Thought I would chime in with a personal experience that I went through a couple of years ago. Many years of working as a mechanic has left me with many aches and pains. My GP doctor is good about trying over the counter meds before going to prescription meds. I had been having good success with Advil (nsaids) over the years. One time after a particularly rough weekend of yard work at our lake house left me with serious back pain. I started taking the max daily dosage but the pain was not going away. I continued for over a week but was progressively feeling worse so went to my doctor. He took a urine sample and did a CT scan. Results of urine test showed my creatinine level elevated but the CT was not conclusive so he sent me for PeT scan. Next day he called and said he needed to get me to an oncologist. Pretty scary sh!t for sure. Went to oncologist and she said I had lymphoma and needed to start chemo immediately. She needed to do some blood work first so they drew blood. She called within an hour and said I needed to get to emergency room as my kidneys were shutting down. Was admitted to hospital and went through 3 days of tests, biopsy’s , etc. ultimately, the diagnosis was not lymphoma but rather acute kidney failure caused by the Advil. Spent a month in hospital going through dialysis and another month on dialysis as outpatient. It’s been two years now and my kidney function has been normal since. From my personalexperience be very very careful using any nsaids. I’ve been having great success with acupuncture. I have taken Tylenol occasionally for fever but I’m scared to take anything after all that !!

Wow! That is very scary. I have always tried to stay away from any type of pain medication. I have taken some aleve but very rarely. I have just stopped or tried to stop doing as much manual labor and paddling. Pain is still there.

Yea, it was scary. I can remember sitting hooked up to the dialysis machine (4 hrs) three times a week wondering if that was going to be the new norm for me. As mentioned, I have been having great success with acupuncture and have started trying some CBD products but acupuncture seems to be best treatment for me.

I’ll be 41 in January and have the pains starting from aging myself. Not as bad as most I’m sure I can still paddle but its hell on me the next day. I have a 2016 outback and its great for covering distance but if you might also consider a 14ft Hobie Revo as well. If you decide you want to keep your kayak and go with a trolling motor setup there is guy in Ft. Worth named Kevin Dismuke who makes a light weight setup that he can build custom and install on any kayak. I have one of his setups on my Pelican Catch 120 and I love it but that kayak sucks to paddle lol.

Get a float tube.