Severe lower back pain before period, any advice on managing it?

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I have awful back pain , particularly lower back before my period.
It feels like my back is broken. It radiates around my hips and upper thighs too. The only thing that seems to help is heat , but I can’t walk around with heat attached to me. Even ibuprofen doesn’t really touch it. I’m so sick of now. The only thing that helps from heat, is swimming.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Codeine is your friend. I get really bad back pain and the OTC paracetamol and codeine is the only thing that touches it. Boots do a strong one that's 12.8mg instead of the usual 8mg

for how long has it been this bad?

I get this too. I use stick on heat patches which helps a bit. A massage gun helps to relieve some of the pain too. And then other than that I try and do Pilates regularly throughout the month but this often doesn't happen! When I am more consistent with exercise though my back pain on my period does improve.

Sorry about your pains, I sympathise. Consider being investigated for endometriosis. I have this including the upper thigh pain, and I have tissue growth outside the uterus. How old are you?

@Whatsnextforbea about 6 months at least

@IrradiatedHaggis I'm 36, I’ll be 37 in June . I do suspect I have endometriosis but not been diagnosed. I get bowel pain and problems during my period every month and sometimes awful debilitating pain during as well as before. It’s all got worse since having my DS just over 7 years ago.

A sudden change? Ok you should go to gp

@Whatsnextforbea I wouldn’t say sudden, I’ve always had problems before my period, particularly sciatica and during pregnancy too.

I asked for how long has been been going on for and you said 6 months. If prior to that ok - then I would book a gp app 🤷‍♀️

Yes I found my sciatica flared before period - I used TENS machine, yoga/pilates, swiss ball, stick on heat patches, heat bags, minimising sitting down (used rise and fall desk) and a lot of walking.

I only used meds at night - after a hot bath so that I had some chance of sleeping. I don't like codeine - it's constipating which makes things worse.

I did actually have heat bags wrapped around me at times - you can get 'sleeve' ones with velcro.

@Whatsnextforbea what sort of thing are you thinking it could be? I have quite bad health anxiety but it’s been under control lately so scared this will send me into a spiral.

You said you suspected endo but haven’t got a diagnosis. Presumably you haven’t been to a doc. Either way… any changes like this warrant a gp chat

Nothing to lose by booking an app

It would be worth asking to be investigated for endometriosis.

I have suffered with pain like that for years and was only diagnosed with endometriosis (and adenomyosis) two years ago at the age of 50.

I treat the pain with a tens machine and co-codamol.

I’ve been to docs a short while ago, but brushed off with “do more exercise”, “think about the contraceptive pill” (which in my experience has made things much worse in the past for me)

But I could try again. I always feel I’m not taken at all seriously.

@ShoopShoopBaDoop

Question about endometriosis - doesn’t it make getting pregnant harder? I got pregnant within a couple of months of trying. No complications during my pregnancy either.
Also two, is it only diagnosed through a laparoscopy?

I have endometriosis and adenomyosis and I got pregnant twice very easily and very quickly. All my scans came back absolutely fine and clear, it was only diagnosed through a laparoscopy for me but everyone is different and other people are diagnosed through ultrasounds etc first. It can also take multiple laparoscopies for it to be diagnosed for some people if the person operating is not an endometriosis specialist because it is often overlooked/not spotted. I also get very severe lower back/sciatica pain before and during my period - I have woken up in agony the last 2/3 days!

I totally understand, as I say, I wasn't diagnosed until 2023 at the age of 50 and that was despite me being an existing patient at my local gynae department since 2011, I'd had endless hysteroscopies and other procedures and my gynae was fully aware my sister had endometriosis yet he still never checked me for it.

I was only diagnosed because I had pushed for an MRI following a failed uterine ablation.

Endometriosis is so overlooked and we need to push and push for it to at least be a process of elimination, don't put up with being brushed off. If you can afford it, find out where your nearest BGSE endometriosis centre is, find out who are the endo gynaes are and go and see one of them privately to start with. That's how I managed to get taken seriously in the end and I was then put on the NHS lost where I am now awaiting a hysterectomy and excision surgery.

They can only see endo on a scan when it’s extremely advanced and severe which is why a laparoscopy is the gold standard - they can also remove tissue immediately when they do a lap so you can get diagnosed and treated at the same time.

There are other non invasive diagnostic tools available such as EndoSure however these are currently being trialled by the NHS and aren’t available yet on the NHS. I’m considering getting tested privately before approaching my GP as no doubt the wait list for a lap will be huge and I’d prefer to go to my GP armed with a bit of knowledge.

Naproxen is the only thing that touches my endo pain I’d definitely recommend trying it.