Back Again! Back Pain Support Thread

[PavlovtheCat]

Only right I start the new one seeing as I was responsible for the last one ending so abruptly !

This is a support thread for people with back pain (that does not even cover the description of hell that back pain causes). It's for all types of back pain, for long term posters with chronic pain (including those on the upwards journey to recover), short term advice through tough acute episodes and all the in betweens.

We moan, winge, share successes, guide each other and hand hold through the maize of a million medical routes and options, treatments, investigations. We internet shop as a form of pain relief, drink wine, take strong painkillers, eat cake and we go through lots of heat packs!

We don't always have the answers but we do have a lot to say about it all

Here are the links to our previous threads:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/1871592-The-Back-Story
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/1992406-The-Back-Story-Continues
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2023274-More-Terrible-Back-Stories

denial with total 'I'm not a doctor' alert, out of date diazepam won't hurt you. Might just possibly be less effective but probably not. Ditto tramadol. Really hope you feel better soon. What a bummer.

Monroe, welcome. Have you had any specific nerve meds like amytriptiline or gabapentin? They are far more effective for leg pain than codeine or naproxen. The truth is most of us combine types of meds for best pain relief. I'm on gabapentin, naproxen, cocodamol, tramadol sr and amytriptiline. Sounds a lot and it is but I can mostly function and it does help. Plus heat. Have you used heat patches? Over the lumber spine or the side that hurts most. We love them. Also, injections are totally hit and miss. Once again ( sorry to sound like a know it all but I've learned the hard way) I've had a lot and some help, some don't. For the doctor it's almost a test when they give the injection. If one works well then they can target that spot for longer lasting injections.

As I mentioned on your other thread surgery is a last option not to be taken lightly. I had mine after five months of agony and unable to work. I had huge complications, more surgery and now won't recover. So I'm not saying don't, just make sure you are certain and you've tried everything else

pavlov, hi How are you? Have ESA and pip assessments this week. Any wise words for me? Killed myself using PC to sort out all documents and rewriting the form be caused it was two years out of date. Fully expect to get rejected. Not good.

I'm not sure gp will be able to offer anything that I would agree to take iyswhim. if my inflammatory markers are up they might agree to a steroid shot. this feels more muscular though. I'll survive more weight to my argument for a cleaner. need to get a crutch for these occasions

matilda give them Hell in esa and pip assessments. if you don't qualify who the Hell does????

monroe I am not knowledgeable about discs but there are a lot of knowledgeable people here. have some and settle in.

tough I'm at Queen Square, too. Bloody long waiting list. I'm being reviewed in June. The new consultant I'm now under is ok although slightly off putting manner. Trouble is they are just so stupidly busy. I've had all sorts there including several injections and a lidocaine infusion. I don't like to say no but truthfully none have really helped much. Do you have a diagnosis? Good to meet you.

denial yes! yes! yes to a cleaner. And a gardener and any other help you need. In fact that's what pip is for so maybe you should apply. Just don't expect to get it .

Hope your Pip assessment goes well Matilda. No experience of pip, but I did have some help from the money advice unit filling in ds DLA form some years back. She told me off for minimising, (instinctive to make light of any situation) so I suppose my advice would be to be open about how your life is affected. Tell them how it is!

Matilda the only meds I've had prescribed are the naproxen which are no help at all. I've only just had the results of the mri even though I have suspected the problem is in my back for a while. I don't react very well to medication. Anything codiene based makes me really woozy and lightheaded and sick feeling. Not sure had I'd react to the ones you mention but it would certainly be worth giving them a try. I will try and get in to see my
GP next week.

Denial thanks for the I'll make myself at home

It's also worth remembering that the unpleasant side effects are often temporary. If you can work through them the pain relief can be very helpful.

Hi Monroe, sorry to hear life is being a bit shitty to you right now, lots of understanding, empathy and helpful advice on here- two heads better than one as it were.
I am interested to hear tht your problems began with the hip- it's so with me also and I have a back MRI coming up which may show nothing or something- no clue. At first it seemed obvious that all pain was caused by the hip dysplasia but now i'm not so sure.
I would deffo agree the nerve-type drugs may help you. They are helping me get on top of it a bit and might enable me to give up the codeine except on very bad days. Anyone finding codeine not working so well- ie efficacy, dihydracodeine is a stronger version, it's in paramol for otc but better from your gp obvs. Also I would give this limited experience of codeine to you- I have been taking it on and off since 2008. At first I had alot of side-effects with it, they do go away relatively quickly, i guess it's diff for every body but I hardly ever get sickness now which i found the hardest symptom to put up with. This is sometimes avoided if you make sure you eat regularly or before taking it. I also hardly ever get sleepiness from it either. But i did used to when i first took it. Lastly if you feel a lower dose is not enough but the next higher dose is making you feel sick or too sleepy I used to take half the larger dose and then the second half in a half or full hour to slightly change how much is hitting your system at the same time. Just be on the safe side though and take the later time as the time you took it for future dosing. It is better if you have the paracetamol and codeine separate then you can take both paracetamol with the first codeine pill. I even found 15 mins lag was sometimes enough to avoid unpleasnt side effects. wow this is like a bloomin' pharmacological essay but just wanted to pass on things i have found helpful.
Hope you are all having good low pain days. I spoke too soon in my earlier post- had a very shit day today and had to retreat to bed with hottie twice. Have been getting pain that travels down the backs of my legs today, like a fluey body ache type pain, really not pleasnt :) cannot say i have done anything diff in the last few days compared to bafore.
I am a bit ill today also- after lunch bloated suddenly, have awful eggy burps, sharp stomach pains and no appetite. I am alternating my hottie front and back. suspect mild food poisoning or intolerance. as you know am avoiding wheat but had fried chicken breast for lunch and though i removed the outside coating i wonder if i still ingested enough wheat to set me off. And had a few chips, are they setting me off too now. I am not exaggerating- i look 6 months pg! Think I will have to ask doc about this soon as it's recurring a lot more now.
sorry to witter on about me, hope you have all got a touch of sun today, fresh but sunny. My dd loves to pick daisies and dandelions and say "oo" alot like upsy daisy- it REALLY sounds like her when she does it.

Monroe - try very gradually increasing the cocodamol. I started on one 8mg plus one normal paracetamol. I'm now on the full 30mg x2 dose and feel fine, no woozy feeling unless on an empty tummy.

First time I have had to take cocodamol in the middle of the night last night. Apparently the patch can wear off towards the end of the week - tomorrow am is change over day. Plus the advice seems to be to go up a dose after seven days. I've been getting tension headaches more often too, perhaps usually under control with the cocodamol but not helped by the butrans patch. And it's still very itchy at times.

Painted the playhouse last night and it needs a second coat. I think I was careful.

afternoon all.no work for me today tried one of my out of date diazepam last night can't say I felt anything but did sleep relatively ok for six hours so maybe helped a little. saw gp this am.As I thought not much I can do except rest and keep up meds. I did get a script for some more diazepam which she thinks is worth trying at night. I'm so frustrated, on Friday I did a really good walk run and Ofsted done new exercise gear, today I Amazon primed som[ene crutches

ordered not Ofsted

Denial - good job getting the diazepam, I hope it helps. Spasms are awful. It took three months for my last spasm incident to settle down. I also bought new exercise stuff before the shock MRI result and now I'm too scared until I speak to the trainer.

I'm waiting for outpatients appointments to pick up at charing cross. Need to find out when this referral is. I asked the GP receptionist and she got the GP to call me, the GP is pretty certain I will be seen in the next week or two and claimed it was urgent as it was Cauda Equina - news to me as I'm not having those symptoms luckily. I'm guessing the MRI looked like I was at that point - I've googled MRI images for CES and they are shocking! GP kindly upped the dose of the butrans patch and told me off for taking the cocodamol - apparently it's ok because I would need something extra for breakthrough pain anyway and it's safe, the butrans drug is given to heroine addicts as it partly prevents the effects of too much opiates. It's strange reading about my prescribed medicines on forums where people abuse or are addicted to them.

No luck, the referral is with the neurosurgeon or whoever to look at and decide when to see me, which could take a while longer. And because I don't know which of the six surgeons, three (I think) with spinal specialisms, I can't call their secretary either.

But at least I did find out that I will get the appointment made by phone if less than two week wait or post if more than two weeks. And if no news by Friday I will try again and should have some info on the system. Plus them actually having the referral is good news, I've had a few referrals mucked up and never made in recent times.

The waiting and uncertainty is not fun but I'm quite good at not thinking about the actual surgery - I've never had an op before, not counting tooth extractions.

Tbh the surgery, whilst unpleasant isn't much worse, pain wise than what you've already experienced. They do good pain control in hospitals. If your main problem is leg pain you might feel instant relief, even.

If you don't have any joy with your appointment this week it might be worth forking out for a private consultation.

Doing final prep for ESA assessment tomorrow. They will be furious by the amount of paperwork I've provided . Unfortunately, my usually brilliant GP practice still haven't managed to produce a report which collates all the evidence in one place. I've done it myself but suspect they will want it rubber stamped with a doctors name.

Ho hum.

queen i had microdisctomy in june last year. Prior to it I had problems with left leg, including numb patches and agonising pain, which increased in severity to not being able to move it/shuffled the leg as I walked, and decreased to being able to walk slowly a little, but always leg pain, always numbness. matilda is right that the pain of surgery was not bad, certainly not compared to the pain before, and it is a different pain than injury/damage pain, it's a healing pain that will improve and psychologically it's easier to deal with. And pain relief is fab. But, more than that, when I woke from surgery I could feel my foot, my leg, and there was NO pain in my leg, hip or buttock. I was told immediately, when I commented that morphine is a fab painkiller, that it does not touch nerve pain and it was the successful freeing of the nerve that stopped that pain.

It was fucking amazing.

Shame it didn't last, but that's a whole other story and not really because the surgery was not successful.

maizie are feeling any better? hope you have a little respite from feeling poorly.

I will post properly later. I had pain clinic appt which went as expected, being passed around the fucking houses, and still no injection. I can't even go into it I am so annoyed and so I am managing it by eating (have just finished) an entire packet of wine gums and having a huge glass of pepsi as my sweet tooth is going mad. And, I have just spent a fortune on junk food in the supermarket as I was hungry and annoyed when I went shopping, as well as 3 bottles of lovely, lovely wine (not for now! not feeling that annoyed ). I was going to Body Balance, but possibly I will be coming down from my sugar rush by then and not so up for it

New here but currently considering going to the emergency doc to try and get painkillers as my back is so bad. I figured you guys would be a good stopping off point who would either tell me to stop being so melodramatic or that it's a good idea!

History: eight years ago I had some disc problems in my lower back. An MRI showed one had ruptured and was bulging out and pressing on nerves occasionally. I had a lot of physio and did some swimming to build up the muscles around it and I've generally been pretty good since. I occasionally get small sciatica like twinges but nothing major.

My DD is now 2.5 and towards the end of my pregnancy with her I had sore hips, particularly in bed at night time but I padded the mattress with an extra duvet underneath the fitted sheet and did the pillow between the knees thing and managed ok.

I'm now 26 weeks pregnant with number two and the lower back/hip pain is agony, especially on the left. For the last few days it has been bad but yesterday and today especially I've noticed it gets worse as the day progresses. It was quite manageable in the mornings and started to get worse from lunchtime onwards. Right now there is no comfortable position. Moving doesn't help, staying still doesn't help. It's really quite horrible.

I've got a GP appointment on Friday evening and I can phone and talk to the midwife tomorrow morning but what I really want right now are some painkillers that will actually take the edge off, unlike paracetamol! It's achy all the time but sometimes waves up to the point where it makes me kind of lightheaded. It sucks!

Any tips or advice? I don't want to go out to doc but I would like to sleep tonight and actually be able to sit (or stand, or anything!) comfortably!

Ok so I've decided myself I'm being melodramatic and reined myself in. I managed labour and delivery on gas and air. I managed to get through last night, I can get through tonight and I will speak to the midwife tomorrow.

Somersaults - get your OH to pop to a late night pharmacy for some cocodamol - 8mg only but plenty if you aren't used to them. MW is unlikely to help and my experience with NHS physio during pregnancy wasn't great, private may be better - contact the pelvic partnership (google them) for local recommended physios/osteopaths etc. they have tonnes of info generally too.

I have a similar history except my disc herniation was at 16 and had no MRI, just response to physio for diagnosis. I don't know if the disc that went then is the same now (L4-5) but pregnancy does cause disc bulges to increase in size due to hormones and the extra weight/distorted posture.

My pain is mostly in the sacroiliac area, mainly right side, into the bum and down the leg, tightness rather than shooting pains. Which links in to Pavlov - I'm hoping pain relief from the op won't just be the leg but the hip and SI area too. Otherwise I suspect multiple things going on and never getting better. Pavlov - do you know what is wrong now or are you just being fobbed off? I felt like the pain clinic had a lot of potential, lots of options including physio, and they seemed like they'd be proactive. But they were the first to offer anything other than physio and take me seriously. Pain clinic feels like the last chance saloon :(

My symptoms seem really different to yours too. It's mainly pain and muscle tightness with some bladder problems. No where near as dramatic and scary as yours were. I guess that's why I was warned that MRIs don't correlate with the severity of the symptoms, mine looks much worse than it is.

Oh and good luck with your ESA claim Matilda. It's a confusing muddle to me and I don't think I'd qualify for anything from what I've read.

Still ill today, rested alot, feel a bit better now, will go into uni tomorrow coz need to attend 100% they have said. I'm really enjoying it anyway it'll take my mind off it anyways
hope your assessments go ok Matilda.
well come somersaults, what you describe sounds like spd ( now called pgp) - i had it with both mine and doing /not doing certain thing scan help. Doing aqua aerobics really halped mine, less pain the next day. I also took paracetamol and codeine for the pains. It is not good for you to be in a lot of pain in the pg. are you sitting on an swiss ball- this is good to strengthen core muscles which help minimise wht is going on. You can ask your gp to refer you to women's physio.
will post more tomorrow, but totally knackered now so off o bed, hope you all sleep well

PavlovtheCat, do you still have the symptoms you wrote of in 2012, all over body pain?

I wrote a big long post and my phone ate it

The gist of it was, thank you all for your kind messages and to all the fellow sufferers. I'm sorry tgere are so many of us out there.

And thanks also for the advice on medication. I hadn't realised you could start on a lower dose and build up a tolerance as it were.

The pain in my leg seems to be increasing daily especially in my ankle and shin. On the plus side, the hospital rang and they have my referral to the neurosurgeon and I should have an appointment within the next couple of weeks so fingers crossed.

A friend of mine had a microdiscectomy in December and also reported immediate relief of her leg pain. 6 months on and she's still doing well

Newbie here but not new to pain! To cut a long story short. I had an MRI which showed a prolapsed disc at L3/4. When over doing it I get a severe crushing heat pain across the whole of my back. At other times I get a pain on my left side that goes down my bottom, into my groin, down my leg and my toes have pins and needles in them. I have classic symptoms of Sacroilliac joint dysfunction but haven't been diagnosed with that. Have asked my gp to diagnose me but they all just agree without doing any tests or X-rays. I have had this pain for 15 months now. Off work all that time as I can't sit. Can't stand and can't walk. I take tramadol. Baclofen. Paracetamol and oramprph. I have had physio. Acupuncture and spinal injections. Nothing has worked. I am constantly in pain or drugged up. Heat packs help a lot but are so expensive.

Any help gratefully received. My doctors are useless and won't help me x