[zeplin]

In the "how tall are you thread," I have noticed that many of you say that back problems are a part of life...especially you tall people.
About 4years ago, I started having horrible back pains followed by tweaking out my back about every month or so. Long story short, I now have 3 disk herniations and they are completely interrupting my life and also turning it into a living hell. The worst thing is, I did not injur my back in any way...it turns out that I have a degenerative disk problem.
I would just like to know how many other peole have stories like mine to share? And what have you done to help yourself? And are you better now? If so, how did you go about finding a cure? All that kinda stuff!
And then, there is the gigantic concern about medications for back problems. I have been perscribed to a drug called Ultram, which is for pain, but not a Narcotic...so no addictions, yet! But it is not working anymore, and I need an alternative. Plus, because I'm so young(22), all my docs will NOT perscribe me any kind of pain medication...IMO, that is not right! What experiences do all you back people have with meds and such? It stinks because on one hand, one that has back problems, thinks that it is not worth being addicted to be out of pain...but then again, we only live one life, and why should we have to live it experiencing horrible pains throughtout everyday?

I would greatly appreciate a nice discussion and some helpful posts as I am fully depressed most of the time because of my stupid ass back problems. And I would imagine many of you are in the boat as I am in. And talking about this problem that I have with others helps me feel a little better!

What, besides listening to music(which only sometimes works for me), do you all do for the release of pain? Help me out guys

 

[Mystic]

Have you been to a chiropractor? I used to have chronic back pain but since going to a chiroproctor every 6 weeks or so, my back pain is almost completely gone. I used to think that chiropractic medicine was quackery, but now think differently. I still don't buy the reduced sickness, healing, and other benefits some people claim from chiropractic care.

It may not help you at all with herniated disks, but it is worth exploring.

 

[mtkversion]

I've had 3 major back sprains due to work related injuries but they were basically my fault for not keeping the muscles strong and I've since started to exercise the lumbar muscles to keep them strong.

I can only imagine how a disc injury feels like but the back sprains I went through were the most painful experiences I've ever encountered. I was prescribed Vicodin so that helped a bit

but I still wouldn't want to go through it again.

I just read an article in the newspaper today about a certain machine that a Chiropractic Clinic around here has that supposedly " stretches " the back by wrapping the chest and legs and slowly pulling them away from each other. I also remember seeing a news story on it a few years ago and it supposedly seems to help. Maybe you could look into that?

Hope you find something that helps out so that you can live pain free .... good luck

 

[Squalish]

Quote:

Originally posted by zeplin Plus, because I'm so young(22), all my docs will NOT perscribe me any kind of pain medication...IMO, that is not right

Could you elaborate on this? I'm pretty sure that pain medication is not at all age sensitive, why won't they perscribe it?

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Your insurance will pay for Physical Therapy. That’s what I’d advise if you have insurance. And, most insurance won’t pay for visits to chiropractors.

I’m not trusting of chiropractors. From what I’ve heard, yes it does help with discomfort but it doesn’t really fix anything. You have to keep returning for visits every month or two. Sort of like cracking your knuckles when your fingers are stiff, it alleviates the stiffness, but the cause is still there.

I’ve only had one really bad back experience when I pulled or pinched something back there. It sucked. Took me 20 to 30 minutes just to get out of bed for the first couple days and would gradually feel better after my day started, but I would get twangs of pain (that’s why I think it was a pinch).

I was uninsured at the time. A friend of mine who licked his chronic back problem gave me this advice and it worked: He said to give my back lots of rest and no strain for a week and see if it improved before going to a doctor (like I said, I was uninsured). It did get better after a week of no exercise and more rest.

Since that worked, he advised me to rehab it, gave me a pamphlet of progressive (gentle) back exercises for strengthening & stretching, and advised I buy an Gymnic ball for the exercises.

That worked great and I haven’t had back pain since I started using that ball, particularly because it also takes strain off the spine for crunches and ab exercises. Crunches always kind of annoyed my back, but on the ball it’s great.

Those balls are really good for gentle rehab and for strengthening / stretching the spine and back.

 

[MagusG]

I'm 21 years old and I have arthritis in my right knee and hip. It sucks, I'm in my prime and I can't even live it up. It kills me to even work retail, luckily I am signing up for insurance tomorrow.
-Mag

 

[zeplin]

Thanx guys for your reply's. Throughout the last 4 years of my suffering, I have tried everything from Chiropractic work to accupunture, which seemed to work the best out of everything. Out of the couple of times that I went to a chiropractor, I managed hurt my neck because the doc there decided to "re-align my neck vertabre, which he thought was the root of my problem, by hitting my neck while lying on my side. So, no more chiros for me. I have a friend who's a pre-med at Berkeley and we have talked exstensively about chiros. Basically, they feel that the body is a giant "jig saw puzzle" and "should put back together" if any problems should arrise. I don't know about you guys, but that is a bunch a bull to me as well as many other M.D.'s that I personally know.

When it comes down to it, every kind of method just helps a tad bit for a little while and then comes back to haunt me. And when your as depressed as I am, you think there's no need for anything that won't cure my problem. I do however keep up on stretching and yoga classes...Not to mention some strengthening exercises to help keep my lower torso strong!
But it is really a hit or miss with yoga and other methods like it...either I help myself a little for while, and alleviate only some of the pain(which doesn't make all that much of difference), or I screw my back up even more by putting the slightest bit of stress on it. One can see how frustrating this can be! I have trouble enough getting out of bed everyday, let alone having to deal with tweaking my back out a couple times a month or so due to participating in the easiest of physical acctivities(like turning the wrong way to talk to someone...sad isn't it).

As for the docs not perscribing pain pills...I dunno??? I've had several docs tell me roughly the same thing. "Just like we don't want to opperate on you because you're too young, we don't want to get you started on a narcotic because of the same reason." I really don't get it??? My philosophy is, if it works, do it...and worry about the consequences when I'm all better and cured.

 

[john_jcb]

What the doctors are possibly afraid of with the medication is that you will develop an increased tolerance and require higher doses or stronger medications to achieve the same results. They may worry that in a few years you have no options left. I would also seek a second or third opinion from a specialist. All doctors are not created equal.

I was lucky, exercise has virtually eliminated the periodic spasms I would have. When they occur I am in agony no matter what I do. The only thing that ever worked was mild electric shock therapy on the muscle forcing it to relax.

Good Luck

 

[Mr.PD]

I just spent the last three weeks off work because of my back. Mu sciatic nerve gives me fits ever once in a while, but this time was way different. I still have numbness in my left foot. My doctor has me on muscle relaxers and wants me to stay on those for a while before he does an mri. I have gotten much better in the last week since I first saw him. This is the first time I've been to a doc in 20 years.

My wife has hip problems with chronic pain. She was on Ultram until it quit being effective. Now she is on Mobic. Your body develops a tolerance for the meds so they need to be changed every so often. The wife goes through a rotation of pain medication changing every few months. I'll find out more when she gets home.

 

[redshifter]

i've had back and neck problems on and off since high school. being on the wrestling team screwed up my neck, and working loading kegs of beer or lifting area rugs onto wall displays screwed up my lower back.

i also had a terrible bout of joint pain last summer, where my knees, ankles, wrists, fingers would all swell up and make any movement very painful.

for the joint problems i took vioxx, which really worked well. it is non-narcotic, and did not have any side effects for me. it may work for your back, too.

cannabis also has pain relieving properties, and i believe many people who use it from a prescription (canna clubs in ca, for example) use it for back pain. be warned though it can make you spacy and stoned (duh).

usually when my back spasms start i lie flat on my back on the floor, knees bent. rubbing tiger balm and using a massager helps too, and heat & ice. my wife gives good back rubs as well.

good luck getting treament. as for narcotic pain relievers, yes it can be hard to get dr.'s to prescribe them, but you need to be firm. if one will not do it, go to another.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

I have very little problems with my back since I only hurt it once and have had pain only off and on since. My main problem is my neck. There is absolutely no curvature in it, so the weight is deforming one vertebrae in my neck. Painfully deforming it I might add. It pinches the nerves running out of those vertabrae and cause a massive and debilitating headache that takes loads of Tylenol and Advil to get rid of. I had these excruciating headaches all the time until a chiropractor took some x-rays and gave me an exam and found the problem. After a few weeks of seeing the chiropractor and having the neck cracked and vertabrae popped back into place I was well on my way to being out of pain for a long period of time. I only go once every couple of months, or when I strain my neck again lifting stuff and throwing a vertabrae out of kilter again.

If you go to a chiropractor, make sure they use the Ganstead method. (spelling??) It was invented by a mechanical engineer who analyzed the human body from an engineering point of view and invented a new method that works WAY better.

 

[wallijonn]

my back hurts because i weigh too much. gotta lose about 20 pounds.

 

[phonatic]

"Network" chiropractic is also a good style... manipulations are not at all forceful, and it seems to work better and last longer than traditional chiropractic. Why would it work? Yes, the "jigsaw puzzle" story is a little flimsy. But blood will tend to go where nerve supply goes... if you have a joint misaligned or tight muscles restricting nerve or blood supply, the surrounding tissue loses its function... bad things happen... bad things are painful, for good reason. Whatever can undo that is okay by me. In my case, I'd rather have someone work on my body than to just suppress the pain or have things fused or removed. I figure I have all these different parts for some reason.

I've done quite a bit of martial arts training, where you can't really take a pill or have a surgery every time you get injured.

Acupuncture can be awesome if you find someone who knows what they're doing and isn't just going to stick a bunch of needles where it hurts already. Ask a lot of questions of anyone before you sign up.

I'd look for a good combination of training and practical experience in someone you can get along with.

 

[screwdriver]

Ok i will voice some opinion on this - i am a physical therapist .
ill tell you suggestions coming from a physical therapist point of view.

what i suggest is go to a doctor that will give you an order to do physical therapy - but the thing is you have to go to a physical therapist that is "McKENZIE CERTIFIED".

Mckenzie is also known as mechanical diagnosis and therapy.

This is an approach that i feel very effective but only a few physical tharapist are Mckenzie certified.
give it a shot and tell me what happens.

this approcah will be discussed further by the therapist and is an approach that is very cost effective as the exercises are very simple and most of the treatment is more on instructing you what to do - different exercises- more you have to follow up throughout the day and night in your home or work .


this is it for now but this is worth a shot as i have used this method and it works well most of the time .

 

[usc goose]

Luckily I have no back pain but like Mag I'm 21 and my body is beat to hell. Had an abdominal hernia, broken leg, dislocated shoulder, dislocated knee, cracked ribs and arthritis in my right hip. My right leg is a touch shorter than my left which gives me problems sometimes. At least I have good stories for all of it. I had back problems for a a couple weeks in high school once. It was really random. Then it went away. I'm so glad my back still works great though. As discussed in my "how tall are you thread" since almost all my friends are taller than I am, I've had to keep perfect posture to squeeze out all 6 feet of me.