Endometriosis Support Group
Endometriosis is a common medical condition where the tissue lining the uterus is found outside of the uterus, typically affecting other organs in the pelvis. The condition can lead to serious health problems, primarily pain and infertility. A major symptom of endometriosis is pain, mostly in the lower abdomen, lower back, and pelvic area.
Just wondering if this happens to anyone else - when my symptoms are hitting full force, I get a lot of muscle pain in my lower back that radiates all the way up to my shoulders. For some reason my spine is super sensitive too. If I put my fingers in the bone and push lightly it makes me jump and scream in pain...but only when I'm having severe pain elsewhere. Does this ever happen to anyone else?
This also stated radiating from my right ovary to my right shoulder blade and in the last week or so is now in the right side of my neck!!! But I should mention I also have a cyst on my right side and I have pain in the lower part of my right rib cage and am insane bloated on that side!!
You have any of that too?
I too have developed back pain, for me it feels very stiff all located in the sacral chakra area and seems to radiate from my spine outwards. My massage therapist can't even work on that area as its far to sensitive, and when he tries like you I jump through the roof.
My pain feels very stiff and muscular. Also if I move to quick or in an odd position i feel like I just cracked open a deep scab wound. So I have to wonder if the endo has lurched itself to my spine or muscle tissue.
Hope you can find some relief soon!
Sending healing sparkles your way...
If I have to do a lot of standing around the time of my period, trying to bend to sit down is excruciating. I have no idea what causes it, sometimes I think it's radiating nerve pain or some kind of referred pain, but I really don't know.
Have any medical professionals offered you any explanations for it?
PT - physical therapy is something that can help you learn how to stretch the muscles and build core muscles which can help with the back pain. it's a temporary fix though with endo because the pain does come back. still, I did tons and tons of PT because they didn't know I had endo and it sort of helped.
Spine Pain Mgt clinic - they said because I have a minor herniated disc I was a candidate for an epidural shot of cortisone to my spine. This was AWESOME and offered the first long term relief for me in years. You do 1 shot every 3 months or so until the pain goes away and then hope that it doesn't return. Hint, with endo it will return but I'd still do this again if the pain got bad enough. The cortisone pretty much relaxes all of the muscles around the area of pain. Fantastic, was really nice. Don't do this of course if you're TTC.
ibuprofen - yeah, a million docs will tell you to take this to relief the pain. it sort of numbs it a little, take 800 mg (over the counter) as often as it says you can take 400 mg. It offers little comfort, but helps in a pinch.
surgery - for me the BEST relief came after my second lap. The first lap offered some relief, but my OB GYN who did that surgery clearly did not get all of the adhesions. I'm convinced that my back pain was caused by the adhesions pulling on my abdominal or pelvic muscles. Once my second surgeon cut the cord (so to speak) everything felt better again. It was instant! One moment I couldn't even twist at the waist because the pain was unbearable (tears streaming down my face!) and the next I could finally lift 10 to 20 lbs again without extreme pain.
I still can't wear high heels, although the hubby keeps saying I should try to. I'm nervous. It took over 5 years to fix this problem, I'd hate for it to be undone in a moment. Since the second surgery I did 2 rounds of IVF, got preggers, had a baby, a big baby, and I'm still doing ok. Pregnancy I had NO back pain which was crazy. I mean I waited to have a child because I was waiting for the back pain to go away. I was so scared to get pregnant and be bed bound with back pain. But it totally went away. With my first period the pain has returned a little, but is still not as bad as before.
Hope this helps, you're not alone on this one and as Marlaina posts, this is a common thread on this board.
kDeezy, the shoulder pain means that the nerves that go to your upper body are also being impacted in some way. The nerves all radiate from a similar point (S3, L4, L5) so it just means the pinch is a little higher for you too. The bulk of my pain was L4/L5 which started in the tailbone, radiated to the buttock (lol), and then down my outer thigh and into my calf and toes.
Lastly, I am currently on cymbalta for overall pain. I was sick of the mild discomfort (not enough to keep me up at night each night - hence called mild). It is also a mild antidepressant.