A&e, doctors or wait it out?

[autienotnoughty]

Off and on back pain for past 15 years. More on in past two years. Symptoms include lower back pain, painful spasms , shooting pains in thighs. Being managed with physio, Pilates, walking and yoga.

Last six weeks pain has got significantly worse. I keep experiencing weakness in my legs, periods of not being able to stand/needing support to walk and get up.

Today my back has locked three times leaving me unable to walk, getting worse each time. I am now laid flat on my back, I can't sit up. Dh had to drag/walk me to the toilet. I can't walk. I can't turn over. I'm applying heat and cold.
I'm also feverish . I have shooting pains/tingling in my legs plus the back pain and spasms.

Do I go a&e?
Ring doctor Monday?
Ride it out?

i think if you're going for general problems, and nothing different flags up its still only physio.

this guy found something everyone else has missed/overlooked, or dismissed as not a factor in my pain, but that i have been bringing up for the past 15 years as a problem... he confirmed there IS a problem and it will be having a massive impact on my current pain.

@WinterBones what a great outcome! He sounds an amazing physio. I've had so many physios / osteos / msk folk / NHS folk etc look at me over the years and never had this experience.

Do you mind me asking, what was the problem they found? I try to stay aware of all the various things that could cause problems in the body as I've been struggling for a few years. I now think all my back issues are caused by the joint space in my hip narrowing and making the leg on that side shorter, but I won't know til after a hip replacement whether it fixes the back stuff. So I keep my list of things I've seen on forums so I can ask physios to explore them in future if I can't find the cause of my problem/s.

@UncertainWife

i've been told when you have degen disk disease because the disks thin, the facet joints contact more, so you lose a certain amount of flexibility. Normally your body compensates by sharing the movement load when you walk to your hips

However, my hip has lost about 30% of its movement, so can't compensate for the rotational movement lost in my lower back, so instead its putting stress on my knee/ankle/foot down that side, but also pushing up into my mid/upper back.

So while my pain in my lower back and hip is from injury/degeneration..etc, the pain in my knee/ankle/foot and mid/upper back is compensation pain/movement stress.

@WinterBones this sounds similar to what I'm dealing with. I hope you can find some relief soon.

That's interesting dh says I walk with my hips. I also feel like a lot of the movements I would do in Pilates came from hips rather than core if i didn’t really focus it.

the issue with NHS physio over the years is they don't assess me, never have, they've just asked me what the problem is, (lower back pain) then focused on that, given me a load of exercises and sent me on my way. they did it right from the start aged 17.

The one physio 10 years ago did check my back by pressing and found my lumbar pain, which triggered the MRI i had that found the DDD. but did no further assessment of my movement. however, back then i had been complaining of hip pain, but they always said it was referred pain from my back.

I've tried over the years since to get the hip addressed because it hurts to lie on, locks, causes me sharp pain, refuses to weight bear after sitting for certain lengths of time in dining chairs, and they've followed the same routine as they did my back for 20 years.. x-ray showed nothing, so nothing wrong.

This guy is the first physio who spent time getting my full medical history, did a complete top to toe assessment of my joints and mobility range.. and spotted immediately that my 'nothing wrong with it' hip doesn't move like the rest, and i had to keep stopping him as it felt like it was going to lock/sub lux or something.. like if i don't move out of that position right now the pain will be unbearable.
He picked up that ALL my movement on that side is impinged.

You can't/shouldn't take ibuprofen and aspirin together, severe risk of bleeding/ulceration.

OP have you looked at the chronic pain threads re backs? There's a thread there where the OP has recently updated what they've done in the year following their back injury and how they've recovered.

There is a condition called Cauda Equina that can be very serious and debilitating. Please go to a and E.

Have you tried a tens machine?

This thread is a few months old we've been through the hospital stay @Pussycat22

Went to a&e 7 weeks ago not cauda equina

Yes unfortunately it aggravated the muscles

@SleepyRich thank you, I'll leave it until I see consultant

Well my heat pad arrived today. It's giving me some relief 👍

@autienotnoughty how are you doing?

Better thank you . I saw the consultant last week. I was still on the same meds as prescribed in hospital which included aspirin not ibuprofen . He said to switch and I've had a big improvement. He could not understand why they didn't have me on ibuprofen.

I'm still building up my mobility but pain has reduced to a much more manageable level.

I now need to look at reducing the string pain killers so will see how it goes.

I feel like I've learnt a lot about how to manage my condition since my hospital stay which is making me feel more confident going forward.

The consultant explained it's a prolapsed disc plus arthritis in my lower back. When I was in hospital some of the physio were very dismissive of my pain level. The consultant was very clear that the disc bulging could cause the level of pain I was experiencing. Luckily the physio I'm seeing now is great.