The Back Pain Emporium is Open For Business. Browsers Welcome. Thread 7

[MatildaTheCat]

For anyone experiencing back pain it can be a terrifying 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 , 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 and say hello

Previous thread for anyone interested

Oh - cross posted! Fantastic! MMMMMMMMM!

I need to make a dessert for dinner at friends' tomorrow night and have just spent an obscene amount of money on 3 punnets of Mexican blackberries. I can't decide which is more shameful - the air miles, the out-of-season produce or the cost of things that should be free, picked from a hedgerow in early September...

Well - last year I tended to carry on until I had to stop and then had to recover for the rest of the day on the sofa. I could generally walk again by the evening so that is what I did! I've lost my confidence a bit since I fell and had several weeks out of action last year but there really isn't any need to think that will happen again I don't think.
I don't do a lot - just enough to make it pretty in the summer. There is very little interest the rest of the year.
What are in your pots and what will you make with the blackberries?

Hi ladies .. sorry not been around much but drugs make me sleepy and lazy and am depressed also despite the anti-depressants ... for Berrie and Brit ..... massage of neck at physio is bringing out spasms a day or 2 later which I am struggling with due to painkiller problems. GP gave me a pile of 15 codeine to juggle with and it does help a little whilst giving me a bit extra pain relief (or sideways shunt if you know what I mean) but still slightly nauseous and now have migraine too. Normally the spasms subside in time to get back to physio but had to cancel this week as hardly left the house. Add to that the constipation/laxative/blockage/leakage issues I get with codeine and I am a miserable wreck. GP nearly offered me anti-nausea pills then we both laughed as already in drug mixing hell lol.

On the plus side she is helping my neck if I can just survive the treatment

Only you guys understand the misery of it all. I must try and enjoy myself more when its not so bad. I dunno how you lot cope with kids and work as well ... I can barely cope with getting dressed!

I love hotel breakfast buffets! Just not so keen on the beds ouch!

Sorry for moaning ... someone shoot me!

Late here now, so not going to post properly but for you, ally. I hope the new cocktail is worth the hideous side effects.
Berrie, will get onto the core exercises for you, and update you on the pudding tomorrow!

Moan away as much as you like and no - we shall not shoot you! Unlike real life you don't have to worry here about overshooting your moaning quota as we all completely get it.
So sorry you are feeling low. I have little faith in anti depressants now as when I think about the times I was on them I was really really depressed. Can't have been working then can they! On the other hand most other people I know swear by them and DH just laughs in my face if I ever suggest he lowers his dose. I found going on the mini pill and evening out my hormones made a big difference though it makes me spotty Every time I have a pill check they suggest changing to a coil or something but I dare not mess with my depression status - I have spent too much of my life in despair. I still have my moments fairly regularly but thankfully they don't seem to last too long. I really do hope that you feel a bit better soon.

Hiw is everyone, I had a flare up again of my back and ended up back on naproxen again but that now seems to have eased, but have another worry now, just when I thought I was done with docs and hospital visits, I missed a period, have been on the pill 20 years apart from when pregnant with dd, had bloating, went to gp he did an abdo exam and said couldn't feel anything lumpy ir fluidy, but wants to do loads of bloods to chek hormones, thyroid, livet and kidney function, sugar, prolactin and then he said the ca125 for ovarian cancer, he referred to hosp for pelvic scan to. The ca125 test now concerns me as I am worrying about results, the pelvic scsn got rejected at the hospital so I am now not having that done, they said it was diwn to funding.
I am worried sick again, I don't cope well with hospitals, slight fear, and the night I ended up in a ande with my disc they tried taking blood and I passed out, they didnt manage to get any.
can I ask would my lumbar mri of nit shown anything untoward up and would ut have been mentioned at the time.

Oh pinkkoala I'm so sorry to hear that you are so worried - that's horrible. I have no advice at all regarding whether your lumbar MRI would have shown up anything else, I'm sorry - hopefully someone else here will have a better idea? Can you ask the GP? Sending you and thinking of you.

Thanks Ladies - you are sweet! The sun is out and hubby is mine for 3 days so feeling a bit better (and back not so bad either though head is killing me). Back to physio on thursday and start the whole cycle again.

I hear you re the anti-ds but would tackle anyone to the ground who tried to take them off me. On the other hand one GP did say they didn't work so well when it was life events rather than clinical depression and I was battling with bereavement, menopause and aged parents, etc. Sometimes I am still depressed so do wonder if they are doing anything but scared to come off.

Oh dear Pink sorry I to have no advice just sympathy. Lets hope its nothing (as most of my scares and panics are).

Sorry to hear about your new worries Pink. As Ally says - hopefully it will be one of those things that often turn out to be nothing.
Hope you lot are OK. The children went back to school so have a bit of mental adjustment to being on my own again to do. Think I will go and nit comb my hair again - give myself a treat!

Hi all, tis me, Tickle...
i was here before with a lovely case of coccydynia which was much improved by manipulation under anesthetic along with steroid and local anesthetic injections.
Unfortunately the pain has now returned with a vengeance and I am waiting for my next date to come through for more injections.
My specialist said they only do 3 lots and then have to look at removing the coccyx, so I'm feeling pretty despondent about it tbh.
I think when you have had some time with reduced pain and it comes back it feels 10 times worse doesn't it
Hope you're all ok, Pink sorry you are worried, I will be keeping my fingers crossed that all is ok.
Who was it who is off to Devon on their holiday? I am in Devon too, although more mid/north Devon based.
Anyway, here I am back for my moans! for you all

Hi everyone, jusr to let you know, dh and I paid private for a pelvic scan, thankfully nothing nasty showed up, I am having a load of bloods done tomorrow for hormones, ca125, prolactin, thyroid function, sugar, and sonething to do with pituitary gland. My gp says is still no nearer finding out why then would refer me to gynae.
trouble is when I ended up in a and e last year when back was at its worst, they couldn't gey any blood and I passed out, I am not good with needles. Makes me sound like a right wuss, but I can deal with most things, honest.
How is everyone else doing.

Hi all, I think I have caught up. Sorry to hear your pain is back with a vengence Tickle. I did not realise injections might be limited. I know what you mean about pain feeling worse after an better patch. I suspect we sort of get a little accustomed.
Pink glad you got the scan done, and hope that the tests don't show up anything horrid. Its awful being worried, so best to get all the tests done. Hope the blood test goes well. Would it help to lie down, and look very specifically at something else? Ds is rather needle phobic - they have pictures on the wall for distraction purposes and we ask silly questions about one of them to distract him- I don't know how well that would work on yourself.
Berrie good luck with the combing. What fun!
Ally I wondered if topical anti-inflammatory creams (ie volterol) would help for your neck. I cannot take anti-inflammatories either, but I can use the topical creams. I am never sure if they help though.

My news is that following my appointment several months ago (which I waited several months for) I have an appointment for physio. I am still waiting for the MRI. At this rate it will be well over a year from referral to getting diagnosis. It would have been nice to get a diagnosis before physio. Actually I'm going through a better patch - except for this week recovering from a long drive home from holiday in France. So I might not need injections and so forth - and if you are only allowed 3 then definately need to delay. I have found the pain a bit easier if i put a wedge under my right hip (or corner of the duvet).
I have booked a set of 6 pilates sessions in a very small class, run specifically for 'back trouble people in conjunction with my chiropractor. I am hoping this will help, as its meant to be individualised. I attend pilates group classes anyway, but have not had private lessons for a couple of years, so need a check on my technique.
I may also be getting physio for my wrist ( I broke my scafoid 6 months ago) and am getting a dexa scan - all of which make me feel like an old old lady. So its almost all happening at once.
The weather was lovely today. I love spring! I like buying homeware too, but missed the M+S 20% off as we were away- which was probably fortunate. I got some white linen sheets in the last sale and may wash them whilst DH is away, and the weather good. I have sadly gained 4 pounds, and can't see a diet working until ds is back at school. Ds insisted on me having my share of the easter egg hunt, although I did try to resist!

Hello, everyone! . Just checking in from the East. Very hot and beautiful here. We are on the second of our two mini holidays with in the main trip, staying in a lovely resort set in the jungle by the sea. Monkeys and wildlife abound including, I hear, 49 species of snake so am treading carefully .

Pan has been on the whole ok other than post travel days. It's relaxing here but in the city it's tempting to try to do too much though family have nice relaxing house and pool so I can be still, too. Home in less than a week which is depressing but the way of all hols.

S sorry that so many are suffering further bouts of pain but good to read all your mews. Pink, in particular, glad the scan was ok and let's hope your bloods are fine, too. Can you wear headphones or take diazepam for bloods. Or just think brave thoughts and count to 100? Good luck, anyway.

Better get up for the Breakfast feast. Shame I'm never that hungry in the morning, it's sumptuous. I don't eat enough and get hungry again by lunchtime. Romantic sunset cruise this evening. Hoping it is a sunset since we had a tropical rainstorm instead last night!

Hello Everyone.
Tickle Nice to see you again though not to hear about your relapse. I think that we tend to bury memories of how bad things were when we get better which is why it's such a shock when it goes bad again. All the terrible memories come pouring back and you have to deal with that too. I'm going to Devon at half term - Woo Hoo! DH nearly derailed it by saying he'd rather go to South Wales of on the Norfolk Broads but I was assertive (not like me) and stuck to the plan to go somewhere we'd never blimmin' been before thanks! We did go to North Devon once but didn't like it and carried on to Cornwall. This is south so GOOD!
Mags good to see you too. Why do these things take so long! I was VERY good with the M&S 20% and ONLY looked at the plates I wanted. Am feeling a bit silly for only buying 6 of each though - how long will it be before I break one...should have had a spare!
Matilda I am not sure you should be able to mumsnet in the jungle! Doesn't seem right but glad that you can! Enjoy the rest of your stay and don't worry - it's lovely here at the moment. The primroses are glorious and the birds are nesting. There are a pair of blackbirds in the hedge at the front which seems a very silly idea due to cats but I guess they know what they are doing. In the back garden I am enjoying a fat thrush and a pair of gold crests.
Pink glad that you are feeling a bit more positive after your scan. Hope the blood test goes OK. I used to be like you but am OK now. I just don't look and you can feel very little at all.
Ally Hope you are feeling a bit brighter. I have had a terrible few days depression wise. I think I will be OK when I go back to work tomorrow. I am already feeling slightly better this morning which is why I am able to post here again. I have made a batch of chocolate/beetroot muffins - my own recipe they don't always come out well and I am almost glad it is a fast day and I can't try one. We will see what DC say but I won't tell them about the beetroot first.

Hi everyone, need to vent, so thought I would do it here, had bloods done tiday, was for fbc, esr, ca125, full profile, fsh and lh. Work have been a bit of a pain with regards to my shifts, me and dh have been arguing, mostly abouthis pparents. His mum needs lots of care, the hone carers have now said that it toomuch for them so its fallen bk to dh and his sis. Dh is up there every day again and when I need him I get told I am second to his mum, there need is greater than mine, to which I replied that he is my husband and should support me when I really need him to. From my point of view his parents arent helping themselves and getting proper care, ideally they need to be in a hone with proper care. His mum refuses to walk, they have got heta commode, she is messing everywhere, nit eating, his dad is ill with copd, diabetes and other lung problems.
I just feel somtimes I need a bit of support at the mo, do think I am being selfish.
I have to wait til early bext week for my results and am a bag of stressy nerves.

Hi Ladies. Sorry to hear you are still struggling Pink ... I can relate to the aged parents issues but its very hard . Nothing wrong with being selfish ... we all have a lot to put up with and sometimes its just too much.

Berrie what a pair we are with the depression eh? I am a bit chirpier at the minute but my back is killing me and am off to physio shortly. I did think about cancelling (again) but need some advice as not sure what is going on now. Once again I am on the rollercoaster of pain=depression and painkillers=laxitives and suppositories (yeah try inserting one of them when you can't reach - what fun!).

Hols sound great Matilda ... glad your gorilla didn't come out to play with the other monkeys (yes took me ages to think that one up!)

HI Tickle and Maggs .. might try the cream then thanks!

Might need to struggle round a few shops after physio ... while I still can you understand haha! Oh no nearly put a kiss there .. I'll be expelled!

oh and these muffins sound delish Berrie good for you not having one and no don't tell em .. I just grated some courgette into the shep pie for tonight (and that's for OH not a child lol)

Oh goodness.
Was supposed to be out tonight. I never go out because I am never invited and if I am invited I dont go because of agro issues. Had decided to go though but spent evening in a&e with ds and suspected dislocated shoulder. Not though just badly torn muscle or something. Dosed up and in bed now.
Ally the muffins were nice and moist with a certain...earthy flavour
Pink. Stick with it. It's terribly hard but it will end...

Arghhh!!!! Look who came away with me...

Have had some stern words and we have reached an 'agreement'

Oh my goodness Matilda! leave him there!

Safe journey home lovely .

Just thought I'd post on a positive note for a change .. the physio gave my back a good doing (I was sobbing) which seems to have really helped yay! Was worth the short-term agony as I can now get up out of a chair like a 70yo instead of 100yo ... vast improvement and no drugs so far today!

Hope everyone else has a nice day! Its freezing here so daily walk might have to be through an indoor shopping centre but I'll try to bear it haha!

Lol Matilda just tell him to bugger off or there will be no bananas!

thanks Matildathe cat...for pointing me in the direction of this thread... I have copied it from the general health section

Hi, I am 36 year old healthy - ish female. Last year I developed pain in my bottom when sitting and when going from sitting to rising...very painful in fact. A few months later I started to get pain in my lower back during the night. It got progressively worse so that I was awake half the night in pain. I went to the doctor who was not so concerned about my tailbone pain thinking it was maybe just bruised from something, even though I hadnt banged it. He initially diagnosed gallbladder pain and sent me for a scan to check for stones...it wasnt though, and I knew it wasnt. On pain meds, the pain got worse, it now wasnt just during the night it was affecting me during the day...towards the end of the evening I was struggling with my job (childminder) as the pressure built up I would feel like I was lurching from one place to another if I had to pick up a child because it was so painful.

Taking ibuprofen and tramadol before bed helped, and if I took it again at 5 in the morning it was possible to get up and function when my alarm went off. The pain now a general smashing in my hips kind of feeling, lying on one side to sleep until the pain reached a crescendo, and then hauling myself onto the other side to get a little more sleep until it becomes too much to bear. Back to gp who decided to prescribe citrolapram(sp?!) to help me sleep?!He said the pain would be worse if I wasn't sleeping well. To be honest, I dont think I was being taken too seriously. I talked about stopping taking tramadol as dependency on the drug has set in...he dismissed it saying he didn't see how I could as I was in too much pain. I insisted that there was something wrong so he allowed me to go for an mri. the mri revealed a prolapsed disc that is not sitting on a nerve so does not require treatment but special exercises would help. Not knowing what these exercises were I went back to gp to ask, who said...'just walking, the disc will shrink back....will take 18 months'.

So now I have had this pain for about 9 months...maybe longer, it feels like forever! I am on tramadol and ibuprofen twice/three times a day to control the pain. (citralopram no good) I have terrible pain in the night...feels like hip smashes, plus sciatica, plus lower back pain, plus generally feeling beaten up and like I've done too many sit ups. In the morning I cannot straighten my back properly, when I go to the toilet I am now at the point where I can barely reach to wipe my bottom because its just not possible. ... my back wont turn. I have put on about 1 and a half stone, and I am feeling the effects of the medication I take.

I continue to eat very healthily, I refuse to stop moving and walk a lot. I am still working but am getting increasingly worried that at some point I am going to have to stop...this honestly scares the crap out of me as I don't know how we would manage financially. I just do not know what to do. I'm very worried as it just seems to be getting worse, I can't imagine life how it was now and this makes me so frustrated. I want to get back to running, playing normally with my kids etc. Has anyone got some experience of something similar and what they did? Please tell me I'm going to get better!

Great news Ally
Clank You have to go back to the GP. Go to another one if necessary and keep going back until they do something more for you. I suffered for years and years doing as I was told but the truth is you have to keep turning up there again and again so that they actually help you. Until they make a nuisance of your self I am not sure they really appreciate the impact this is having on your life. I don't know - maybe it appears to them that you've been better for a bit since they last saw you and have got worse recently. I've not heard of an SSRI antidepressant being prescribed to help with pain so you can sleep. Doesn't mean it is wrong though. I would expect you to be on something stronger than ibuprofen but in the same anti inflamatory group such as Naproxen and an appropriate drug to protect your stomach such as lanzoprazole. (may be misspellings!) Also sounds like you need some physio.
We've all been through it on here so sympathy. Your biggest problem, it seems to me, is the support you are getting from the GP. If I learned anything it is that you have to bother them - they just don't seem to get it unless you do.