....without a Dx from a MD...it's hard to give any advice.....the L's are now being injected with meds that work for several weeks....the trick is to get a shooter that is good.....geofkaye-who's back is a mess.....

I have back issues as well and I can not drive anything for longer than 2 hours at a time. My husband does all the driving and I either sit up front or lay down in back and we try and stop every two hours to let the dogs out. Walking the dogs around and changing positions seems to help so that I'm not all gimped up when we arrive.

Theresa, I'm glad you started this discussion. It has been a real eye-opener. I was feeling a bit wimpy, but am reassured to hear how many other people have adjusted in order to resolve their limitations. My husband has none of these problems and could go for hours and hours, day after day. I, on the other hand, must adhere strictly to LESS miles, and LESS days. I now feel... LESS guilty.

I hope you are able to find a remedy that works for you, Theresa.

Ginger

We have a Ford F250. The seats in the truck are too high for me sit comfortably for long periods with my legs hanging down. Yes, my feet touch the floor, but the alignment is just not right. I got a little plastic stool that I put in the floor in front of my seat, and put my feet on it while I am riding. I feel so much better at the end of the ride since I started using it. I wish that there was a way to adjust the height of the seats in vehicles. I am always uncomfortable when I have to drive.

Wife has simular issues. First modificATIOn to the '93 Dodge 250 was a pneumatic passenger seat. Made all the difference in the world for her. Simular seat today would be in the neighborhood 0f $1500 to $1800... very cheap all things considered.
After we wear out the Dodge, we will go with a MDT or such.

First, let me offer my sympathies FWIW. I know about back pain, fibromyalgia, environmental sensitivities and the like and have spent most of my life tweaking my environments and altering my approach to life to find more comfortable or more effective ways of doing what I still want to do.

It looks to me like you are struggling with 2 separate but important issues that are not really related other than by their connection to you. You were not specific about what trailer you were pulling so I am making a few assumptions here about what might be possible solutions for your rig.

So, first, the easy one. The frequent dumping. With Kids, this is a toughie because there is almost no amount of water rules and potty monitoring that is going to make much of a dent but I do have a suggestion that might make the black water management a bit easier. In my motorhomes I finally realized that using a recirculating toilet could greatly reduce the amount of freshwater that was daily going into the holding tank. To this end, I replaced the RV toilet with a Monomatic (like on an airplane) and it was amazing. Since I only initially put in a few gallons (5, IIRC) no more fresh water is consumed. When it finally has to be dumped (how long may be from a day or two to maybe a week) it is dumped into the same black water tank as you have been using but only the initial 5 gallons plus whatever preprocessed water and waste contributions have been added by the users. This means no open faucets to be adding a pint here and a quart there unknowingly.

My 40 gallon holding tank went from having to be dumped every couple of days with the 4 of us, to only once a week or longer with judicious control of the other water sources. This was our solution and worked so well that we moved the toilet with us from rig to rig as we upgraded motorhomes over the years.

Now, you second problem, your discomfort, is much more difficult to suggest possible solutions for. The first thing that came to my mind when dealing with similar issues is, like yours, dealing with the seats and how well they did or did not support me. The other big one was about the ride. I recall having a lot of discomfort when we had a TT pulled by a big Jeep Cherokee (a lot of years ago). The Jeep did not kill me normally, though it was never "comfortable" but when pulling the trailer, I would be squirming in short order. I finally figured out that it was because of the surging/dragging motion the trailer kept putting me through. The forward backward rocking was constantly working my upper and lower back and neck muscles and my legs were tensing up trying to hold position. This is a lot like unending slow motion whiplash to my body.

When I was the driver It was actually not as bad because I had the steering wheel to hold onto and that acted like a shock absorber to my upper body letting my arms handle the surges instead of just my back and neck.. but my neck still hurt and the vertical pounding the ride gave my spine was causing more inflammation with every bump and dip.

As a passenger the only help came with a high back headrest with a softer cushion over it to keep from jarring my brains out. I found that as long as I could just keep my head gently rested against the padded headrest (with a small round support directly against the back of my neck) my upper back did pretty good.

But I am large and have never been able to ride for long periods in any GM vehicle I have ever tried. Fords have been much more comfortable but still no real cigars there. I had an F350 dually for a few years to pull my 5th wheel trailer and it was better but not the solution, either.

There are soft ride and air ride seats and platforms to put under OEM seats that are available in the aftermarket and I considered this solution for my F350 before I decided that it was just not enough truck mass to properly handle the 5th wheel trailer. My one suggestion would be a soft ride seat with a sliding mount like the big Semi trucks have in them to dampen the forward/backward surging that you always get from the trailer. Between the air ride vertical motion damping and the forward/backward sliding mount, the stresses delivered directly to your body from your Suburban should be greatly reduced... if that's the way you want to go.

One other thing I personally found helpful was to take some preventative steps before actually traveling. I found that taking a good natural anti-inflammatory supplement, like Flaxseed oil throughout the travel and beginning a few days before we actually started out was helpful. It greatly reduced the compression discomforts and the general stiffness and pain I got from agitating the discs and the fibromyalgia during the ride.

It took awhile to get the best combination figured out but, generally, I found that taking a little ibuprofen daily before starting a trip and continued until a day or two after arrival made a world of difference. I am not asprin sensitive (thank goodness)so I could use this approach. Just be aware, though, that with almost any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory med like Ibuprophen, Tylenol, etc. there can be bouts of road-rage reactions to both hiway and home situations for days after one has stopped taking them.

In my case, the Ibuprofen combined with the flax seed oil over the whole trip was a lot more effective than any of the muscle relaxants and I was not "dopey" in uncoordinated from taking pain killers after arriving. The muscle relaxants also affect the small muscles that are needed to keep the joints and vertebrae from moving around too much and need to stay strong while riding to prevent other minor muscle and ligament strains. These latter injuries aren't usually detected until a few days after they occur.

In general, muscle relaxants are helpful if you can be only mildly active while they are at work. My experience FWIW, has been that they can be the cause of even more lingering discomfort when one is using them while in an unending slow motion whiplash like you are experiencing in the Suburban. Keeping the inflammation down keeps a lot of the discomfort down, too.

If you have managed to read this all the way to this point then I hope there are some suggestions herein that you find useful or helpful and that you quickly find some relief so you can get back to enjoying what is outside the windows instead of being so uncomfortable that you are unable to focus beyond the glass.

Good luck with this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Emery Nash,

Our 1984 Automate rides great. It's got Bilstein's all the way around, which are wonderful. DH has 2 blown disks, limited feeling down the left leg, and now the broken hip and resulting bursitis. The ride in this rig has never bothered him.
Maybe you can do something with the shocks/suspension of the Suburban to make it better.

For 50 years, I have been living with the pain of 3 ruptured disks. The last 10 years have been spent walking with a cane.

2 years ago, I bought a pair of Z-Coil shoes, the next day, I put away my cane. Pain is gone.

They can be bought only from a Z-Coil dealer. Go to zcoil.com to find the nearest dealer.

Simple solution for your back problem....let the wife drive.

If you decide to look at different kinds of foam, you might try: www.knowfoam.com as I have used them for an rv mattress and also for dinette cushions and getting ready to make another purchase. They will cut the foam to the size you want and have enough choices to confuse you but they might have some advice to go with it. We generally always stopped every 2 hours and walked around at a rest stop and had lunch or a snack as it worked really well and it seemed we were able to do more road time. Cathy

I can't speak about the effect of any other big trucks (called semi's, 18-wheeler tractors, heavy duty, class 7s and 8s or just plain HDTs) other than the one I just bought, but if the others are anything like my Volvo 780, the difference in the ride is phenomenal compared to that of a car, SUV or small truck.

I am unable to drive our car for even two hours straight. I get a combination of sciatic pain AND numbness throughout my backside that becomes unbearable.

After buying up my Volvo 780 in Utah, I had to drive it back to upstate New York, making several lengthy side-trips along the way. My new friend David was with me. He is an Escapees forum reader who volunteered - out of the blue! - to accompany me to Utah, teach me how to drive the truck (I had never driven a big truck before), and share the driving.

By the first full day of driving I was taking 2-3 hour turns at the wheel (including on two-lane, winding roads over the Colorado Rockies!). By the third day, I was driving 5+ non-stop hours. The last two days of the trip, I did all the driving - two 600 mile legs. (David had picked up his new truck and was on his way back to New Hampshire.) On both those last two days I did 5+ non-stop hours, and on the last day I could have gone several more hours if there had been any need. (There wasn't, as I had reached my destination.)

Other than some momentary stiffness when I climbed down from the truck after those long jaunts, I had no pain, not even any real discomfort.

So, if other big trucks with air-ride seats, cabin and suspension (triple air, it's called), power steering, and automatic transimission are anything like mine, then that may be a good solution for you, as Mark (DIY Guy) suggested. AND, if my experience is any indication, they are FUN to drive, too!

This response is a little late, you have received alot of good advise.
As a FTer found the blue boy very helpful. No reason to lift unless empty, can be pulled to dump with tow vehicle. Made up 2' sewer hose with Blueline pushover quick connectors. Five gal. bucket w/lid from HomeDepot is great for storage of hose, attachement, mushroom etc. and makes spraying with disinfecting spray a snap. I stock up with disposable latex gloves when I find a Harbor Frieght. Much easier than dealing with long sewer hoses for alot of reasons.

Also installed an adapter to faucets that you press against for water flow. You adjust the temp. and pressure and then its set. Should save alot of water with the kids, and less chance of a burn for them.

Hi,



We to, like many people, have back problems. We also have an HDT with air ride seats, cab and suspension. The ride is better than most any pick-up or large SUV. We have found that our back pains, from driving, have been virtually eliminated by the HDT. These trucks are designed for the drivers to spend hours at the wheel without discomfort.

Your Travel Trailer might be contributing to your back discomfort if you don't have a good enough hitch. You might check this out with a pull-rite dealer or other top of the line hitch maker.

Lastly, we have a seat and back rest that vibrates up and down our back, powered by electricity. [We paid $100.00+ for ours.] You can get them in 12 or 110 volt varieties. If you get a 110 volt one. You can use it in your Suburban plugged into a small inverter.

There are many inexpensive remedies suggested above. Try them first before you spend major $$$. JOHO