1. < Spine Health

is the pain from hip or back?

Posted by braves11 @braves11, Apr 19, 2017

Mom is 92. One kidney. 5 ft tall..113 lbs. uses walker. She has had this pain for 5 weeks. She has pain in low lumbar, into hip, down side of leg only to knee , and lifting her leg causes hip and groin pain. Coughing causes groin pain almost down to vaginal area. Not much pain at all when walking or standing. When she is in the act of sitting down, or can't find a comfortable position to stay seated, it's severe, but once she "gets over that spot", it's mild. This is not a result of falling. The act of standing up from being seated is painful. MRI of hip is normal.... MRI of lumbar shows lots of degeneration , loss of disc space, etc but nothing jumps out as a cause like herniation . CT of lumbar is ok. Had epidural of L 4-5 ... no help. Bursa injection.. no help. Now they want to do a bone scan AND bone density test.
1. Does this sound like hip or back. We have differing opinions. One ortho says back ... another says hip... therefore bone scan. But mom is concerned about taking it due to one kidney and creatinine range of 1.3 up to 1.7. ( the contrast)
2. One says rest it... the other says PT.
3. Should we push for another epidural at L 3-4???
4. They want her to take gabapentin but drowsiness is issue , esp with walker etc. Takes Ultracet.
We are at a road block not knowing what to do

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steeldove | @steeldove | Aug 17, 2017
In reply to @predictable "Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I..." + (show)
@predictable

Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin

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Glad that you found relief from the injections. They didn't work for me and I had to have radiofrequency neuroablation. Unfortunately, that nerve does grow back, and I'm trying to schedule another neuroablation.

REPLY
Martin Jensen, Volunteer Mentor | @predictable | Aug 17, 2017
In reply to @predictable "Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I..." + (show)
@predictable

Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin

Jump to this post

If you're addressing me, @steeldove, permit me to clarify that there was no nerve involved in my sacroilitis, just inflammation in the sacroiliac joint. The inflammation had been exacerbated by a physical therapist who followed standard practice based on assumptions about the origin of lower back pain -- he thought it related to nerves from the spinal cord being pinched by vertebrae. So he tied me to a motor-driven table and pulled my pelvis away from my shoulders to open the space between my vertebrae. Bad choice before my diagnosis was confirmed. So if the pain comes back, my FIRST choice will be to check out the sacroiliac joint before I let anybody mess with my spine. Martin

REPLY
gracea | @gracea | Aug 17, 2017
In reply to @predictable "Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I..." + (show)
@predictable

Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin

Jump to this post

Thank you very much Martin
Grace

REPLY
gracea | @gracea | Aug 17, 2017
In reply to @predictable "Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I..." + (show)
@predictable

Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin

Jump to this post

Thank you for your comments. I hope you do better. Grace

REPLY
steeldove | @steeldove | Aug 17, 2017
In reply to @predictable "Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I..." + (show)
@predictable

Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin

Jump to this post

The nerve that was zapped out was that which carried the pain messages from my SI joint to the brain.
Where was that physical therapist? I want to be sure to stay far away from him/her!!!!

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