It was a rough Sunday for me yesterday. I woke up and when I went to get out of bed, I could barely walk. I shuffled along like an 80 year old woman. My back is out, yet again, and I am getting very frustrated.
I have had back problems for about 20 years, since right before my CFS started, but the past few years I have only had a few occurrences where I couldn’t function because of it. Now since April my back has went out four or five times. This is the second time in the past month that it has been out.
What really stinks is that I am always told that I should not have the problems and pain with my back that I do because although I do have herniated disks, they are not that bad. But when my back goes out, I am crooked and I can’t hardly move and I look absolutely miserable, and I feel miserable too. The only thing the doctors have been able to do for me over the years have been to prescribe pain killers and muscle relaxers.
I have tried chiropractic care several times but I always end up worse after several visits.
To describe how I look when my back goes out is very difficult. It is one of those things you just have to see and most people cringe when they see how my body actually shifts.
The best way to describe what I look like is that my top half and my bottom half look like they were taken off then put back on but not correctly. Or it looks like my top half but someone else’s bottom half.
Ouch!!!!
Have you tried continuing with the chiro after bringing up the problems? I’ve been told many times that initially chiro can feel worse (depending on your problem), but that it helps if you keep with it. I’ve not yet tried though!
Hi Jenna, Yes, I have went to the chiropractor as long as a couple of years at a time and I always get worse.
Ow ouch! Oh that’s really rough. You don’t say how long it’s taken in the past to start to ease. I hope you have access to your pain killers and muscle relaxants. Sounds terribly frustrating and painful.
I am a squashed disc person myself. Can be unbelievably painful stuff! Sending you hot water bottle wishes (and lots of drugs!!)
I’ve found your site purely by accident. (John Reece’s Blog).
Are you quite sure you’ve been diagnosed properly?
Your symptoms sound very similar to my own, also over at least 20 years. I too was told physio and painkillers were the way to go. (No good).
Went to chiropractor for 6-7 months, he decided the problem was NOT mechanical and that I needed a full brain/body scan.
Again, my doctor wouldn’t hear of it and prescribed more physio and pain relief tabs, which do appear to help very short term.
The distortion you talk about sounds more like your muscles in your back going into ‘spasm’ which mis-aligns the back and causes more pain than anyone can even imagine. (So my sympathies there).
I eventually changed my doctor who sent me for a scan recently. In MY case I’ve been diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis. (Which causes me to have numerous muscle spasms mainly in my legs now, but also in my stomach and back).
But more to the point, the spasms in the back can be caused by kidney and liver malfunctions. Many doctors resist going down that line of enquiry for some reason, but if you’re also suffering from fatigue, I would definitely INSIST your doctor checks out both the MS and kidney/liver possibilities.
I know it’s hard to think that ‘cramps’ could misalign the back so much, but I’m living proof that it DOES, so please check it out.
Good luck,
Pete.
Hi Pete, I am so glad you found my site! I have always wondered myself if there is something more going on then what I have been told. I always kind of chalked it up to the fact that I have CFS and Fibromyalgia. Yes, you are right about the spasms. My muscles tighten up like a drum. It definitely is miserable. Thanks again! I’m going to call the doctor today.
Now that I think about it, Saturday afternoon and evening I was having some problems with going to the bathroom. Things just didn’t feel right when I would try to urinate, but I just thought it was my IC acting up. It could have been. But what you said about the kidneys and liver makes me think.
I had the problem where I can’t walk for a little over a month. I’ve been to the hospital and the Dr told me he couldn’t help. He told me that I have to see a nuero surgen witch I haven’t seen just yet. What is the condition when leg muscles are very tight very hard to walk normally.