More Terrible Back Stories

[Matildathecat]

This is the support thread for all sufferers of back pain. Acute, chronic, agony or niggles, we are strictly non competitive. All newcomers very welcome. (Though be warned, the language can be a little 'ripe' ).

Here are our previous threads:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/1871592-The-Back-Story
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/1992406-The-Back-Story-Continues

My story long and grim but basically had failed surgery for disc prolapse, then further failed surgery to attempt to salvage the situation. I have nerve root damage and severe scarring around the nerve at L5 which won't get better. I'm 48, can't work, take a lot of drugs and have a blue badge. Currently battling several different agencies for ill health retirement and other benefits.

But I'm ok, having some fun despite the pain and have made some lovely friends on here.

So come and join us for moans, advice, downright rants or just a laugh.

Ooh, that's a higher dose than most GPs seem willing to prescribe, nancy. Hope it helps. 4mg sends me to sleep so be aware you might feel a bit spaced out / drowsy!

Good news that you're getting an MRI too. Have you been prescribed a stomach protector (eg. omeprazole) with the diclofenac? My GP does as a matter of course.

How's the foot rednes & swelling today, pavlov? Has it gone down?

marne, that's crap. Have a look at pavlov's links yesterday to the NICE guidelines. Back pain is not a diagnosis. You've clearly been suffering for ages and need to know what is wrong. Try to get assertive with your GP and firmly request an MRI and possibly a Pain Clinic referral.

Re meds, amytriptiline is for nerve pain and naproxen is an anti inflammatory (and btw are you taking Omeprazole or similar to protect your stomach?). So you can add paracetamol to the combination or a codeine and paracetamol mix. If you have an MRI and a diagnosis then injections might help, too.

Looking after 2 SN children sounds tough and hard on the back so can you take a look at all your activities and try to save your back as much as possible? Pilates is good for core strength and can be done for a few minutes each day at home. Be careful about swimming unless you are a front crawler, breast stroke with head held out of the water is lethal!

Lots of others here with good ideas and advice so stay around. If you get sick of backs we are happy to discuss shopping or Box Sets.

Gosh didn't realise 5mg of diazepam was high but seems that most do start at 2mg.

No, not been prescribed omeprazole. never heard of it!

I don't think it is all that high really, Nancy, but GPs seem very reluctant to prescribe at a higher dose than 2mg these days.

My MIL claims that when her back used to seize up (muscle spasms, I think? She's never had chronic back problems) she used to sort it out by taking 10mg of diazepam 3 times a day! And it didn't make her at all tired/unsafe to drive, apparently. But then my MIL is - er - an unusual person.

Omeprazole & similar drugs reduce the amount of stomach acid you produce & so help to prevent gastric irritation from NSAIDs. All NSAIDs can cause stomach problems such as ulcers, & can do so quite early in the course of treatment, so many GPs will prescribe omeprazole alongside them. It may be worth asking your GP to do that.

Yup. Omeprazole was given to me in irder to avoid more problems (stomach ulcers, etc.). They must've figured that I had enough. Lol

Had physio at 5pm today, was on the bed for all of 5 minutes (waste of time) and was then discharged as she feels theres nothing else she can do, I think she was getting pissed off of asking 'does that feel any better?' and me saying 'no'. She told me to make a gp appointment and ask for a scan.

I take Omeprazole with the Naproxin (well I take it in the mornings).

Happy. GP said not to go back Dr Pain in Arse (pain consultant who advised me my back, neck muscles and nervous system were on fire and it needed to be switched off - pain injections, more hard-core drugs - having just been through Cold Turkey of coming off quite a lot of others, etc.). He's armed me with Ami and was soooo reassuring. Op was 8 weeks ago today. Crying over every small and lovely thing: a granny I helped in Sainsbury's, a 4 y old who danced with a toddler at Bananas in Pyjamas show, etc. but doing well. With the little exception of unpredictable sleep (whether or not I do)!

GP was so supportive and sensible. Told me I was in tune with my body and that I was right not to take drugs if I had no pain. He said it's best to let my body experience the period of time I'd created (through allowing myself to come off drugs) to find its equilibrium.

Marne you need to insist on MRI scan. I hated physio when I had it done. I realise I'm no expert but my common sense tells me that when I am in agony the last thing I need is some 6ft 2, 15 stone bloke virtually sitting me (which is what happened.)

Your GP sounds lovely, mightbe. It's great that he's been able to reassure you. 8 weeks isn't long ago really.

Marne, that sounds a bit like my useless physio appointments. Once the physio just left me doing exercises & went to help someone else. I might as well have stayed at home.

He was also obsessed with trying to get me to say the physio was helping, when it wasn't. In fact it made it worse: he was convinced (for some unexplained reason) that I should do as much hyperextension as possible & made me do loads of push-ups (like the Cobra pose in yoga) & they made the pain in my leg noticeably worse. He was an arse.

Yup, I just stopped my Physio sessions. Glad I did. What a waste of time! Jeeeeez
If it's useless or painful, it's probably wrong. Maybe.

What plans have you all got for Mothers' Day?

oh, I like the sound of a 6ft 2 man sat on me ,mine barely touches me and then uses ultra sound thingy (which doesn't seem to do anything).

I have to get dh to rub my lover back very hard every morning before I can get out of bed, this helps more than the physio .

Has anyone got any good NHS physio stories, I wonder? I was pissed off that mine was totally hands-off - just stood there barking instructions at me while I did exercises that made my leg worse. But given your experience, Nancy, maybe it could have been worse...

mightbe, I thought we were going out for lunch, but apparently that's Saturday as lovely restaurant was booked on Sunday. So I get to decide what to do on Sunday as well - DH is lovely. Might make them all go shopping - jealous of your expedition last week! Will need plenty of drugs if I do, though - slow walking, stopping & starting etc., is a bit of a killer, isn't it? What are your plans?

the one I saw insisted on trying to bend me as though I was a fucking 14 year old gymnast. 'your leg really should stretch higher than that.' etc...

might, that's great news! Thing is, you go to the Pain Doctor and he's gonna Fight Pain. Regardless.. Just see how you go. Are you going to take the amytriptiline? It does sound like there is residual pain so it might help and it certainly makes me sleep especially after a glass of white .

marne, as above! insist on scan. Where are you based?

I so wish we could all gather round on our cushion laden sofas and have a cuppa, glass of wine and a yatter. My back is crying a bit but I know you'd all get it.

pavlov, glad you liked my 'migraine of the bottom and back' analogy. I'm getting keen on them. I told Zac that it was like living with an angry lion that I have to try to keep calm. I think he got that, plus the cricket bat.

Oh and sorry to be a tiny bit boastful but my lovely, lovely ds1 was interviewed today for his dream job and was later offered the position!. We are so pleased. Good jobs are still thin on the ground and it's in an area of huge growth. Yay! Next I'll be hearing from ATOS, then it really will be Christmas.

Mine did that too, Nancy! And he insisted that it was because my hamstrings were tight & I needed to stretch them. I kept telling him that I could touch my toes easily before this happened, & still could on the left, & it really wasn't the hamstring that was the problem; but he wouldn't bloody listen.

Matilda - what lovely news about your son. Well done him.

Loon. I think a lot of physios just work from a tick chart without realising that a middle-aged woman with a sore back (me) prob isn't too fussed about every doing a backflip again.

Hello all. Just realised my back is not hurting! Still stiff but defiantly not hurting! I'm taking a mild nsai as I can't take stronger ones as they make me sick, also taking paracetamol. Codeine etc are out as I am allergic to them. Thanks for the support recently. It helped when I was really suffering last week.
Acupunctist on Saturday. I've been going for a long time for running injuries so I trust him so desperate to run again. But at 47 I wonder if it's time to start a bit of gentle Pilates too. Thank you all again xx

I've had some lovely nhs physios. In fact they kept me on for so long I worked my way round quite a few of them. Had acupuncture the lot. Also sweet physio who did the pain group sessions.

Having said that my private girl is a way better massager.

Mothers Day...what's that then?. Well I live in hope but expect nothing very much .

Was looking at flowers for my mum earlier. So expensive and long experience of bouquets in hospitals tells me the florists often send crap old flowers out. What do you all do if you have mums around. I'm not mean but hate getting overcharged for crap.

Brilliant news about your son's job, matilda! And I love the angry lion analogy. Though I think a lion may be too grand & impressive to describe my pain - maybe I'm living with an angry ferret?

My leg feels tight & stretched like it's being pulled on a string again & the co-codamol hasn't kicked in yet. Still I suppose it's good that I hadn't needed any earlier today.

chickens, that's lovely. We all adore hearing someone say they actually feel better. Pilates fab.

Just Go Steady.

Oh and hope all the other stuff gets sorted, too.x

M&S flowers are always really good quality. I got some lovely white roses for my birthday recently from M&S and got 10 days out of them

Angry ferret . Vicious little bastards

loon you talk about the physio making you do quite aggressive exercise, so true that some of them think we can do more than our bodies should be doing - I wholeheartedly blame one of my physics (senior physio at that) for prolapsing my disc more severely than it was. I had been referred to a physio in the spinal pathway (surgical assessment team), and at the time I was unable to stand straight, as my muscles were completely solid. I was bent over, shuffling along almost at right angles! I had, at that time a centrally prolapsed L5/S1 disc. He insisted that if I did not do some exercises to get myself straight I would end up like that permanently as my muscles would never learn to go back. He said it was going to hurt, I had to up my meds, and I should consider taking time off work to allow for the increase in pain, but that I didn't have an option. He said that any surgery would not be successful if I did not sort my posture out.

He then got me to do cobra exercises, on the floor, telling me to bend as far backwards as I could, holding for as close to 30 seconds as I could x 10, 4 times a day.

My reasonably painful right leg pain shifted to my right leg, and my nerve became fully trapped. It went, very quickly, from being able to walk bent double to not being able to move my left leg very well, foot numbness, some leg numbness, and a huge increase in red flags and pain and the central prolapse shifted markedly to the left and more pronounced. If you were to look up some of my many back threads you will see me and MNers discussing his fucking idiotc idea at the time.

Cobra is a great exercise for strengthening the core. But NOT when you have an acute pain phase.