The Back Pain Emporium, Internet Shopping, Drugs and Dealing with Doctors. Thread 6.

[MatildaTheRedNosedReinCat]

For anyone experiencing back pain it can be a very scary time. What is wrong? Who can help? How long will this last? We,on this thread are here to support you;offer empathy and help to navigate the almost impossible task of getting a diagnosis and the right treatment.We are not doctors but people who have trodden this path slowly and painfully. We also chat a LOT and welcome all newcomers. It is strictly non competetive regarding pain and no niggle is too minor.

Those who have long term back problems know that the best way to help manage back pain is to internet shop for shoes, bags, and back support devices. Those who are new to back pain, these are important lessons to learn. And here within this thread is where you will learn those lessons.

You will also find other helpful advice on pain management, different treatment options from hydrotherapy and physio to surgery, experiences of others navigating the big and scary medical world, both private and NHS (and abroad from the UK) too, as well as issues around work, being a parent while managing pain and disability, and the impact on the relationships around us. Not to mention the pain of dealing with claiming disablity benefits .

Between us all, we have a huge wealth of knowledge and experience, and more than the practical advice, the jargon and information, we know what back pain is like, how much is affects everything around us, and sometimes, all we need is to have people listen who Get It.

We talk painkillers regularly,sometimes drink wine , have hot water bottles and wheat bags galore, and hold hands a lot. It's potentially all very Unmumsnetty as we do actually show some lovin' from time to time, although we Never Ever call each other hun.

If you have advice, need advice, need a hand to hold, want to do some shopping, then come in. We are friendly. We talk a lot. Come in, have a brew and say hello

This is our 6th thread, here is the 5th, which has links too the others:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/a2203923-Back-Pain-and-Internet-Shopping-Thread-Number-5

Thanks Matilda and pavlov so much for your reassurance (although at pavlov's story). I have dropped a letter off at the GP's with Mr S's details and asking for a copy of the referral note (pre-tramadol so I drove, myself! First time in months ). I have also called the private clinic and asked for waiting times (one day!) and costs, which were reasonable... so I have emailed the secretary and will see what she says when she comes back from leave next week. I am happy to pay if it gets this sorted faster. I told the GP that I flat refuse to go to the pain clinic until I have a second opinion - I am very worried about being written off given how young I am (not that age has a lot to do with bad care but I have another 40 years of working life in me!).

Have been working from home today which has been okay although I have needed to take more painkillers than yesterday. Yesterday was awesome - I only needed 4x Tramadol and 6x paracetamol as the pain was so small. I am going for a very gentle walk later in the gym - the treadmills have TV screens so I will just amble along and watch some TV. The new nerve drug is called Gabapentin and he says I can take it 3x a day. The potential side effects seem more severe than Amitrip. so I will see how it goes.

Hula I hope your GP can give you some reassurance. If you feel ready to work can you agree to do a trial day or two (rather than the full whack)? I tried three times to go back to work before I was able to on a very part-time basis. I have a very supportive company who were happy for me to do as much as I was able and to keep trying and resting in between. The hardest thing in the world if you are a determined and active person, as those on this thread are, is to find the balance between rest and normal life. It's taken me four months to try and get a handle on it and I still haven't got it quite right!

a determined and active person, as those on this thread are You will have to count me out of that one I'm afraid!
Ins Gabapentin suited me fine. I really liked it and it helped me sleep wonderfully.

Ins, re the gabapentin, I was given very specific advice on starting this. It can make you feel pretty odd for a few days.
Day 1 1x 300mgs capsule
Day 2 1x300mgs
Day 3 2x 300mgs
Day 4 2x 300mgs
Day 5 3x 300mgs

Keep the other meds the same. Hope he gave you the tramadol.

It did make me a bit spacey and dopey even at that level of introduction. It is a very effective nerve med. I eventually got it up to 600mgs x 3 daily but that took me ages. I tolerate it very well now. Pregablin is the more modern version with, possibly fewer side effects but it is wildly more expensive. I tried it but found I as gaining weight so went back to good old gabapentin.

Glad you had a better day yesterday, it;s always nice to know they still exist but very hard to resist the temptation to overdo it. Let's hope Mr S can shed some light on your situation. When I went along tosee him I was mighty impressed that his secretary had tracked down all of my previous MRIs from three different locations and he had studied them all before I came in. That was very reassuring.

I know someone else who has sudden severe back pain accompanied by sudden bed wetting. Ahe has been fobbed off and sent home without even seeing a neurosurgeon. I have tried so hard to get her to present at an A&E with neuros on site but I don't think she has. That makes me very sad.

Tough, hello and hoping you are ok? Okish???xx

tough I knew it was you, but didn't want to advertise your story without your permission DH and I talked about it, and how different it could have been for him, and how different it was for you, all because they just did not thoroughly investigate when they should have. It's why it's a bloody emergency situation, because it has to be addressed right then, not wait for a few days. Far, far better to do a thorough, complete check and find that it's not CES or anything else serious, that miss something such as what happened with you and with my friend's partner (his happened about 4 weeks ago now, didn't find out until last week, mostly as I don't follow her on FB, just dip in and out as she keeps posting photos of her dinner...)

Spoke to Dr who said to perhaps take tabs at night if after a full day I am starting to feel uncomfortable, no need to take them in the day if Im not in pain...she said I will naturally take it easy for the next week as I will probably be cautions and hopefully things will sort themselves.

She said it is hard to say if it will re-ocurr if it does perhaps look at exercise like swimming or pilates.

So that's it really, had my DH help me wash my hair as so frightened of me doing too much and it going into spasm again so being very cautious.

That was it really ...

Hula, surely the point is to do some exercise like Pilates to prevent this from reoccurring? Pilates is fabulous, I've done it for years although sadly it didn't prevent my back from going in spectacular fashion but I still highly recommend it.

If you've not done Pilates before you must do a beginners course and preferably do a very small rehab class or one to one so you get the exercises correctly. I also swim a lot, always have done. Front crawl is best and breaststroke is best avoided as it tends to curve your spine and pinch the nerves. It's not good for the neck, either, especially if you swim with your head up out of the water.

However, walking backwards and forwards is excellent exercise. I hired a physio to come to the pool with me to to devise a whole hydro routine. I do this a few times a week and swim about 400metres front crawl with a float between my legs. It works for me though I am quite bored with it and miss powering up and down for 1500m.

hula I second doing exercise before your back 'goes' again. Not now, gentle exercise is what you need now, as you are already doing, but as you get stronger, gentle swimming, walking, pilates, yoga will all help build your core muscles, pilates is specific for core muscles, but build your base fitness slowly and ensure you tell any instructors you have had issues with your back and they will guide you through/past any tracks/poses to be avoided.

oh to be exercising again. Soon. gym have suspended my membership until March, and will give me a free month when I return as I didn't use my membership for ages before getting around to suspending it.

So, ladies, I need you to help me make my hospital list. In on tuesday evening, home on friday hopefully in the morning.

I will be making the journey on my own from Plymouth to London. I will use a flight bag that will be pulled along, and will take it from cab to train, onto train, off train, into cab, into hospital itself. On the way back no problems, as DH will bring it to car etc. When I went last time, I needed to be able to carry it myself to where I was waiting before surgery, then it was put in a locker. Not sure how different it is this time.

I have on my list:
Clothes:
1 x jim jam bottoms (one enough?)
2 x vest tops (prefer these to jimjam tops)
1 comfy jumper (instead of dressing gown, I am so not a dressing gown person, and didn't wear it at all apart from walking down to theatre. yes, they made me walk!)
4 x knickers
4 x comfy socks (not sure how cold the ward is?)
birkies? I don't have slippers, so was thinking if not cold could wear these instead for moving around?
1 x jimjam bottoms/tracksuit/yoga bottoms for journey home + t-shirt/jumper (undies etc already as above) (will probably wear same home as on way out, except for undies obviously!)

Toiletries bag:
wetwipes/face wipes
little bottles of shower gel/shampoo/conditioner
face cloth
moisturiser
toothbrush/paste
hair spray/stuff to stop my hair looking frizzy if I have a shower ( )
deodorant
(don't need a hair brush, hair is v short now!)

Other:
water bottle
phone charger / phone
monetary change in case I need it for phone/coffee/stuff
ipad/charger (i would like to take the laptop, that's a hit foolish isn't it as it's a macbook?)
book

That's a huge amount!

What have I missed? I think there was something upthread I read that I thought 'must remember that'. I'll go back and look.

Should I take some sweets? Munchies? what? I don't remember wanting anything last time except water and coffee. I remember feeling frustrated that I had to wait so long for the tea round! No food really, as felt sick, but was only in overnight, out the next afternoon at 3pm.

Can I ask for a cup of coffee when it's not 'time'? or is that something that will be frowned upon and have me put on the 'naughty patient list'?

Oh goodness yes! to flip flops for the shower and need to pick up earplugs, and will add headphones to the list. good ones thank you tough

I absolutely will not be too polite to ask for people to get me a costa As soon as I get a sniff of a possible coffee trip, I'll be on em!

I'm gonna have to go pop into M&S. I only have one pair of jimjams. 1, because I am scanky and wear them several days in a row at home, and 2, I don't wear jimjams in bed, they are lounge pants really.

I do love having to buy some new things last time, I had NO notice, well, like 3pm confirmation I was going in at 7am the following day as it was a cancellation, so I had to go to sainsburys to get jimjams and they had nothing I was willing to pay money for. I actually panicked more than I should have about jimjam bottoms and dressing gown and now have a nice, but Not Me dressing gown that I never wear

oooh a bed jacket! this is very kind of 'hospitably' don't you think?

How about juice boxes?

Not much change this end apart from one yep the morning after 5 1/2h is the car.

On a shopping note, anyone seen any amazing flat black boots ankle or knee high is the sale?

you don't likey tough ? how about love it but the bow might dig into my scar/wound...

cold juice boxes good idea. could do with those now. got major thirst for sweet going on!

5.5 hrs in the car is long, did you break it up with rests, hope you did! long black boots...not seen any but will keep an eye out as i browse this evening...

oh hang on, that last link, bow is at the front, might work well

boot sale in Debenhams cold worth a browse.

Have you got an eye mask,mulled? I also listened to my iPod a lot but you can probably use your phone. My ward was, ahem, a bit noisy at times. Earplugs/ talking books and eyemask plus oromorph sorted that out . Definitely take something to wear on your feet, Birkies are fine.

Something I took which I was glad of a million times over was my own pillows. I realise this is a bit of a logistical nightmare but a pillow isn't actually heavy and hopefully you will get help at every stage. ( did you know you can phone and request disabled assistance for the trains and stations?). Anyway, that's my advice. Comfy pillows wins every time. ( This clearly runs in our family. When ds2 was 11 he went on a school trip and was very anxious. I carefully packed every item on the list of clothing but when I got back from dropping him off found he had removed all his clothe from the case and packed his pillow . I wasn't grinning at the time.)

I had to walk to theatre, too. It's so odd walking in to hospital, signing a few forms then walking to an operating theatre. But it has to be done and it's the best place.

I swear by my Fly boots and have black and brown in this style. I have worn them every day and it's like walking on air. Work well with jeans or skirts. Win win. Lovely Boots