who else here has back problems/pain?

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Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS )

Not too severe, but not a laugh a minute either!

I don't take anything for it.

did they have to put any plates or screws in there to fix it?

hope you stay well

yes,am suffering from a spinal nerve injury, possibly sciatica acording to GP.
was continuosly restrained roughly on a bed by four police whilst fighting against them unsedated for twenty hours in accident and emergency [ER],before a place became available at a intelectual disability secure hospital.
was then thrown down on the floor every day often several times a day by the 'clinical support workers' and pinned down and sat upon with their knees forced into ribs so wasnt able to breathe.

this caused permenent damage to nerves in the lumbar region,but am unable to get an MRI because of complex needs and severe challenging behavior,they are having to have what they call a best interest decision and also sort out with the NHS;prescribing a one off lot of midazolam as well as the medical persons who have to closely monitor self whilst on it because it slows down breathing.

am not properly medicated for the pain though and suffer incredibly every day, the doctors refuse to prescribe extra cocodamol [codeine and paracetemol/acetephomen?] or anything for neuropathic pain until they seen the scans as a hospital consultant who had never met said was addicted because he didnt understand how continuous sensory overload and information overload of autism and intelectual disability causes severe headaches in self every day,he blamed the codeine even though have only been on it for four years and have had this headache problem entire life.

am only on six daily X fifteen mg codeine to five hundred mg paracetemol,and am seeing the pyschiatrist next week to change the anti depressent and am going to ask if can change to amitryptaline because of its effect on neuropathic pain.
am barely able to walk because of the pain and pins and needles,or sleep.

^^^
that's HORRIBLE!! abuse doesn't begin to describe it. damned infernal people!

Surgery was an option I decided against, this was some years back when I was young and bullet proof.
I'm sure surgery might be a better option these days with improvements in spinal surgery techniques

Last edited by BrokenBill on 13 Aug 2014, 5:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

bullet proof indeed!

pain/stiffness seems so far to be in holding pattern. wake up in mornings with major soreness/stiffness in low back, feeling of arrow in left buttock but not as bad as before, pins and needles/partial paralysis of left leg. take pain pills and those feelings abate somewhat. living like an old man, an invalid, a shut-in. is this the way it's gonna be for the rest of my time here? sheesh. I can understand what robin did now.

the radiculopathy waxes and wanes but never completely. it seems when it wanes that the old SI joint pain flares up. phooey.

My girlfriend has one leg shorter than the other & it wasn't really investigated till her physical therapist mentioned it may be this year. She got a shoe lift but she's been having back pain & other pain issues most all her life. Have you found anything that can help you deal with the pain or correct something? She's sick of anti-inflammatories & Tramadol didn't help.

I have a bulging disk in my back that may be due to how I sit when viewing TV or on my computer & how I lean forward to do things due to a low vision disorder that cant be corrected by glasses. I found out about the bulging disk accidentally because I had a bad reaction to a beta-blocker. My blood-pressure got too low & I felt like I was having a stroke or something. My GP had me get an MRI on my back & see a back specialist to rule out a nerve disorder. He said it was alittle bulging but not enough to cause any problems sense I didn't report any pain. I do have pain when I lean forward a lot or sit in certain types of bus seats or benches. My mom has back pain & problems but her's is due to various falls & working hard physically all her life.

you will definitely want to get therapy for that bulging disc to make sure it doesn't worsen. a disc problem can and does generally worsen without intervention of some kind. for your GF it would be a good idea if she saw somebody about her back, and short leg syndrome generally goes hand in hand with various spinal problems. I know it did in my case, as my left leg has long been about 2 centimeters shorter than my right leg. it seems a lot of us were made out of irregular cast-off parts, doesn't it? for low vision there are these telescopic glasses I discovered that are halfway between reading glasses and distance vision glasses, I find they correct my astigmatism and enable me to see the tv set much better. they have adjustable focus. they are bulky but they are a stopgap measure that works for me. but they are never meant to replace reading glasses which are focused much closer. anyways, back to the back- does a lumbar support help you? I can't go anyplace without mine.

the day i was dreading is tomorrow morning bright and early @ 6AM. where i get put on the scale, xrayed and harpooned. ugh. i'll be glad when that day is history.

well, it happened today- got up dark and early @ 4:45AM, gimped over to bro in law's truck where he kindly carted me over to st. pete's hospital where i was given lots of nice meds to make me see things in a shinier more mellow way, then taken to OR where they stuck more drugs in me and inserted a 6" long spinal needle into the epidural space around my l4/5/SI joints and injected marcaine and a steroid. the drugs i was given made that half-hour procedure telescope down into what seemed like a few seconds. i remember almost nothing of it. thank god! then i recovered in the step down unit for about 2 hours until they judged me sufficiently de-zombified to be wheelchaired back out to the truck in the parking lot where i was driven home, and upon arrival shortly before 11AM i slept until 6. so far the radiculopathy [arrow in butt/shooting pains] are vastly reduced but not totally eliminated, i recognize this procedure is basically a high-level palliative treatment to cope with deferment of the surgery i will eventually need. am in no hurry to go under that kind of knife set. thank god for IV sedation!! !

Just found this now.

So sorry to hear that KingdomOfRats . I hope it got figured out.

Yay to happy pills when things are rough @auntblabby

L5-S1 ruptured/herniated disc. An epidural steroid shots every 6 months as needed (so far only 3 in the last 2 years), pain down the left leg, which is noticeably weaker than the right. About every 2 to 3 months, a bad move takes me out of work anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Hydrocodon's the only pill that does anything for me. Though I kind of brought it upon myself...I used to do lots of flips, jump off buildings, cars, scale walls, etc, in addition to doing all the sports (martial arts, basketball, soccer, volleyball, team handball). I was not very kind to my joints growing up, but had no idea I was gonna feel like this, at least not at this young! But I had a good run for my time.

less than good news- shot's analgesic effects wore off in 2 days. plus one of the unadvertised side effects in some folks, is hiccups. NUCLEAR hiccups. ones that made life quite unpleasant for about 3 days. am now weighing my options regarding surgery versus stoically doing nothing and hoping the pain goes away on its own, whistling past the graveyard.

That's rough! Sorry the side effects got to you. Have you been able to get any food down? Sleep?

The shots didn't do much for me pain wise, but it did reduce some swelling which increased my mobility and helped with stretching and PT. I'm guessing the hiccups are probably taking front-center stage so far, but have you checked your mobility?