Back pain ?

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

For glucosamine and other supplements try www.simplysupplements.net - I did there website for them, but their prices are rock bottom on most of that kind of stuff!

Edited August 9, 2006 by UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk

[M.P]

Don't listen to anyone, get yourself to the doctors, and get an X-ray ASAP.

 

I suffered severe back pains a few years ago and different people advised me to take a mixture of various drugs/painkillers, do some exercise go swimming etc etc.

 

Nothing worked and the pains got worse, even ended up 6 weeks in a wheelchair unable to walk or move without agonising pains.

Eventually went to my GP. Immediate treatment/X-ray etc revealed i had a broken vertebra and Osteophrosis had developed around the break which causes the spine to crack. Not got a clue how i done it, possibly the results from a motor-cycle tumble. However, i had left it too long and nothing can be done to repair it. Now too risky to touch and if they tried the results could be, i might never walk again.

 

I'm now permanently disabled, messed up because i never bothered to seek the proper medical advice/treatment when i first got signs of something was wrong. Instead i listened to everyone else/friends etc who thought they knew better then then the doctors.

 

Get yourself to your GP, before it's too late.

[RobStubbs]

Thanks for all the advice, I've got the GP tonight so we'll see what they say. I'm pretty sure it was them that referred me to the physio previously a few years back and that did the trick then and on the odd case in between times. The pain feels similar but physio didn't do the trick and it's been going on for over a week.

 

I'm lucky having private medical insurance so if I need to see a specialist I can pretty much avoid all the waiting.

 

Rob.

[Ducktape Corkfeet]

1. Pethidene

2. Remediene Forte

3. Amitryptyline

4. Lyrica

5. Arthrotec

6 Acupuncture

 

along with...

 

7. Good GP

8. Good Consultant

9. MRI & CAT scans.

 

Works for me (and I really wish I wasn't being serious)

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Have to say Amitryptiline Hydrochloride is a pretty amazing drug - originally an anti-depressent, but more commonly used today in minute doses (25mg to 40mg is typical - as an anti-depressive you'd be prescribed 200mg or thereabouts).

 

When I was suffering from Migraines I was prescribed a small dose by a doctor and I am convinced that - combined with fairly heavy magnesium supplements (if you research migraines, magnesium seems to be a big thing) has completely alleviated the symptoms - although it took nearly a year.

 

I slipped a disc a few years back and it's always niggled from time to time - on the Amitryptiline though it truthfully wasn't much of a problem. Only issue is it makes you terribly groggy (and thirsty) early in the day!

 

It's also being prescribed for Fibromyalgia - a chronic muscular pain condition - again in minute doses, with very good results.

[Norrie]

Rob,

 

My wife has had a hell of a lot of back pain for years...has had MRI and Cat scans ,which they dont do lightly up here..damage to lower back while pregnant it was decided,..anyways, the upshot was she got issued with a Tenns (sp) machine, which fires an electric pulse ? through her muscles, she has found it works very well, and definately alleviates the pain.

 

She also has IBT, and has just been diagnosed with Emphysemia..... she is getting on a bit now !!!!

 

Hope you get a result mate.

 

Cheers.

[Guest Jan V]

My wife has had a hell of a lot of back pain for years...has had MRI and Cat scans ,which they dont do lightly up here..damage to lower back while pregnant it was decided,..anyways, the upshot was she got issued with a Tenns (sp) machine, which fires an electric pulse ? through her muscles, she has found it works very well, and definately alleviates the pain.

 

Norrie, I own 2 tens units but haven't really needed them since my "bulging disc" finally ruptured big time. Had that removed and back pain was pretty much gone almost immediately after surgery. The concept of the electric pulses seems odd to anyone who has never used a tens but they do wonders for those in chronic pain.

 

 

 

So sorry to hear your wife has been diagnosed with emphysema. Will she have to change jobs and get out of the environment where there is so much smoke?

[Lid]

Newt.

chiropractice is manipulation of the back, suposedly to put right minor subluxations of the spine. Essentially, it's reflexology on the back and carries with it significant risks of injury and some risk of stroke, paralysis or death - although that doesn't get mentioned much in the brochure.

As with reflexology, it has no proven medical basis whatsoever although lots of people report feeling better afterwards.

Th McTimoney Chiropractic technique is far gentler than this and works for a fair number of patients, including myself and my wife who has had 3 prolapsed disks and no surgery to date.

 

See here.

Edited August 12, 2006 by Lid

[Ken L]

http://www.chirobase.org/01General/skeptic.html

[Sportsman]

http://www.chirobase.org/01General/skeptic.html

 

 

Interesting post Ken, but then again I have never seen any scientific evidence to support Acupuncture but it works (for me at least)

 

TBH if anyone told me my vertabra were misplaced or had slipped I would walk away, assuming I could.

 

To go back to the original question, I have had 5 prolapses and 3 surgeries including discectomies, laminectomies and spinal fusions, none of which were particularly effective. I have what the surgeon descibed as a failed back, and I am kept going by a mixture of pain killers, anti inflammatories, remedial massage and Acupuncture.

My advice, for what it is worth as I don't have a great track record at looking after my own, is to keep as active as the pain will allow, avoid bed rest like the plague and get your GP to send you to a specialist who knows about backs and not just a general orthopaedic surgeon.

My last prolapse in 2000 was a major bulge at L1 (very high) and led to almost complete paralysis and complete disability. I was told I would not work again and may not even walk again, with a strong liklihood of long term indwelling urinary catheters and incontinence.

While I wsa deciding which method I would use to top myself my GP found a specialist who actually knew what he was doing and he injected the bulge with an enzyme found in Papya fruit (Papain) which dissolved the disc / bulge. After a month in hospital and 6 months learning to walk again I am now fully recovered from that episode but still suffer chronic sciatica in both legs which is likely to be permanent, so:-

 

1. keep active

2. Avoid surgery, but if it is inevitable choose your surgeon carefully

3. Good luck

 

Dave