Lower back pain

Chronic Pain
#1

My husband has degenerative discs in his L2 and L3. He had radio frequency about 10 weeks ago with little relief. He complains of a constant ache whenever he bends over or picks up anything. This seems to be the only time it bothers him. Does anyone have any advice as to things he should or could try? His job is in the military so he is constantly in the gym every morning with his team and required to be able to carry somebody for training... He is not one to get on the computer so I doubt you will find him here, but I will be checking around:)

Thanks, Kim

#2

i wish i had an answer…i really don’t… but i feel his pain!lots of vicodin works for a short while for me…but i left work this morning and couldn’t feel my feet because of the disc pressing on a nerve! it was a wonderful site i’m sure!!! it is a very frustrating way to live!

#3

Hi, kimberly

from my own exsperiance I can only tell you this, the best thing I have found for back pain is ice and then heat. but of corse the vicodon work the best too. Is he on anything for pain?Another thing is moist heat, wet a towl under his heating pad.I also use a tennis ball for relief when its real bad, but then again it depends on what kind of pain condition he has. best of luck onnaroll

#4

your welcome..=) Im always happy to help others as much as i can.  by the way I use the tennis ball in a good harder back chair, you put them in a sock, this way you can move it where you need it without it rolling away from ya. make sure that he doesnt put pressure on his spine though thats a nono. let me know if theres anything more I can do.

ps.the manual for this is in the clair davies book, its called the trigger point therapy workbook

#5

hmmm somebody must know somehing that would help with the back pain! I cannot believe you guys have to live with this…it seems like it would be a fairly easy fix…well we will have to wait for someone to come along and let us know:)

#6

a friend of mine who has the problem went to PT where they used traction…she actually said it did help her…i’ve personally never had it done…i found PT a waste of time, and left with double the pain…but the traction sounds wonderful…???

#7

Hi Onnaroll, He does take glucosamine, tylenol,and other supplements, but cant take any pain meds because of his job. I will def let him know about the heat and cold packs, we haven’t even tried that yet!! The tennis ball trick sounds cool I will have to mention it to him as well, sometimes I have him lay out on my yoga ball to stretch and he always says that feels good, so who knows :slight_smile: Thanks for the info <3 Kimberly

#8

Onnaroll, do you put 1ball or several in the sock and kind of roll it around? I am excited to have him try this next time he is having pain :)

Thanks

Kim

#9

Hi kim, just one, then have him roll it in one direction over the soar spot ihen release then roll over i again then release , just so your not going back and forth. hope that made since. good luck I hope that will help with his pain. I know with me it does , it gets the blood cerculating. keep me posted

                                                               onnaroll

                                           

 sry about this note I couldnt read the fine print..lol I set it wrong and I gave up trying to fix my mistakes

#10

Hi Kimberly,

I had surgery at L4 and L5, and now have another degenerating disc in the "T" area.  To bend, tell your husband to stoop with his knees rather than bend at the waist.   Any passive exercise that gently stretches is good, and especially in the pool.  I feel for your husband.  It's a blow to have back pain because it's the core of everything.  With yoga...keep him away from power yoga...just gentle moves and stretches.  Have him try to keep his back from bearing too much weight.  Breathing helps too...breath into the pain with long calm breaths.  When we hurt, we tend to hold our breath which makes more stress inside the body.  Surgery is inevitable with degenerative disc disease.  Has he had an MRI looked at by a neurosurgeon?  That would be the best indicator as to how much time he has with the conditon the way it is, what he can expect and so forth.  Knowledge is power!  I use a hot pad when my back really hurts.  Its only been a little over three months since my surgery...and I know I have a long rod ahead of me.  Best wishes to both of you.  Warmly, Christina

#11

Hi Kimberly, I have degenerative disc and facet disease, also bulging discs and tears, sciatica, stenosis and SI Joint and tailbone pain.  Pain blocks work temporarily for me.  They put cortisone and lidocaine into a needle and under live xray guide the needle in the appropriate place.  Too many of these can do damage though.  They temporarily get the inflammation out so the nerve endings get relief.  The advice given above from other members all sounds good too.  Always check with his doctor though so he doesn’t do more damage.  And be sure and thank him for his dedicated service to our country, especially with him suffering with back problems. 

#12

Hi Kimberly,

It has been 35 out of y 46 years that I have had neck & back problems due to being in 9 cars that were rear ended giving me 9 of my 10 whiplashes and the Pars. I have "Pars" at L5&S1 (that is when the facets on the sides of the vertarea are fracured). I also have a spondilolesthesis at L5- S1, C4-C5-C6, degenerative disc disease, and hardly any disc at L5-S1. I have been living on vicadin & fiorocet as well as adjustments from a Chiropractor who works only with an instrument called an "Activator". You can check this out on "Activator.com" It is totally passive. No turning, twisting or Popping. It has helped me a lot. i have read the other responses to your husbands dilema. ist rule of back injury care that involves your bones in ICE ONLY! Heat my appear to help, yet it only increases the inflamation that causes most of the pain. Heat is good for muscles.

I just broke down and had the lidocain/Dermercain shots in my neck & L5-S1. At my hips i had a "Facet Block". I was and still am a bit leary about having more than a few shots. I tell you, you gotta be in alot of pain to let someone stick 8 neddles in your neck, but I am at that point. The Meds can distroy your Liver and I got to the point where the were not working anyways. Since the shots, I have cut my med intake by 75% and my pain has really been decreased. It is like a great vacation. What a blessing. I hope all that read this recieve help for this information.

Lisa

#13

hi my hubby has the same thing, he is in pain management and gets block injections i think of cortizone. There is a surgery that is very succsesfull. My hubby is to scared to do it, but he has good days and bad days. Pain management is the best because they really get to the pain with physical therapy and injections and meds if he needs them

Michele

#14

Thank you all for your feedback! Wow a lot of information to pass along. I did not know about the heat vs. cold thing! I have been tellin ghim to get the heating pad out when his back hurts I guess I will have to tell him to get the ice out from now on!

He has tried the cortizone shot and also the one that is suppose to "kill" the nerve. That didn't seem to help. He is seeing a pain specialist so hopefully they will hae some ideas. Pain meds are out of the question because of his job, so they must have some other ideas that will help him out!

Best of everything to you all!!!

~Kim

#15

Thank you all for your feedback! Wow a lot of information to pass along. I did not know about the heat vs. cold thing! I have been tellin ghim to get the heating pad out when his back hurts I guess I will have to tell him to get the ice out from now on!

He has tried the cortizone shot and also the one that is suppose to "kill" the nerve. That didn't seem to help. He is seeing a pain specialist so hopefully they will hae some ideas. Pain meds are out of the question because of his job, so they must have some other ideas that will help him out!

Best of everything to you all!!!

~Kim

#16

Thank you all for your feedback! Wow a lot of information to pass along. I did not know about the heat vs. cold thing! I have been tellin ghim to get the heating pad out when his back hurts I guess I will have to tell him to get the ice out from now on!

He has tried the cortizone shot and also the one that is suppose to "kill" the nerve. That didn't seem to help. He is seeing a pain specialist so hopefully they will hae some ideas. Pain meds are out of the question because of his job, so they must have some other ideas that will help him out!

Best of everything to you all!!!

~Kim

#17

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:16:28 -0400
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Hi Kimberly,

It has been 35 out of y 46 years that I have had neck & back problems due to
being in 9 cars that were rear ended giving me 9 of my 10 whiplashes and the
Pars. I have “Pars” at L5&S1 (that is when the facets on the sides of the
vertarea are fracured). I also have a spondilolesthesis at L5- S1, C4-C5-C6,
degenerative disc disease, and hardly any disc at L5-S1. I have been living
on vicadin & fiorocet as well as adjustments from a Chiropractor who works
only with an instrument called an “Activator”. You can check this out on
"Activator.com" It is totally passive. No turning, twisting or Popping. It
has helped me a lot. i have read the other responses to your husbands dilema.
ist rule of back injury care that involves your bones in ICE ONLY! Heat my
appear to help, yet it only increases the inflamation that causes most of the
pain. Heat is good for muscles.

I just broke down and had the lidocain/Dermercain shots in my neck & L5-S1.
At my hips i had a “Facet Block”. I was and still am a bit leary about having
more than a few shots. I tell you, you gotta be in alot of pain to let
someone stick 8 neddles in your neck, but I am at that point. The Meds can
distroy your Liver and I got to the point where the were not working anyways.
Since the shots, I have cut my med intake by 75% and my pain has really been
decreased. It is like a great vacation. What a blessing. I hope all that read
this recieve help for this information.

Lisa

Hi Lisa my name is Becca,

I read your response and you said the pain meds can destroy your liver. I bet
your Dr. told you that. If you are taking opioids which is what most chronic
pain patients take this is the biggest lie that our Dr’s tell us. I found a
some information on the this web site which is from Physicians and Surgeons.
The site is AAPS, which stands for Association of American Physicains and
Surgeons. The physicians who treat chronic pain worry about their medical
licence, because the DEA is not to happy with the amount of narcotics they
have to give us in order to control our pain. On their web site I found a
document that is for the Dr’s and it is called “Informed Consent”. This is a
contract that these Dr’s are encouraged to use for their patient’s with
chronic pain. They give what they called “basic Information” to these Dr’s and
on the subject of toxicity it states:

“opioids are not toxic to any organ system in the body. They do no damage even
with long-term use. A possible exception is the suspicion that high dose
methadone may provoke cardiac artythmias in suseptible individuals”

I was surprised when I read this, because my last Dr. told me that the opioids
I was taken could hurt my liver. I am a nurse and I took a course on pain
management a few years back and the new information I learned was exactly the
opposite from what this Dr. was telling me. That was why I went looking for
information on pain medication toxicity.

I hope this information helps you.

Becca

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#18

I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU I HAVE TRIED TRACTION AND SHOTS AND TONS OF THEREOPY WITH NO HELP BUT WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT HI HAVE DEGENETIVE DISC AND A BULDGED DISC  AND ARTHRITIS AND CAN’T SEEM TO GET ANY RELIEF THE BEST THING I CAN THINK OF IS HAS HE SEEN A SPICALIST AND HAS HE TRIED INJECTIONS I WISH HIM LUCK JANET

#19

Hi all…

I haven’t been here in a long time…lots going on…my husband and I are on our way to Seattle for a long needed rest…the first since we got married actually. I think it will do a lot of good. I have spinal column stenosis between C5/C6 and something else at C6/C7. The lower back pain is fading…only hurts when I am sitting for too long. When the lower back pain was so severe prior to my surgery, I didn’t notice the neck or thoraxic area. Now bot are giving me trouble. I learned that I have spondylolisthesis in my entire spine which means that my spine is unstable…the whole entire thing. Accepting that pain is going to be a permanent presence in my life is a hard one.

Thanks to all of you wonderful dear ones who have hugged me and written notes while I have been in the major diagnosis mode. I hope this letter finds you all with one more pain free day. I will write to all of you when we return from our trip. Much love…Christina

#20

Just when you think that your pain is excrutiating, I read some of these stories, and it makes me feel like a wuss. I have arthritis in my hips, I had a job where I lifted about 2000 lbs. a week, talk about killing ya. I have had anti-inflammatory medicines, pain killers, steroids,etc., have tried chiropractors, heat, cold, to no avail. Do not really want to try surgery, but it looks as though I am heading for that.

I hope that all of you get too feeling better, but we know.