Endless Back Stories. Support For Back Pain and Sciatica. Thread 8.

[MatildaTheCat]

Sadly there seems to continue to be a need for this thread as many of us continue to suffer from back related pain. There are many causes, the pain and misery is shared here and hopefully some comfort derived from knowing we are not alone. We are strictly non competetive and newcomers most welcome.

We can offer advice on medication and effective drug combining plus other methods of pain management.We have used different treatment options from hydrotherapy and physio to surgery. We can share our experiences of navigating the big and baffling medical world, both private and NHS 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. . We are not doctors just people who have trodden the painful path of obtaining a diagnosis and dealing with our conditions.

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.

If you have advice, need advice, need a hand to hold, want to do some shopping another skill obtained along the way , then come in. We are friendly. We talk a lot. Come in, have a and say hello

Our Last Thread

Cauda Equina Syndrome. A must read for severe acute pain with Red Flags. Please Read

Constructive Rest. A Simple Exercise Anyone Can Do

Matilda I really appreciate your reply. Compared to lots on this thread I'm new enough to this back pain it's life altering.
There is only 8 weeks left in this school term then I am off until September so not too worried about work. Will try cooking a bit this weekend, have lost two stone in the past couple of months as excess weight is not helping my back so don't want to put it back on.
Just one final question it said on my care pack no driving /sitting in a car for 4 weeks or lifting for 3 months is that necessary. I would love to go down to my parents for a few weeks as I have loads of help down there with little one.

I drove after a couple of weeks the first time but just short distances. Some people on here have travelled a long way to have surgery so car trips are kind of impossible to avoid. However, if you are the passenger,can fully recline the seat and use pillows for support then it's very doable. It's usually best to stop every 1-2 hours for a stretch and walk and, obviously take plenty of drugs.

You know, some people do extremely well post surgery and are back to work, sport etc very quickly. The main thing is to line up lots of help and rest and then ease yourself back gently. The school term dates sound quite helpful. Teaching is so full on you might well need 6-8 weeks recovery but then again you may be climbing the walls and ready to get back.

Good news about the weight loss. I lost about a stone very rapidly and looked ghastly. The doctors were all checking me for abdominal masses and couldn't believe that back pain could make someone so ill which is odd when you consider how common it is. Life altering, indeed.

There are lots of people posting about back pain and sciatica recently so bumping the thread in case anyone wants to meet up here.

Hi. I am still here. It's gone quiet on this thread. The referral has been taking ridiculously long. In the meantime, I am due another round of physio in June. I am hoping it helps but getting anxious to see the surgeon just for a chat, even. I really don't fancy an operation if not needed but the time between appointments is making me so nervous. My symptoms can ebb and flow but are always there to a degree and I am noticing a gradual decline.

Just a question: has anyone had steroid injections in the spine and do they help??

Oh phew I am not alone. I thought maybe everyone had gone and I didn't get the invite. Says a lot about me I think haha!

Sorry you are having such a rubbish time Gandalf. No idea re injections but physio is usually helpful. Can't remember your story sorry (hormonal brain).

Technically I should not be on here as it's my neck but I figured it's still my spine so I stayed. Disks have gone at c5--c7. It's degenerative changes so old age! C7 nerve is compromised and I have weakness in left arm and weakness to a lesser degree in my right along with pain. I also have lower back issues but is unrelated to neck and to do with plantar facilities in.my foot. I do hear crunching though so would not be surprised if I had disc issues there too

How are you doing, ally?

Hello , nice to talk again. It has been very quiet though there have been loads of threads about back pain and sciatica. I guess people might like having their own thread but it does mean there is a lot of repetition of advice.

Gandolf, I've had a whole lot of different injections in my lower spine and sadly none have made a jot of difference. But..I know lots of people who have benefited from them. The steroids give longer term anti inflammatory action which can allow healing of the injury. I think some doctors are more reluctant to inject the cervical spine. One piece of advice I had was to have injections done where they could be done under CT scan conditions as that allows much more accuracy.

I'm suffering at present after a spell of doing too much. Very annoying and depressing. Lots of stressful things have been happening which also doesn't help but hey ho. We go on.

Stress makes it worse, doesn't it. I remind myself that flare ups do pass

I have similar issues Gandalf as my neck is buggered too (also old age and 40 years of office work). My back still bothers me 8 years post surgery and have started getting sciatica and am being treated by physio for leg issues. They thought it was tendonitis but didn't fit so looks like its also coming from my back oh goodie!

Hope you ease up soon Matilda ... I'm sure the stress/pain is a bit like the chicken/egg scenario .. they certainly do come together .

Hope some people come back here ... I miss it

I have just found out that I have a slipped disc l5 which has been causing terrible sciatica. The problem is I'm pregnant! Only 7 weeks at the moment. Feeling pretty low but desperately hoping it will heal itself. Have been signed off work for two weeks. Right now I can't stand or walk for more than 2 mins or sit for more than 15 mins if I'm lucky. Only comfortable position is lying down which I'm not supposed to do for too long. Also have 4 year old and 2 year old. Arrgh!

You poor thing. Discs can right themselves but you need to take it easy. Can anyone help with the younger ones?

As Gandalf says this can often resolve itself though its agony at the minute. Agree you need help ... sorry you are having such a crap time of it We have all been there (well maybe not the pregnant bit)

Thank you Gandalf and allypally. My husband has been away all week for work but is thankfully back now. We have a part time nanny who I paid to do a bit extra while he was away but can't afford that all the time. Mentally finding it hard. And boring!

I am doing better (also neck) and discovering that hypermobile shoulders and weak core muscles are a bad combination.

Gosh, it's been almost a year since my issues started. The osteopath has stopped treating me except for once a month and wants me to do contant pilates, but my spine isn't dead straight so the weak muscles on one side tend to stay weak.

Wish I could play tennis again instead!

Pregnantabroad what a difficult situation to be in. I can only suggest that you continue to buy in extra help and rest as much as possible. Discs really do get better in time but you need to avoid so much if the normal 'mum' stuff like lifting and bending.

Could you find a really good rehab physio who understands pregnancy and have some sessions to learn how best to protect and strengthen your spine? If you have private insurance they may even pay.

There are a million ways of making life easier. They include convenience foods, TV and Internet shopping. Get plenty of sleep and call in every favour you've ever been owed and then some. Get a cleaner if you don't have one and honestly, the expense is just too bad. It's way better to allow this to heal and get you fit rather than allowing it to become chronic because it has been able to heal.

Bumping for the chronically fed up. All welcome to join, we thrive on sharing the pain round.

Another chronically fed up one here! Currently having a severe flare up and no idea why... I have a lot of trouble with L4 and L5 as they are bulging and have annular tears. I also have a huge amount of wear and tear on the facet joints and my iliolumbar ligament on the left hand side in particular is agony. My back consultant said I have the back of a 70 year old and I'm only 30!!! I've tried various painkillers, physio and all sorts of other things and nothing really helps. With this current flare up the pain is radiating a LOT into my hips and even into my groin a bit. Not sure why?! The pain is wide spread right across the lower back and reaches round into my hips and into my legs a bit with it being especially bad on the left hand side where my bad ligament is. I'm not sure if it's sciatica as such as I've had sciatica pain before and some of it is probably that, but this is more 'achy legs'. But maybe that's also sciatica?! I also suffer with anxiety very badly and am finding it all just too much to cope with!!! I've been off work for the last week due to the pain and am due to go back on Wednesday but no idea how I'll manage. I only started the job in May! Not the best impression to be making. I'm getting so worried about 'having to be fit for work' that I'm just getting really stressed out. Plus the pain itself is making me seriously fed up... I'm absolutely petrified of the idea of having any kind of operation and I am so worried that I'll reach a point where that's all I'll be left with! Is there still a chance to get this sorted non surgically?! I have a phobia of hospitals and anything medical. Urgh. I guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself and needed to vent a bit! Sorry for the long whinging post!

Hello, I'm jumping in here, I did start a new thread but perhaps I'm better off in here with the rest of you!

Background is I had a fall on ice in early 2010 and landed hard on my lower back. Initially it was just pain from the injury but then I started getting pain in my buttock but then the symptoms went down my leg etc, lots of burning, numbness, pain and eventual loss of reflexes in my ankle.

It took 10 months of doctors, physios etc to get an MRI scan, within a day I was getting an urgent call from the hospital to say there were 'red flags' on my MRI, I had a disc at L5S1 herniation was severely compromising my spinal column and affecting the sciatic nerves on both sides. I was told the area was worse on the right but I was only having symptoms down the left leg though, nothing on the right. Also I had bulging discs above in the next two discs too but they weren't serious.

The physio responsible for me at the hospital suggested I go private as she was worried about the findings of the MRI, an urgent appointment with the spinal consultant was 16 weeks. I paid to see the consultant two day later after he had viewed the MRI and he said it was one of the worst herniations and spinal compromise he'd seen and that he would push me to the front of the NHS a queue and operate 3 days later as I was at risk of major problems if I didn't get it looked at straight away. I should add that the pain was managble, it was more numbness and tingling I was suffering with.

Anyway, I got the surgery done and it was deemed a success, I still have even now slight numbness in my toes and outer leg skin but his parting words to me was 'go and enjoy life, do whatever you want, climb mountains' meaning that the surgery was done and I should now be fine.

And I have been fine, until Friday that is. In work I bent down to pick a paper up off the floor and felt a tearing/popping sort of feeling along with terrifc pain right in the area of the previous surgery on the right side. I managed to get back to a standing position and was left with a constant burning pain but if I moved slightly in the wrong way 'bam' I was getting a severe shock type pain radiating into the hip that would make me gasp. Walking around was ok, It was more painful to sit or to move too quickly.

I took regular ibuprofen and it eased a little over the evening but in bed Friday night I barely slept, every time I moved the sharp pain would occur and by Saturday morning I could hardly move out of bed. It was though my back had locked up and every movement gave me the sharp shock type pain. I took painkillers and iced it throughout the day alternating between laying in bed and walking around. It did ease throughout the day again but again sleeping at night was really difficult. I was waking every hour. Basically that's how it's been since. It eases throughout the day but at night it's extremely painful this is the way the muscles seem to lock up.

So to my questions, I'm not sure whether I've just torn some muscles in my back or whether ive slipped or herniated disc again. In a nut shell I'm fine standing up and walking around but in pain sitting and laying on my sides and on my back. Has anyone else felt their disc rupture? Was that the tearing / popping feeling? Or is that more like muscles being pulled?

I'm going to the doctors this morning but I'm not hopeful I'll be given anything other than painkillers. I'm more anxious as I'm going on holidayin two weeks time so I really want to be better for that. Wish me luck.

Commiserations, Notmy. That sounds hideously painful. I've never had the popping sensation although my back has locked up plenty of times. For acute spasm I find three days of regular diazepam, rest and heat helps. However the spasm is protecting an injury and it's not really possible to tell if it's a muscular thing or another disc. In all likelihood the GP will want to wait and see. Is the holiday somewhere you can rest and recuperate?

I hope it resolves soon.

Thank you Matilda, the GP has adopted the wait and see approach. He says at the moment there are no signs to say that the disc has herniated as I'm not having any neuro problems down my legs. Previously though the leg symptoms seem to come on after a while with me.

He seems to be thinking ive pulled a muscle so I've been prescribed 2mg Diazepam for 3 days (I have to go to work so said I didn't want anything that would make me drowsy) 500mg co-codamol tablets and 500mg Naproxen.

The holiday is a typical beach holiday so I can relax and take each day as it comes. I can't believe how a fit and healthy woman like myself can suffer so much with back problems and so early in my life (I had my back operation age just 36) I worry about how ill be when I'm 60 :/

Welcome newbies! Been so quiet I stopped checking here for a bit

Trixie most back issues resolve without surgery (I am one of the unlucky ones - though my surgery was successful so maybe lucky ha!). Some of us get that achy leg thing (someone called it leg toothache) but not sure of the cause. Do you see a physio? If you find a good one its a godsend. Have you tried the Alexander Technique? - we like that here too.

Notmy - sounds like a spasm to me too - they are very nasty but resolve quite quickly. Try not to panic as you will tense up even more and you need to be relaxed (Diazepam is the one for that). Relaxing on holiday sounds just the thing but be careful getting in and out of the sunbeds ... I hate them!

Hi ally, thanks for the welcome. I'm hoping it's just a spasm. The pain tends to resolve over the day but wakes me up early hours of the morning as it comes back again laying on my back and sides for a few hours. The morning is horrible, lots of nerve type pains and a biting feeling in my lower back.
I take painkillers and eat my breakfast standing up as to sit is agony. By lunchtime it's pretty much gone, it's weird.

Thanks for the good wishes, have a good weekend all

After Falling down stairs almost 2 years ago I still have pain on and off around my sacrum/coccyx (like a deep ache if I sit for too long and pain from sit to stand). My doctor referred me to the pain clinic and I seen a consultant who had a prod and said he thought it was coming from the saccrococogeal ligaments?

Anyway I've got the appointment through for Thursday to get an injection into my back and wondered if anyone else who had had the same injury had had this?

Also I was obviously starting to get concerned after nearly 2 years of pain about why it was still hurting (even though I knew how it had happened it didn't just start up for no reason) but the consultant didn't suggest an Mri/X-ray but asked if I had had bloods done which I replied I had had some recently due to a flu type chest infection and he said that the White blood count had been raised slightly but nothing concerning and would be due to the infection. I feel really silly but I'm not looking forward to the injection and the consultant doesn't think it will cure it!

Did everyone just disappear from here? 😩