DP suffering terribly with lower back pain, doctor not very helpful.

[freshstart24]

DP (early 40s) has struggled on and off with lower back pain for years.

For the past two years it has worsened to the extent he is is pain a great deal of the time. It makes him anxious and is really impacting on his equality of life.

GP was initially unhelpful, so he saw a physio who did manipulation and prescribed exercises. DP did exercises and saw physio religiously over 9 months with no improvement. Physio also arranged shoe supports, which don't seem to have helped.

Physio then suggested a specialist, DP went for an initial appointment, specialist couldn't be sure if pain was wear and tear, ligament pain or an over activated pain reaction.

Specialist suggested a course of sugar injections. These weren't available privately, so DP paid for these himself. They didnt help.

In desperation he went back to GP and asked to be referred back to same specialist privately (tbh I was loosing faith in specialist but DP likes him).

Specialist again said he doesn't think it's anything he can put his finger on and begrudgingly agreed to do an MRI. He feels confident this will show 'standard 40 year old wear and tear'.

We are due to see specialist for results of MRI tomorrow. DP feels sure he will just be told to 'man up'. I want to keep looking to find out what the problem is and how itcan be helped.

My lovely patient DP is trying so hard to continue with life as best he can. He stays as mobile as he can, but his life is becoming increasingly difficult and his pain affects standing, walking, sitting and sleeping.

I would love any advice anyone can give. Especially as to what to ask Specialist if he draws a blank tomorrow. The hopelessness of it is hard for DP to cope with. Surely there must be a different doctor who could help, or maybe a pain specialist (so far he's recommended over the counter codene and said to avoid neurofen as this may mask aggravating activities).

Any advice very very gratefully received.

[LucyLocketLostHerPocket]

I know of the friend of a friend who had real success with acupuncture of all things. They'd suffered agonising lower back pain to the point of being immobile for long periods.

[Aquamarine70]

Has he tried a chiropractor? I had back pain for 10 years & after a few sessions I have never had the pain again. They take X-rays & do various manipulations.

[loveyoutothemoon]

If he's unsure of the cause, don't let a chiropractor near him. The MRI should tell him what it is and he can go from there.

[freshstart24]

Thank you for the advice.

Don't think DP has considered acupuncture. Sounds like it is worth looking into. Will get googling.

For some reason the specialist was extremely reluctant to do an MRI. He seems convinced that it will throw up 'red herrings'. He said all of us over 'a certain age' have wear and tear, which is normal and that the MRI would just make us think we need to treat this normal ageing back!

I'll suggest that DP asks the specialist what he thinks about trying a chiropractor based on the MRI.

[dodobookends]

It can't be standard 40 year old wear and tear though, can it? Most people in their 40's aren't in constant pain like this. There has to be an underlying cause somewhere.

Has your DP seen an osteopath? An initial private consultation would only be about £35-40 or thereabouts.

[VimFuego101]

There's a long running back pain thread on here which I've found very helpful. I agree, a chiropractor (although mine really helps me) is not a good idea without knowing the root cause.

Was 'sugar injections' a typo for steroid injections? I had steroid injections and they were a big help for about 6 months until they wore off - it bought me some time to push myself a bit harder and do some strength training to build up my back muscles.

My MRIs do show some wear and tear and arthritis but nothing that's really as significant as the pain i feel - I have just been diagnosed with severe B12 and vit D deficiency which can cause pain and fatigue and I suspect is part of the problem. Has he had a blood test recently?

[LisbethSalandersLaptop]

has he tried an osteopath (not a chiropractor)?

[Adarajames]

I've had great help from both acupuncture and oesteopath a, so worth a try, some osteopaths might want to have seen x-Rays / scan results before treatment to ensure they dont risk damaging anything

[Elibean]

GP and specialist both sound pretty useless, I'm sorry....sounds awful for both of you. Lower back ache can be bowel or prostate related, has he had both of those checked? If yes and all well, and MRI shows nothing specific, I think I'd ask for referral to a pain clinic....but also try a good (recommended) osteopath.

Wishing you the best x

[Preminstreltension]

I have been struggling with lower back pain like your DP (though not as bad by the sounds of it). Mine was triggered by walking or standing for periods of time and it had got to the point where I would avoid walking and never stood (eg in a queue) if I could avoid it. It didn't hurt while doing those activities, just afterwards, but it was starting to dominate my life.

Anyway, I got an MRI scan and had the diagnosis that your DP's specialist was anticipating for your DP - standard wear and tear but nothing really to explain the extent of the pain. The specialist crawled all over the MRI but it was clear the answer was not there. He also referred me to a specialist physio and I had eight sessions plus had a gym ball at home for extra practice. Nothing helped.

However, I am a lot better this year than I was last year and the only thing I can put that down to is the fact that I've spent the whole year since I was "diagnosed" doing weight training exercises with a personal trainer. I have gone twice a week since January and I didn't feel any benefit at all and was on the verge of giving up until about August so it took a long time. I have also done some reformer pilates and I'm not sure which was more helpful but between the two of them, I'm better than I was. The physio just didn't seem to do anything tbh but maybe if you do it twice a week for a year it would help....

FWIW I have been ill so not really done much training since August and the pain is creeping back...so unfortunately (since I hate it!) it's a lifelong commitment. Also although I wasn't particularly fit before, I wasn't inactive. Weekly swimming or running - but these weren't enough to build the core strength I was lacking apparently.