The Back Story

[Matildathecat]

Hi to all fellow back sufferers. I've been on Spooning for a while but don't really feel I fit as I'm not actually ill, just have a chronic (and permanent) back injury. So please post here, no niggle too small. We can share experiences, tips and moans!

Quick history, age 48, last year had sudden crippling back pain eventually diagnosed as disc prolapse L4/5. All conventional treatments tried and failed so had micro discectomy privately.

No progress, and much worse leg pain followed. V long story short was finally seen by second neurosurgeon who diagnosed severe scarring around the nerve root as a result of the surgery. Poor outlook for surgery but we gave it a go, so had second op with similar lack of progress and final MRI showed even worse scarring. Only option chronic pain management . Had several injections with not much effect...

So, permanently disabled, use a stick, endless drugs and a lovely blue badge. Along the way dismissed from career of 25years for ill health.

Sorry, it's a grim story, but hey, I'm ok. Not depressed, have an okish quality of life with the help of my fantastic husband and friends. I walk, albeit slowly and not far, swim a bit and can please myself. Luckily my boys are young adults.

So come along and share. Moans and groans ok, tips and recommendations welcome.

Just don't tell me to see your lovely chiropractor, I might just punch you!(wink)

Pav, when I was chatting to the osteo yesterday he said that acute pain after surgery can be an acquired infection and that is when those antibacterial injections work wonders. Might be worth mentioning anyway.

Went to see the gp today and she is referring me to a surgeon. Oh frabjous day! Anyone got any surgeons to see (or avoid)? She said I could go to Coventry or Banbury but I have managed to always avoid hospitals apart from giving birth and fractures so not sure where to look!

Did a bit too much yesterday. I think I get overexcited when the painkillers work 'enough' and make it worse. Oh well, nearly all the decorations are up now. It is v,hard not having anyone around to help and although the Bloody Nephew has gone now (thank god :o) he had left behind an unstripped bed and black mould all around the windows as a result of spending all day and night in there without opening the curtains, let alone the windows. Scrubbing them clean yesterday probably didn't help much!

ouch! I dropped a can on my bent knee. it fell out of a cupboard in fact. right onto above my knee. My leg was already hurting with sciatica and now it hurts because I dropped a baked bean can on it too! FFS.

And. A colleague in my small team who is now off with a poorly back, has just been sent some flowers to 'cheer her up'. I got a fucking card with like 3 or 4 rushed messages, sent as an afterthought about a month after surgery, and 18 months after my back problem first occured, and having had several bouts of 5-6 weeks off. No fucking flowers for me. Bah fucking humbug. Would I be really mean to not contribute the £2 toward them? I really don't want to, or want to with some sarcy comment like 'flowers from colleagues would have been nice, so I am contributing as I know how much she'll appreciate them'. I am also thinking of just saying no. with no explanation. and I am also thinking of smiling sweetly and saying, 'here is my £2, I hope she feels better soon'. I will probably do the latter as had I not had a poorly back I would absolutely have done this, and would not have waited 5 bloody weeks to do it (how long she has been off for approx), and I really do wish her well as it's bloody horrid and it's not her fault she has a bad back. But. I think it really sucks that my team have a clique and make their friendships and favourites so known by sending flowers to some colleagues and not others. Do they not even know I realise I got none? Are they so insensitive.

OK. I feel a tad better now. I am not usually a mean spirited person. It's horrible! So I know that even as I try to not show my ill feeling I will give some money. Or maybe I will just pretend I haven't read the email which followed a convo I pretended not to hear.

I am in bed. I have heat. I have painkillers. I have turkish delight and some custard creams. I am not getting up again.

scone yey! for surgeon referral. Can you go anywhere in the entire country? or just Banbury or Coventry? I don't know anything about those. My surgeon is good, has a good local reputation (and the female nurses at the hospital swoon when his name is mentioned, but perhaps that is less about his surgical skills ). Also there is a neurosurgeon in Exeter RDE who is apparantly Amazing, has a fab fab reputation with both NHS and private patients. Mr Khan I think his name is. I can find out for you, but Exeter is a bit of a trek!

Interesting about the osteo talking about infection. I had read about infection in the earlier stages of post op, but not longer term. I might go and google that, and have a chat with GP about the ABs. I had been meaning to do that anyway. It would make sense as I am generally feeling really bloody rotten. I would like it if it were as I could fix it with ABs!

ok. I AM getting up again. To apologise to my little ds who I shouted at and sent out of the room for playing happily next to me with a little man and my drink, and knocked it over. I was so cross as I can't easily get to it to clean (or, at all). Poor boy. He is going to bed now, and I want to say sorry for shouting. Don't want him to go to bed with ill feeling from me.

Aw pav don't blame you for being a bit put out about the flowers, I say save the £2 for a bar of chocolate for yourself! Just forget to hand it over.
The heat patch was great it lasted about 10 hrs and was so thin I could lie down without adjusting my position at all. You have to stick it on your underwear not on the skin.

oh do you have a link to one? i cant beleive i never heard of them!

oh i just googled, do you mean like the deepheat patches? they work?

these are the patches my mum uses. Unlike the voltarol ones they don't have any diclofenac so are safe to use with the painkillers.

As to your colleague, I would be muttering under my breath about the unfairness of it all and then put the 2quid in anyway. But I am a well known soft touch!

This is the one I have curaheat pad but I think the other kinds are similar

Yes, heat patches are magic! The cheaper ones do work just as well. Must admit I've stuck on my skin to get the full heat. No third degree burns yet.

The ones made by volterol etc are much more expensive and are the same thing. Bet they're all made in the same factory. Get down to Wilkinsons pronto.

Scone, I have latterly been treated at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. Nearly all neuros will have done training here. It's an old building but all the doctors I've met here have been excellent. Certainly they take referrals from the entire country.

Now surgery has failed I'm under their pain clinic. The pain clinic is combined with the Hospital for Integrated Medicine which is next door and they have a wide range of medical and complementary therapies on offer.

Pavlov, I think I've said before how I also got nothing from work until some flowers five months in when I had surgery. A friend and colleague in the same dept. recently had early breast cancer (which was awful, but she's fine now and back at work). She was completely inundated with flowers, gifts and cards. I did struggle with that. The bottom line is people don't get it. I might have been a bit similar before all this. I maybe did think why can't you just work with a sore back. Well, I know now .

Have a good day everyone.x

Oh, forgot to say I went to Lidl yesterday for the first time ever. As from today they have special leg cushions for lumber pain for £10. Am going back later. In the picture in their magazine it looks deeper than this, but here's a link

www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-A10DC7C1-4C91DF1E/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=7996

I know I sound thick but how would you use that pillow?

It's similar to this

www.slumberslumber.com/harley-leg-raiser-support-pillow/p1155?source=froogle&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=comparison_shopping_feeds&utm_nooverride=1&gclid=CJaAzL-BmbsCFW_MtAodCCwArQ

Thanks! The lidl one is a great price!

Just been in, cushion not available until Monday. Will report back.

Omg I want that pillow. Now!

Wait! Don't keep the poor chap standing in the cold til Monday! Please note I did not stock up on the other lovely items for sale on the same page above...

Ok, hanging fire. He was not impressed with being sent out anyway...they also have some gel hot water bottles...

DH does the weekly shop there, got some lovely Christmas stuff already and eaten half of it already

I bought some spiced almond biscuits for Christmas there yesterday. I thought it right to taste and check the quality. I'm very ashamed of what happened next. The remaining few are hidden. -so only I know where they are-.

Had a uh similar episode with a box of Turkish delight. No one has noticed yet!!
Got mixed up and went to Aldi, where I got some warm socks for ds ever growing feet! (I mix Aldi and Lidl up they are in opposite directions so only go if passing as both are too far to go for regular shopping.

I attended a short relaxation course today, so I took a self inflating camping mat as I didn't have the suggested Yoga mat to lie on. It was a revelation in that it was very comfortable - warmer and softer than the floor but more supportive than our bed.

Ameet, thankyou for your comments and concern. I can only answer the question directed at me. Yes, I did have predisposing factors to a disc prolapse. I was born with congenital hip dislocation which went Undiagnosed until 18 months. I then was treated with traction and plasters. At the age of 11/12 I had bilateral femoral osteotomies. Age 15 I dislocated my right patella. Corrective surgery was slightly over zealous meaning the patella was off groove resulting in osteoarthritis of the patella. This, combined with a long career in nursing and midwifery almost certainly led to my disc prolapse.

Having said that, I swam 5000 metres a week, front crawl, did bi weekly advanced Pilates and generally kept myself very fit. I was unlucky.

I think you are right, some injuries will heal. Mine will not. I can, however try to improve my pain and quality of life. I see my Pilates instructor weekly and hope to continue Alexander Technique.

Not everyone has access to all this. The care of back injuries in this country is patchy and inconsistent.

Thanks again for your interest.

ameet thank you for your input.
I think you will find my pain is caused by inflammation from an aggressive auto immune disease.No amount of re aligning is likely to fix that. I have high hopes for expensive drugs though

About going back to work, when I saw the dr who came out to my house last week she advised about 10 days off but I am making quite slow progress, yesterday I got down stairs and walked a small amount but I think I stayed down too long and was a bit tired and had a very bad time getting back up again even though I had taken my strong painkillers. I then slept all evening. Also getting to the loo is still difficult although I now have a chair to hang on to and balanced a pillow on the edge of the seat to cushion it a bit. I can only sit on there for about a couple of minutes before it starts to hurt. All this codiene is also causing me constipation and (tmi) I have not had a bowel movement since I got the bad back, over a week. So this is a problem too.
How much longer do you think I can get signed off for? I have 2 weeks to work before my christmas holiday of 2 weeks. Will the dr sign me off that long if I see them next week? My job is only pt but involved a lot of bending and lifting and standing up. These nxt 2 weeks will be a busy time leading up to Xmas too. I feel a bit bad to leave them short staffed but just the thought of trying to work when in a lot of pain is worrying me. I am worried I am improving so slowly when the dr seemed to think a 10 days would be almost better. Without the codeine the pain is very intense sometimes but im starting to worry they will stop this because of the side effects/ addictiveness without giving me something to replace it. I really am keen to get better and return to work but starting to feel a bit upset about all this.

Ameet, I'm thinking of buying a Pilates DVD that has a section which is suitable for over 50s who can only manage to stand for a few moments. Do you think it will help me? One of the comments on the Amazon reviews said that it was more suited to over 70's as it was so gentle - I suspect this is probably the right level of exercise for me to try!

My AS seems quite well controlled at the moment, my knees are less swollen and my sciatica is slightly improved. Ladies, should I give the DVD a go?

Reviving, I can recommend prune juice to help with the codeine side effects. Try drinking a glass of it with breakfast and if nothing happens have another glass after lunch.

I suggest that you ask to be signed off from work by your GP until you need fewer painkillers in order to allow a better recovery rather than risk aggravating your back pain further.