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Chronic lower back pain & Radiculopathy 21 yrs old
Spine Health | Last Active: Sep 8 11:12pm | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
I have congenital stenosis due to being born with a narrow spinal canal and any degeneration causes compression. I am now in my 50s but have had various issues over time.
Are you hypermobile? Are your joints extra flexible and do your joints feel loose/easy to dislocate or bend excessively? I have hypermobility and can bend and touch my hands flat to the floor despite 2 cervical and one lumbar spine decompression/fusion surgeries.
You may want to see a rheumatologist for specialized bloodwork to see if you have an autoimmune disease (mixed connective tissue disease) for treatment options. Have you had extensive bloodwork done and has any result fallen outside the normal reference range minimum/maximum?
You would benefit getting a psychologist that specializes in helping people who deal with chronic pain. You may also benefit from taking an antidepressant to help you cope. Are you still taking duloxetine? It is supposed to help with nerve/arthritis pain but also helps with depression from chronic pain. If it isn’t helping your depression, you may want to work with a psychiatrist to consider adding another medication, like Wellbutrin/bupropion, to your duloxetine . I had taken both at a time. I am now just taking the bupropion but may look into taking duloxetine again since my nerve pain is increasing again and pregabalin (Lyrica) isn’t helping much.
What do your parents suggest you do? Are they helping you navigate the healthcare system and advocate for the best care?
Replies to "@ellakaluzinski04 I have congenital stenosis due to being born with a narrow spinal canal and any..."
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I'm not hypermobile, I haven't had many dislocations in my life and haven't broken any bones. I think my doctor did a "general" autoimmune blood test, i am not really sure to what extent but since autoimmune problems run on my mothers side of the family my mum is pushing my doctor for further testing, I am not sure if you are from Australia but most of our healthcare is bulk billed or only small out of pocket expenses. I had a look online said rheumatologist appointments in my state are about $120 out of pocket expense. This is something i can afford and will keep this in mind. I have considered seeing a psychologist but they are crazy expensive here and the wait time is ridiculous, possibly a future thing. My parents and I are very close and they are helping me every step of the way, My dad often works away so i don't see him often but he calls me regularly to stay informed and gives me support and my mum is there with me for every doctors appointment to help me advocate for the best care as sometimes I am not a very good communicator and can get a bit flustered especially with a lot of information. The next step my GP recommended is to get into a pain specialist as soon as I possibly can he said me marked as semi urgent moved my wait time from 8 months down to one month, so i am just waiting to get a call from the pain specialist and then the specialist will override what my doctor does and take it from there.