My Back Pain Story, Please Give Me Advice Posted: 04-30-05 20:05pm
Hi everyone! I'd like to share my back
pain story with you all and get your
opinions. It all started about 6 years
ago.
I would go to bed feeling fine and wake up
in the morning with my back completely
shot. I'd be on the couch for 2 days,
rolling off very slowly and walking half
bent over and to the right, I wouldn't be
able able to do anything but go to the
bathroom. Then on the 3rd day, I would
wake up fine. Well, in april of 2004, on
easter morning I was getting off the
toilet, and all of a sudden had shocking
pains shooting from my lower back through
my whole body. It sent me to the floor
and made me cry. It took me about 10
minutes to finally get up, and at least a
couple hours to feel right again. After
that day, I had a nagging, horrible, pain
in my lower back that killed when I
coughed, sneezed, hit a bump in the truck,
when I sat down, got up, moved
wrong.....Anything! I just tolerated it
for months. In september I finally went
to my doctor, he sent me for x-rays and
physical therapy, he gave me muscle
relaxers and anti-inflamatory's, and the
night before pt started, I had a horrible
night at work, everything I did was
painfull, every move I made sent little
lighting bolts of pain through my body.
When I got home and went to bed I couldnt
get comfortable for anything. I spent
hours tossing and turning and trying to
get to sleep, finally I got up took a
muscle relaxer. I got back in bed and
holy cow I all of a sudden had the worst
pain i've felt in my life, tons of
shooting lightning bolt pain all through
my body, I was afarid to breath. My right
leg started going numb, and started
aching. I layed there for about an hour
not daring to move, and thinking that it
would go away and everything would be
fine. Well, it didn't go away, it just
got worse. I yelled for my husband, and
he took me to the hospital. They gave me
a shot for pain and said I had a sciatic
nerve attack, and told me to go to my
therapy that morning.
Well, I went to pt for six weeks, and
had heat therapy and ultrasound. My leg
continued to stay numb, and my back was
worse than ever. In the fourth week of pt
they started putting me in tracktion, it
felt good but did nothing for my back pain
or numbness. So I went back to the doctor
and he sent me for an mri, after about 4
weeks I finally heard back from them, and
they said they were sending me to a neuro
surgeon because I had a ruptured disk and
nerve root compression. I went to the
neurosurgeon the week before christmas,
and he told me that I had a very large
herniation of l5, that was literally
hanging down to l4, and my nerve was
piched off from this.I also had
degenerative disk disease. He wanted to
do a right hemi-laminectomy on the 21st of
dec., said we have to get it done quick to
save the nerve. I was taken out of work,
and had terrible back pain and a numb leg.
Ok, so, I had the surgery, and I
was feeling pretty good for about a week,
then all the pain came back, and my leg
started aching daily, he put me back on
vicodin, and that only worked for a couple
weeks. Now my right hip is killing me all
the time. It has a terrible, deep,
stabbing pain, especially when I walk.
About 3 weeks ago I started getting a
burning sensation in my leg and my back.I
get it about every 2 days. Now i'm on
nortriptyline, which worked for about 2
weeks. I am back to walking half bent
over and to the right. Now i'm getting a
new sensation....Are ya ready for this?
It feels like I have bugs crawling all
over my leg! My leg aches everyday of my
life, along with my hip and my back. I'm
sceduled for a steroid injection on may
11. I'm still out of work, and I feel
like my doctor is missing something. Last
week I walked 4 blocks with my kids, and
my leg throbbed so bad, before we even got
where we were going. I am worse off now
than I was before the surgery.I cant sit
for more than 15 minutes before I have to
get up and I cant stand for more than 15
minutes before I have to sit down. If I
vacuum my livingroom and diningroom, I am
down for the rest of the day. I cant
carry groceries, walk on hard floors for
more than 10 minutes, rake the yard, or
even carry laundry or i'm down the rest of
the day! I cannot do anything, it seems
like. I feel like I should get another
doctor, but everyone says I "already have
the best neurosurgeon around". I have to
get back on my feet again, i'm only 34, I
have 2 very active kids (13 & 9) that
need me to do things with them, I want to
go back to work, but I cant even keep my
house clean like I used to. I'm so
depressed over all of this, :( I just
dont know what to do anymore.
He says if the injection dont work,
he's doing surgery again. I had another
mri and he cant see past the scar tissue
to see if there is another herniation.
What if the second surgery leaves me worse
off yet again, like the first one did? Do
any of you have any input on my situation?
Please tell me anything you know!
Thank you, sherri
|
NeuromuscularTherapist
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 9
Reply Posted: 05-03-05 00:54am
Tiedie71,
sherri,
it sure sounds like you have been through
a lot. I always hate see how people have
to get wrapped up in the medical spiral.
Surgery, drugs, surgery, etc..
It may sound strange, but the first thing
I start with when working with these types
of situations is nutrition. What you put
in your mouth is what you are making new
tissue out of. Poor nutrition, food
intolerances, allergies, etc. Can flare
up your nervous system and make it very
difficult to begin any type of movement
program. I can guarantee you that your
spinal stabilizer muscles are inhibited
(shut off) due to constant pain. When
this happens, they have extremely poor
endurance and can't perform their function
which is essentially stabilizing the
spine. I don't care how much fixing is
done on your disc, if you don't have any
type of support structure for your spine
(functioning muscles) then you will have a
helluva time getting out of pain.
This answer can be extremely long, so I
will make it short. To get your body
back on track you need to be working with
someone who looks at your body as a whole.
In my practice, I always start with
nutrition since most people are utterly
horrible in this department. As soon as
I can get them to start having normal
bowel movements and get their inflammation
down, then we can start working on massage
therapy to calm down the body and increase
circulation in the working tissues. Then
comes proper movement training and
specific instructions on how to move
around so that you don't aggravate your
problem. After we start to see
improvements, then I can start having
clients perform some movements to start
re-activating the spinal stabilizers and
the abdominal wall. From there, its just
progression and working on improving
nutrition and ability to move without
putting more stress on the spine.
My pain story is as long and hard as yours
I have found some relief using neurontin
and an orthesis I have got surgery twice
but that doesn't work either.
Now I am trying to help people with any
chronic pain and I have make a site to
help people. You can visit it at
painrelief advisor http://www.Painreleifadvisor.Co
m
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sandyallen
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Feb 2004 Posts: 4580
Tiedie71 Posted: 05-05-05 13:25pm
Hi there! Please, please get a second,
third opinion and whatever it takes.
I am no Dr. But I suffer with chronic
pain 24/7, I have rsd, peripheral
neuropathy, fibromyalgia, cfs, mps, ddd,
messed up knee, sciatica nerve problems, I
gave up on surgeries, especially since I
was diagnosed with rsd, it appears that
one surgery leads to another and surgery
is not recommended with rsd. I am not
saying not to have surgery as that is your
choice. I plan to have a pain pump trial
next month, I hope it will help some as I
would like part of my life back and I do
realize that I must live with some pain my
thing is is that I need to keep
functioning. Again, please get some more
opinions.
Sincerely,
sandy
|
TieDie71
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 3 Location: New York
Posted: 05-05-05 16:02pm
Thank you for all the replies. For the
past couple nights I have been having alot
of problems sleeping, i've been having
mini sciatic nerve attacks. Now today my
hip is not hurting as bad as it has been,
but I feel like I have another ruptured
disk! :x I was taking neurontin for
about 2 weeks, it was not helping, only
making me high. I would get so high I
couldn't drive. Needless to say, I told
him I could not take them anymore. I am
waiting for a call back from my insurance
company to get a second opinion. Do you
think I should see another neurosurgeon,
or an orthapedic surgeon? My doctor
probably dont want me to see an orthapedic
because they will reccomend a fusion, and
he doesn't belive in fusions. Next week
on the 11th I get my first injection,
we'll see how that goes. What if I do
have another herniation, will the
injection help that too?
I'm really hoping the injection works, and
is not too painfull!
|
Tamadrummer
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 710 Location: Zephyrhills,Fl
Posted: 05-05-05 19:21pm
First off getting high from nurontin is
amazing. I have never heard of that as a
side effect. I was taking 1800mg a day
and never got a feeling tiredness or
"highness"
second, if you get put to sleep for the
injection, you wont know you even have had
anything done to you.
The injections help many people but they
didnt work for me. I havent had any
injections since I had disc replacement on
dec 17th but maybe if they did do some it
may help me.
|
TieDie71
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Apr 2005 Posts: 3 Location: New York
I'll Never Do It Again Posted: 05-12-05 10:28am
:cry: I had my injection yesterday, and
i'll never do it again. I could deal with
the novacain, but when she was putting the
thing into the epidural sac, it must have
hit something. My body jerked, I started
bawling like a baby, I was having like a
sciatic nerve attack except it was'nt
sending pain through my whole body, it
stayed deep in my spine,straight down,
shot to the right, through my hip and down
my right leg above my knee. My heart rate
went sky high, my blood pressure went
through the roof. Never, never again. I
did'nt feel the medicine at all. I dont
feel any better today, everything is the
same. I am willing to live with my back
problems now. I'm done. I'm glad the
injections work for some people, but they
are not for me!
|
boss21
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 1 Location: Clearwater FL
Posted: 05-12-05 11:59am
I think the nmt had some valid points.
It is quite possible the spinal
stabilizing muscles are probably extremely
weak and possibly inhibited by the pain.
While it may take some time to relieve the
pain, if it is mechanical pain, then it is
unlikely to subside on its own.
My recommendation is to attempt performing
what ever spinal segmental stabilization
exercises (core exercises) that can be
performed in the pain free range. You
need to find a practitioner or an exercise
physiologist such as myself to help you
"retrain" the deep core stabilizers of
your lumbo-pelvic region. I have helped
individuals in situations similar to yours
and in my opinion, this may be the only
real long term hope you have in achieving
a more normal life.
Much of this type of exercise involves
isometric (holding) contractions, so if
the pain is mechanical in origin, these
type exercises are unlikely to cause pain
since they do not involve actual
mobilization and movement (the whole basis
of stabilization training).
I have posted some relevant articles on
this type of exercise for lower back pain
at http://www.Bossfitn
ess.Com/a_t.Asp#article4. (the
articles in the archives dealing with core
training for sports are also quite
applicable).
|
joral balra
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 16 May 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Mexico
I Really Recommend This Natural Treatment Posted: 05-16-05 22:50pm
I recommend, in order to correct the
herniated disc, a different treatment.
The treatment consists of 10 to 15
sessions of a medicine derived from a
plant of central asia called colchicum
autumnale. It is applied by venous route,
injected in the sanguineous torrent and
from there it travels directly to the disc
or the discs there that are injured.
Take a look at
www.Discodolor.Com
i hope you feel better very soon!
|
kidder1961
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 29 May 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
Posted: 07-05-05 11:54am
Hello tiedie..... Did you have a disogram
taken that?
If not try that. When I had mine done
they it was worst off then I thought all
the disc in the lumbar are torn bulge ect.
They say that if I would have the surgey
I would be lucky if this works are that I
come out even walking.
|
Pilleus
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Jun 2004 Posts: 109 Location: Florida
Thanks: 1
Thanked:0
Posted: 07-05-05 12:04pm
Sorry to hear about all the pain you are
going through. My husband has attacks
like that too. Then I have to try to get
him to the hospital when he's having an
attack. He's had one surgery but still
has attacks. He's now doing excercises
to help strengthen the muscles around the
bad discs.
His back surgeon gave him a book of
excercises to do every day for the rest of
his life.
|
whohidjohn
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 6 Location: long beach
Posted: 07-07-05 23:59pm
It's down right scary to hear people
recommend to others to have surgery or
take drugs for their back pain. I mean,
you have to do what you have to do but I
agree with the one that recommended a
specific diet first and then I think it's
about exercising and stretching properly
to help elleviate or stop the pain.
I have sciatica......Been to the
chiropractor.....Seen the
xrays.....Listened to them tell me I may
need surgery etc. Stopped going.
Did not believe them and started to
stretch my leg and back based on what I
feel more than what I know.
For more then 10 years I have been pain
free if I follow my stretching routine.
If I stop for more than two weeks the pain
comes back. Get it in the back and the
leg.
I also notice that I can get the pain if I
curl up at night when sleeping. No
curling....I lay straight in the bed arms
down by my side and no turning.
I just make sure that all of my muscles,
nerves and tendons are fully stretched and
no problems.
See my other post on how to do this
stretch if interested.
Don't knock it till you try it.
|
LAWANNA
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Jul 2005 Posts: 1 Location: LOUISIANA
Re: I'll Never Do It Again Posted: 07-18-05 14:01pm
tiedie71
wrote:
:cry: I had my injection
yesterday, and i'll never do it again. I
could deal with the novacain, but when she
was putting the thing into the epidural
sac, it must have hit something. My body
jerked, I started bawling like a baby, I
was having like a sciatic nerve attack
except it was'nt sending pain through my
whole body, it stayed deep in my
spine,straight down, shot to the right,
through my hip and down my right leg above
my knee. My heart rate went sky high, my
blood pressure went through the roof.
Never, never again. I did'nt feel the
medicine at all. I dont feel any better
today, everything is the same. I am
willing to live with my back problems now.
I'm done. I'm glad the injections work
for some people, but they are not for
me!
I have had 4 epidural
injections and they have help for a very
short time. Not even a month. My last
step is the disogram is that what you had.
I have been is alot of pain for the last
3 days. So now that is the step they want
to take. I just want to talk to someone
that has had it done. I am scard to death
of needles. So please let me know.
Thanks lawanna
