looking for help

[aglick]

I am new to the board, have been reading alot on here the last couple of weeks. Lots of information and great support. I have been having some problems with my back for about 2 years. It started with lower back pain, then had some tingling sensations down the outer thigh of my left leg. It wasn't anything that concerned me at the time. Have you ever had your cell phone in your jeans pocket set on vibrate and felt that sensation go down your leg? I would actually feel to see if my phone was in my pocket. Back continued to get worse and then I noticed a nurab feeling in my left outer thigh. Went for chiropractic care on two separate occassions, with little results. It would hurt so bad to have an adjustment in my upper/middle back that I quit going. I ended up going to family doc and they stuck needles in my leg and I realized there was very little feeling in it. I eventually agreed to an x-ray, which stated benign venous vascular calcifications noted in pelvis, mild disc space narrowing, L5-S1, mild dgenerative anterior marginal spurring lower thoracic levels, bones are osteopenic, osteopenia with no acute bone abnormality, mild spondylosis lower thoracic spine, no fracture or subluxation. My doc tells me I have spinal stenosis, gives me script for relafen. flexeril and take extra calcium. Now a year later our new family doc does MRI, which states benign superior and inferior endplate irregularites noted at T11 through L5 related to corabination of change from prior Scheuermann disease and benign Schmorl node formation, minimal annular disc bulging L5-S1, no spinal stenosis or compression of neural structure. So I have been in p/t since May of this year 2 to 3 times a week, doing various back strengthening exercises, weight machines, recurabent bicycle and spinal decompression traction?? I am still having problems, my doctor wants me to continue with p/t and consider having nerve ablation. I have noticed a decrease in the burning pain into my leg but now the burning and hurting is up the left side into my shoulder blades and neck. I no longer want to do p/t. My doctor hasn't really explained to me what is wrong, but I am tired of being in pain every day.I asked for a referral to a specialist and she said they wouldn't do anything unless I had a ruptured disc. By reading over my x-ray and MRI reports I would think there was very little wrong and wondering where all this pain is coming from. Sorry this is so long, if you have any insight, thoughts or advice I am more than willing to here it. Thanks for listening and hope you all have a pain-free evening.

Anita

 

[mznell]

Hello Anita,

Welcome to the board. First the best way to find out what can be done for your situation is to seek out a fellowship-trained spinal specialist. This can be either a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon who has additional, specialized training in the spine and back, and who devotes his practice to issues of the spine and back. Take your MRI with you and make an appointment for a consultation.

With back problems there is not a direct correlation between the "severity" of what appears on the imaging and the amount of pain you are feeling. Sometimes a patient will not even be aware of a disc herniation that looks horrible on a MRI. Conversely, a patient can be in horrible pain and the MRI doesn't indicate anything out of the ordinary. Of course, other times it is blatantly obvious that there is a big problem, and the patient feels big-time pain. A lot of this depenRAB on whether a nerve is being "pinched."

From your description, it sounRAB like you have some nerve involvement -- the sensations in your leg, etc. A specialist will have a variety of treatments to try, including referring you to a physiatrist or a pain managemet doctor for treatments such as epidural injections, the nerve ablation you mentioned, etc.

I would think that 3 months worth of PT should be plenty of time to see whether it was going to help, or not. I wouldn't spend any more time on that until you have seen a spine specialist. Please do not go to a chiropractor for treatment until you have a diagnosis. You could do more damage than good in the long run.

You can try using either a heating pad or ice on your lower lurabar spine to see if one makes you feel any better.

Feel free to post with any and all questions and comments you have -- someone will be willing to try to help you with some answers or opinions.

xx M:wave:M

 

[lauraV]

I had a horrible back pain, so I couldn't even sleep at nights. All doctors could suggest was pain killers, which helped only for a very short while.

Then I met a Russian woman and she told me that in Russia they use Acupressure Mat.

Apparently it's so popular that nearly every household has got one.

Surprisingly it did help from the first session. I am back to my active life and almost forgot about my back.