Hello, I am almost 20 years old and ever since I was 17 I have had persistent lower back pain. The pain started out as a dull ache in my lower back (L5 area) on the left side and over the course of several months progressed to the point where it was incredibly painful to sit through my 50 minute long high school classes. The pain would also intensify if I coughed, sneezed, or made any other kind of sudden, jerky movement. Although the dull constant pain was (and still is) localized on the lower left side, I would often get searing pains and muscle spasms in my left buttock and down my left leg (basically sciatica-related issues). An MRI revealed that I have a slight bulging disc between my L4 and L5 vertebrates (I believe it was 3mm), but the doctor who I was seeing at the time said that the bulge should not be causing the pain that I am having since it did not appear to be compressing the nerve root, and was basically unable to give me a diagnosis. My doctor recommended physical therapy, which I did for about a year, but it didn’t help much (and if it did, the relief was very short-lived… usually I would feel better for a couple hours after therapy but then the pain would always return). I also had a series of 3 cortisone injections, which did absolutely nothing whatsoever for my back except for the couple hours of relief I got from the local anesthetic that they used to numb the spot where they placed the epidural. The pain remained pretty constant up until about a couple months ago, when it subsided a little (which I have attributed to my intense regimen of exercise and yoga). However, I now have a pretty limited range of movement – I am unable to bend over keeping my knees straight and touch my toes.

Within the past week, my back (which I thought was on the road to recovery despite my stiffness and inflexibility) has taken a very bad turn. I woke up one morning with extreme pain in the right lower side of my back (but the left side hasn’t changed). It feels very weak (I can only describe the feeling as if my spine in that region is going to break) and I have been losing my balance. I also occasionally have numbness and tingling in my legs and feet although this is pretty rare and does not ever get very severe. I have never had pain come on so suddenly and intensely like this before. The pain on my left side gradually increased over the course of many months, but the pain on the right side literally came overnight. I have not been doing anything physically strenuous that would cause the pain, and it doesn’t feel like a strained muscle to me. It feels like it’s deeper – like in the bone. On a scale from 1 to 10, (10 being the worst) I would say that this pain is about a level 7. I don’t know if any of the other things I have been experiencing lately are related to my back problem, but here are some of the other things that have occurred since my pain started:

- Frequent urinary tract infections (3 or 4 over the course of the past 2 years)
- Frequent urination (approximately 12-15 times per day)
- The need to urinate comes on very quickly and intensely… Doesn’t build up gradually.
* All of these bladder-related symptoms make me wonder if my back pain is somehow caused by some underlying kidney problem
- I pass a bowel movement multiple times a day (in the past I would only go once daily or once every other day)
- Bowel movements always seem to feel incomplete – like I don’t get to “empty” fully so I end up coming back a little later to “finish off”
- The appearance of my bowel movements are skinny and snake-like at times, but other times they appear to be normal looking.
- I sometimes experience constipation and have developed a small external hernia on my rectum which bleeds a little, but is not painful
- I have been noticing weird spots of light in my vision that occur at random times a couple times per month. The lights are small and circular and seem to flash in and out in my field of vision for about 5 to 10 seconds and then are completely gone.
- I have also been experiencing fatigue lately, but I think this is just due to the stress of being a college student.

In my frustration I have been researching various back conditions that seem to resemble in some ways what I am experiencing and here are some of the things I (as well as WebMD’s Symptom Checker) have come up with:

- Spinal Stenosis
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Cauda Equina Syndrome
- Tethered spinal cord
- Spinal tumor
- Osteomyelitis (bone infection)
- Bone spurs

I probably sound like a hypochondriac at this point, but I am really just desperate for an answer. I have been dealing with this pain for 3 years and my gut feel is telling me that there is something wrong. I don’t know if I should go back to the doctor’s and try to get another MRI because maybe the first one I got a few years back missed something. I really just don’t know what to do anymore and I would be incredibly grateful for any help or advice. I will also provide any additional information or specifics if needed.
Thank you,
Susan