Back Pain Support Group
Back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek medical care. In fact, about 3 in 4 adults will experience back pain during their lifetime! The term back pain includes pain affecting the neck, midback and low back. Acute back pain may begin suddenly with intense pain but typically lasts fewer than three months. Usually, chronic back pain is persistent, steady, and...
Hello, all! I'm a 20-year-old female who has had back pain on and off since I was five, was braced at eight, and had Harrington rods put in from T3-L4 at 12, at which point the pain became permanent.
I recently got an MRI (which showed nothing due to the rods interfering with the film) and a CT scan, which showed two bulging discs, spinal outgrowths narrowing the L5 lateral recess and the left-sided intervertebral foramen (where the nerves leave the spinal cord), and a compressed thecal sac that is on the low side of normal (apparently just barely meeting the criteria for 'low normal'). All of this is only in the lumbar region, since the rods prevent a good look at the rest of my spine, but given what I've found about disc bulges online (from multiple sites), it's probable I have at least a few in both the thoracic and cervical portions of my spine as well.
Most of the exercises suggested for this involved arching or otherwise bending my back, which is - and I quote - a "solid bony fusion", which obviously cannot bend. The one time I tried one of those exercises I literally lost consciousness from the pain.
I'm already on Tramadol (100 mg every 8 hours) and have tried both NSAIDs and muscle relaxants, to no avail. Complicating things, I'm allergic to acetaminophen (go ahead and laugh), which is in most formulations for opioids.
Has anyone else gone through this, and if so, how did you deal? Am I doomed to this the rest of my life, especially since there's nothing that will show the thoracic or cervical spine? I'm only 20; I don't want to live like this.
I recently got an MRI (which showed nothing due to the rods interfering with the film) and a CT scan, which showed two bulging discs, spinal outgrowths narrowing the L5 lateral recess and the left-sided intervertebral foramen (where the nerves leave the spinal cord), and a compressed thecal sac that is on the low side of normal (apparently just barely meeting the criteria for 'low normal'). All of this is only in the lumbar region, since the rods prevent a good look at the rest of my spine, but given what I've found about disc bulges online (from multiple sites), it's probable I have at least a few in both the thoracic and cervical portions of my spine as well.
Most of the exercises suggested for this involved arching or otherwise bending my back, which is - and I quote - a "solid bony fusion", which obviously cannot bend. The one time I tried one of those exercises I literally lost consciousness from the pain.
I'm already on Tramadol (100 mg every 8 hours) and have tried both NSAIDs and muscle relaxants, to no avail. Complicating things, I'm allergic to acetaminophen (go ahead and laugh), which is in most formulations for opioids.
Has anyone else gone through this, and if so, how did you deal? Am I doomed to this the rest of my life, especially since there's nothing that will show the thoracic or cervical spine? I'm only 20; I don't want to live like this.
Exercises that don't involve bending the back...hmmm-what about stretching your arms..above you or behind or in front of you?
What has a pain management place have to say about nerve blockers?
I haven't gone to a pain management place. I'm still waiting on the doc who does nothing but spines (and I should probably know the name for that by now....); my next appointment is Wednesday. He's probably going to give me a referral somewhere, or suggest surgery. I really don't know what happens next.
The next step will probably be to try steroid epidurals. I have had great success with them in both my neck and lower back. Do you have a herniated or ruptured disc? This is when the softer inside of the disc is outside the outer harder disc cartilage. This might require surgery. If it is only a disc bulge the injections may provide a reduction in swelling and help the bulge heal. For the spinal outgrowths those might need to be surgically removed. There are also possible medial branch blocks which burn the nerve to stop pain. I think the procedures you are looking at are much less invasive than the fusion and rods and probably have a higher chance of success. If the meds aren't working the epidural procedures are the next step and then surgery of not. These combined with physical therapy hopeful will get you out of pain. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. You are probably seeing a neurosurgeon.
Oh yes pool water=walking around in it might help you too