Back pain. So sore.

[Wanderless]

Hello, I'm looking for advice about my back (I know that I need to go to the GP)

I've always suffered with lower back pain but this pain is different, it's more intense & it's extremely painful & makes every day living really hard.

It started in the school 6 week holidays (August) & I'd struggle to get up from the beach/sitting on the grass at the park, things like that. I thought that maybe I'd just over-done it, although I was a bit miffed as we weren't overly active (I also have problems with my feet so we are getting around by bus instead of walking, but that's been going on for 2 years now so not 'new')

Anyway, it seemed to ease up a bit when schools went back but for the last few days, oh my god, I'm in absolute agony. It's soooo sore.

I can't lay down properly in bed. It's like, if I 'relax' then it instantly twinges. I get slight relief laying on my back but can't go on either side & can't move the slightest bit or it twinges/pulls. I have to get up to wee at least twice & it's extremely difficult, painful & just horrible. It's the 'Bending to sit up', the moving to the edge of the bed, & then the actual standing. I feel like I'm walking bent over in half.

Sitting on the sofa is the same. It takes me so long to get vaguely comfortable (using pillows/hot water bottle) & then I can't do the slightest move as it twinges & also I struggle to get 'up'. From sitting.

I also struggle to bend, put my tights on/shoes on, I burst into tears the other morning when I dropped my hair brush on the floor & had to bed to pick it up. I'm in absolute agony every morning.

My kids are helping me with as much of the bending for things, as they can, when they are here.

Any ideas on what I might have done, anybody? I'm really struggling.

Op it could be a pulled muscle, trapped nerve .... unfortunately lot's of options. ....can you sit on a firner chair rather than the sofa ?? They kill my back. When you get up from the bed. Roll onto your side and slowly ease yourself up. Also try heat on your back if you can. You have my sympathy x i struggle with back pain too x

Thank you shellyleppard for the support. Sympathy to you from me!

Hard chairs are no good either, it's hard to explain but they still hurt, when this first started I noticed that I had to keep adjusting my sitting to either the 'left' or the 'right' & that eased it slightly, but now I just can't get comfortable at all. I keep feeling like I need to adjust my position but any slight move is awful (& takes ages)

I'm trying to roll onto my side to get up from bed (I remember doing that when pregnant) but even the rolling is hurting.

Heat does help to a point (hot water bottle) but that's only if I'm completely still & just keep the heat there without moving.

@Wanderless you can get heat pads that are sticky, last for 24 hours usually. Just don't put directly on your skin or you will burn. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon x

Thank you shellyleppard I hadn't thought of that. I'm a 'Grin & bear it until you can bear it no more' type so I've just been suffering through it but I'm at that point now where I just can't manage.

I'm using my daughter's hot water bottle but I've ordered myself one of those longer ones to wrap around my back a bit in bed.

Going to look up symptoms of a trapped nerve.

It doesn't really fit any of the 'possible' on the NHS website but has some symptoms from each different possibility.

No pins & needles but pain when I sneeze (that's another one that I had when I was pregnant)

Could you see an Oestopath? I had very similar. Mine was a weak core and inactivity mainly no real damage but I thought at the time I had serious damage.

Seen an Oestopath for a few sessions in which he worked miracles. Then gave me stretching to do which I have done daily for years and have never been as bad again.

Had similar, needed months of physio to help.

Thank you both. Yes the inactivity could possibly be something, & I imagine that I have a weak core. I'm overweight.

Debtfreeme I'm glad that worked for you. It sounds great!
Unfortunately, I can't afford to see anybody, I think that physio is free isn't it? I used to go for my feet but never had much success.

Sounds like muscle spasm which is incredibly painful and debilitating. What happens when you take painkillers or ibuprofen gel on it? Does it ease?

Can you self refer for physio via the GP? That's probably the fastest route for relief.

Long term, what do you do in the way of exercise? You need to be strengthening your core, Pilates is great for sorting out backs. Swimming also as you can really stretch everything whilst supported by the water.

@Wanderless I'm the same but only so much you can take. You can self refer for the NHS physiotherapy. Usually takes a few weeks before you get an appointment but they are very good x

unsync I havn't tried gel but paracetamol/ibuprofen isn't helping. The only relief I get is if I can find a comfortable spot with pillows/hot water bottle & not move AT ALL. As soon as I move it's agony.

Walking is the only exercise that I do. Twenty minute to school and back twice a day (down then back up a hill) on the weekend we get the bus to places but I'm not completely sedentary. We go to large parks that you have to walk through to get to the play areas etc.

I was recommended Pilates years ago, I 'think' that there wasn't one that was easily accessible but I'll definitely have another look.

Swimming I struggle with as it aggravates my feet. I went with the kids a lot in the holidays & was quite upset that it was hurting tbh, as I wanted to look into water aerobics or similar.

Thank you shellyleppard

You need physio and being overweight will make it much worse unfortunately. I have scoliosis and many back issues I’m still in the healthy BMI range but about 10 pounds heavier than I used to be and it’s not helping at all. I put on weight post menopause.

Thank you for that ViciousCurrentBun. I hope that you are ok.
I think that physio is going to be the answer isn't it. I don't know how over-weight I am. All of my clothes still fit from years ago BUT my dresses are tight round my arms now/I have a visible bulge/tum now whereas I didn't last year.

On googling, muscle spasm definitely seems like it. It says that you shouldn't use heat for too long so have I been doing that wrong?
My kids have been with their dad today but, while I've not sat with the hot water bottle all day, it's probably been 70% of the day... Every time I've struggled upstairs for a wee/when I made myself something to eat, I've then had a little gentle walk around the house.

You’re doing 1hr 20 min walking a day, which will help loads. Don’t carry shopping and use a rucksack not a handbag.

Valium eases spasms - also cocodamol - so does lying flat on the floor (if you can get there).

Eat pain pills and apply ibuprofen gel way before it gets unbearable; pain meds work better the earlier you take them.

I do exercises all the sodding time and still get symptoms like yours - but not anything like as badly. It gets better, promise.

Thank you for the kind words, Supersimkin7. It's 40 mins walking a day for the school run (then any extra shopping, park once a week after school)

I'll admit that I winced when I read the 'backpack' part of your post, as I did when I read about massaging my back myself just now (on googling) because it's just so sore even to touch.

I've just had a gentle feel & it's across the middle then to the right, more than the left. That makes sense because it's harder to get comfortable on the right than the left, in bed.

I hadn't thought that I'm not supposed to be carrying shopping. I can get a delivery for heavy items.

It might be sacro iliac joint dysfunction rather than spinal. I had it for years exacerbated from having children and my job but I found some very simple exercises off the Internet helped it slide back into the correct position. Check out Dom Tigney, he's a physio and has u tube explanation video. I used to do them on the bed before attempting to get up when it was bad and it eased it. It's basically stretches, nothing too vigorous but you will know if it is that as it instantly improves because the SI joint is re positioned.

Oh, also I found if I used pillows either side of me to restrict movement in my sleep it helped as like you said the tiniest movement was agony, then log roll out of bed. Ibruphren helps if you can take it, more to take down the inflammation than instantly cure the pain though.

OP one possibility is an osteoporotic spontaneous fracture. People often don't know they have osteoporosis until they get a vertebral fracture without any 'trauma' as such, and in my experience the pain is often biased towards one side of the spine. Can you ask for an x-ray to check that there's no fracture in that region? You say it started in August, and the acute pain would still be there according to that timeline. If it is that and you don't realise, stuff you're doing could be interfering with your recovery, so it would be useful to rule it out at least.

Thank you for that, baroqueandblue The pain is mainly across the middle, slightly more tender on the right. I will do the physio referral & try to see the GP. It did get 'better' for a couple of weeks & then just got awful again out of nowhere.

Thank you Mossstitch. I will have a look for those exercises.

I actually managed some sleep last night, & that's probably a combination of the Ibuprofen yesterday, the hot water bottle (which makes it feel so much better & I kept on all night, topped it up once) & the fact that I'm so tired as I havn't been sleeping much.

Thank you all for answering me & for the ideas. It's helped me to not feel so alone with this & that I'm not making a fuss over nothing.