Medical Cocerns
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You are currently reading a thread in /adv/ - Advice
You are currently reading a thread in /adv/ - Advice
I've seen 2 different doctors, both of which didn't even want to listen to me about this.
I'm 23, and I have chronic lower back pain. It's not the spine, it's a bulging bone I feel in the backside of my hips, and it is painful. Sleeping is uncomfortable, sitting is uncomfortable, I've gone through 4 beds, and 3 couches trying to find something that would be a more comfortable living situation for my condition.
I can't sit through a movie at a theater, I can't sit in my car for a long trip, I've got the wooden beads in my drivers seat, I put analgesic gel on my back almost every night, sleep on ice packs, and take a heavy dose of on the shelf generic pain killers almost every day.
I will say the pain differs from time to time, somedays I barely notice it, but am still obviously limited in my motion of bending, and performing, and other days I'm groaning like a 70 year old trying to get out of a chair.
I feel bad, my entire body is fatigued, and has been for two weeks. I saw 2 doctors last months, one didn't even address it, and the other gave me some muscle relaxer pills that just put me to bed.
I'm seeing my first primary care doctor at the end of this month, and I've never been in this much pain that I worry if I'll make it or not.
It's been getting more intense each day for the past couple weeks, it seems. And coincidently, I also caught a cold in that time-frame, and I know that isn't helping me out one bit with the body fatigue issues.
Has anyone gone through this type of stuff before. I don't want to say it's cancer, but I now also have a boney lump protruding from the top of my spine now too.
I have played a lot of video games when I was younger, and gained a lot of weight. That was years ago, and I've lost that weight now, but I still play video games, and it might just be poor posture catching up to me or something. My head has always kind of tilted to the right.
Again, I have a doctor appointment, and I've already seen 2 that didn't care before.
>>17157495
>gave me some muscle relaxer pills that just put me to bed.
What pills, exactly (eg flexeril)?
Doctors aren't really supposed to do this (prescribe dangerous and addictive pills to get rid of you) but it's unfortunately common.
Use pic related or another such pic and draw exactly where the pain and bumps are (eg with mspaint).
>It's not the spine, it's a bulging bone I feel in the backside of my hips, and it is painful.
Both sides i'm guessing?
The pain's probably at a site where an abused, stiff, spastic, or otherwise impaired muscle/set of muscles attach to the hip bone.
Try a non-spring mattress, like an inflatable one, or water bed. See how that works.
Also do some back stretches and exercises to improve muscle function and range of motion, whenever something's wrong with one muscle group or nerve, its neighbors have to compensate for it, and in most sedentary people the back muscles are far too weak and stiff to compensate for anything. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QRZhlYCl8k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9wph_-iKys
>>17157495
>both of which didn't even want to listen to me about this.
Since it sounds obviously psychosomatic. They know they're just going to order a laundry list of expensive imaging just to have it all come back negative, and that they probably won't be able to fix it in the end since they're not trained for it (nor do they particularly want to do that job).
Better for both you and them in that situation to stop wasting time/energy and wait for it to go away (mystery back pain usually does).
>>17157495
>now also have a boney lump protruding from the top of my spine now too.
Draw that too. Make sure it's not just the C7 vertebrae (its spinous process normally protrudes and aches like hell when the muscles attached to it cramp up)
>>17158035
>What pill?
You guessed it, flexeril, I think it was generic, though.
>Both sides
Just my right side is in pain, occasionally the other side aches as well, but it would be to a much lesser degree. I do feel numb in my right ass cheek, and thigh from time to time, and this is a new development that is miniscule and not bothersome for the time being.
>mattress
I do have a girlfriend to consider, and I've barked up the water bed tree before with her, but she was not at all for it. Maybe I'll try that approach again, 'cause I've always wanted a damn water bed.
>psychosomatic
I don't know what that means, but the waiting for it to go away is what I've been doing for over 5 years, and it's now brought me to a point of seeing 2 doctors in 2 months, and another visit lined up. It's gotten worse over time, not at all better.
>c7
I think that's the one, after looking it up. It's right about where my shoulders/neck meet?
>>17158411
Meant to add on, about exercise and stretching
Over the years I've had this chronic pain, I've done many different exercises and I have noticed nothing happening on the positive side of things.
From using a baking roller, to laying on a hard floor (that's the best, imo) I never get the relief I desire.
My mom keeps trying to get me to those mall massage people, and everyone suggests a chiropractor, but they all say they go regularly.
I don't want pills, I don't want monthly massages, I just want this problem fixed.
>>17158411
What kind of benefit did you get from the muscle relaxant? Felt like it helped dramatically, not at all, etc?
Spend a lot of time at the computer, reading, at an electronics bench, etc? Everything done in a hunched-over or looking-down posture for hours at a time tends to cause pain over C7 (by stiffening the muscles that attach to it, which are mostly "designed" to keep the head upright instead).
OTC pain relievers usually don't help this in my experience, but changing chair height does.You should be looking only slightly downward at things like books, computers, tablets, etc. Overall body should be in a neutral sitting position, shoulders neutral and not forward, backward, hunched, or pinched together.
Psychosomatic means your brain is doing it to your body, basically. Brain has a lot of strange, weird, and frankly almost occult powers over various bodily systems and can fuck with them in all kinds of strange ways. You know the placebo effect, right? Where the brain heals the body? Well, in somatization, the brain basically takes out its frustration on the body in an abusive way, kind of like an abusive man might take out his anger on his partner or kids.
We're just beginning to understand how this actually happens, but it seems like the spine, and lower back especially, is one of the most common "targets" for an abusive brain to hit. This is also tied to some theories of fibromyalgia, with common "tender points".
Most MDs from older generations avoid these issues since they were taught basically nothing about them and the research is all still preliminary and contradictory: they consider it the domain of neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, and neurophysiologists, not currently practicing GP docs. If it's psychosomatic, they will often miserably fail to diagnose and treat it properly, so many more don't try at all (though that's another wrong approach).
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[cont. from >>17159133, 2/2]
Chiropractors are usually great at massages but bad at actual medicine (ie fixing the problem), so you'll have to go regularly like your friends. Malls are usually the worst, best will all have their own practices in town.
As for exercise, what are you doing right now?
If you don't go to the gym or organized sports, i'd suggest starting a daily calisthenics and stretching routine, something short like 15 or 30 minutes per day.
Mine includes half-superman raises, superman plank, and flutter kicks (on stomach) for lower back, they work quite well. In case it's psychosomatic, at least it'll tone those muscles and push the load elsewhere: somewhere it's easier to pin down and fix. And in the case of a nerve issue, it'll help make it obvious what's wrong, ie if a muscle is clearly malfunctioning or a nerve is trapped somewhere. This'll also largely fix other issues like postural imbalance causing beginnings of light scoliosis, and make you more resistant to injury when lifting heavy shit, so it's a good idea for everyone to have lower back work in their routine anyway.
Again one of the main benefits of extensive exercise and stretching is that it's much clearer exactly when and where something goes wrong, both for you and the doctors. People who are in poor physical shape are basically expected to have low back pain nowadays, stats say the great majority of americans do.
>>17157495
Get an MRI. See a orthopedic doctor first then go to the ER and tell them it's too painful and hurting a lot. Fudge it a bit if you have to. Just don't go through what I went through.
I had a slight back issue for years.Then One day while working on my yard I made a wrong movement and it felt like ice lightning in my back, it went all over my upper body. I collapsed in pain, couldn't walk for 2 weeks. Had to sleep sitting up. Waking up every 20 minutes to move. If I didn't I would be too stiff to move. I couldn't run for about 1 year.
Turns out I had a herniated disc in the T-11 area and a fractured disc right below it. I was on pretesone, hydrocodone for a few months. Then about 1200 mg a day of ibprofin for about 6 months. Was in physical therapy for a total of about 10 months.
>>17159182
Yeah, make sure they at least CT your spine to avoid preventable shit like this.
They only found a Schmorl's node on mine, but even that's useful info if it ever becomes a problem.
