First day being able to move

[billfury]

Threw my lower back out Thursday. I was able to drive home from work, but that was it. I couldn't even use a computer. Thank God I have a good friend who is a Chiropractor and he was able to get me in for a epidural shot. Did I spell that right? I  tell you what, I hope no one goes though this type of pain. I still feel a little loopy from the pain killers.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Ugh back pain is the worst!  Feel better Bill

[GOTWING]

I feel for you man!  in December of 2007 i really screwed up my back bad at work, ( lifting a heavy box of fiberglass ) after getting the run around from doctors and wasting time at a chiropractor and physical therapy the final outcome from the MRI was I did damage to L1L2 L3L4 discs, for a year I was in constant pain, I was finally referred to a pain management doctor and since then I have been getting back injections every 3 to 6 months, it made the word of difference, I was so thankful for their services. I wish you all the luck to get better.

[RIDELIKEHELL]

I went through some time a few years back when I was living at the Chiro   We recently bought a memory foam bead by Sealy called I-COMFORT and I have to say it has made a huge difference in my pain! Hope you feel better soon as I know your pain and it sucks...

[GOTWING]

man when my truck sells, i think i may have to look into one of those beds !

[RIDELIKEHELL]

man when my truck sells, i think i may have to look into one of those beds !

They aren't cheap...2300 Canadian  but they have a killer warranty and every King bed we've owned ends up crowning in the middle and gets wells where we sleep inturn causing some bad back pain!

[charge69]

We bought a Sealy I-Comfort King Size Bed around the first of the year. I sleep exclusively on my sides and have a left shoulder that has rotator-cuff damage that goes years back and I had been hurting bad for about a year when we bought the new bed Within a few weeks I noticed my shoulder was much better and now it is like I never reinjured it. Got my full range-of-motion in the shoulder back and no longer go to sleep hurting and/or taking something to let me sleep thru the pain!

I would not have believed it if you told me but, both of us are amazed at the I-Comfort beds' ability to help us heal our old skeletal system injuries and arthritic bodies! Best bed I have ever slept on, bar none!!!

[RIDELIKEHELL]

We bought a Sealy I-Comfort King Size Bed around the first of the year. I sleep exclusively on my sides and have a left shoulder that has rotator-cuff damage that goes years back and I had been hurting bad for about a year when we bought the new bed Within a few weeks I noticed my shoulder was much better and now it is like I never reinjured it. Got my full range-of-motion in the shoulder back and no longer go to sleep hurting and/or taking something to let me sleep thru the pain!

I would not have believed it if you told me but, both of us are amazed at the I-Comfort beds' ability to help us heal our old skeletal system injuries and arthritic bodies! Best bed I have ever slept on, bar none!!!

They gave us 2 of the SCRUNCH pillows ($100/pillow to buy)that are made up of the foam and that in itself has really helped my neck pain. I have some bad discs,bone spurs etc and was getting these killer tension headaches leading up to the purchase. The pillow allows me to keep my head level as tradional pillows were either to thick or to thin and I was buying a new one every couple months. My wife is gettin a total hip replacement in the fall and in a lot of discomfort but the bed has helped a lot 

[burnout.dawg]

Back pain is the worst. Listen to your chiropractor. You did the right thing going to him rather than a orthopedist. Absolutely do not have surgery until you have tried everything else. Wish you luck.

[charge69]

A big +1 on not going to an orthopedist and having surgery. I have never known anyone that got the kind of relief they expected from surgery!  Put it off as long as possible then, a little more!

[71ChallengeHer]

I feel you are feeling better.      I'm gonna check into one of those mattresses . Since, I'm not getting relief from anything else.      And I agree stay away from surgery if you can. I had a plate and screws put in my neck. I got relief and no migraines for about 8 months. And it is right back to the way it was before the surgery . Once you have a fusion . It will put strain above and below the fusion.   

[68X426]

I feel it for you too, having just spent most of May recovering from more spine and pain issues. For what it's worth, when all your doctors, chiro, and therapist (and the x-rays) show your vertebrae and discs are blown out, you really shouldn't put off surgery. Delay just makes for an even longer road to recovery. Mine is due in a few months.

Check out the NovoForm Gel from Costco. It's on sale right now, it's thousands of $$ less than the competitors, ranked number one by Consumer Reports. It's been great for my back (over 6 years), and it is not a "hot" sleep.

http://www.costco.com/Novaform%c2%ae-Gel-Memory-Foam-Cal-King-Mattress.product.100004575.html

[twodko]

Hey Bill, glad you're a bit better. A chiro gave you an epidural? That I'm curious about, chiros are not MD's and it gave me the heebie jeebies hearing this.
Sticking needles in ones back is the relm of MD's me thinks and even then it's a crap shoot.

Like the other posse members have said DO NOT have any back surgery unless you can't walk anymore.

2007 I began having some right foot drop that got progressively worse. Did the chiro thing for years with a lot of relief but age, arthritis, lifting things wrong......just that one time, and carrying too much weight bringings on hell.

Got so painful for me my doc referred me to a spinal surgeon. Well, I'm still alive, not blind or paralyzed BUT after fusion S1 through L3, parallel titanium rods connected with screws into my spine in Sept.2008, please put off spinal surgery for as long as you can. To this day if I do too much bending, twisting, light lifting i.e. groceries-laundry etc my back begins to hurt. The real nasty is my legs then get so weak I get wobbly, have increasing difficulty walking and have to go horizontal for an hour or so laying on a frozen gel pack after taking 900 mg's of Ibuprofen (docs suggested dose) I'm not trying to scare you Bill, I just don't want this to happen to you or anyone one else. I won't hit 60 until November......still kinda young...kinda......but this is how I have to live now. I wasn't very good at dancing before but I give anything to dance poorly now.

You feeling me Dan 68x426?

When your basic quality of life gets to the point where you are desperate for help, get 3 second opinions.

Like Jackie alluded to, once the deal is done your options dwindle and it's the rare case where someone gets permanent relief/repair.

I don't mean to preach. You've heard this before. Walk every day. Not just the walking you do at work but real walking EVERYDAY. Do squats, modified push-ups, crunches WHILE you are in bed because its easier on your back and fight to lose weight if you need to. The stronger your gut is the better off you'll be despite how bad your back gets. For real Bill.

That's my Rx, send me $50. 

[Budnicks]

As someone who suffers from back pain & occasional back spasms, from old injuries, I truly do feel your pain...    I just went thru 2 weeks of limited mobility also, I'm not a big fan of the pain meds, I just have to move around allot, just to not get all cramped up, I can't work on the house or My car is the worst part... I threw mine out sneezing last time.. no chit...     get better, I hope you feel much better soon...

[ODZKing]

I have arthritis in my hips bad as well as back issues.  I can't bend over like I used to which is a pain (literally) when trying to work on the car.  Luckily my wife does a lot to help.
Ditto on the chiropractor ... an orthopedist will only send you to physical therapy which has only EVER made any situation worse with me.

[charge69]

I think these ladies and gentlemen know of what they speak!
Since my stroke in 2010, I have permanent left-side weakness and a noticeable limp causing my back to get progressively worse and continued loss of fine motor skills in my left hand and side in general has been hard to adjust to living with. My hips are still good but, limping as bad as I do on occasion, my right hip takes a pounding that will surely show soon enough.
Neuropathy in both feet keep my feet in pain 24/7 and I take prescription drugs just to get to sleep. At 66 years old now, it ain't gonna get better.
My arthritis in my back and neck just get worse and there just is nothing I can do about it!
At some point my Orthopedic guy said I will need surgery but I think I might have other ideas. Surgery just is not an option right now.
Just do anything you can (exercise, weight loss, etc.) to put off a surgeon!
Plenty of good mattresses made now that will genuinely help, pick one! I got a screaming deal on an I-Comfort Sealy mattress and have been very satisfied with from a Sears that was closing down.

[Todd Wilson]

Been there done that. Was laid up 7 weeks with a bulge in L4-L5.  Worse 2 weeks of my life in bed. Terrible pain. If you haven't totally screwed something up its time for life style changes.   Walk Walk Walk and be very careful picking stuff up.  I used to bend over and pick up what ever and carry it. Now I use a 2 wheeler.  Even if its 15 feet across the garage.   The one thing I found out talking to other people and reading about back troubles is there isn't anything consistant with surgery  I know a guy who had 2 verts fused and 3 months after the surgery was driving an antique cab over semi truck to our big antique show. I hurt for 6 months riding in a car across town.  He then broke it like a year later and had the surgery again to fix and has been well since. No pains or anything. Just fine.    I know others who have had surgerys and are still hurting even years afterwards. Its odd to say but the more I lay around on my dead ass the worse my back feels.   You got to stay in motion. Just don't over do it with stupid stuff anymore. I had days I don't feel like I ever had a back problem and the other days I hurt a little bit. Weather and so forth plays a big roll in it now as well.


Todd

[polywideblock]

no one's mentioned the "phantom" pains, the shooting pain down the front of your thighs or soles of your feet not to mention the proverbial pain in the ass cheek. i did  S1 L3-L4 and L4-L5 30 odd years ago

[71ChallengeHer]

Or the feeling like a knife is stuck in your back and someone keeps twisting it. And the pain goes down your leg . Then your foot goes numb. And it's been like this for almost a year. Pain so bad that your either have nausea or vomit. My advice be very careful on reinjury . Because I'm at the point that I have been injured too many times. Nothing they can do for me. Except pain meds. And I hate pills.     

[472 R/T SE]

Thanks all, good to know about the bed.  Ours had springs' poking out of both sides & is crowned.  Once we figure out which one to buy, we're gonna buy one.


I've had over a dozen epidural shots.  The last one was up higher on my spine.

I ended up with an epidural abcess & staph blood infection.  The back pain was my worst ever.  I'm on 15mg oxycodones' & they weren't touching the pain.  Once I got out of the house & as my wife was taking me to the ER I was crying.  Oh man that was so much pain.

I wish you the best.  You can't do anything when your back is jacked up so I feel for ya'.

[billfury]

Well. It's Monday morning and I feel good. The epidural shot did the trick again for me. The chiropractor didn't give me the shot, he sent me to a pain management office that He's good friends with. He got me in with no problems when it would have taken a few days. This doctors that good. The last time I got the shot was August 2012.The funny thing is I just seen on the news about the shot being dangerous and you should stay away from it. I guess it's like anything else in life. If the person doesn't know what they are doing, YEA someone will get hurt. Thanks for the kind words from everyone.

[Budnicks]

no one's mentioned the "phantom" pains, the shooting pain down the front of your thighs or soles of your feet not to mention the proverbial pain in the ass cheek. i did  S1 L3-L4 and L4-L5 30 odd years ago

yeah sciatic nerve {Spelling?}.... My injury was from a car/truck wreck, in the mid 80's, I got sandwiched in-between two 1 ton "full" MMM carpet vans, that were racing down the 680 FRWY to a jobsite... They hit me so damn hard, that I hit the top of my head, because I had stretched my shoulder strap & seat belts so far, that I hit the windshield with my head, then fell back & blew out the back window also with my head, in my old 76 4x4 Power Wagon, I suffered various injuries & got 2 compressed disc's, 1 hairline fractured vertebrae, 1 chipped vertebrae up in-between my shoulder blades, among other minor injuries, cuts & abrasions/bruises & my poor old dog "Duke a 100# Black Lab" got pinned under the dash too, with big cuts on his head & back... I was hit so hard in the accident, that in the impact I also, had high top tennis shoes on, fully laced up & one shoe was some 200-ft away from the wreck & still laced up, all the way across the 6 lanes of the FRWY...  But the pain is in my neck or my butt mostly thou, "not in my back usually"... Go figure... I use to get problems with that sciatic nerve, use to go to Kaiser specialist, that told me it was more than likely   supposedly from my fat wallet & driving, the Dr. told me to quit carrying my wallet in my back pocket while driving & sitting on it... What a freaken joke   it didn't work of course & he was a damn quack, so I changed Specialist's/Dr.'s & my companies medical insurance policies/plans, but I do carry a much thinner wallet now, causes from Govt. meddling & lack of Dealership Construction & week economy, but that's a whole different story & subject all together....  

[AKcharger]

Back pain is bad

[Todd Wilson]

no one's mentioned the "phantom" pains, the shooting pain down the front of your thighs or soles of your feet not to mention the proverbial pain in the ass cheek. i did  S1 L3-L4 and L4-L5 30 odd years ago

I thought those pains were the rest of my body going to poopoo also?!?!   


Todd

[twodko]

Man Budnicks, what a nasty accident you were in!

Not to make light of it but I got a chuckle out of the MMM carpets trucks that nailed you.

I was hired right out of college by Channel 36 back in the Carol Doda days......Perfect 36 and all that. I was a video tape

editor and cut many many MMM carpet commercials with that spokesman Gary Ferry and his hispanic counterpart.

Small world.