Back pain

[cru5h]

This is so screwed up. I should probably PM Wynelle, but I'm hoping someone else will see this and say, "Oh that happened to me and it was nothing!"

Yeah right.

Out of nowhere, I really mean nowhere, my lower-back is KILLING me. I can't tell if it's tendons or bones or both. I don't know when it began, only that it just started up and has gotten worse everyday. I haven't fallen. I haven't tried to lift something beyond my means. I lift with my legs not my back when I do lift anything. I don't get it. I can barely function now, even sitting hurts This is terrible timing with my new job starting so soon. I just want it to go away. Ibuprophen hasn't worked. I've had my daily allowance of them. Laying down helps a bit, but I can't stay in bed all day long, and it isn't that much of a help. Anyone experience this sort of mysterious ailment?

I'm dying aren't I? I knew it!

[fallbride]

ok I had something like it...... It was my mid back.... I went to the ER with mine. It was a back spasm..... I had to take 800mg of ibuprophen plus muscle relaxers..... The doctor had me use heat on my back strech it out then use ice on it every hour. They also gave me pain killers but the knock me out and make me sick to my stomach. I would say to try the heating pad then streaching then ice pack for awhile.....

I hope this helps a little...

How much ibuprohen are you taking?

[Heather]

Do you have any pain going down either leg, or any pain in your neck or arms?

Didn't you have a very bad headache the other day? I ask because maybe you did something without even realizing it. Sometimes headaches and lower back pain are related in that they have the same cause, but you may not feel one or the other right away. Whatever happened can manifest itself in various ways.

To help relieve the pain, lie on your stomach with ten minutes of heat, then ten minutes of cold, and continue for 40 minutes. Then, lay on your back with your legs up. I take a few pillows and put them under my knees for elevation.

Just saw Fall's post - if you were to have a spasm - you would know it immediately. Your back muscles tense up to the point you can barely move. Is that what's going on? Or, do you have that constant dull aching? If it's sharp pain, to the point where it takes your breath away, it could very well be a spasm. As Fall said, a muscle relaxer will be your best bet to calm that down, but it may not take it away completely.

[fallbride]

My brother will lay on his back on the floor and put is butt as close to the clouch as he can get and put his legs up on the couch...he says that helps his lower back problems too.

[Heather]

Yep - I used to do that too until it started taking me a half hour to get back up, lol. That was pre-surgery...

[deputysgurl]

I have severe back pains due to a Cheerleading accent (dropped out of a full extention pyrmaid, completly over the girls heads when they dropped me) 4 years ago. I have a severely damaged nerve in my lower back and the doctors have told me there is nothing they can really do for it besides pain pills, and i don't like pills. So therefore when my back starts hurting I take a pretty warm bath and sit in there for like 30-45 min and then have matt stretch it. He does so by pushing my knees against my chest. It hurts like hell but it does work. Aslo this is going to sound really weird but matt will have me hook my legs around his neck and lift me into the air and then has me twist a little. It does work. Heating pads work good if you can center it over the pain.

That is how i manage to survive my back pains and I get them at least once a week.

Hope you get to feeling better. Back pain really sucks. Take care.

[Heather]

Originally Posted by deputysgurl

He does so by pushing my knees against my chest. It hurts like hell but it does work. Aslo this is going to sound really weird but matt will have me hook my legs around his neck and lift me into the air and then has me twist a little.

Oh girl - this is SOOOO bad for you to do! You're much better off going to a chiro who knows how to do it properly if cracking and stretching your back makes you feel better. You can be slowly herniating your discs without even realizing it. Please take it from me, it is never a good idea to self-adjust any area of your back. You know everything I just went through, and will have to go through again, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy - ever...

[deputysgurl]

FH has taken class on how to strectch a persons pack, he took them when he was studying to be a coach. My chiro said that it isn't going to hurt me, I called him before we even started doing this. I do not want anything else messed up in my back.

[Marrying_the_Good_Husband]

Poor Vic! {Gentle hug as to not hurt you} Twice I had such back back pain I had to go to the ER. The first time I was carrying a huge bag of laundry on one shoulder and a huge bag of textbooks on the other, picked up my two-year-old daughter who was running away, and she tried to leap from my arms and I twisted really weird. Three days later I was just sitting on the couch when the stabbing pain surrounded by midsection (front and back) so badly that I thought I was having some sort of organ failure. But I guess sometimes it takes a few days from the injury to when it hurts.

On anothor note, had a pretty bad fall skiing Friday night. I was in rough shape this weekend, but I'm feeling ok now.

Damn, just remembered you have no medical insurance!! When will that kick in? When does your job start?

[cru5h]

You know, I have been having spasms here and there. Like if I get up too quickly from sitting, or if I do something that involves more weight being on one of my legs than the other. Generally though, sitting still, it's a dull throb in my lower back from one side to the other, pain mostly concentrated in the center though. I had a pain shoot up from my leg into the sciatic area which was weird and friggin terrible. It feels like everything is loose and going to fall apart back there.

I get headaches a lot, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but that one was weird and came on strong right away and wouldn't go away.

I took 6 IBs yesterday. That's all they say to take for a 24 hour period. I've gotta get rid of this before next week though. :/ I think I'll make an appt. with my doctor now, even though he's hardly ever there. Medicaid is fun!

[ljeagle]

I sorry back pain is not no fun. About this time last year my back hurt so band I couldn't walk all i wanted to do was cry. I wasn't having no trouble going to the bath room but when i went to the doc I had a kidney infection. The only sign I had was my back hurt. It could be a number of things I would go see your doc.

[Kim&Bob2004]

Ok Vic I am not a nurse but my Dad was one. How many IB's are you taking? As long as you don't take heavy doses for a long period of time you should be ok. I would take a couple every 3-4 hours even if the pain isn't there. That will let you get a head of the pain. Also try all the things others have mentioned too. I get some really bad lower back and hip pain sometimes and years ago the Chrio said they couldn't do much for it. Old work injury..... Hope it gets better soon!

[Heather]

Originally Posted by Kim&Bob2004

I would take a couple every 3-4 hours even if the pain isn't there. That will let you get a head of the pain.

Bingo. What I have to do with my pain meds are take 1.5 or 2 in the morning. (Mornings are the worse.) Then, when I feel the pain coming back, I take a half, and so on, as necessary. This way, I've never even taken the amount prescribed. As Kim says, it allows you to stay on top of the pain. If you wait until you're in a lot of pain again, it'll take much longer for it to die down.

Did you make an appt. with your doc?

Deputy - I'm glad your hubby took a class on it. I've seen so many people do serious damage to their back by doing stuff like this and not knowing how it can affect you. My husband will stand up and just twist the top of his body very fast to make it crack. It just makes me want to throw up.

[555Ann555]

Originally Posted by Heather

Bingo. What I have to do with my pain meds are take 1.5 or 2 in the morning. (Mornings are the worse.) Then, when I feel the pain coming back, I take a half, and so on, as necessary. This way, I've never even taken the amount prescribed. As Kim says, it allows you to stay on top of the pain. If you wait until you're in a lot of pain again, it'll take much longer for it to die down.

Me too, I have to get ahead of the pain from my Crohn's or it kicks back big style. I take 1 1/2 in the morning then 1/2s throught the day then a full one to hopefully get me through the night in peace.

[wynelle]

Cru5h!! How awful! When was your last GYN exam? Sometime`uterine fullness or fibroids can cause that kind of pain. Any history of urinary tract infections? Not to ask for TMI, but is your urine clear and odor free and with enough quantity?

If it was a muscle spasm/pulled muscle, you could generally relate it to a specific activity- even if it was something as minor as sneezing or having to slam on the brakes of the car. I have had patients who had that kind of achy back from sleeping poorly on worn out mattresses, or with pillows that no longer have the correct firmness.

If it "shoots" down one leg or the other, or with burning or numbness, you can usually relate it to a back/nerve injury. That can also usually relate back to a specific incident.

Does sitting in a hot bath help? Have you had to change the height of heel on your shoes for work? Are you standing more than you were?

If alternating hot packs and cold packs, and lying with your knees slightly elevated, making sure your pillow is new and your mattress is firm, and ibuprofen doen't help (or Doan's little pills for the back)..then see a doctor.

[cru5h]

Now that the pain isn't constant I can tell you that it only hurts when I get up whether it be fast or slow, then the pain continues for a while until I walk it out. It hurts to sit back down too. And it hurts if I change position while sitting or laying down. FUN STUFF! It's sharp "take your breath away" pain.

I'm going to the doc today finally. As long as they don't cancel on me. Thanks for the tips everyone, and wynelle I appreciate all the ideas of what it could be. My pee's great

[cru5h]

They Just Cancelled On Me! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Kim&Bob2004]

well Vic how is your back today?

[cru5h]

Definitely my sciatic. It was atrocious today. The shooting pain with every few steps. I love being on Medicaid. You get such caring doctors.

[Kim&Bob2004]

I am so sorry! But you know what drs are just as caring when you have blue cross......... feel better soon!

[Heather]

Oh man. I know how you feel. Sciatica is why I had the surgery - back pain I could handle, sciatic I couldn't. You want to rip the nerve right out of your whole leg. What helped me at the worst of times was having Mike rub the side of my hip and down my thigh. Heat & cold may work a little, but it's such an INSIDE pain, if that makes sense.

Just try to take it easy. Sciatica is caused by something pushing on the nerve, so you may have herniated or slipped a disc. That's not as painful as the sciatica so just be careful not to lift or bend too much, you don't want to make it worse.

[cru5h]

Thanks Kim and Heather

H - I know exactly what you mean by an inside pain. You can't touch it, rub it out, manipulate it, nothing. It's there, and that's it. When you rub it, all you do is rub bones and irritate them. I don't know how all of this came on. I don't recall doing anything to my back to cause it. *sigh* I'll get it taken care of somehow!

[Heather]

I just edited my post - I meant to say you "may have herniated or slipped a disc", not that you have one. I'm not a doc!

Nothing happened to me either - I almost wish it did so I could know exactly what happened. The most the doc can guess is that it's degenerative disc disease and that's hereditary. Thanks Dad you .

Hey - I wonder if I can scan my MRIs to show a pic. It's pretty cool to see it, and Vic it may give you an idea of what to talk to the doc about. Let me know and I'll give it a shot.

I can also share some other information if you're interested. I don't want to push it all on you so just shoot me a note.

[cru5h]

I will once I'm further established at work. I hate that I can't see a friggin' doctor BEFORE I start there. I'm just going to suck down the Aleve and rest when I can until I feel comfortable seeing the doctor.