Methods for coping with constant Backache requested please!

[Milliways]

DS (12) has had a bad back since October. Got better over Christmas but very bad again now.

He has prescribed painkillers & is waiting a referral, so cannot add any extra drugs.

We use: massage, sympathy, hot water bottles, hot showers & baths, constant stretching etc.

He has real problems completing a full day at school - sitting in a classroom is hard. Homework has to be done in 10m shifts, stretch, start again etc.

Does anyone have anything obvious we may be missing. I hate watching him cry

Oh, and they did give him some Codeine tablets to try as well as PAracetamol & Diclofenac.

The best thing to do is to exaggerate the pain on the phone to the ortho's secretary.

Do push for an MRI though - it gives far more information.

Why didn't A&E do an x-ray?

Codeine is a god send and I'd be lost without it, but he is very young and must only take it when in enough pain to cry IYKWIM.

Have they not given you co-codamol (codeine and paracetamol mixed)?

They prodded him, checked spine was straight and confirmed all pain is in muscle & soft tissue area. no actual pain from prodding bones/spine etc.

He can do horrible things with his shoulder baldes though - made the doc feel queasy

Milli - I wouldn't accept that, you can't tell from where the pain is what is wrong if you get me nd only scans and x-rays will show it. He may be compensating for something with his muscles which is why that is where the pain is most prolific.

I have pain in my lower limbs and arms but the problem is in my back. I also have a lot of muscle and tissue pain but the problem is with the bones missing even though it would appear to be muscular.

My GP told me aged 17 that I had severe arthritis of the spine and would be wheelchair bound at 21 (am not) and an orthopaedic specialist told me I had growing pains at 15. Sorry but I am very cynical and more inclined to be suspicious at pain since October in a child so young.

AAaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgh! [incredibly fed up as well]

More school missed - not had more than 2 full consecutive days for last few weeks.

Took him back to GP's today, and they have grudgingly given him an X-ray referral form. Put "Mother requested" on it! Got impression he was not impressed with Osteopaths.

Hoping DH will take him tomorrow as I have missed loads of work lately keep having to collect him from school etc.