncidium that was in bloom when i bought it but now does nothing.

i have neglected them for about 2 months. no water or anything. now i am trying to revive them. they are still pretty healthy but what is a way i can induce growth and bloom? I gave my mother an orchid at the same time i got my large white phal, and hers has put on huge leaves and bloomed 3 times since, not including the blooms on i when she got it over a year ago. she hardly cares for it. help me please.

I know that ants love peonies, and i know that the peonies like the ants, because they help to pollinate the peonies, but aside from pollination, what other benifits do ants offer peonies, because i am about to plant some in my yard and i HATE how plants look when an ant hill is growing up around it. so if the peony doesn't NEED the ants i would like to know the best way to keep an anthill from forming at its base.

I have a joseph's coat growing outside my kitchen window on a trellis. i bought it because my neighbor's rose was so beautiful, huge, and smelled so awesome. they told me it was called joseph's coat, so i went to a nursery and bought one. mine is a climbing rose, however and his is not, and my blooms are much smaller, more abundant, not as fragrant, and differently coloured, not to mention his rose is not climbing, it's a very sturdy bush. mine is definately joseph's coat, i have looked it up on every rose website i can find, but i don't know what his is. mine blooms from dark pink which fades as the blooms get older to yellow then white, sometimes the blooms are almost red but never quite there. his change as well, but his blooms are much larger and have many more petals, they ALWAYS start out a deep red then change to orange then to yellow then white. both are repeat blooming. what type of rose is his? the smell is intoxicating. it's very sweet. mine is the same but not as strong. i have looked for a josephs coat in a shrub but can't find it anywhere and don't know if it exists. anyone?

I know that apple trees and rose bushes are distantly related, though different species. I would like to know if you took a dormant bud, just like you would to graft from rose to rose, and grafted it under the bark of a young stem on an apple tree, would the apple tree support the rose bud and would a branch or roses grow from the bud in the spring? I know how to graft, I would just like to know if the apple tree can accept the rose and would it work if done properly? Is this how some "rose trees" are made? by grafting a rose bush onto the trunk of a sapling apple tree?

A year ago a man started purchasing gifts for me. He payed rent for my apartment and payed for a lcd tv and a sofa and other furniture and various other things inside my apartment amounting to about 15,000 dollars worth. He is now mad at me because i wouldn't have sex as payment and don't want to talk to him since he demanded sex. He is threatening me with taking it all back. He doesn't even know where I live, because I moved, but he says he has the receipts and that he has spoken with his lawyer and that he can say we had a "verbal contract" that i would pay him back. Will that stand up in court? because what court would think it feasable that a 40 year old would even believe that a 19 year old would be ABLE to pay that back and what intelligent person would rely on a VERBAL contract that he would recieve repayment. also, though he never recieved payments form me he continued to buy things. It should be said that these were supposed to be GIFTS and we NEVER had any kind of contract whatever. So, question one: what court would this be held in? his county or mine, since he is prosecuting me, but the property in question is in MY apartment in MY county. and question two, would his story hold up to mine in court? in short, who do you think would win, legally?

Hi. I have been supported for the past year by a man who supposedly just wanted the best for me. What rights does he have to the things in my apartment? He claims he has spoken to his lawyer and that his lawyer told him that he can say we had a verbal contract agreeing i would pay him back. We never had any such contract. I know he can't take the things out of my place without a court order, but which county would the court be held in? Both of us live in Mississippi, but in different counties, so if he filed for the stuff (he says he has reciepts) then would the case be heard in his county (prosecution) or mine(defense)? and if it did go to court, what is the likelihood he would win? Like i said they have been in my apt for over a year, and we never had any kind of contract, he just wants them back because i wouldn't give him sex as payment.....

If you are knowledgable in this area, or a lawyer who deals with this kind of stuff, please get back to me asap. thanks

I have three hybrid liliums on my balcony, i was messing around trying to root a rose (unsuccessful) and spilled rooting hormone on them. didn't think it would hurt to leave it. now what looks like babies are popping up on the stalks of all three lilies where old leaves used to be. babies? or simply new leaves? here's a pic...

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/368/10026632vb5.j...

the appendiges in question are circled or pointed to in yellow...

I recently bought a new orchid, since i have had it, 2 new buds have opened, and i now have 4 total. the orchid has one spike, and their is a branch trying to start on the spike. About a week ago one of the buds turned yellow, so i was worried that it might have had a disease, and plucked it off. now the first bud on the new branch has turned yellow, in like a day, it was green. Is that just a part of its process, or is something wrong? i'm not going to pluck this one, and just see what happens, but all the websites i have found don't say anything about a yellow bud. It's not a weird yellow, it's one color, not browning or anything just turned yellow. the flowers are yellow, could that be it? but the buds that opened looked more green to me.. please help if you know about orchids.....

I have had this orchid for over a month and the new(ish) bud on it hasn't changed in size at all... it's about a mm across or maybe two and has been that way for a while.... hasn't turned colors or gotten bigger or anything so not good or bad it just hasn't changed....

I recently got an orchid and all of it's flowers are wilting. The night i got it (i got two orchids) i cross pollinated them, i placed a pollinia from each flower onto the stamen of the opposite flower. ONLY the petals that were pollinated are wilting. is this what happens when the pollen reaches the "ovaries" of the orchid? or am i caring for it incorrectly? it is a phalaenopsis by the way. someone help.

I recently got an orchid and all of it's flowers are wilting. The night i got it (i got two orchids) i cross pollinated them, i placed a pollinia from each flower onto the stamen of the opposite flower. ONLY the petals that were pollinated are wilting. is this what happens when the pollen reaches the "ovaries" of the orchid? or am i caring for it incorrectly? it is a phalaenopsis by the way. someone help.

i just got a phaleanopsis (sp?) orchid for my apt. i researched online, i know it needs low light and needs to be watered every week, or twice a week and stay between 75 and 85 degrees F..... i was wondering.. if i repot it in a larger pot, will it spread, kind of like a daylily or is there some way i can clone(term used loosely, not like mericloning or anthing like that) it or something? also, i live in mississippi does anyone know somewhere close to buy orchids other than home depot or lowes? i want a nice one. or an online site that is NOT confusing... all the google stuff is crazy confusing to me.. .

thanks..

there is a flower in my yard that is the BEST smelling flower i have ever smelled. it's a very sweet clean smell and the bees love it. i did not plant it, it is in the middle of the grass. it grows about three or four inches tall and has semi-grass like foliage. the petals are white and there are five petals on each flower. The throat of the flowers are a pinkish light marroon... what is this flower? i looked on google....... but no luck

Someone bought pretty much everything in my apt. dishes, silverware, sofa, flat panel tv, furniture (bed, desk, coffee and end tables), lamps playstation 3, and now they are mad at me. they claim they have receipts for all of it but i know they don't have the receipts for some stuff, and threaten to bring the sherrif and take it all back b/c they are mad at me. i have always heard possetion is nine tenths of the law, if so they can't take my things, at least not before a court ruling right?

I have pokemon pearl. my friend code is 2835 8258 7590

I know about Mederma and Neosporin, is that all? i am willing to do anything to keep from scarring, so....