Severe chronic back pain

Posted by shooshoo7073 @shooshoo7073, Apr 13 10:00pm

Severe chronic back pain…I’ve suffered for years and have been told different things about my back pain, I was told taking weight off would help ive last 50 pounds and no relief if anything it’s getting worse. I’m having a hard time doing basic things without being in severe pain. I’ve done massage Acupuncture physical therapy serval times. Now I’m just frustrated about even going to the doctor cause nothing changes. It hurts to even walk and my big toes on both feet are numb. What should I do I’m losing hope and I don’t know how much more pain I can handle. Please help

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I have had severe back pain for over 30 years. Took 25 years for someone to finally refer me to a rheumatologist. I have a type of inflammatory back pain that is caused by my overactive immune system and managed with immune suppressants. If your doctors haven't run any blood work looking for inflammatory markers, maybe that's something to look into. Also, if your toes are numb, perhaps a consult with a neurologist might be worthwhile to rule out any kind of neuropathy. I just had an EMG and a nerve conduction study to rule out myopathy (muscle issue) and it wasn't so bad. As an aside, a friend of mine has terrible backpain and her doctor prescribed Gabapentin which is not a narcotic and she's doing well with it. Hope you get to the root cause so you can figure it out. Best of luck.

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I’ve had a compromised lower back since I was 25. I’m 69 now.
Had 3 surgeries. Every injection available. A few years of ablations. The only surgery that provided relief was the first one where i actually ruptured the disc. Every thing that can be wrong with a lower back I have.
Finally I was offered a spinal stimulator implant. It is life changing. It decreased my back pain a minimum of 80%.
In addition I will tell you that physical therapy is an absolute must. It’s so important to strengthen the core muscles. I do PT four days a week for a hour addressing my entire body.
I also do yoga one day a week.
I also have bad knees, torn rotator cuffs in the shoulders, one hip has been replaced the other is shot. When you’ve had chronic acute pain for decades and decades you’ll do anything to get even minor relief. Ask your orthopedic or neurosurgeon about a spinal stimulator. You’ll wish you did it years ago.

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Try Journavx it works its a non opioid

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@jwool89

What type of Dr are you seeing and what tests have you had? I highly recommend x-rays if it has been a long time or possibly MRI. I have been a regular for years at PT with osteoarthritis in lumbar/thoracic/cervical along with herniated lumbar disc at L4/L5. (We had mostly been working on my neck) Finally saw an orthopedic Dr at Mayo Rochester last month who tested my core and said I am not firing some core stabilizer muscles (despite me doing core exercises at home). If you are having disc issues I highly recommend PT to stabilize your core. It has made a world of difference for me. I started using a machine she recommended to help me learn to fire those sleeping muscles. It has made a world of difference.

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What was the machine

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@marialyce

What was the machine

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Neubie. If you look on Neufit’s website you can see if anyone has it in your area. It has improved my back dramatically.

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@pm56

I have had severe back pain for over 30 years. Took 25 years for someone to finally refer me to a rheumatologist. I have a type of inflammatory back pain that is caused by my overactive immune system and managed with immune suppressants. If your doctors haven't run any blood work looking for inflammatory markers, maybe that's something to look into. Also, if your toes are numb, perhaps a consult with a neurologist might be worthwhile to rule out any kind of neuropathy. I just had an EMG and a nerve conduction study to rule out myopathy (muscle issue) and it wasn't so bad. As an aside, a friend of mine has terrible backpain and her doctor prescribed Gabapentin which is not a narcotic and she's doing well with it. Hope you get to the root cause so you can figure it out. Best of luck.

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It amazes me how SO many doctors won't even tell us about more possibilities for pain relief. I have 7 issues going on with my back. I've had many special injections and procedures that do nothing. Most recent doctor is recommending "mild", because I refuse to have back surgery. I am looking for someone who has had this done, and what was the outcome? I will be 82 in July, but am reasonably active; just very limited, due to pain.

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I have a great surgeon who has done a laminectomy and a S1-L5 fusion. Both surgeries were successful in terms of stabilizing my spine in those areas. The one thing he emphasized is that these surgeries are done primarily to strengthen the spine and second, to alleviate pain to some degree. He said I will still have some pain. He was correct. I also have had a successful cervical fusion,
C3-C7. This was done to prevent paralysis, mitigate severe pain in my neck and extreme numbness in my hands. The surgeries greatly improved my quality of life but the recoveries took approximately one year. I am taking pain medicine every day to further improve quality of life. I refuse to have injections. Being that you are 82, can you, would you want to face months or a year of recovery? Or undergo major surgery? Can you tolerate and benefit from
pain meds? Good luck.

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