Unable to walk suddenly

[TROUBLEDMAM]

So on Thursday I suddenly became unable to walk
I could feel my back hurt n giving out n my legs trembling
Ive suffered with sciatica before n thought it was the beginning of an episode
Until Friday when I realised I couldn't walk at all
I called my gp out n she said it was sciatica n a pulled muscle
Give me strong drugs n left
Come Saturday night the drugs weren't masking the pain n I was sure they was something more wrong
I rang 111 who phoned an ambulance
They wouldn't take me to hospital said ring my doctor today
I did this n she said she would call back after speaking to another doctor but never did

I'm in absolute agony I'm pissing in a bucket
I've had muscle relaxers called lorazepam
Codeine phosphate paracetamol every four hours since Friday n I'm still in agony

Any one know wat I can do next?

so you are being sent for a scan now?
hang on in there. hope improvement comes soon op.

Gp did a referral yeah

I ate yoghurt and banana because DH could leave them next to me in the morning and everytime I took painkillers I ate a bit to protect my stomach from the painkillers. Also, bananas stopped me getting constipated. I drank lots of water too.

Good luck for your scan OP. I hope they get to the bottom of it, and you can access treatment ASAP.

OK, it is terrible for you no doubt.

Can you get to the toilet by yourself, and can you get out of bed?

Just asking, because I tripped on the stairs last year and was like you. Totally immobile. Went to A+E they xrayed (no scan offered at all), and said it was nothing to worry about, ligament damage and gave me 5mgs of valium to relax the muscles. God I love that drug!

It made me able to sleep, and relaxed the muscles as they were in spasm. OH had to put one of the dining chairs beside the bed so I could slide out. I was in total fecking agony because my back spasmed so much I cried. And I could only walk with assistance, no more than ten steps from bed to loo. Was fkn awful, thought I would never be ok again.

I remember being so bad I bought Tena Lady pads so I didn't have to get out of the bed to use the loo!

Anyway after five days of this It did ease enough for me to take a few steps. Then more, then around the house (holding on to furniture for dear life!), then out the back garden for a walk (waddle) around, and eventually it sorted itself out.

My point is, if they have found nothing spinal it may be ligament or soft tissue damage and believe me that is just SO awful too.

Main thing is to keep moving as best you can, even a few steps every hour. The days of lying in bed are long gone now.

I am not saying you have similar, but you may have. Get the valium upped for starters. 2mgs is not enough to help the muscle spasms to relax at all. You need more.

Hope you will be ok my love.

But you either trust health professionals and all the tests they've done, or you don't. So it's all very well for us to say ' you must go and make a scene in A & E' but imagine if everyone did that who had a painful bad back
Totally agree with that too in general, but what I really don't get in this instance is why with presenting such extreme pain and loss of sensation in legs, the OP didn't get an urgent MRI.

As stated in the article I posted, the reason why the man in question ended up with lasting disability was because an MRI wasn't performed when he presented as an emergency.... like OP and the reason he didn't wasn't because they didn't feel he didn't need one but because of staffing issues.

There are more cases if you google of patients ending up with life long conditions as a result of this condition not having been picked up on time through negligence.

So yes, if I was OP, I would have been much more forceful, which you can do without needing to be pushy. For one, did you ever mentioned that condition to any of the medics OP, and did they clearly say to you that you didn't need an MRI for them to dismiss it and the reasons why? MRI are performed not just confirm a diagnosis but very often to eliminate them.

If your GP has now referred you for one, it is because the medics have deemed it necessary. An MRI referral from a GP can take weeks. Considering Cauda Equina is a condition that requires urgent treatment, unless a medic is totally confident the patient is not presenting with it, an urgent MRI should be performed to eliminate it.

So either the medics at the hospital were confident it can't be that, in which case, I would have wanted to hear the reasons why. Or the medic who treated OP lacks clinical understanding of the condition. Or they didn't dismiss it but for reasons like the guy in the article, a failure in the system meant that he couldn't access an urgent MRI.

My scan is on the 2nd August at 1pm
So long to wait 😵

Yep, it's long. I wouldn't wait myself but it's up to you.

Keep ringing to see if they have any cancellations?

I was in hospital unable to move for 5 weeks.

Muscle mass disappears at 3% a day if you don't walk/move.

5 months of physio and learning to walk followed. Like a PP I was in nappies as couldn't go to the loo. 3 years later I'm not the same, although can walk.

I would make the biggest fuss now.

I don't need to worry about muscles as I don't have any in my back bum or thigh 😂

Just try and move as much as you can in the meantime. Even if you just press your heels down on the matress, it'll keep you calf muscles active.

I had something very rare called 'Guillain Barre syndrome' but it meant I became paralysed quickly for 5 weeks and this resulted in long term issues.

Best of luck OP you seem so brave.

So I borrowed a crutches n went to the shop today positive n full of live
Super determined
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I'd rather die than be in that much pain again
I can't actually do this
100% this is not normal
I would of happily drink that bottle of morphine when I got back to the car
My whole body literally uncontrollably shaking
Sweating so bad and I was walking sooooo slowly we literally walked somewhere that would usually take five minutes bought something n walked back
It took an hour
And now I don't ever want to move again

Like I said I'd rather die than be in pain like that again

I can't cope anymore with the pain
With been stuck indoors
With been like this
I'm going insane ffs

You poor, poor thing. At least you got up and walked though, seriously, that is so good so the muscles don't atrophy.

What is your next move?

I've had morphine and a kip so I'm gonna go in the car with my crutch and pick kids up from school

Could ya tell I was still in pain when o wrote that last message 😂

At Christmas I woke up one morning very similar and it just got worse and worse
I could only walk very slowly on crutches (these did help massively) I couldn’t stand to shower or bath but weirdly I could drive!

I also had to wait the allocated 6 weeks. This is a guideline that HCP like to follow as ‘most back pain resolved in 6 weeks’ and if it’s over 6 weeks then they will act

I was given a ton of painkillers and gabapentin for the nerve but none of them helped

12 weeks later I got an MRI and 4 weeks later I got a spinal root nerve block for a ruptured disc and I am 80% better pretty much overnight

I do feel your pain it’s so depressing but I think they do like to do a lot of ‘wait and see’ instead of act and help, my timeline was 4 bloody months and it wrecked my mental health.

You need to call every day to try get the MRI slot - I kept calling and they did fit me in quicker. Once that happened then I feel like everything happened quickly.

I will need an op on mine as it’s weak as this was the 2nd time it’s happened but I chose the injection as a ‘let’s see’ option and glad I did! I have too do Pilates now to get core strength

Hope you are ok
Order some good pillows
Ask for a physio referral
Try to do some of the physio exercises even if they hurt
Call GP
Discuss other medication options (nerve blockers can help)
Call MRI dept every day

Make sure the crutches are the correct height or you will wreck other muscles

You'll be fine. Takes a good week or two to recover from a back that's suddenly given out.

Cannabis oil or suppositories will help with the pain?

Find a reflexologist? They can work back through your feet and it may help you...where are you i would help if i could!!

Peekio thank you for advice xx

Pookie I meant x

Shewolfman
North east England
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