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

sorry about massive posts but i have been away havnt i?
I went to comedy night at crouch end on tuesday- very good, "joke thieves" - might be going on tv, they are trying out the format.
Have been having bloating, abdo pains and random diarrhea too so asked doc and he gave me the form to get tested for coeliac ( and rheumatoid markers while im there, not done yet) - but here's the rub.. i asked if you need to eat wheat/gluten before the test and he said no, not really and shrugged but every other source of info says you do ????? so I have started just eating everything, not excluding anything - but do you all have knowledge of this?
I had a spinal assessment too this week ( see, busy!). She said unlikely to be any major spinal issues, but she wants to see what the mri says (coming weds 8am). She siad the area very low back and into SI area was very sore and tender. she said tests for SIJ were mix of +ve and -ve. She mantioned it might be start of ?stenosis of spine- changes to the spine, she noticed I have more of a scoop to my back than normal ("for a caucasian") does this mean "I've got back"? hehe, sorry. Every possibility ended with the advice to do pilates and physio so i am aiming to make that a priority anyway and join the uni gym- works out £15/month but is quite basic.

I am kinda managing at the mo- titrating the gaba but it works a bit then not as much. Just gone up to 800 3x/day. Only taking the paracetamol and dihydracodeine once a day now,hard to imagine not taking at all and being able to function at same as normal level. uni ends soon so that will be pressure off. i prob wont post for few dyas now as i have 3 assignments to finish (one not started at all!).
Sorry to hear pain levels are being higher for you lately matilda , hope the decision comes through quickly for your assessmants you had. It seems a bit wrong you have to jump through hoops so to get it sorted
I know what you mean about the gulit pavlov- its natural to feel you could be doing more but I'm sure it's not what you do but how you do it that matters. They sound like they are quite close to you from your posts.

My mum has had a very bad flare up with her hip- she could not walk well this week. the doc thinks she will need a total hip replacement quite soon. I had thought when I had my hip stuff that it would be on the cards for her but she is not great at doing exercise and the physio afterwards is crucial. but i have heard it is considered a very successful op for most people. She minimised it but i think she is very worried about it.

apologies again for a very long post- and rahter meememme, feels like i had to catch up. I have heard of these MBT shoes but nevre tried, they are £££££ no? hope you all have a lovely day in the sun! i love the start of summer, the light, the fresh but bright mornings. and hopefully can reduce the leccy bil for a few months! this 1/4 was astronomical!
hugs and plenty of to all- especially as im not off wheat any more!

maisie hi, lovely to hear from you. Glad the school is sorted. I'm sorry to say that all my friends have had trouble with the sen provision. You have to fight like a tiger to get anywhere. Sorry your mum is laid up. You get those essays done then kick back for the summer.

pavlov hope you aren't suffering too much today. I'm off to a garden party this afternoon and suspect it won't be good for me. Still going, though .

Hope you are all enjoying the sun. My new outdoor furniture arrived yesterday and it's so comfy. I'd not been able to sit on our old wooden stuff at all.

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of the first surgery which fucked my back permanently so I deserve something I can sit on.

Hi maizie - I have a friend who has coeliac disease & she was told clearly to eat normally - ie. to include gluten - before the test. Apparently it's common for the test not to pick up gluten intolerance precisely because people have already stopped eating gluten!

My FIL has recently had a hip replacement. The recovery afterwards does seem very tough - it's over a month since he had his, & he's really only just getting properly mobile with sticks. I think they discharged him too early, as well.

He wasn't good about exercise before, though - he'd had problems with his hip for years, apparently,but done the stiff upper lip thing, never mentioned it to anyone & just avoided walking whenever he could! The physios sound good, though, they've forced him to get active - had him on an exercise bike earlier this week, which I think was a lifetime first! Hopefully it will give him a new lease of life - but it has been hard for him.

How lovely to have comfy outdoor furniture, matilda! Where did you find it? Ours is not the most comfortable & I can't see myself sitting on it this Summer.

Have decided I'm going to ring the radiology dept. tomorrow & leave a message - just want to know if this kind of reaction to the injection is remotely normal. Still have pain & neurological symptoms in left leg as well as right, completely new since the injection, & I'm getting increasingly anxious that something went wrong.

I suspect I'm over-anxious & catastrophising, but my left leg is giving me trouble when walking too now, & it feels so horrible for neither leg to be "normal". I did read that nerve damage from an injection is vanishingly rare - 1 in 100,000 or something - so I'm sure it can't be that. But why would it start straight after the jab? Looked at the papers they gave me, too, & it says L5 nerve injection -but it was meant to be S1, & the radiographer clearly said it was my right S1 nerve root he was targetting. So I want to know what the fuck is going on.

maizie You're back! who cares if it's not MNy, this is not a mainstream thread so I don't care although, maybe you might Good luck for the next couple of days with your uni work, then chill out and enjoy the summer.

I have just taken DD diving. And I jumped off the 3m board. Ok. So when I say I jumped, I did not run from one end of the board to the other and bomb it like some of the children did , I sat on the edge, closed my eyes, prayed to some unknown god and pushed myself off. Fuck me I was a bit nervous! And shaking as I got out. I don't think humans are meant to do that. And. I did it so DD could see it was nothing to be afraid of. And she bottled it. Spent 20 mins trying to coax her to jump/sit and push herself off and she would not. Oh well, next time. Had not made my back any worse, it's almost completely fucked today, my movements are painful, so probably should not have done it, but I keep promising and promising for so long. She skipped along holding my hand as we went in, saying 'this is lovely, just us!' so, even if it has screwed my back more (tomorrow will tell) it will be worth it.

I am in a right sorry state today though - I was eating an egg and bacon gap (well, in french bread) by the Harbour this morning, and I bit down, not hugely hard, my jaw by my ear cracked and my jaw got stuck, with the most excruciating pain that went into my ear, down my neck. Then I could not bite down for 10 mins, could open it a tiny bit. I was so worried that I was not going to be able to eat my food as had only eaten about 3 mouthfuls It subsided, but as I ate dinner it's returned, and I have a horrid headache on my left side, into my eye and into my ear, and into my throat, and it hurts to touch. Oh well, I am about to dose myself up anyway, not going to be needing to consider how I will medicate myself

Along with my back locking, hobbling like an old woman I am a right old sight! DD told me I looked beautiful though, without prompting, love that girl.

matilda jealous about your comfy outdoor furniture, although, the garden without the furniture would be nice, we have a courtyard and really would love a green space. At least we live right on top of the most beautiful countryside in the world (imo, and having not travelled the world...), but sometimes I don't want to go 'out' for some nice outdoor time.

Yep, I lerve my garden. New furniture makes me think 'why didn't we get this years ago'. Today's weather a total bonus.

But. But. There's always a But. I had stuff on today and back already acting up so took my sr tramadol at 11.30. Sore by early pm and going to a garden party thing so decided to take 2 cocodamol. All ok. Then, when at party, sipping elderflower cordial I came over absolutely ghastly. I've had this before. Feel literally as if dying. Faint, sick and doomy. It's associated with tramadol and standing still. I recognised the feeling and made excuses and went and laid down indoors on the sofa for about half an hour. DH wanted to take me home but no, I don't go to that many parties and I'm not going home. But it was crap. Did feel better, though and even managed food .

Just feel, like Pavlov, that everything is spoiled somehow by this thing. And that's hard.

matilda oh lovely, sorry you had your garden party marred, but yey! to at least some fun. I don't totally enjoy these types of events any more as I know I am ready to home way before etiquette allows or before DH/children are ready. I just grin and bare it, have a good time, but as you say, marred by this shit. I didn't go to another friend's birthday party last night as a) my pain was too high following BBQ and b) I just don't want to be the one with the stick, not able to drink too much, walking gingerly, and constantly, constantly being aware of my surroundings, sitting down, standing up, and how I appear to others (some people I don't know going) and being aware of my own pain there, glaringly obvious to me.

And poor DH. I am in bed, again. He is getting fed up with never seeing me in the evening, for adult time. I might try to go lay on the sofa with him so he gets some of my company. We have birthdays coming up (his in 3 weeks) and I would love to go out for dinner, but it's going to be hard to do.

Hope you are feeling ok matilda with this being the anniversary weekend. to you too.

Hello - I need some advice re my acute back problem. Started 2 weeks ago with a painful dull ache, 2 days later I couldn't move, literally stuck at my desk crying like a baby. My Dad had to drive me home. I'm 43, normal weight with no previous back problems.

Doc says muscle spasm and gave diazepam, diclofenac and co coldomol. Spoke to physio who gave exercise sheet. Now pain is swapping between lower back and one calf. Not sleeping well. This seems more than a pulled muscle. Calf pain is suggesting sciatica?

Have hot water bottle and just bought new mattress. Should I go back to gp or will it just get better in time? Any advice would be really helpful. Thanks

shagg, sorry to hear you are in pain. I'm assuming the acute spasm has improved now? It does indeed sound like some kind of nerve entrapment causing your leg pain. The stuck and crying situation does indeed sound like more than a pulled muscle or some such.

It could well be a disc problem but before you panic, these can resolve spontaneously. If I had my time again, I would have defied what the drs tell you about keeping going and put myself on something not far off bed rest. Rest, potter ,rest we say on here. Really giving your body a chance to heal. Take the meds, sleep and treat yourself as if unwell.

In fact I really was very unwell during those first weeks. I wish I'd rested more.

If you read back here there is loads of info on drug combining. It's not just about loading up on codeine. Mixing anti inflammatories, cocodamol and sometimes nerve meds is far more effective than high doses of opiates.

Sorry, I hope I'm wrong but this might not resolve very quickly. Do you have help and can you take time off work? Hopefully yes to both.

Keep posting. We are very friendly and do get the total misery that is back pain.

Oops, got your name wrong. Don't imagine you feel much like shagging right now !

matilda when i look back at how much pain I was in, I am amazed I continued, with that 'must carry on, mustn't rest for long' attitude. I remember battling with the level of pain I was in vs the social perception of back pain thinking I have to go to work, as others do. I remember going back after 2 weeks as that seemed plenty of time off. I could not stand straight, I was literally bent over, muscles locked in that position and colleagues found it highly amusing. I remember my H&S officer sending me home telling me to not come back until I was better, much much better, as he found me doing a late night (I worked til 7pm some nights) in absolute tears as I was there at work, worried about moving as it was going to hurt so much. DH had to come and get me, and I didn't go back for 5 weeks.

Like you, I should have rested much much much more, ignored the 'don't rest, get on with daily activities' and done what my body needed. Now I do that, but still not good at it. Like tomorrow, I really should not be going in, this is the downward of a bad episode, it feels, but I have a child protection meeting to go to, so can't not do that, then a 'goodbye team' lunch, which is quite amusing as apart from one, we are all still in the same team in two weeks, except my boss who might, or might not be my boss depending on whether he gets his own job at interview this week.

I love the auto correct to shag sorry sggg mustn't laugh but I would agree with matilda rest, take the meds, the max doses you can tolerate, and if you take diclofenac for more than a couple of weeks, ask your GP for stomach acid reducing meds such as omeprazole. And keep using the heat.

HI thank you so much for replying with some good, practical advice. I totally believe in listening to what my body is telling me. The spasms come and go but the dull pain is constant.

Luckily I only work 2 days a week. I have an interview for a new job on Thursday so must go back - it's the same job, same hours and for same org but 15 mins from home so would be great for work life balance if I get it.

I'll call doc in the morning. Absolutely vicious pain I can see how it grinds you down. Thanks again.

Ps shggg is a very old e mail from work which I never forget - I always think shag - not that I'm getting any at the mo!

Hope this pain is resolved quickly for you, Shgg

Pavlov - You must work in the public sector too - terrible isn't it. They're taking our car allowance now! I do worry about taking time off sick as I feel it'll count against me.

shggg i wonder if you are applying for the same job as my boss you will find out soon enough if you are, as you will probably be able to spot me a mile off (and I suspect if you are walking like you have a disc problem, I will spot you ) how mad/scary would that be?!

Upped my Gabapentin to 3 x 100mg tablets three times a day so 9 tablets a day and my nerve pain/sciatic pain/ bloody annoying ache/pain has come back!! What's that all about??????

shggg are in a part of the public sector that is soon to be not completely in the public sector?

ms I don't think 300mg x 3 times daily is a huge amount, and if the nerve is properly being trapped, the breakthrough pain will still be there. For severe nerve pain, the dose will need to be high for it to work. BUT. I would be hesitant to up your dose higher than that too quickly without monitoring your nerve pain, keep an eye on where it is, what type of pain, as your body is telling you there is something wrong. I personally get a little nervous when I take so much nerve pain blockers that I can't tell that I am in pain, as I found in the past I would not adjust my movements to address the damage being done, and would do too much as I felt better. Not saying don't do it, just be careful as you do it.

I agree. Doctor told me to get to 300mg three times a day. Then go back to see him to change into 300mg tablets. I am seeing him Wednesday. Thing is, it's only masking the pain it's giving me back my life but it's not curing or finding the problem. How and when does someone do that?

That would be very funny. Oh yes you would be able spot me a mile off - I'm all robotic but like I'm running out of batteries!

It's funny when mn lingo crosses over into RL - I always think 'I know what you get up to'

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for responses.

msdj that won't happen until you kick and scream loudly I am afraid. I absolutely refused to take the nerve blockers eventually as I could not cope with the side effects and that, along with the pain was destroying my life. I actually found that taking amytriptyline almost stopped my nerve pain and I only had back pain for a while (bad enough), but I always worried as I knew it was not fixing me. And I insisted that further action was taken, but that happened alongside a physio being concerned that I was not moving my leg very well, and her boss looked at me, checked my reflexes, spoke to my GP on the phone for him to refer to neuro. I had asked him already for this and he had stalled, this time he did it. It still took an age and lots of crying, crying, crying, to so many people it was unreal.

Have you seen a physio (not that I found them any good). You need to ask your GP for a referral to a spinal assessment team - they will make decisions about where you go (physio, pain clinic, neurosurgery/ortho route) based on MRI results and tests - reflex/dorsal/straight leg etc etc (have you had those yet?)

I am pretty sure I worked with another MNer once, I never asked her, but she was the only person in RL who I ever heard use the word 'norks' and I have only ever heard that on MN. So she had to be

Pavlov different dept I think - but it's a matter of time before we're all rationalised and rebranded into some new shiny dynamic force to be reckoned with.

I am not one to make a fuss. Plenty worse off than me that need doctor appts more. But being on up to 40 tablets a day for 14 months and still in pain. It's time something was done.

I had physio at the GP surgery where they gave me gentle massage and simple exercises to do and acupuncture. Nothing helped. Then I was referred to the hospital physio. Again given lots of exercises to do and I had traction twice but I was in so much pain I had to get them to stop as the tears were rolling down my face

I was referred to the musculoskeletal unit, where he referred me for a MRI scan and then I went on to the pain clinic who put me on the waiting list for spinal injections which I have had. I now have to wait for six months before I can have a SI injection.

I just don't know what to ask my gp for. They just pump me full of more and more tablets. My body and my head is a mess after being in this situation for such a long time. Let alone losing my job because of it and DWP taking their time and stressing me out