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Original poster

Do I go to the doctors with backache?

13 replies

DowntonTrout · 16/09/2012 19:50

Not ordinary back ache. And I haven't pulled or strained anything.

I've had issues with my back off and on for years. I am tall with a long back. I danced professionally in my teens/twenties and think all that high kicking in high heels has taken its toll.

I had some physio in the summer but it's got to the stage now that I can hardly stand up straight. It's fine when I wake up in the morning but as the day progresses I get stabbing pains in my hips and right down my legs and it feels like my top half is going to separate from my bottom half. If I sit for more than 15 minutes I can hardly get up again without help and the 20 minute school run (drive) is becoming a problem. I sat crying in the car when we got home on Friday because I couldn't move and DD had to get my legs out of the car.

Its all in my lower back, and I'm presuming my sciatic nerve is being trapped. I don't think it's muscular. I've always been active and know from past experience that the best thing with bad backs is to keep moving. But just being upright is the problem, lying down is the only relief I get. The pain is very bad and a cough, laugh, sneeze can reduce me to tears.

So, is this worth going to the doctors about? Or will they just say painkillers, keep moving and physio? ( because I'm a little bit scared that I've done some serious damage with my previous career and now it's coming back to bite me on the bum!)

OP posts:

heather1 · 16/09/2012 19:54

try an osteopath. They can often work wonders.

tabbycat15 · 17/09/2012 04:58

Your GP would be able to prescribe some anti inflammatories & just stronger pain killers. A chiropractor would be able to manipulate your back & they take X-rays. I found all the oestoparh did was just a deep tissue massage. It was lovely at the time but the pain came back as soon as I got home.

mnistooaddictive · 17/09/2012 05:37

My DH has severe back pain do from his experience I would say the following. Go to the gp and tell them. They will give you painkillers. Keep a pain diary where 3 times a day you rank the pain out of 10. If you have a smartphone there are lots of aps for this, go back after a month and ask for a referral onwards. Be pushy, keep going back. DH has no solutions but now takes high dose painkillers all the time. You will probably find there is something they can do.

maillotjaune · 17/09/2012 07:03

Yes, go. I didn't find physio helped but quality does vary. A chiropractor was amazing, to my surprise as I don't really "believe" in what they do.

My GP recommended it.

My most recent bout of pain sounds similar to yours. Could hardly walk when I had to stand up and get off the train, but after a week or so it did pass.

beachyhead · 17/09/2012 07:09

I would second an osteopath, with pain relief from GP. A few sessions should be able to unlock the nerve trapped, if that's it.

Osteopaths do vary in that some are happier to do manipulations, rather than just work the muscles. You need one that fits with your level of muscle tension, if that makes sense?

Original poster

DowntonTrout · 17/09/2012 11:30

Well I went to see the doctor this morning. She was great and has referred me for an MRI scan and for physio. I'm so relieved she took me seriously as I've been trying to struggle on for the past couple of months and it's been getting me down.

She prescribed some strong painkillers too and when I went to the chemist she said "you look like you need these." which has left me a bit weepy for some reason.

OP posts:

PavlovtheCat · 17/09/2012 15:12

I was coming on to say yes go to see gp, but you have done it already! I am glad you have an MRI referral, it sounds like you need one and for it getting done so quick, what a proactive doctor you have. And you most likely felt weepy at the pharmacist comments because it validates the fact that you are in horrendous pain, having it acknowledged does this to me, I think because sometimes back pain is not taken seriously by people, so when a professional in particular says you look like you are in pain, it reassures you that the pain is not in your head. Probably not explained well, but I know what I mean!

and the leg pain is definitely sciatic nerve pain. hope the meds help you feel better soon.

Original poster

DowntonTrout · 18/09/2012 21:08

I've read the other thread about backache that you're on Pavlov. I felt a bit of a fraud as I've only been suffering like this for a couple of months.

I had physio yesterday, private referral while I wait for NHS. He warned me it might make it worse before it started to get better. He was right. It's very sore now. Apparently I have been doing all the wrong things and trying to keep working through the pain is one of them. It's a relief to be told that I'm allowed to stop and rest, it like he's given me permission to admit I'm in pain. Silly really but it makes sense to me!

OP posts:

PavlovtheCat · 18/09/2012 22:18

downton not a fraud! back is horrendous, whether it is days, weeks, months, or longer. I would not wish it on my enemy it is so horrid. And if you are able to get some movement in the medical world quickly then that is brilliant.

And I know what you mean about permission to rest. I spent such a long time at xmas when it went moving and being very painful and tired, and finally went to bed for 2 days. It made it soo much better and my osteo said that although it is recommended to keep moving, they don't mean without rest and despite being in agony, they mean dont stay in bed for 6 weeks but that 2 days is fine if it is acute. The key is keep moving but also keep resting, little movements like, going for a wee!

And he is also so right about it getting worse before getting better. I have had physio, finally in August, after 'investigations' started in Jan 2012, and once i saw the senior physio, it took 10 days of absolute agony and I was more upright than I had been in 8 months. I also needed permission to cause myseld more pain if that makes sense, I was afraid of pushing myself too hard in case the pain meant it hurt more, physio said it is going to hurt, that is ok, increase your meds while doing it!

I hope you don't have to wait too long to see an improvement and start feeling better soon.

confuddledDOTcom · 18/09/2012 23:03

Working through the pain is one of the things my physio told me about. They used to say you should, it's not good to stop, the hormones that are released when you're in pain help... it's not true! You need to listen to your body crying out that you're asking too much of it.

I have long term PGP, nerve damage in my back (around the point an epidural would go which is why I've never been able to have one) and fibromyalgia. In pregnancy my wonderful rheumatology team take it seriously, they're the ones who've found out the extent of the problems but when I'm not pregnant I get the whole "PGP is a pregnancy problem" thing and not taken seriously.

PavlovtheCat · 19/09/2012 10:03

I have been reading increasingly about people with back pain/back conditions then going on the diagnosed with fibromyalgia, so it seems that it is possible that those things are linked, one maybe causes the other? I don't know but I know that it comes up a lot in my research.

PavlovtheCat · 19/09/2012 10:05

my physio's theory about pain is not so much to do with the pain helping, but rather, I have been struggling to stand straight due to pain, and been able to get far in physio due to it hurting and physio being concerned I was going to do more damage. I saw a senior physio who's view was that I was already in a hell of a lot of pain, and while more pain is not nice, it won't make it worse, but will force my muscles to start working properly again, therefore if was to stand any chance of standing upright again I had to just go for it. And it did work, for me. Might not for others, but I was ready to give it a shot as nothing else was working.

confuddledDOTcom · 19/09/2012 11:43

It depends on the pain. If doing normal stuff is making it hurt, keeping going will make it worse. If it's the "getting worse before it gets better" type that the physio inflicts or if they tell you to keep doing something that hurts, that's different, they know what they're doing.

My GP said that a support belt (the hospital I am under doesn't prescribe them, you have to get the GP to) would make it worse (that was before I ended up on crutches 4 years ago, to do the day if I'm not mistaken) and that I should keep pushing past the pain for the natural endorphins... My physio was hopping when I told her!

Fibro seems to be over looked a lot. I was reading recently that one of the reasons that polio diagnoses dropped was the amount of people who were misdiagnosed and actually had FMS. I only got diagnosed last year as I couldn't get out of bed for a week because of the pain in my chest. I'm a thrombophiliac and had convinced myself I had a PE (yeah, I waited a week, clever huh?)

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