Has anyone been off sick with back problems?

[CheeryCherry]

I've been off work for 3 months now with a pelvic imbalance which is causing a herniated disk. I see a chiropractor every week, do daily exercises/stretches, go for walks, keep moving most of the day. But it doesn't seen to be improving and I physically cant do my job :(
Has anyone else been off,work with a similar problem? I'm so fed up now as I can't see an end to it. And though work are being great, I feel so guilty.

Feel for you. It's very strange to be suddenly out of working routine, spending lots of time on your own. And even though you're working hard on your health, it's not the kind of effort that anyone else can see or appreciate.

I've been in similar situation recently and am still out of action. For first time in twenty years' of working life, I've had to take six months leave due to chronic back pain (no sleep/can't sit down for long/can't concentrate).

Only at the very end of my paid leave did I get my diagnosis and some treatment which has begun to relieve the crippling pain. Physio only started this week as well, so I'm planning on feeling properly well in another six months.

We are now on a budget similar to our student days, as the time off has made me realise I want and need to change direction work-wise. If I hadn't had to take time out I don't think I would ever have made that necessary decision, which will mean I am in a great place in ten years' time. So that's my silver lining, but it wasn't a perspective I could achieve early on.

I felt constant guilt for the first 3 months - thinking about outstanding bits of work, worrying about my reputation. Then around month 5 I just...changed. Everyday life now seems to have a different quality to it for having become so necessarily simple.

While I'm looking forward to being fit and working hard for money in the future, I think a part of me will feel nostalgic about these last few months IYSWIM?

Summer how awful to be off so long, but glad you're finally seeing some progress. I can't imagine being in pain for all that time.
I am seeing a physio next week for the first time, and I'm hoping for a miracle cure or else!
I just find it hard as there seems no end to it. Want a quick fix! There's so much I want to be doing and I can't.

Anyone else?

Cheery looks like it's just us!

I had the quick fix drive big time - even paid for a private appointment for first time in life trying to speed things up, but it was a waste of two hundred precious pounds.

If I think about the long term financial impact of this - pension, NI, difficulty getting back into my old game or a new one (as I hope) - then I can nosedive. But on good days, as I set out on another of those long walks like you're doing too, then I tell myself I'm having a long overdue gap year. That helps!

Also I work in end of life care and so am finally practising what I have heard people say so many times - that they wish they had slowed down before, listened to their bodies and so on. It is a practice though. Some days I achieve that perspective, some not...

PS I'm new to MN, and have lived in fear of thread killing. Thank you for being the first person to use my name on here! A virtual world milestone!

Well, welcome to MN SummerBook! We're a friendly bunch really! It's funny you mention paying for medical advice, I'd wondered if it would be worth it. So what do you hope to do when you're better? I keep looking each week at the job vacancies, just in case I find one I could actually do now. But I do love my job.
Thanks for replying, nice to know someone is out there!

It sounds like you already have a clear diagnosis? I was being palmed off for months on end with vague stuff - bursitis etc - which I knew was not consistent with the level of pain I was experiencing. So I went private to show how serious I was to my employers mainly. Didn't want to written off as a middle-aged woman with psychological mid-life stuff...

I don't know what treatment you'd need, but of course it's not just treatments you pay for, but all the x-rays, the bloodtests, appointments. Very expensive if you don't have cover.

Just seeing the same GP everyt ime instead of seeing different folks in the surgery has probably been the best move I've made lately, even though I've had to fit around their part-time hours as it has given consistency of care and the letters they have written to the consultant, the physio and my employers have been thorough and very supportive.

My paid work has always been good in many ways, but my volunteer work in end of life has made me want to move fully into more vocational work - teaching, occ health, nursing. So as I say I still glad of this necessary time out to refocus.

Thanks for the MN welcome!

My chiropractor gave the diagnosis, and has been treating me for that. I've seen a different gp every time I go, you could be right about trying to get the same one. The best gp is part time too and notoriously hard to see. But yes I will do that.
Will see what the physio says..
Thank you! And good luck with your change of direction...I would imagine that area is very rewarding in a lot of ways.