ow.......my back, just bs

[444ttd]

last friday, i was taking out my dog when it happened. it ain't the first time, it will hurt my lower back every few years. all i do is put on a heating pad and 2 or 3 days later the back is like new. except this time!!!! i was going to unhook the gate latch when all of a sudden the gods of my lower back threw a lightening bolt and it almost made me scream and pass out. i'd give the lightening bolt a 9.5 of 10 ten, the only reason i don't score 10 is because of screaming and passing out!!! i went into my house and sat on a kitchen seat, all the time my lower back was hurting. i thought i was going to pass out, my hearing was next to none, breathing was fast as well as my my heart. i started to come back after a few minutes. but my lower back was like electricity pumps thru it. i sat there for 15 - 20 minutes, then i went to a heating pad and my bed. i got settled as good as i can for about 3 hours and then i noticed i have too pee. it only took me about an one hour to get up, hobble to the bathroom, empty my bladder, hobble back and get into bed. i did this thru out the nite.

the next day it was still hurting, so i called my doctor. i told him what i did and he called in a prescription. my mom and dad had to pick it up. now, even tho i take prescriptions for my stroke, i'm not a pill popper. i never got into drugs, just because of the addiction to drugs(heroin, cocaine, crack.....).although i do have a coffee and bacon addiction!!! as i writing this, a 32oz coffee cup is with me(1/2 caffeinated and 1/2 decafe, i'm trying to go all decafe). i remember years back, i dang near cut my ulna(bottom of the arm) off. Doctors stitched it up and i have a scar to remind me not to do it again!!!! (i was POed about everything, i was young and dumb once. now its only dumb!!!!). anyway, they gave me percocet and two days after the "accident" i threw them away. i had advil to see me thru.

anyway, now i have cyclobenzaprine twice a day for a week. the first two days left me groggy so i went to sleep. the 3rd day (which is now) i got up, painfully, but ithe pain was not like it was. i'm going to do what the prescription tells me and i'll do some exercising but my rifle projects are next week. oh well, what else i've got to do? 😂 😂 😂

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. There is no pain I've ever experienced worse than back pain. Sadly, as you've noted about reoccurring incidents, I don't believe that a person ever entirely gets over it. I mean, it can quit hurting for a time, maybe a long time, but once injured it is likely to bother you again down the road. Best wishes. Take it easy for a couple of weeks.

DG

[Burnt Fingers]

The only things that hurt worse than a back are dental pain and a kidney stone.

I have chronic back problems. It's been years since I was pain free.

Take care and get better!

[GregLaROCHE]

Humans are not well suited for walking upright and especially, not when carrying heavy loads and most of all bending and picking them up. The majority of humans have abused their backs by the age of thirty. Some more than others.

I suffered with bouts of back pain and sometimes a chiropractor helped a lot. At fifty I should have slowed down carrying heavy loads, but I didn’t, so the pain got worse and worse. I started seeing a surgeon specializing in back problems. He was very conservative and I tried a number of things including loosing weight and exercising that part of my back. It didn’t help much. After three years, he operated to remove some arthritis and said if that didn’t help he would do more. A year later, he removed a disk and inserted a piece of bone bone from my hip so everything would fuse together. Then, after close to thirty years, I had no more back pain.

I don’t know how old you are, but if having two vertebrae fused together is an option go for it! I only wish I had it done twenty years earlier. Your situation may be different from mine, but I felt I had to tell you and others my story.

[gwpercle]

I never thought I would see the day when I had to limit my semi-auto pistol shooting because stooping over and picking up fired brass off the range floor hurt too much .

I and my Back Thank the Good Lord for the 38 special and the revolvers to shoot them in .

I had a small kidney stone and never want to experience a larger one ... man that sucker generated some hurting on me .
Gary

[bdicki]

I get an impinged nerve every so often, orthopedic doc gives me prednisone. For me it's the best med for that, muscle relaxers did nothing for me.

[Half Dog]

Try ice packs. I’m at the point where I apply them directly to my back. Last doctor I saw told me to lay down and take Tylenol, what a quack.

[Scrounge]

last friday, i was taking out my dog when it happened. it ain't the first time, it will hurt my lower back every few years. all i do is put on a heating pad and 2 or 3 days later the back is like new. except this time!!!! i was going to unhook the gate latch when all of a sudden the gods of my lower back threw a lightening bolt and it almost made me scream and pass out. i'd give the lightening bolt a 9.5 of 10 ten, the only reason i don't score 10 is because of screaming and passing out!!! i went into my house and sat on a kitchen seat, all the time my lower back was hurting. i thought i was going to pass out, my hearing was next to none, breathing was fast as well as my my heart. i started to come back after a few minutes. but my lower back was like electricity pumps thru it. i sat there for 15 - 20 minutes, then i went to a heating pad and my bed. i got settled as good as i can for about 3 hours and then i noticed i have too pee. it only took me about an one hour to get up, hobble to the bathroom, empty my bladder, hobble back and get into bed. i did this thru out the nite.

the next day it was still hurting, so i called my doctor. i told him what i did and he called in a prescription. my mom and dad had to pick it up. now, even tho i take prescriptions for my stroke, i'm not a pill popper. i never got into drugs, just because of the addiction to drugs(heroin, cocaine, crack.....).although i do have a coffee and bacon addiction!!! as i writing this, a 32oz coffee cup is with me(1/2 caffeinated and 1/2 decafe, i'm trying to go all decafe). i remember years back, i dang near cut my ulna(bottom of the arm) off. Doctors stitched it up and i have a scar to remind me not to do it again!!!! (i was POed about everything, i was young and dumb once. now its only dumb!!!!). anyway, they gave me percocet and two days after the "accident" i threw them away. i had advil to see me thru.

anyway, now i have cyclobenzaprine twice a day for a week. the first two days left me groggy so i went to sleep. the 3rd day (which is now) i got up, painfully, but ithe pain was not like it was. i'm going to do what the prescription tells me and i'll do some exercising but my rifle projects are next week. oh well, what else i've got to do? �� �� ��

Might want to talk to your doc about a different muscle relaxer. SWMBO can take Flexeril (cyclobenzaprine) all day and all night and not get a bit sleepy. One of them knocks me out for something close to 12 hours, or more. Zanaflex (tizanadine) and Skelaxin (metaxalone) do not knock me out, though the wife doesn't like it because it does knock her out. Tizanadine has a reaction to Cipro, which is my antibiotic of choice on the rare occasion I need one, so I don't like taking it, but otherwise it works just as well for me as Skelaxin. Works fine for SWMBO, too.

From the ribs to the pelvic girdle, my spine looks like eroded limestone mountains on the X-rays. Been trying to avoid back surgery for about 20 years or so now. When the back gets too too! bad, I'll take a Flexeril, but usually the others work well for me. Your Doc can advise you if one of them might safe for you to use.

Bill

[FISH4BUGS]

I had a muscle spasm in my lower left back once. I have to tell you it hurt WORSE than being shot (a story for another time).
I dragged myself to the car, and I wound up in the walk-in clinic parking lot and could not get out of the car it hurt so much. A doc came out and immediately called the ambulance. The ER was the place for me, not a walk-in clinic.
An MRI and some muscle relaxers later, the doc put me into PT for building my back muscles. Over the next 3 months or so it was little by little progress. Then back exercises forever.
I feel for 444's situation. Unless you have an addictive personality, the drugs have a role in getting you back on track. The PT will do more in the long run than the drugs. The exercises are the key to sending that back demon away.
Been there...done that.

[gwrench]

You've had some good advice so far.

I'll add, no "toe touch" exercises until the back is better. Steroids can be a Godsend with a bulging disc etc.

I can't deal with flexeril, it just knocks me out. Skelaxin for me. Everybody's different though.

You may find ice or a cold pack is better than heat, at least for the first couple of days.

A physical therapist told me "think of Vasily Alexyev, the Russian weightlifter. Stick your belly out and arch your back! If you hold that position you can't hurt your back"

[444ttd]

I had a muscle spasm in my lower left back once. I have to tell you it hurt WORSE than being shot (a story for another time).
I dragged myself to the car, and I wound up in the walk-in clinic parking lot and could not get out of the car it hurt so much. A doc came out and immediately called the ambulance. The ER was the place for me, not a walk-in clinic.
An MRI and some muscle relaxers later, the doc put me into PT for building my back muscles. Over the next 3 months or so it was little by little progress. Then back exercises forever.
I feel for 444's situation. Unless you have an addictive personality, the drugs have a role in getting you back on track. The PT will do more in the long run than the drugs. The exercises are the key to sending that back demon away.
Been there...done that.

back when i was young fellow (had a real bad chip on the shoulder), i was in basic army training and they got that chip right outta me on Day 1!!! my smart alec mouth couldn't cash a check if it wanted too( a story for later). anyway, it was at the point of muscle burn. they taught me to push threw the pain and i did. "if your not burning (muscle) it right, then your not trying hard enuff, private!!!" says the DI and he was right. pain to me, ought to be pushed thru without help. it was the first time that i ever asked for drugs. 11 or 12 years ago, i had a bad lower back injury. i was getting out 1/3 of bag of fertilizer(it weighs about 50 lbs full. ) i was towards my side when i did it, when the pain hit. i didn't pass out, but i wish i had. my spinal column was good until you reach the lower back, then it shifted right. i was on back on a heating pad about a week before i could go back to werk. it was painful, but no where near as bad. my right knee was a pivot point when i jumped down into the hole(about 4") when the top half of me went right, while the bottom half went left. my knee did a POP and the time i landed on my stomach. i was debating on whether to get up or stay there when i heard my sub-conscious devil to get you !@#!, while on the other hand my angel said that ought to hurt, i say you stay still. so what do you do with bad attitude, you get up!!!!! but my angel was right, stars exploded into my head when i tried to get up. yep, i'll stay here 'cause someone will get me. well, my uncle did and he throws me out of the hole(trench) into a co-worker and he puts me in to my dad's truck. so i go to the hospital and x raying my knee my dr goes its not teared but you sure did stretch them out. every ligament and tendon on my knee was stretched out. i had crutches and advil then. then there is my right arm, 5 ribs broken, left knee.......i am a poster child of what not to do!!!!!

[10-x]

Before surgery had all kinds of weird pain, numbness down leg(s), and really bad pain in lower right back. Mds would not give me an MRI because of lead in left rib cage from gun shot. I asked them why no MRI, they said the strong magnet would pull the metal out. I asked them what medical school they went to, lead is not magnetic. Finally my pain management Md ordered a MRI, wa-la C-4 through 6 were shot and compressing my spinal cord. Got them fused and plates and screws added. Relief but then theres L-5 and 6 are bad......

[Uncle Dave]

Before surgery had all kinds of weird pain, numbness down leg(s), and really bad pain in lower right back. Mds would not give me an MRI because of lead in left rib cage from gun shot. I asked them why no MRI, they said the strong magnet would pull the metal out. I asked them what medical school they went to, lead is not magnetic. Finally my pain management Md ordered a MRI, wa-la C-4 through 6 were shot and compressing my spinal cord. Got them fused and plates and screws added. Relief but then theres L-5 and 6 are bad......

Short Version:
At 34 years old I started rupturing discs. At 52 I have had 5 back surgeries from 4 ruptured discs. 2 were fusions. One thought my abdomen to my spin and 4 through the back. I continue to rupture discs do to bad genetics. I have been through what many have described here. I have found some relief with a Dorsal Column Stimulator. My sympathies go out to you sufferers but there is hope through technology!
It has allowed me a better quality of life by reducing the amount of pain I’m in by 50% It really only works for people who have the nerve pain type issues. Doesn’t help with mechanical issues of the spine. The surgeons take care of that.
Dave

[8mmFan]

Norgesic...I tell this story to any person that I run into that has back pain.

About 35 years ago, in my teens, I played sports pretty much year-round. Primarily football, basketball, and baseball, but really anything that was going on at any given time. When I was a junior in high school, I tackled a guy during a football game and just absolutely crushed the lower part of my back. From that point on, for several weeks, the pain got worse and worse, to the point that I couldn’t do my chores, kick-start my motorcycle, or even really walk without really being in a hell of a lot of pain. I finished the football season but, when basketball season started, after the third practice I went to the coach, and quit for the season. It was a bad thing back then to quit, esp in a small town where people have seen you play for years, etc. I just couldn’t get up and down the floor, jump, run, etc., any more.

Finally, my folks had had enough with hoping it would just get better, and took me in to the hospital. I forget exactly what the MRI showed was the problem, but it was spinal, and the doctor said, “son, you’ll always have to be careful with your back from now on, especially the older you get.”
With that, he prescribed me a drug called Norgesic. They had the drug right there in the pharmacy in the hospital, and I got the prescription on the spot. I remember taking one pill, and needing some water, and when I went to the drinking fountain my ma had to help me/hold me so I could bend down and drink some water. I mean, it hurt like hell and it’d been that way for weeks.

The drive home was about twenty miles, so maybe it took 25 minutes to half an hour to get home. I sat in the passenger seat of Ma’s old Lincoln. My mind started to wander and, looking back on it now, it was probably the first time in about 8 weeks I wasn’t thinking about how to position myself so my back hurt less. We got home and pulled in the driveway. Mom said, “let me get the door for you,” but I had already opened it. I got out of the car and stood up. I took a couple of steps. My back didn’t hurt. I walked up and down the driveway. It still didn’t hurt. I looked at my mom and she looked at me. I started doing jumping jacks, and I was so happy I could’ve cried. The pain was gone until I hurt my back again. And it became a cycle as the years went by: I’d do my stuff, hurt my back once in a while, go on the Norgesic for a pill or three, maybe for a couple days, and the pain would be gone.

I don’t know what happened but eventually the pain went away and I’ve been able to do a lot of stuff over the years.

Sometime in the past, the FDA outlawed Norgesic. I have no idea why. But if you do a search on Norgesic, you’ll see that it’s still sold in some other countries. I keep meaning to find a friend in one of those countries and ask them to send me a bottle. Maybe you can too.

Norgesic - it was a miracle drug for me and might have changed the trajectory of my entire adult life. I just pass it on in the hopes that maybe you can access it somehow and that it will help you.

I hope you find a solution to your back problems that works; I feel for you.

8mmFan

[NY_Treeguy]

I’m in my fifth week of a back issue that started out of nowhere. 2 rounds steroids, flexeril and another muscle relaxer , still not better. MRI on Thursday. My work season starts like now and the doctor told me I should make other plans for the company, like hiring more help.

Took a big hit last year due to COVID. Now it looks like another hit this year.

[10-x]

Friend in gun club is quite a bit older than me, he's in his 80’s. About 12 years ago he went to Ortho surgeon in St. Augustine and got his back fixed. Said pins and rods all the way. After he recovered he could do anything he did in his 30’s!, may look this Md up if still in practice. My spine surgeon said C-3 and C-7 may need fixing next. Go through your neck around throat, hook you up to a device that shows all the nerves in body, beeps if surgeon get to close, couple nice nurses explained it to me before surgery. Recovery from actual surgery was a breeze, But the muscles in upper back , shoulders and lower neck took about 6 months to recover. Asked about it and Md said once you're out they use a “ come along” to pull shoulders back so they can x-ray your neck where they are working, worst part of it. As for back surgery, everybody I’ve talked to said it either worked well or didn’t work at all.

[1hole]

No one has mentioned back muscle spasms but they are real and can actually pull the muscle apart. Then not only do the damaged discs and ligaments hurt, the ripped muscle tissue does too. And pulled apart blood vessels bleed to cause major swelling and that puts painful pressure on the damaged muscles. All together, it can get bad. Not much the docs can do about it but provide muscle relaxers and dope and tell you to stay off it as much as possible; an electric recliner beats a bed by miles!

IF you ever get this double whammy DO NOT try to "work the pain out", it won't go and by pulling/stressing the unseen deep injury it will take longer for the muscle tissue and blood vessels to knit back together. Give yourself a couple of weeks after the pain subsides before even trying to move around much and then give it another month or two to really heal before returning to your normal work loads.

Medical science has developed some excellent muscle relaxers and pain killers; both help, a lot, but only if we use them. After years of gritting through back pain I finally realized I was qualifying for a Darwin PhD in stupid; now I take whatever the docs feed me and my life is much better for it.

[MrWolf]

Everyone is different and can tolerate different levels of pain. Listen to your body not your head. Disability retirement because of neck/back. Daily headaches, migraines, etc. and still better off than some here. Try laying on the floor with about three comforters folded in half. Try heat but some like cold - not me though cold on my neck helps. Can also try inversion which helps the lower back. Good luck and if you need to talk give a holler.
Ron

[10x]

Destroyed my lower back in the 1970s during the construction boom. The last Catscan of my lower back resulted in the bone dr saying "I sure am glad I don't have your back" and then said I had a choice - he could operate and I would have back pain, or I could leave it alone and have back pain. His comment, if it were his back he would not bother attempting to repair it with the risk of making it worse

[farmbif]

if your problems are with chronic muscle spasms, Rolfing could be the answer to your prayers. once the burst disks are pushing on your nerves might be wise to get a good neurosurgeon.