Lower back pain only in morning

I wake every morning with horrible pain in lower back (kidney area) that radiates to the front of stomach (rib area).  I have had battery of tests and found nothing.  I am only able to sleep 5-6 hours before pain wakes me, also unable to take a deep breath until I get out of bed (very painful just to roll over), once I stand and get out of bed the pain almost immediately starts to ease.  After about 20 minutes of walking around and after first morning void, pain disappears for remainder of day.
Could this be a pinched nerve or nerve compression?  Had MRI of lower lumbar which showed normal...chiro recommends stretching excersises, something serious has to be wrong with this kind of pain.  If anyone has any ideas it would be GREATLY appreciated!!

[anjel75]

This is very common to how my pain started. It would hurt the worst in the morning but I get up and walk. Once I had walked that was it for a while. I would have to take pain meds 30 minutes prior to getting up. I have moderate to severe DDD and Facet Syndrome.

[SJMCRAE]

Thanks for your reply.  May I ask what DDD is?  Also, after seeing a chiro, he also gave me a diagnosis of Facet syndrome.  Is your morning pain so severe that it hurts to inhale and exhale?  Again, once I'm up for about 20 min the pain is no longer there.  Its just horrible to wake with this pain every morning. It all seem to come out after the birth of my daughter, 9 years ago.  I have been dealing with this pain every since...nothing helps.  I've had about every test you can imagine ran and they come up with nothing.  There has got to be a reason for this pain and someway to manage it. Are you presently taking any meds for this condition?  Thanks again, I'm sorry you have the same problem but I'm glad to know that someone else knows what I'm going through and understands.

[anjel75]

DDD = Degenerative Disc Disease. I don't know how you would have got the diagnoisis of Facet Syndrome without having the diagnosis of DDD. That is a precursor. I take Lyrica and Hydrocodone APAP. I also take some Relafan but the dr. doesn't know that. I am allergic to NSAIDs and I am most definitely allergic to this Relafan. It gives me horrible chest pains but sometimes I will just take them over the back pain. I have an alarm clock with 2 alarms on it. One wakes me 30 minutes prior to getting up. I have my meds on the bed side table and take those with the first alarm. I just go back to sleep. 30 minutes later, I am OK enough to get up , get dressed, and go exercise!

[SJMCRAE]

Thanks for the definition, the chiro is who gave me the diagnosis of Facet Syndrome, gave me some literature on the syndrome and wanted me to continue with office visits, stretching procedures, etc.  To be honest, after a few visits insurance stopped paying and I didnt see any results for the pain.  I asked about pain meds and chiro explained that he was not of authority to write prec's(?)  I just wish I could find something to stop the pain.  Do you have difficulty inhaling and exhaling with the pain upon waking?
Thanks again - God bless.

[andersun]

I have the same problem as you have stated. Here is my story and hopefully it may help you understand why you may have these pains.

I have had two herniated discs lower back since I was 12 years old.(fell out of the loft of a barn and landed on my butt!) The result was severe pain after sitting for more than 15 minutes unless a lumbar support was utilized. I am 44 now and have been able to control the pain, which used to knock me to the ground after sitting, through major abdomen exercises. Twelve years ago, I joined a wellness center work-out room and started using a quality ab-roller. After one month of using the ab-roller 3 to 4 days a week, I forgot about my chronic pain and was able to throw out all of the lumbar supports I had for the office, car, etc...!  One symptom I still get once or twice a month is pain horizontally through my body at the waste line in the morning. The pain is increased if I take a deep breath. I have to get up and walk around for 10 minutes and the pain goes away for the rest of the day. I can even go back to bed after about 30 minutes and sleep more without the pain returning. Most likely, you all probably have disc issues with your lower back.

[ryanmitton]

if you have ever travelled to thailand or asia, they have hard hard beds there.  i noticed (before i had the drx900 treatment) that when i was sleeping on these beds (on my back) i awoke with hardly any back pain....and it was after i got up and compressed the spine again it came back.
we bought a hard hard kingsize bed at ikea....my wife got used to it, and i never wake with back pain anymore.

we had one of these 3K kingsize beds...hahaha, the ikea bed mattress we stuck on it was 300 bucks.  if anybody lives in calgary and wants a kingsize pillowtop mattress they can have ourold one. (new)  ryan.

[genji]

Here is some info that I found that may be helpful for you.  I have used magnesium for about six months now and it has been great!  I don't know if this can be as helpful with your problem but I thought I would share with you anyway.  See below:

"Magnesium is involved in more than 325 biochemical reactions, some of the early symptoms of magnesium deficiency include body aches, chronic constipation, headaches and migraines, insulin resistance, PMS, leg cramps, muscle twitches, and more. Left untreated, a magnesium deficiency can lead to more life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and others.

Magnesium's role in energy production. One of the primary roles of magnesium is to activate the adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy storage molecule, to create and store energy. Without energy, there is no life.

Magnesium's role in relaxing muscles. Another primary role of magnesium is to work with calcium to help regulate the body's nerve and muscle tone. In many nerve cells, magnesium serves as a chemical gate blocker - as long as there is enough magnesium around, calcium can't rush into the nerve cell and activate the nerve. This gate blocking by magnesium helps keep the nerve relaxed. If our diet provides us with too little magnesium, this gate blocking can fail and the nerve cell can become overactivated. When some nerve cells are overactivated, they can send too many messages to the muscles and cause the muscles to overcontract. This chain of events helps explain how magnesium deficiency can trigger muscle tension, muscle soreness, muscle spasms, muscle cramps, and muscle fatigue especially in the back and legs where some of the body's largest muscles live."

http://www.jigsawhealth.com/products/magnesium_supplement.html

[HURTINPHX]

Boy oh boy can I realate to you SJMCRAE! I have not heard anyone say they have the severe pain in the early morning hours only. This is me. I just dread going to bed every night because I just know how much pain I am going to be in come 7 hrs later. It is totally amazing how all day and all night it doesn't hurt at all, only SEVERE pain in the am. I can barely roll over. My husband has to help me out of the bed as I grit my teeth. This has been every morning for the past year or so. The pain first started when my little boy turned 7 months old. We thought it has something to do with lifting him etc. We know it's not because he is 3 now and I don't pick him up at all! I also have had numerous xrays, bloodtests and everything always comes back normal. I have done 4 months straight of PT and was religious about the exercises, it did absolutely nothing. I can't take the pain meds the doc gave me for they make me to grogy. I recently started doing massages a couple days a week along with swimming and regualar mild exercise and it seems a little better. After the doctor's advice we just laid down $4200 on a Tempurpedic bed which was delivered this week. Seems so different, but I am willing to give anything a try. I have heard many people get better by this sleeping on this type of bed. The doc said to watch the posture, ice pack for 20 min every night and mild exercises. This was after he did 8 trigger point injections in my back that did nothing. It's been 2 weeks since the shots and I've felt no relief. I am so with you SJMCRAE. This pain has to be something! The pain is so bad that I can not take deep breaths and even struggle to talk. I think I'm going to get rid of my $300 sealy posterpedic office chair and get one of those balls or stands so my shoulers do not go forward. If anyone who has back pain like this in the am only can give advice it would be so wonderful. From 8am - 10-11pm when I go to bed I have zero pain. It is only in the early morning! Ugh.... Hurtin' in Phoenix....

[ingrid219]

I have the same condition. I usually wake up paralised, really stiff and in excruciating pain, specially in my lower back which made me think of kidneys but all the exams come back  fine.. Takes me a while to get up and to move! Once I sluggishly start moving takes about t 20 to 30 minutes to dissipater ( but it has taken longer)

[idared15]

I have the same problem. If I wake up in the night; I am ok, but if I wake up in the morning hours; I am in severe pain - in the lower back (kidney area, right and left hip (on the sides) and upper back in the middle.  After about 30 min to 1 hr; it goes away.  I have a sedentary job and if I sit too long, my hips will ache again and makes it slightly painful to get out of chair, but nothing like the morning.  Since I had a cesearean in 1988; I have had a big stomach, so I thought that might be the reason, because when I suck in my stomach; it relieves my back.  I am going to the doctor today, so we will see what she thinks.....

[njosh]

Funny that this appears to be more a female problem than male. I am a man in my mid 30's and recently started having this puzzling morning pains that end almost immediately after walking around. I tried changing the mattress, posture of sleep and even droping off the pillow but to no avail. Thinking of trying out the abdomen exercises. any other suggestions???

[Wondermum]

If you look a little further down the page you will find someone has submitted a posting called "Upper mid back pain only after sleeping" ..... This posting has had 177 replies from people all suffering with this horrible same problem including myself.  It takes a lot of reading, but it is well worth it as there is some interesting advice given.  I get the impression that this pain is in fact a huge muscle spasm encircling our mid thoracic region which can be remedied by watching our posture and engaging in specific stretching exercises.  I think the fact that 177 people have had this checked out by their GP with nothing bad being found suggests that we really shouldnt be worrying that we have something dreadfully wrong with us.

[frumr]

I also have a similiar problem.  If I do not sleep to long the problem usually isn't bad.  If I sleep later (like on a Saturday or Sunday) I wake to pain in my lower back and right hip and it usually lasts all day long.

I workout at least 3 to 4 times a week.  My exercises begin with Situps and Pushup and then I run (on a treadmill) and an elyptical machine.  I notice while doing situps that I get some pain near the hip area (lower back but on right side).

I just wanted to pass my info along to the group and if anyone has information for me please provide it.  After reading above... I think that I will try sleeping on a hard surface to see if it helps my condition.

Thanks....

[diane5172]

Well I have these pains too ! They are crippling and becoming worse all the time. I'm a 54 year old female. I have explained this to many doctors and they look at me like I am nuts !  It seems they radiate from the kidney area, then kinda go upwards and downwards. The longer I have them the worse they are getting. I have been sent to various doctors and all of my tests have come back fine. I wake up several times during the night. I can barely move from the pain.  After voiding some pain is gone. There is less pressure on my back. I thought it was kidney related but I went through many tests and all came back normal.  The worst pain is when I wake in the morning,  I have to have assistance or it takes me forever to get out of bed. As usual  I get some relief with voiding. As the morning goes on the pain begins to disappear .But it seems due to voiding.  I am so worn out from pain that I feel I had put in a full day each morning and therefore I am tired and am becoming more inactive daily. I am gaining weight from inactivity. This must be a nerve thing because the other day I turned wrong and found myself in a predicament. Had I had the phone with me I would have called 911.  Seems a lot of people have this yet most of the doctors think your nuts when you explain it to them.  I have gotten more info from this website and your letter then I have from all of my doctors and tests put together.  Thank you all.

[Toughmom]

WOW!
I have been looking for answers to my morning back pain.
I gave up going to the doctor after doing xrays, ultra sounds, kidney tests and all were normal.  I'm 50 years old and in good shape.  I thought it might of been peri-menopausal or have something to do with the arthritis in my hip.  So glad I came across this site.  My pain starts after about 5 hours of sleep.  I sleep on my back and don't seem to move much, but once my back starts to hurt I cannot find a spot comfortable.  The only way for it to go away is to get up and after 30 min its gone.  Will keep looking at this site for more answers.

[LisaLisa9]

      I went online to find some answers today--- I have excruciating pain in my lower back when I wake in the morning. It's every morning no matter what bed I sleep on. I always sleep on my back. The pain will dissipate after about 45 minutes.
     The pain seems to travel through my lower back and in towards my [kidneys?] I am a 28 year old female. The pain has been there since I was 21. I have been taking opiate meds for several years and I am currently coming off from them (through Dr. supervision). I thought that perhaps that was causing the problem (opiates in general). But after reading all of these postings, I doubt that's what it is...
     When I was 17 I had a snowboarding accident. I broke my tail bone. I have also wondered if that's it... I just don't know. My posture is awful and I try to remind myself to stand up straight. I have an odd curve in my spine. I call it the "dinosaur" cause if I hunch over, the spine protrudes (mainly in mid-back) and looks like a stegosaurus. I have been doing better at keeping posture lately, but the pain is still there. often ask my husband to crack my back. When he does, my back will crack and pop from the bottom to the top!
     Recently I began exercising with the hope that strengthening my core would help. It's been two weeks and I see no changes (although it will probably be a month to two until/if I see changes). I have thought about seeing I doctor, but I don't have health insurance at this time and have enough out-of-pocket health costs as it is.
      I know people don't like to talk about things like this; but do any of you have chronic constipation? I read that this can very well be a cause of this type of pain.
     I will definitely try the magnesium supplements. I am very into vitamins! I take several daily and attribute them to the reason why I have not been sick all year! However, I realized that I don't take magnesium! So, thanks to gengi, I will give that a try for sure and report back (mind the pun)!
     If any of you find relief in something, please let us know! I am desperate for answers...

[ken315]

i have had the same problem for a few months, it hits me after a few hours of sleep. i do not look foward to the weekends ( when i need some extra rest) i pretty fresh of a herion addiction, been clean for 6 months, this is when my morning pain started.i have a temperpedic matress and if flipped on the wrong side provides a harder surface, nothing works.... my guess befoer even reading this post board was a deficiency of some sort. the posting by jenji on Magnesium makes sense to much. i will try......thanks

[RJ233]

You said your pain started after having your baby. Well my daughter started with problems when she had her baby and the baby is now 15 yrs old. They did everything to her. They even gave her a full historectomy at 35 yrs old. It still did not help. After all the years, drs and surgeries, they found her pelvic bone did not close properly when the baby was born. They gave her exercizes that helped her.

She also had a second problem going on with the lower back. She had disc problems in the lower back, so do I, my sister and my son. We are all sway backed. I went to my dr recently and noticed his chart of spine problems. Sway back is a back problem in that the back bone curves in. I thought it was just a build of the body passed down. Well I do have other problems that are causing additional problems of the alignment causing disc problems through most of my back. A therapist told me to put a pillow under my knees at night so my back would be flat against the bed. It would take the pressure off of my back. It does work. I have had a harder bed and soft bed and neither helped me. I have a medium firmness now and if I don't raise my knees, I will hurt more there. Since I have progressed to a much larger area of problems, the rest of it makes up for it. It is worth a try if you are sway backed. The lower back swerves in making the rump look plumper. The best bed I have found for that is a water bed that had baffles and a 3 second movement stop. It made it firmer, but conformed to the curve. Wish you the best.

[jeb321]

I have begun experiencing (about 3 or 4 weeks now) severe pain on left side near kidney area (lower back?) as I get out of bed each morning.  At first it feels like muscle cramp in swinging out of bed and as I  then have to stand there is sharp pain and I can't stand up.  As I begin to walk - at first stooped over - the pain subsides.  This is about 5 -10 minutes in total.  The pain is gone all day - and only returns the exact same way next morning.  Can it be the mattress?  I am seeing my Dr in a few  days but after reading some of your experiences - I am doubtful I will get any real answers - except to be referred to someone else and  have the standard x-rays and tests.  

[churddle]

I experience the same shortness of breath and pain when inhaling in the morning.  The pain, which emerges from my lower back, through what appears to feel like my kidneys are about to explode, subsides somewhat after first morning void and some walking around for about 8-15 minutes.  The pain is hardly noticeable after that until the next morning, but I'm constantly thinking that my kidneys are about to fail or something.  It started several months ago, when my daughter turned about 6 months old.  There has to be some type of connection, in my case, between the lifting and perhaps too soft of a mattress.  Any ideas?

[pianochikke]

Hi guys
    I have been working in an assisted living facility for about
a year, now, and also have in the past 6 or 7 months, gained
almost 60lbs.  (I know, that last part's not good!)  Since the
time I've gained the weight, I've had pretty much cronic (chronic) lower
back pain EVERY morning when I wake up.  Will exercising
and loosing the weight help this problem, you all think?
It's very annoying--I miss waking up like a "regular person"--
pain and symptom free.  I'm supposed to go to a PT this coming
week, to learn some stretches, so hopefully that'll help, also.
Am I on the right track to fixing this annoying lower back pain?
Thanks for your time/help.  I've been reading everyone's posts,
and have gotten some ideas.  Thanks!   :-)

[phonebook445]

One exercise my Chiropractor gave me to relieve lower back pain is to place a phone book or a book about two to three inches on the floor and stand erect with your toes on the book and heels on the floor. Stand there for a few minutes and you will immediately feel relief.

[workingmom516]

I have had the same issues listed above but only since my children were born (the first 4 yrs ago). I am 36yrs old and I have found that I have to do very intensive core exercising to get that area very strong which relieves my issues.  I am currently alternating between Gunner Peterson's Core Strength and Turbo Jam.  Hard excersing but worth the relief.  Also if I am sore in the morning, I use a heating pad before I get up and that helps tremendously.  Good luck!!!

[clifday1]

I Have the same back pain in the early morning. I had chest pain start to wake me around 4am or about 6 months ago and now the back pain is way worse. The combination of the two make it hard to breathe they hurt so bad! I get rudely awaken each morning with horrendous agonizing pain in my chest and back. The back pain is significanlty worse and just started a month ago. I am lucky to get a wink of sleep after about 4 or 5am. I have to lie on my left side only or sit up at an odd angle to squelch the pain at all. The chest pain is gone 100% after getting up for 30 minutes. The back pain is reduced by 75% after an hour of getting up, but remains mild all day. Waking up at 4 and 5am is getting really old!!!!! I dread going to sleep because the pain will wake me up.

[alan1963]

I'm a 46 year old man who's been suffering this pain for over 10 years now. Every morning around 5am-7am woken by crippling pain radiating from my kidney area all around my lower abdomen. Even on my days off work i'm forced out of bed by the pain which quickly dissipates once i'm up. I find that sitting leaning forward so stretching my lower back quickly eases the pain, though if i curl up while still in bed this does not. Within 20mins i am generally pain free but I also find that if my bowel is not completely empty then the pain is worse and does not dissipate so quickly until i have been to the toilet.
I simply did not know if the pain is caused by my spine, my kidneys or my bowels as they all seemed likely contenders but have just had a CT scan which apparently showed nothing unusual. My gastroenterologist (I'm coeliac by the way) has suggested it could be due to IBS which I tend to agree with as the pain is so closely related to my bowel not being completely empty. Does anyone else find this?

[beebee123]

I am a 26 year old female, and for about 4-5 months I have been waking up with really bad lower back pain (on the bottom of my spine). If I get up it lasts about 15 minutes, but will keep hurting if I stay in bed. I was wondering if there was anything anyone is doing to help with dealing with the pain... I noticed sleeping on my side while staying absolutely still helps a little. Also, what ab-machines has anyone used? I am worried about my pain lasting forever and would like to do something now before spending all my money at the doctors and them not helping (such as others already did).

[Amylou1693_xxxx]

Finally! I have found people who have this too. It's so hard to describe it to my doctor. I am sixteen (few days ago) and have had it for about three or four years. Every morning, some mornings it's not as bad, I wake up with a dull pain, both sides, kidney area. It goes after about 20 minutes, but it is so horrible. It's, as most of you know, the most frustrating thing, and such a strange horrid pain. I have been to hospital, had a blood test, scan, and everything was fine. I am a dancer, and do gymastics so am very flexible, I often wonder if that is anything to do with it. When I lean back, my back crunches, and my hips crack and knock lots, probably due to all the dance. How is everyone else getting on with it? Amy xxxx

[ilovetheozzfest]

Wow I cant believe how many ppl have this!! I just started going threw this a few months ago and I was thinking it was being caused from my 2 yr old digging his feet into my back at night time. It is only in the morning for me also somedays im so stiff from it i can hardly move and I cant bend forward until after being up for about a 1/2 hour then im totally fine the rest of the day. Some days I just kind of have 2 inch my way out of bed the pain is so bad. I am just happy 2 see that I am not the only one having this exact problem :) So if this many ppl have it why cant anyone figure out what it is being caused from!!?? Im 34 and I dont even want to think about how it will be when im a few yrs older. I did purchase some Bio Freeze and when the pain wakes me in the early morning hours I get up and rub some on and 9 times out of 10 I can go back to bed and get a good sleep. I bought it from a massage place and it works good just wish I didnt have to wake up with the chronic back pain and put it on. Best of Luck to everyone & I hope someone one day soon will have a answer for all of us :)

[dishelle]

Ditto for me. My low back pain started after spending a tough weekend moving into my new home last fall. Something just gave out, sadly. Now I wake every morning with low back pain, but since I am a yoga teacher, I am able to work out the kinks every morning with just a few yoga postures. Google these on line - they will help - I will put the names in English vs. sanskrit - wind-relieving pose (or child pose if you prefer kneeling), lunge posture, half pigeon posture or sleeping pigeon both sides, prone twist both sides, corpse pose with support under the upper legs. All can be done on the floor. Spend at least 1-3 minutes per posture. Crawl out of bed 20 minutes early and start the sequence. Find a good yoga studio that teaches restorative yoga in your area, or look into Yin Yoga or Svaroopa yoga - both these forms of yoga are very therapeutic - and especially, they help open up the hips/tailbone/pelvis - especially the psoas and iliacus muscles. The psoas is your tenderloin, essentially. It connects at the top of the femur, runs through the pelvis, and re-attaches all along the lumbar spine. The iliacus is the shelf of muscle that runs along the upper process of the hip bones and down into the pelvis. If these muscles get tight, low back pain, especially around the lower lumbar and S/I joint where the spine connects to the pelvis, results. Getting the psoas to release any spasm/contraction or to lengthen will definitely help. Plus, find a good bodyworker - and I recommend shiatsu massage, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture or good chiropratic - to help release the muscle spasms that surround your low back and psoas, too. Get as much body work as you can afford. And start doing gentle yoga! It will get better.

[dishelle]

Oh, and one more thing - sleep on your back with a bolster underneath your upper legs, so that your back can relax as you sleep. You may want the bolster to be big enough to get your feel flat on the mattress - sometimes the heels can hurt if the feet are not flat. Externally rotate your arms and keep them about 45 degrees away from your body, if you have room. Don't use a pillow that is too stiff or high. Just support the neck. This will keep the psoas from spasming at night as you sleep. It's not easy to retrain yourself to sleep this way, but the relief in the morning is great. Good luck, all!

[GENUINEJERSEYGIRL]

I have read nearly 100 of the posts, and I have not seen what I believe the problem may be. I searched for this website to see if anyone else was experiencing the terrible morning back pain, relief after voiding, and then fine all day, mystery ailment.
I am pretty sure that in the last few years I have developed a fibroid tumor. When I lay on my stomach, I can feel the pressure on it. It is very, very, common and more women then not have them, so I have often wondered if this back pain is a result form these growths sort of "leaning" on the bladder, or kidney, of back muscles, etc, during the night, which causes the pain after a few hours of that pressure and then disappears after taking the pressure off (getting up and staying up!)
I am petrified of doctors, so I have nothing to "back" up my theory (if you'll pardon the pun) So, I am just wondering if any of the ladies out there might be able to relate.
I wish you all relief...and soon!
Lisa

[courtwebster]

Wow...that's amazing!! I've been dealing with this for about 3 years. The only thing that works for me is to wake up about 5 am. Take a vicodin and then when I wake up it feels fine. I thought i was the only one. Crazyness.

[ryansmom513]

I too just recently (within the past 4 months or so) have been experiencing lower back pain shortly after wakening in the mornings.  I have absolutely no idea what has brought it on.  It seems to be very similar to what alan1963 has described.  This ONLY happens in the mornings.  I'm fine getting out of bed, getting into the shower, but then I can slowly feel it coming on as I'm getting ready for work.  By the time I've gotten' my makeup on and my hair done, I can hardly bend over to even get dressed!  The pain also radiates to the front of my lower stomach.  At first I was thinking it was kidneys, because it's like a dull severe ache, but its weird how my back hurts so much when I bend over - leaving me to think it's disc related or something??  The only way for me to finally find comfort is to SIT in a harder chair for awhile, or get in my car and drive, and surprisingly by the time I get to work (30 minutes), my back feels absolutely fine, and I'm able to jump out of my car and start my day like nothing ever happened.  It has also been aching at night while I'm flat on my back.  I do find some relief laying on my side, but by the time morning comes, it's aching pretty good.  But I'm still able to get out of bed just fine and the stiffness and severe pain doesn't start in until shortly into my morning routine.   It's so strange that I haven't seen a doctor yet because it seems so hard to explain everything.  Thus, the reason I found this site because I  googled "morning back-pain up wakening".   I will try the magnesium, but I just pray this too shall pass....  :-(  

[goanmad]

It's such a relief to hear of others with the same symptoms as myself. I'm currently suffering from 'flu and because I went to bed early have been pacing around in pain since 3am.

My low back pain started about 7 months ago, usually after around 6 hours in bed. The pain wakes me up and no position ever relieves it. It's impossible to even roll over in bed and to try and raise myself up is a complete nightmare. The pain extends around to my stomach and even breathing hurts.

I find the pain usually subsides after around 30 minutes of walking around althought sometimes it takes several hours.

We have invested in an expensive pocket sprung matress and a memory foam matress topper to no avail. The only way I get a good night's sleep is to get drunk but obviously this is not a practical solution!

I'm fit and healthy, 42 years old and well within the correct weight for my height and build. I practice both Pilates and Dru Yoga, attend weekly aquasize and hydrtherapy classes.

I had a total hip replacement to my left hip 3.5years ago and annual checks with my hospital consultant have confirmed that the right side will need replacing eventually however I am not experiencing any of the symptoms I had pre-op.

[Free_at_last]

I have read all of the comments about intense lower-back pain in the morning and extreme fatigue.  I too was a sufferer, until a day ago.  After reading all of your posts and realizing I wasn't alone, I decided to do some more in-depth research on the issue.  I found that my low-back pain could be a smaller symptom of a larger-more widely known disease: Autoimmune Disease.  Now, being the type of person I am, I never go down without a fight, so I researched how to improve my immune system.  I realized during all of this that I wasn't walking or running like I had been previously.  My mattress is terribly worn causing me to sleep in an awkward position, and my diet may be helping to weaken my immune defenses.  As you know, the diet thing is an ongoing battle, but my physical commitment to walking daily or even running shouldn't be.  So, on Wednesday night I decided to sleep on the firmer end of my bed, lying on my back, tuck a pillow or blanket under my left leg to raise my hip and relieve the pressure.  It was uncomfortable, only because I am not use to sleeping that way.  When I turn to sleep on my stomach, I tuck the blanket or pillow under my left inner thigh with my knee pointing towards my sleeping pillow.  Try to visualize, we've all slept like this at some point.  Remember, this is not comfortable unless you are use to doing it.  That next morning, I wasn't in slight pain, but I could get up without any problem and do my walk.  After my walk, I took time to sit in a warm bath before heading off to work.  My fatigue was dissipating.  Thursday night (last night), I used both the pillow and the blanket for support under my left thigh, and felt no pain whatsoever when turning over or readjusting my position.  I awoke this morning fatigue free and pain free.  I am back to my former self.  I will still use these techniques at night just because my body needs it.  I hope that it helps some of you as well.

[auntysooty]

what a wonderful site! unfortunately we all seem to suffer from an ailment but at least i know that alot of people have similar symptoms and its reasurring that we dont suffer in silence and can possibly get ideas to help with bad back pain.i think we all know to be sensible and to check with our doctors before doing anything drastic to ourselves, eventhough i'm sure most of us will try anything to get rid of the pain that comes in the morning. i am still struggling to get out of bed and the pain is there its just the degree of pain that changes.

[mjones0815]

I'm a male with "lower back pain" when I get out of bed.  I am overweight and I think that is the real problem.  I don't know if any of you folks are overweight?  I try to drink a lot of water (evian) and sweating gets me close to pain free.  I do a lot of moving heavy stuff around the house such as boxes of books.  There was a flood in front of my house a couple of weeks ago and I had to do a lot of broom sweeping.  I find the muscles that do this are in my lower back and every time I do stuff like this my pain in the morning is greater.  I have an old bed and just can't find the time to get to Sears.  I find rubbing both sides of my lower back helps when I get up.  Also I learned how to lay on my side and push myself up with my arms.  The pain is there but it's manageable when I do this.  I also find as I get older it takes more time for all the pain to go away in the morning.

[EvilJeff]

I've got back (kidney) pain as you folks do. I am a 35-year old male. I have been experiencing this for 5-7 years now.

I've found the back pain only occurs when my kidneys are working hard - if I drink any liquids before bed, I get moderate pain. However, if I drink alcoholic beverages that evening, the pain is much worse. If I sleep on one side, that side will get the pain. If I sleep on my back, both kidneys will hurt. I sleep deeply and often do not wake in time to urinate. When I awake with pain, I must stand for awhile otherwise I'll go back to bed in pain.

I am confident out problem lies in the kidneys retaining urine, and swelling under the pressure. I've read other articles, and am now looking into "UPJ" as the cause. It's a restriction in the tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder. This would make sense, as often I get up with pain but don't produce a lot of urine. I am left feeling like I should be urinating much more but for some reason, I just can't. Please check this out:

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1723/mainpageS1723P0.html

I realize this is "childrenshospital.org", but applies to all people. Also it's got a great picture.

I've had ultrasounds done on the kidneys, all "unremarkable", meaning healthy. I also have experienced iritis 3 times, all within the last few years. Just listing this to see if anyone else does, too.

Folks, please chime in. I believe we're on to something now! It is frustrating that our doctors haven't solved this for us. Unfortunately, they are just people like us, and their "medical practice" is just that, "practice". We humans don't know everything, we're not perfect, we're not God. That means every one of us, even the professionals, in every profession.... doctors, politicians....especially the politicians!

Good luck, all. I'l bookmark this site and check back with you....

[Mariella160]

Hi, all,
Thanks for this discussion - especially to those of you who suggested a harder mattress. The softness of our mattress seems to be my problem. I've been having the same issues that many of you do: pain and stiffness in hips and lower back, especially after being in bed for a few hours. And by the time I get up in the morning, I'm so stiff I can barely get out of bed. After reading ryanmitton's post from April 2007, I decided to try a harder mattress as a test. In our home office we have an old cotton futon. It is rarely slept on, but I gave it a try one night. I woke up feeling 90 percent better than I have in months! The next issue was how to make our usual bed more comfortable. We have a fairly nice Sealy Posturpedic, but it is just too soft for me (especially as I get older and stiffer!). I decided to look for a way to make it firmer on my side of the bed. I found a floor pad called ComfortChef at Home Depot. It is meant to be used underfoot on hard surfaces such as kitchen floors, but by adding it on top of my mattress, it added just enough firmness for me to sleep much better and wake up without such pain. I placed it under the mattress pad, and it is large enough (19.5 x 35.5 inches) to support me from my neck to knees. The pad is made of PVC foam and is manufactured by Apache Mills of Calhoun, Georgia.
I hope this will help some of you!
Best of luck!
Mariella

[EllBarr]

I am really interested in your UPJ idea.  I wonder what it would take to test it out.  It seems like someone would need to be able to track the urine as it leaves the body.  I know there's a test like that, but wouldn't it also need to be done after we'd been lying prone for 7-8 hours?  Otherwise, the ureter wouldn't be compressed.  I'd love to hear if anyone has ever gotten a doctor to agree to let them do a sleep study.

I recently spent a weekend at my mother-in-law's on an extremely extremely soft mattress.  I got home and woke up with a raging UTI and blood in my urine.  It was the weekend so I had to go to the emergency room.  I tried to talk to the doctor about the possibility of the mattress being the cause, but he was not remotely interested in listening to me.

After I see my GP again I will update as to whether I got her to order a urine elimination test for me.  If she does, maybe I'll see if I can lie down on a gurney at the test center for the whole day.  heh.  Good times.  :)

In the meantime, check out a comment by DK in this thread.  He says his doctor diagnosed him with an extra mini-kidney (not his words):  http://www.************.com/kidney_pain_in_the_morning-t81285-0-asc-50.html

[brenda135]

I have experienced this back pain only in the last few weeks, not every morning, but most.  It is excrutiating and I am barely able to roll over, let alone crawl out of bed.  It disappears after I go to the washroom.  I also believe in EvilJeff's diagnosis.  My mother had to have her bladder "lifted", so I am on alert to these kinds of issues.  I believe there is some sort of obstruction in the flow of urine or one of these functional organs are not working properly.  Sleeping in different positions could possibly alleviate the problem because your bladder, kidney, or interconnecting tubes are in different positions.
Doctors diagnose what they know and maybe this is something they don't know everything about yet.  Maybe we can all help them figure this out!  Thanks for letting me know I am not the only one suffering.

[Keckers]

I am another sufferer of the morning back pain.
It lasts until I am up and moving and have been to the toilet.
My father has been telling me for years he gets pain the next morning if he eats the "wrong" foods. He believes he has a sensitivity to chemicals.
He had been having this problem for 10 or more years, when he was sent to fortnight conference for work.
The place he stayed grew there own food including beef.
He had no pain for 2 weeks.
When I discussed my pain with him recently he said it was my kidneys complaining because they were overloaded.
I tried one day of no preservatives, just water fruit, veges and meat.
Next morning no pain!
The next day I tried eating anything, including potato chips with heaps of flavouring, softdrink, etc.
Next day - worst pain ever.
It's fairly easy to try changing your diet for one day to see if it helps.
If so great, if not you not worse off.
Keckers

[lemonology]

I too suffer from AM back pain. It subsides about a half hour after I'm up. My bed is my friend and my worst enemy. Even the dog gets tired of me tossing and turning to try and find a less painful position every morning. She gets down as soon as I stir.

[Rainypm]

Hi all,

I've been suffering from this type of morning back pain for close to 20 years.  Sometimes it's worse than other times (right now it's really bad), but I can't remember not having it.  I decided to start a message board on Yahoo groups so maybe we can have more of a discussion between people and come up with our own solution.  Please stop by if you want to help solve this!

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/***********/

Thanks!
-Ellisa

[JT48]

I am right there with many of you, the less I sleep the less pain in my lower back area on each side. If I sleep 7 or 8 hrs. I can't even hardly talk in the morning until I roll out of bed and slowly start breathing normal and move around. I do notice though that if I eat right before i go to bed the pain is more severe. Our bed has a soft matress and I think that is not helping either.

[coyote9473]

I wake up every morning, for the past few months, and seems to only be getting worse. My lower back hurts so bad that I have such a hard time rolling over to get up out of bed, and when I do my legs don't want to work right either, after a few minutes my legs will start functioning normally but the back pain is still so excruciating. I haven't gone to a doctor, I am afraid they will tell me that nothing is wrong or that there is nothing that they can do about it.I am just sick of dealing with this pain every morning, it gets to the point where I don't want to go to sleep at night, so I don't have to deal with the pain in the morning.

[SuperCorn]

"Change your mattress" was the first thing everyone said to me. I did so a while ago and it didn't help. I am now entering another "pain cycle" and unlike before I really HAVE done my stretching and been better about exercise.
Anyone know a good witch doctor? Voodoo? Anything at this point.
No fun, that's for sure.

[missjames434]

I am a 36 female and have had this low back pain from being in bed for over a year now. Like every one else it goes away once I am standing and moving around. Sometimes if it is really bad it will last a couple of hours. I am experiencing it right now, thats why I am on here. It hasn't been easy to find a forum like this. I was trying to figure out where the pain was coming from while I was in bed, and it feels like it is definately from the spine and it has a type of pressure feeling to it. I have had upper back pain due to a minor condition where a few of the disks have gone out of line. The muscle pain is alot different to this pain. The upper back pain was more sharp and excruciating. This is more dull. It definately feels like there is pressure. I found laying on my front was worse and laying on my back helped but now that doesn't seem to work. I haven't been to the doctor yet, I don't seem to have any other symtoms (symptoms).

[GabbieOne]

Has anyone actually tried the Magnesium, or Vitamin D3, Calcium sups and had any success?

[krajicek1]

I'm 31, male. I've had this pain on and off for a year and a half.  The bad news is it's been getting progressively worse. The quantity and quality of sleep I've been able to get is decreasing, and for the last month or so I haven't been able to sleep for more than 5-6 hours (in the past the pain would appear after sleeping for 8 hours or more, which now is simply impossible). This affects my life a lot, as I'm tired during the day. I even stopped going to the gym and enjoying the things I did before. The pain goes away soon after getting up. I suspect it's kidney related. One of my symptoms is weak and even interrupted urine stream - not always, but quite often and at any time of the day, which makes me suspect an obstruction somewhere in the urinary tract and backflow of urine to the kidneys is likely the cause of the pain. In the past I've been able to deal effectively with the pain by manipulating the quantity of liquids I drink before bed. For a long period, I would stop drinking anything at all after 5 pm (it is a very hard thing to do), and go to bed with an empty bladder. Sometimes I would have just a glass of water right before bed to prevent dehydration. This worked as a miracle for months. I would get up the next morning after sleeping well pain free. Maybe it has to do with no urine to back flow, or with the kidneys not having to work hard and recover. Unfortunately, it doesn't work any more, liquids or no liquids before bed, I still wake up in pain at around 5 - 6 am. As I said, the condition has been getting progressively worse. This morning was especially bad. Thank God it goes away quickly after getting up.

On a side note, I suffer from IBD - a chronic inflammatory condition that affects the bowels, and this type of pain (back and flank morning pain) has often been associated with Crohn's. So what Alan1963 wrote above makes sense to me to some point. And the two things did start at about the same time - upset stomach and pain in the kidneys. So, I don't know what to think - is it strictly a problem of the urinary tract or not. I think anti-inflammatory supplements also help - fish oil for example.

My doctor has been extremely unhelpful and I got sick of him to the point that I'm going to look for someone more understanding. I had a hard time getting a referral to do a renal ultrasound, which I'm finally gong to do on Monday. All my requests to visit a urologist have been in vain, because in his opinion the blood and urine tests I did for the kidneys and the prostate came back OK and that's it as far as he is concerned. "You look great to me" and "Try to relax, you worry too much" and "It's probably muscular, as it disappears after you get up" is the crap I get from him, while my life is collapsing from chronic sleep deficiency.

I'll see if the renal ultrasound reveals anything, and I'll try to find a normal doctor who will refer me to a urologist. I'll insist on doing an MRI as well if I do not manage to resolve the pain. I've been reading discussion groups all over the Internet and I am very much discouraged and feel for the people who have been living with this type of pain for years and haven't been able to resolve it or even get a diagnosis after a myriad of tests, scans, MRIs...But I'm keeping my faith.

[ajwren]

reading all your comments. and am suffering from same dilemma for the last 8 moths give or take:
after 6 hours of sleeping (fine) pain starts
then 30 mins. to an hour later it is inpossible to sleep any longer. have to get up.
Pain (then) is in back just at rib cage and across the back maybe leaking forward to upper digestive area.
i am constantly moving from left side to right side to back during night (though kind of asleep) and around again. will stay in one position for maybe 20 minutes, then forced to move (this is what i call sleep).
standing up straight and moving around pain is gone for rest of day. any exercise is good and not bothersome.
i am never incapasitated to get out of bed in the morning. though once in a blue moon (if i try to sleep late) it could be considered momentarily (really) discomforting.
i am prone to pressing in on upper back with both thumbs initially to ease pain (during morning period while pain is there)? appears to be where i think my kidneys might be, or just above them.
I dont think i have any urinary issues, seems normal. no pain or discomfort.

I have three beds that i rotate sleeping on, of various hardness. doesent seem to matter which one, though stiffer mattress may initially cause more immediate discomfort. but may also allow more sleep after a couple of days on same mattress.
it appears not to matter when or what i eat prior to going to bed.
the liquid idea is something i may pay more attention too though. I really dont drink that many liquids. not sure if that is good or bad?
used to have stomach issues, but kinda knocked that in the head.
the more Coffee i drink (in mornings) i think can delay recovery process. (past the usual 20 mins)
dont eat much in the morning until lunch time.

why is it always (like clockwork) after 6 and one half hours pain begins?
this should be a huge tell.
what does lying down have to do with it. what does it change?
It puts pressure on stomach (or Liver, another large area) which in turn can put pressure on Kidneys, Pancreas. I think one of these four has to be the Issue. which one?
the one i am overlooking always is the Pancreas. anyone looked into this organ?
I am physically fit and dont take any tablets whatsoever. (an odd tylenol). I am not overweight.
Just thinking out loud. but it is a real pain in the back!

Justin

[lgeyman]

i have had morning back pain for a couple of years now.  upon wakening, i have to ROLL out of bed.  i carefully 'walk' downstairs and I try to let the dogs out, but have to squat to reach the leash.  i never 'bend' in the morning!!!  my 4 year old wants this & that . . . and my response is "pllllleeeease give mommy some time!"  i stand on the couch and    * c a r e f u l l y *   squat down, hug my knees in and hope i can have 30 minutes to stretch to ease the intense pain. (4 year olds don't get this!!! )  i can usually feel relief after 30 -45 minutes of this fetal stretch . .. but still feel pain/aches constant throughout the day - tho tolerable.  I have been SLEEPING ON THE LOVESEAT FOR OVER A YEAR!   I cannot bear it to lay flat.  after months of PT, I am now going to get an MRI soon . . ..  .am hopeful to find what's wrong, but worried to find what's wrong - but worse . . . .  what if they don't find anything?????   wow . . . .

[HollieMarie]

Guys I would just like to say i suffer from this too. I'm only 21 years old and this has been going on for a year now but the pain keeps getting progressively worse.  The pain does go away when walking but i noticed when i void in the morning my bladder feels very full and doesn't come out like it should.  Apparently i'm not the only one but i'm healthy and have never had kids, never been to any surgery to repair broken bones, and i'm worried.  My muscles do twich in my lower legs everyday and I considered hypomagnesia to associate with this problem.  I had blood drawn recently to check for A1C levels for dibetes they did a whole cbc on me and nothing came back abnormal.  Maybe there is a nerve issue going on...

[backinbeijing]

I am a 29 year old male, and I found this discussion board the same way you probably have.  For about three years I suffered from mid-back pain strong enough to wake me up, usually after about 5 hours of sleep.  The pain was unrelated to exercise—I’m in good shape and work out frequently, and while my back was sometimes sore as a result, this was a different type of pain.  I tried everything: stretching, focused exercise/massage, X-rays, MRI, abdominal ultrasound, testing for HLA-B27 for ankylosing spondylitis, and we even got a new bed.  Nothing worked.  The doctors were so mystified they didn’t even know what to suggest—so I would end up at discussing boards like this one scanning for clues.  I made a deal with myself that should I ever resolve the pain, I would post the solution so that other people could read about it (probably at 4 or 5 in the morning) and perhaps have a new idea to test.

I finally happened upon the cause of my pain when I decided to test for reflux (GERD), which some posters on these boards had mentioned.  One informal way to do this is to angle your sleeping position, which I did by stacking pillows into a ramp so that my head was about 10 inches higher than my feet.  (The real way is to angle your mattress, but that’s more work.)  While the sleeping position itself was unfamiliar and so a bit uncomfortable, I was surprised to note that the back pain subsided.

I looked into over-the-counter reflux medication and found two primary classes: H2 receptor blockers such as famotidine (Pepcid AC is a common brand name) and protein pump inhibitors (PPIs; Prilosec is a common brand name).  I tried Pepcid first, and after about a week with no results, I tried the Prilosec (omeprazole).  After a few days, the pain was gone.  I had already taken down the pillow ramp by this time in order not to confuse the results, and so this was the first real good night’s sleep I’d had in years.

I did not want to post my account until I had had enough pain-free time to suggest that PPIs were likely a viable solution rather than just a temporary relief.  I am happy to report that with omeprazole I have been pain-free for about 6 months.    I’m no fan of taking pills every day, but after a year or so I plan to try going off omeprazole for awhile and seeing if the pain returns.  For now, I take one pill each evening after work and sleep soundly.   I have seen little if anything out there linking GERD to the type of back pain we all have been experiencing, but that seems to have been the problem for me.  Give it a try, and if it works, post to this board so that others may benefit.  Good luck!

[rose570]

I am a 52 year old female and I have the same symptoms all of you have.  I was recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, which some of you may know is an autoimmune disease where the villi in the small intestines are not working any more in breaking down the vitamins, minerals and proteins in the food I eat.  So I had to start a "gluten-free" diet.  But before I was diagnosed with this (it took forever for several doctors to figure out what I had), I started with pain in my lower back and abdomen.  After about three months of trying to be gluten free(gluten is in just about everything we eat!), the pain has subsided, but is still there every morning I wake up.  And like all of you, it goes away after about an hour or two.  I'm just suggesting that this might be something intestinal for all of you too.  Have you been tested for Celiac?  It might be wise to do so.  So many people are finding out that they have this disease because there is so much wheat, barley, rye (gluten) in everything we are eating (processed foods especially).  Hope this helps.

[darla818]

Hi I am 35 yr.old woman and have had the same symtoms (symptoms) as you all since the day after my Lumbar fusion in May. Cant get comfortable when I lay down and have to swtch from on side to the other about 30 times and in the 5am hour cant move can't breath and wake myself up with a grunting and it always seems that I have a full bladder but the pain is so bad it take about 30min. just to roll on to my side to get up.Same exact symptoms as I've read here. I've been to the ER twice thinking it was my kidneys and ended up thinking it was my fusion still healing.So I'm now in pain manegment and it makers no differece in the morning.I am having a sleep study on may 7th. and am going to print out all these post and have all of my doctors try and figure this **** ouit! It has to be something.I'm so glad I looked into this yesterday morning and found these pos,t thought I was alone.

[rose570]

I have to share this with you all because it is helping me.  It's only been three days, but my back pain has subsided almost completely and I don't feel tired in the mornings anymore.  I took a suggestion from one of these emails (I can't remember who) but someone mentioned putting two pillows under your knees while sleeping on your back.  So tried this and it is working for me.  Thank you to whoever suggested that.  I don't know exactly what that means for all of us but it's worth a try.  Like I said I have celiac disease and that was the original cause -- now that I am gluten-free, most of my back pain in the morning is gone but I still have some.  But using the pillows (two) under my knees and sleeping on my back has helped tremendously.  I know it's hard to sleep on your back, but it is really the best position to sleep in if you can train yourself.  For all of the women out there, take this into consideration -- sleeping on your back prevents any premature wrinkles in your face!  Sleeping on our sides smashes your face up against the pillow causing wrinkles that will eventually be permanent.  So give this a try!  I will keep you all posted!  I'm not sure that we all have the same disease/problem but our symptoms seem to be the same and I hope this helps some of you!

[krajicek1]

Thanks for sharing that. I'll try it, starting from tonight. I have Pariet at home (PPI), because I was diagnosed with the reflux after an endoscopy. I haven't noticed that it worked in the past to resolve my morning back pain, but I'll give it a try following your instructions - one pill before going to bed. Beside, it may not be a coincidence that I have the reflux and I suffer from the same pain that you described (wake up at 5 or 6 at the latest). Your theory sounds promising.

I'm very happy for you and I hope you stay pain free forever.

[grannygigi]

I came across this site by accident while I was trying to find out if anyone else had similar lower back pain only in the morning...I couldn't believe how many people are suffering from this pain.  My pain started last August so I have been suffering 6 months.  One morning it just started, and I have no reason as to why. Thepain only last about an hour each morning, some mornings worse than others with muscle spasms.  I am waiting for a bone scan.  I will try the two pillows tonight hopefully that will help!  I have no pain all night and only slight pain during the day.  My heart goes out to everyone who has to deal with this each and every morning......

[duckswana]

to all the contributers.. i am also sufereing the same 'Early Morning Stiffness lower backache problem" and following continously this discussion forum.
since past 6 months i am suffering from this pain & wondering " what is happening to me after investing lots of money in Test( x-ray, medicines and all )

I am thankfull to my new Doctor who has diagnose this pain & now I am in safe hands.
To share you  - I think we all are sufferring from ( initial stage OR later stage ) - Ankylosing Spondylitis
My doc has suggested 2 medicines  - SAAZ-DS( one tab daily after lunch)  and RETOZ( one tablet daily after dinner) for 1 month.
and also a medical test for Ankylosing Spondylitis named "HLA-B27".

I am happy to share you my results after test( which is quite expensive) as i can understand your's pain.
***@****

[rachwils]

I have the same exact severe pain in the mornings. It also is severe around my lower back, kidneys, ribs and sides. I've had several blood tests, bladder and kidney tests, and ive also had an abdomen ultrasound. And they have found NOTHING!
This pain wakes me up almost every morning, at any time! As soon as I wake up I have to pee extremely bad, and the pain is at it's worst. Soon as I go to the bathroom, about an hour after that the pain starts to go away. Apparently it has nothing to do with my bladder or kidneys because the doctors said my bladder and kidneys were fine. I dont understan why I have to pee so severely, and why the pain is at it's worst when I do? I almost have one of everyones symptoms on this subject. It's so amazing to me that so many people have this problem, and still my doctors look at me like i'm making it up. They have never heard of such a thing...
Well please is anyone has any advice to what it must be please tell me!
Im currently in pain as im typing..lol!

[tealskye]

I have been looking for the site like this for so long and very happy to found one here. Thanks to everyone to share this. I am 34 years old female, never been pregnant. I don't remember when is start but it have been more than 3 years already that I wake up every morning with lower back pain. In the beginning I try to find the way to cope the symptom but it doesn't seem like anything work. I never go to the doctor because I though I may only need to exercise. Until I start to get use to it. I though " Ok I'm going to have a lower back pain in the morning and after an hour it will go away...that it...I can deal with it everyday!"
I realize that some day I have less pain but some day the pain gone worse especially in the morning of Saturday and Sunday that I get to sleep longer. I though this is a part of my life.
Oh! I forgot to tell you that I have IBS ( Irritate bowel syndrome)  for 5 years. Maybe because the IBS symptom border me more that the lower back pain that why I try to ignore it. I unfortunately thing the IBS symptom lead me to have the lower back pain. Because everyday in my commute I realize that my stomach muscle automatically squeeze them self a lot. If you know something about IBS, IBS people are scare of traveling and everyday commute. We never feel comfortable when are in the car, bus, train, plane everything the moving an no bath room in it.
So I though because I my abdominal squeeze themselves all the time that why I have tension on that area and the area near by like my lower back.
Until last two week after my once in three years visits my gynecologist. She said every thing are fine but after run two test with my urine. She said I still inflected. So she transfer me to Nephrology(I never here this before until then)  to evaluate my urine test. I went to see the Nephrology last week, he said I have very small inflection in my urine but it seem like not thing bordering me so he didn't know really sure what to do with me. But still he want to run a urine test again and he run another test that made me start to wondering that their might be something to do with the kidney.
He run some machine (I don't know how it call) that can check how much urine still remain in my bladder right after I pee. The result made me worry because it show that right after I pee I still have 311 ml in my bladder! And I don't really feel full or need to pee again soon because not thing will come out anymore. He still doesn't want to believe the machine, he said they might have some error to the machine. He said is condition usually happen in older people. He said if the machine was correct that might be the reason of inflection in my urine because the urine stat in my bladder to long.
He said after my third time urine test if I still have an inflection he will transfer me to the urologist to see why I can't empty the bladder.
This made me wonder maybe something wrong with my kidney and I never know about and it slowly create until I feel use to it and don't feel any thing wrong in my body.
I will let your guys know after I get to see the urologist.
Take care every one and keep cheer up!

[Puffin777]

My symptoms are similar to the ones many of you describe.  My pain is only in the left lower back and is somewhat relieved by urinating in the a.m. and then usually goes away completely after moving around for awhile after getting up for the day.  I too am wondering if it might be related to the kidneys and/or bladder.  (Actually the kidneys are higher up in the back so I am suspecting it may be related more to bladder issues).   Recently I experimented with stopping fluids about 2-3 hours before bedtime.  One morning in particular I remember being completely pain free!  I would be particularly interested if anyone else has tried this and found results?  Also recently bought a high quality pillow so perhaps my sleeping position is better.

Although the pain for the most part goes away after awhile, I do notice it on this left side when I do leg stretches (when standing up).  As I sit for long periods on my job and drink water throughout the day and early evening, I am wondering if there might be a connection here also.  

I am going to start experimenting with a few things and will let you all know if somethings starts to work.  I have not tried the pillows under the knees as someone suggested, so I will have to try that one also.  Maybe keep a log of what I am doing in case there is relief so I will know it is not coincidence.

[mlgriffi]

I am 24 and have had this extreme lower back pain in the morning for about three years now. Actually, for the first year or so it was more of a feeling of a tight rubber band around my waist. Now it is an almost "hot" pain starting in my back and radiating to the front. Like many of you, it takes me a long time to get up - I have to get myself to a sitting position, stay for a couple minutes, then a standing one, stay still for a couple minutes, then finally walk to the washroom. However, this is where it's different - it feels like I am peeing poison! Does anyone else have this problem??? After I'm done peeing, the pain subsides within an hour, only to start all over again the next morning.

I am going to try these ideas that you all have had, here is a collaborated list that may be helpful:

-put pillow under knees at night so the back is flat against the bed
-magnesium supplements
-to relieve lower back pain, place a phone book or a book about two to three inches on the floor and stand erect with your toes on the book and heels on the floor. Stand there for a few minutes and you will immediately feel relief.
-harder mattress
-ab roller
-yoga exercises
-test for reflux (GERD), which some posters on these boards had mentioned.  One informal way to do this is to angle your sleeping position, which I did by stacking pillows into a ramp so that my head was about 10 inches higher than my feet. If so, try pepcid AC or protein pump inhibitors (PPIs; Prilosec is a common brand name).

Also, here is a list of possible causes that you have all come up with:

-DDD (degeneratived disc disease) and Facet Syndrome.
-sway backed
-IBS
-fibroid tumor. When I lay on my stomach, I can feel the pressure on it. It is very, very, common and more women then not have them, so I have often wondered if this back pain is a result form these growths sort of "leaning" on the bladder, or kidney, of back muscles, etc, during the night, which causes the pain after a few hours of that pressure and then disappears after taking the pressure off (getting up and staying up!)
-Autoimmune Disease
-"UPJ" as the cause. It's a restriction in the tubes connecting the kidneys to the bladder. This would make sense, as often I get up with pain but don't produce a lot of urine. I am left feeling like I should be urinating much more but for some reason, I just can't. Please check this out: \http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1723/mainpageS1723P0.html
-what does lying down have to do with it. what does it change?
It puts pressure on stomach (or Liver, another large area) which in turn can put pressure on Kidneys, Pancreas. I think one of these four has to be the Issue. which one?
-reflux (GERD)
-Celiac
-Ankylosing Spondylitis

I thank you all for your input, and I will let you know if any of these help me in my quest. I wish you all luck for the same.

[drpvg]

I am an orthopedic Surgeon in Kerala, india. I come across large number of cases of backpain. Not one diagnosis fits all. One therapy effective for one person may not be effective for others. The reason I have found most common is the spasm of the paraspinal muscles. Each case has to be individually examined and treated. If the spasm gets relieved by proper medication, the muscles can be brought under our voluntary control by exercises. Sleeping on a hard mattress, with a small support under the low back or a pillow under the knees etc, help. Another reason is weak bones - osteoporosis, which has to be decided by properly qualified people and treated. Therapy cannot be blanketed - it has to be individualised - drpvg

[ee31rm]

Hi all,

I've had same problem since last 9 weeks.
Had checked MRI, CT thorax scan, xray - result normal.

What the doctor found so far is that i had gastric and acid reflux.
This acid may have flow upward to my chest after slept more than 5 hours and radiates to my back body causing the muscle infection.

The solution that i've found so far is to sleep with my head and chest higher (leaning upward). I've tried this many days now and it works! pain free!

the idea is to put the chest higher to avoid the acid from flowing upward to the chest.
This is just temporary solution because if I sleep normal way again.. the pain comes back.

Im also doing accupuntur treatment with the orhopedics for second opinion.

Irwan
Malaysia

[fm1]

Hi, just wanted to share my case, good to see im not alone and hopefully someone, somewhere finds a cure.

I'm 33 yr old male and have been suffering from same symptoms for the past 3 years.. just came across this website at 6am after being woken up once again and trying to see if i was the only one.. Pain starts about 5 or 6 hours after i sleep and so severe that wakes me up. Happens everyday with almost same intensity no matter what i eat, drink or do during the day.Have tried pretty much everything.. Only solution now is to carefully (its so bad that i feel as if a nerve was about to break) roll out of bed, stand up for a while and after about 20 minutes pain is gone and I can go back to bed for another round.. its driving me crazy and cant get any real rest being waken up every night!


Trying to find solution started getting massage done and found out that pain showed up exactly the same as at night again when lying face down for the treatment and getting even slight pressure in my lower back. Found that Thai massage, specially the kind where they stretched the muscles around one side of the spine while putting pressure on the opposite side buttock, really helped and eased of tension of some sort.  My theory was that it is a muscular issue in my case   as i can feel the muscle in lower back and around spine extremely contracted (so hard i cant even press my finger against it and get it to move) and that seems to be the cause for pain, even thought they may be pinching a nerve or something?

Coincidentally or not as other mentioned in this post, i also suffer from IBS and also have problem with small amounts/pressure of urine in morning.. Went to urologist for the latter some time ago but I never thought it might be related so didnt mention the back pain to him...he ran some tests and said nothing seemd to be bad although the pressure reads were on the lower side.

I slept on the dinning room sitting with pillows under my chin for a couple of weeks for a while some time ago and it did the trick but clearly not a solution... Doctor sent me to PT, did them for 6 months and no improvement. Sleeping with head raised, with 3 pillows making a quasi ramp did help for a big while but after some time even then i started to get the pain..

I've read all the posts and share what someone said.. If there's so many people with exactly the same symptoms, specially the "after 5 or 6 hours of sleep" and the "it gets better after simply standing up for a while" we must be suffering from the same thing and there has to be a solution.. Used to take a bunch of pills pain killers / muscle relaxants when i had the pain until i realized that what was helping me was not taking the pills but just the fact of waking up, standing and going looking for them in the morning. For now i try to take them only if planning on staying longer in bed as doctors say if you take too many this can cause kidney problem in the future.. Planning on showing this post to my doctor and see if this gets their attention as until now i dont feel anyone of them understands what im going through.. Hope we find a cure/cause of any sort soon!

[thebp76]

I have been dealing with the severe back pain only in the morning for about 3 weeks now.  Like everyone has said once I get up and walk around for a while it stops for the remainder of the day.  The only morning in the past 3 weeks that I have not felt the pain is the on night I passed out on my recliner.  As BACKTOBEijng stated above if you selep at an angle(like on a recliner) maybe it helps some way.  I will try it again this weekend.

[iongi1]

I know what this is.  I have suffered from these symptoms as well.  It is as simple as strengthening your pelvic floor muscle.  Just give it a go and you will be cured of all these symptoms.

[EarlyBirdFromToronto]

I am a 48 years old male.  I had exactly the same syndroms (syndromes) you guys suffering every morning after I slept longer especially in Saturday and Sunday after void.  The first time I experienced the excruciating pain was after I slept on the softbed of my Father-in-law for one night, right after my 24 hours international traveling.  I did 6, 3, and 3 tubes of 3 blood testings, normal, 24hours and random urine test, Upper body X-ray, Ultra Sound test on Kidney and Abdoment.  All test come back doesn't suggest a particular problem.  I don't believed currently Western Medicine has defined what it is as a common disease.

Solutions works for me:

1) I believed Ryan Mitton's hard bed solution is most promissing.  Once I slept on my carpet floor, I get up with much less degree of pain(90% Less), but still with manageable pain(like 10%).

2) Taking a hot bath before you go to sleep, you wake up with zero pain first time in the morning, you won't feel the pain at all.  But never go back to the bed again, althought you may wake up the rest of your household.  That's the painful decision to make for the Early birds against the Night Owl love ones.

3) Try not to put heavy blanket or quilt on your body, and when you sleep on the side, trying to let your stomach rest on the bed directly like touching the bed instead of hanging through your lats.

4) I had tried Chinese Herbal medicine too.  I felt immediate relief after the first cup of muddy drink.  But it doesn't cure my problem thoroughly after 6 cups/3 doses.  And it cost me $50 dollars each visit without insurance coverage.  You could try it too.  One of my female colleagues felt the difference too, right after the first drink in Toronto.

I will come back with an ultimate sulution, once I proved it could cure the pain.  Thanks to all who share their experiences.  Bill

[rachwils]

It's me again. I'm going to get a ct scan tomorrow morning. Hopefully I can find out what it is, I'm actually praying they do find something, atleast the pain will be able to get fixed.

I also forgot to mention in my last post that it is: Only the left side, as many others. Also I do have IBS, and it also seems its not only when i have to severly pee, it's also when i have not done the other in a while, it seems like.

Well i'll hopefully find out tomorrow!
Goodnight to everyone who shares my pain!

[Curcumin]

My lower back has been very painful in the morning for the past four months. My husband bought be liquid Calcium and Curcumin ( a natural anti-inflammatory found in the spice turmeric). I've been taking that for a week now and I can get out of bed with 70% less pain. The hot bath idea works for me too. My theory is that there is localized swelling due to an injury of some kind and that the back can't heal until the swelling is reduced.

[alfanny]

I am a 31 years old mother of one, I have the same problem. If I wake up in the night; I am ok, but if I wake up in the morning hours; I am in severe pain - in the lower back (kidney area, right and left hip (on the sides) and upper back in the middle.  After about 30 min to 1 hr; it goes away.  This is so painful to the point that it affects my breathing.   I have been dealing with this for the pass 1 1/2 months.  I will try some of your advice, hopefully it will work.  This is really driving me insane,  Just as a curiosity, did any of you have had in the pass any type of car accident? been hit in the back etc ....about 3 years ago I was involved in a car accident where I was rear ended by a mid size truck just wanted to see if this could be related.    

[Tedromer]

A most interesting Forum,

My back pain started some 8 months ago and woke me up in the middle of the night and was a mild ache at first and occurred just above my hip pelvis bone and about 10 cm ( 2 1/2 inches) from the spine on my left hand side.

Over the months it is now causing severe pains at night on my right side 10 - 15 cm (4-6 inches) above the right hip bone and 10cm from the spine .

The pain is now so bad that it takes a great effort and much pain to turn or move.  It is far easier to simply lie as still as possible.

At the outset I have decided to take a piece of paper and take some notes and record what may relieve the pain.

I tried sleeping on my soft leather lounge and that certainly provided great relief for a longer period than my expensive semi soft mattress.  But the pain would come and by morning movement was almost impossible without great pain.  I tried sleeping on foam with and without memory .. all to no avail.

I tried being hot with an electric blanket on. I tried sleeping in the cold with just a sheet. and still no change.

I have tried whenever the pain was less to put a value ( 1 to 10) on the pain when any improvement  was noticed but could not duplicate the result.

I tried make sure that I would walk 1 to 2 Km per day.  That seemed to lessen the pain from a 9  to about a 7.  After 4 days the pain threshold at 3 in the morning ( yes I record the time)  had fallen to a 6 or 7.

Using pain killers like mobic, . ibuphren,  paracetamol,  paracetamol and codiene , tablets gave no tangible relief.  My thoughts about tablets  was that it may be a placebo effect if at all and certainly not repeatable.  Using Volparen or methyl salicylalate oils, eucalyptus oil and camphor  was at best a placebo effect and not worth the money spent.

Strangely after rising each morning at about 6.30 the pain would disappear or be just a memory after about 10 to 15 minutes. Yet to get up in the middle of the night during these episodes of indescribable pain and walking for 5 minutes around the house did not solve the problem at all .

So why did the pain go away on rising each morning?

The only conclusion I can come to at the moment is that in putting on my trousers I use a wide 1 1/2 inch  (4.5 cm ) Leather belt and put it on quite tightly ( so my pants don't fall down)   and within 5 minutes the pain is gone.  

So I put on another belt under the pants one and yes the pain goes almost immediately.

Putting on a wide belt at night but not too tight will my next option to test.

I hope this prompts you sufferers to try and record what is happening and what gives a result consistently. and lets know. If we can record a consistent set of events then a solution for a lot of other sufferers may be the result.  

Walking for me is a must as the pain level at night appears to be easing after a week and using a firm wide belt when I am awake solve my day time problem without any pain.  Acupuncture, chiropractors, massages pills soft and hard beds and ointments have offered no relief for me.  How to apply the wide belt theory at night is my next hurdle and experiment.

Because the pain moves around over time tells me that it is not my bones and arthritis or my kidneys or my intestines.  Obviously weak muscles that need some support somehow is my conclusion to date.

Following on from these ruminations and what has been written here I asked myself  why is it that on getting up in the morning putting on a belted trousers against staying in pajamas that the pain can go away til I go to bed.  Even sitting in an upright position in a soft leather chair does not cause a problem till I lie down.

With that in mind I set the lounge up with cushions so that my head was at about 30 degrees above my feet and for the first time in months I suffered no pain during the night.

But trying to get up and move some muscles became very painful.

The following night I set up the same setup in my almost hard bed.  No pain while my head was above my feet, or laying in a 20 to 30 degree angle. And yes I did sleep. Early in the morning however the 4 pillows collapsed with my turning and that caused much pain.

Next night I set up the bed against a wall with the pillows in position again and I slept the night through without pain.  If I had to move however muscles gave much pain as my lower back muscles had to be used to get me up.

The next night I solved that problem by tying a rope around the end bed legs and used my hands and shoulder muscles to pull me up. At last I could get a nights sleep and get myself up.  A rope tied to a hook in the ceiling probably would have worked as well.


It is interesting to note that a wide belt in the morning made the pain ease quickly and two belts eased the pain within minutes in the morning.  But wearing a semi tight back brace to bed only made the pain come on within 30 minutes on going to bed.

Wearing a back brace during the day made my back muscles weaker and for several days after my lower back would be on the verge of being in pain, so I stopped wearing it and now have no pain through the day..

The best remedy I found when the agony was around 8 - 10 was to get up and have a hot shower with the water about 40 to 45 degrees C ( 105 to 115 F) for 3 - 5 minutes.  The pain level would   drop from a 8 - 10 to  zero for  at least 30 to 40 minutes when it would then return to about a 5 - 6 for the rest of the night.

Many thanks for the info that these columns have given me but I wonder does anyone have any other thoughts as to what we might try and has anyone tried these techniques and had any similar results as I have described here.

As I have said there must be a logical procedure to get rid of these pains in the same manner as when we rise and the pain goes away within 20 - 30 minutes each morning.

Regards to all

Ted

[deeannek]

I have been going thru this for six months now. I guess I shuld give a little history. I am 49 and I have had a cervical and lumbar fusion. The lumbar fusion I had in November 2006 and I can honestly say that everything has been worse since then. Like all of you my back pain-the worst of it is in the morning. I woke up this morning crying because the pain is agonizing. I have been in pain management for years-before the fusion even so I have a really good team of doctors heping me but with this problem everyone seems baffled and I don't know how much more I can take. It has gotten even worse in the last three weeks. I had constipation so bad that it required medical help removing it. I do take opiates but my perscription has been the same for a couple of years but I think the constipation is due to the fact I can hardly move without horrible pain-so low activity plus opiates equals bad constipation. That problem has been solved yet I still have the pain and it is getting worse. As I said I woke up crying-it felt like my back was going to snap in half when I got out of bed this morning. I am going to pain management in the morning and to see my gp later this week. If I find anything out that helps I will let you know. This is so scary but it does help to know I am not alone.

[TennisNut500]

I have been following this post since November, when I began having the exact same symptoms as many of you (severe back pain upon getting out of bed in the morning, for around 45 mins to 2 hrs). I, too, have IBS (as some of you have mentioned). After going to a back specialist and a spine specialist, they wanted to do a nerve block (after CT-Scans, XRays, etc) - stating that my problem was a degenerative disc (lowest one) that was compressed and pushing against a nerve causing this severe pain. I had some friends who have had nerve blocks for various reasons that didn't work real well. I decided to visit a chiropractor, after another friend suggested it.

The chiropractor told me he could fix the disc within 8-12 weeks. I went 3 times each week for 10 weeks and even though the pain was still severely, it only was lasting 15-30 mins. I went down to 2 visits each week the 12-16 weeks, and now down to 1 visit each week. After 14 weeks I began waking up to NO pain. I now get up each morning and the pain is gone COMPLETELY.  The chiro says his adjustments have been opening up the spacing in the disc and soon I will only need maintenance adjustments to keep it open (probably once a month).

Obviously, your problem has to be the same and without insurance or if your insurance won't cover it - it can be expensive.......but, I'm not kidding you....NO BACK PAIN.

I wish you all the best,
Randy

[alfanny]

Hi guys

Thanks for the recommendation( backinbeijing),I am now on my first week taking Prilosec (omeprazole) and the pain is almost gone.  I am also rubbing ICY on my lower back before I go to sleep.  I try not to sleep on my left side and drink lots of fluid it has work for me.


I wish you guys good luck with this! I  hope this info can help you relieve your pain.

[Tedromer]

Hi to all,

Since my last jottings and taking a few notes I thought I would list my latest updates.
I now sleep on my back with three pillows,  one under my shoulders and the other two under my head.  It is very hard to sleep with my face looking at the ceiling so I try to turn my head to one side.

In this position I have been able to sleep through the night without the back pains, except if I try to move. Lifting my self out of bed is a NO NO without very severe pain somewhere in one of the muscles in my lower back area.  So I simply slide out of bed very gently and that seems to work well.  

If I do not use the pillows then back pains appear within an hour or two for the night.  If I can get to my soft leather lounge that eases the discomfort.

As I said earlier i have tried all sorts of pills and pain killers without any relief.  As a student that once recorded the effects of drugs in general it was always "amusing" to note that simply giving a placebo to a patient would  generate a positive response up to 20% of patients.

These days when I take a pill I try to do it and test if it can give a positive response after a given time.  For example I might take a paracetamol tablet and try to record what the level of pain was doing a certain action before and then 1 hour after taking the pill.

For me very few pills (paracetamol, paracetamol and codeine, ibuphren, aspirin, quinine  gave a positive response.
I was surprised to see aspirin, quinine, and magnesium listed as muscular skeleton relaxants.  These last three may not give immediate responses but they have interesting effects when used.  Aspirin the literature says should be the last medicine taken at night as most heart attacks occur during the early hours of the morning.

If I had to give an opinion about aspirin i would say that it seems to help if taken at night. However taking too much like over 100 mgm daily does lead to nose bleeding as the nasal capillaries dilate during constant use.

Quinine seemed to be a bit better tolerated and achieved the same  sort of result for me.

Magnesium ...   Its listed on the internet as a wonder cure for all sorts of things. My first encounter as a boy (50 years ago was as Epsom salts as a wonder purgative.  One teaspoon over two days in a tumbler of water and on the second one has to say ones bowels are thoroughly excavated with with gentle ease.   The trouble is you need to make sure a toilet is within 100 metres at all times.  Any gentle cool breeze or sight of water and the need to urinate is rather compulsive. But its a great way to cleanse  one's system and test if blocked and full intestines are the culprit for the back pains when trying to sleep.

As I have said if taking a pill and the placebo effect works for you then just be aware what any side effects might be and go for it. But do try to do an empirical test and verify a possible reason for something working.

I hope these notes give you food for thought and if you can add to what you find to help us all please lets know

Ted

[Naenaenae]

Same Story (symptoms) as everyone else...
I went to the Doc and it turns out to be gallstones ... I know everyone is different but its worth getting it checked out.

Cheers

[DJhealthnut]

I just read this entire post and its great to hear other people having this same symptoms.  

My Story:
I am a healthy 30yr old male and have been dealing with this for about 2-3 yrs now, basically if i sleep more than 5-6 hrs i wake up in excrutiating pain in my lower back, sometimes I even wake up from the pain so no need to set an alarm clock because I know I wont sleep more than 7 hrs lol But after I get up and walk around the pain goes away.

I am in good shape generally speaking, I've been playing soccer every week for 3 yrs now.  I have a friend and she has the exact same issue (she is 27 in great shape) she told me to try a few things, 1)rub castor oil before you go to sleep, i did this and it helped a bit but not a permanent solution. 2)put a pillow in between your legs when you go to sleep, this actually helped me during some nights but not always. 3) my own remedy i discovered recently: place a pillow (try a really puffy pillow) under your stomach when you go to bed, this has been the best solution so far although it doesnt work to perfection all the time but its a good remedy so far.

I also experience muscle spasms in my upper gluts and iam not sure if this has anything to do with my lower back issues, it probably does to some degree.

What my massage therapist told me is that I have a very concave back basically more concave than others so when i sleep (i like to sleep on my tummy) it puts more pressure on my lower back.

I had physio treatment done on my lower back last year when i hurt my knee playing soccer and it was a good short term solution but the pain just reared its ugly head after a few months had passed.

My friend also said yoga has been helping her so I am just about to see one of the best sports rehab physiotherapists in Toronto this week about my knee (which i just twisted again lol) and i will ask him about my back as well.  After my visit to the doctor i am going to start yoga and see how that goes and maybe start working out again because when i was younger i used to hit the gym all the time and never experienced any abnormal muscle aches.

[filmgirl]

SO glad I stumbled upon this board!

I've been suffering for 4 months now. I'm 34, female, good health. I've changed mattresses, done stretches, and the ONLY thing that ever relieves the pain is 3 Advil and a heating pad (or just getting out of bed and letting the pain subside, which takes about 30 min or so).

I went to my GP fearing it was kidney-related, but she said probably not, she thought it was muscular. I never got an MRI or went to a specialist. But I'm SO afraid this will go on and on!

I always fall asleep on my back and then turn to my side (pillow between knee)...I just did research and just about every doctor recommends sleeping on your side for best support and alignment, NOT the back. So, that's something to keep in mind.

Oh man, I hope to figure this out soon...I'm sooooo sick of the pain. I used to love sleeping...not anymore. Pure dread.

[PRETTYNICE]

I am a female, 52 yrs. old. I fell off a horse about 6 years ago. I fell on my tailbone. I didn't have any pain for quite some time but in the past year I have been suffering the same thing as everyone else describes. I went to bed feeling great with no pain at all. By 3am I was feeling a little discomfort on my lower left side across from my tailbone. By 5:30-6 am I was awake and could hardly move. The pain was terrible. When I sat on the toilet I stretched my arms out to stretch out my back and I did get some relief. In less then 15 min. I felt fine again.I have arthritis(both my parents have it too) and I have a soft fatty lump where the pain was in the morning. I am taking Omega 3 and eating the Omega Cookies and found that after a few weeks the pain was reduced dramatically.
Now the pain is all but gone. I'm not suggesting this is a cure for anyone but it did work for me. I do wake up at times with back pain but Nothing like before. Omega is good for you and we lack it in our diet. Can't hurt to try it!!

[Sleepyec]

I would like to say that after reading all the comments on this site that it sounds like there are many medical issues involved. Many people who have spine problems have one type. Others who have been through a vast amount of medical tests only to be told they are fine and nothing could be found. I notice alot of age groups are also bothered by this problem.One puzzle piece seems to be the sleep time before the pains start. 5-6 hrs. Here is my story:
I am a 53 yr. old male and for the last month I have been woken after 5 to 6 hours sleep with pain in both sides of my lower back, kidney area! I turn and try every  position in bed, nothing works. I get up and go to the bathroom and I am fine within minutes. I am in decent shape, not overweight, a few aches and pains now and then, but this problem is starting to annoy me. It is every morning now and the only way to relieve problem is to get up ,move around and spend all day tired. I believe the person who mentioned GERD may be on to the cure for many of the people who can find no medical reason for it. I have some other symtoms (symptoms) that lead me to believe this could be the problem. My stomache is not the strongest and alot of foods give me gas. I drink coffee,(sometimes too much). Sometimes I am bothered by a nagging cough after eating for no apparent reason. I am going to buy Prilosec today and start taking it. I will let you all know if it helps me.

[eeyore290]

I became a member of this unfortunate "club" July 23, 2010, when I tossed a large  pillow on my bed and felt something give out in my lumbar spine. Ten seconds later, I felt the most excruciating pain, and was in pain all day. Since then, the pain goes away during the day but comes back every night at around 3:00 A.M. It is agonizing, and I have to adjust my position in bed until I can finally get a little sleep. I'm in severe pain in the morning when I get up, but the pain gradually diminishes, and is gone by around 11:00 A.M. I believe I have a pinched nerve because I also developed numbness in my right anterior thigh, which a chiropractor told me was caused by an abnormality in the L-1 to L-3 nerve roots. Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. I will try some of them. My doctor only prescribed pain medication, and it is not helping.

[ronaldchiro]

Hi,

            I've seen ur story..  I think U need to go for medicines like Acetaminophen, Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, BOTOX Injection can be very helpful for chronic back pain.. Just try for Muscle relaxant if paint persists for longer hours

[Tedromer]

Some Relief....

For many years my stepmother used the bring out her infrared lamp whenever she had pains of one sort or another.  I was always amused hot devoted she was to its use.

As you are aware I have been suffering for some 8 months with back an now shoulder pains whenever I go to bed,  These days my right shoulder is tender and sore and lifting my arm or moving around in bed is an agony.

Pils of all sorts have had little or no relief to date or none that I can quantify,

When my stepmother died some years back I inhereted all the goods and shattles including one infrared lamp which I have lost amongst my possessions till last Sunday.

So I cleaned it up checked it for electrical safety and went searching on the inter5net for its use.  The amount of wonder cures and the prices of lamps and the blurb about its effects being known by the chinese and so on for 3000 years did not engender much confidence at all.  

So I went and bought a globe for $20 from a lighthouse store  and fitted to the lampstand.  Directions indicated a distance of 30 cm or 1 1/2 feet for a 150 Watt globe with a duration of 20 minutes.

I went to bed and for the first time in months slept like a top and with no pain,
Its now 24 hours later. If I had to describe the pain level before on a 1 - 10 scale mine would have been 8.  At the moment I have no back pain at all and lifting my arm I would give the pain level as 0.5 to 1.

I spoke to  a friend who I know uses infrared and his comment is that after a week his pains are gone too and he stops treatment for months on end.

Interesting.  I have taken no pills but this `150 watt infrared lamp.

Would someone please try and emulate this method and lets know if you have a similar result.  As I said the Ho-Har on the internet really does turn youi off trying but as a last resort I have.

Maybe just maybe others may get some relief as I have done,

Ted

[Jayne200]

     I read the site yesterday and saved myself some worry about whether to buy a new mattress; seems that many of you did and saw no difference.  I'm experiencing the same as everyone else: pain in the lower right back that starts at about 2 a.m. and last until about 30 min after I wake up.  Very painful.
     After reading the posts here, I decided to try two cheap fixes recommended:  drinking more water, and fish oil pills.  I started with the water yesterday, drinking at every opportunity.  Honestly, I drink mostly coffee, and generally don't stay properly hydrated, now that I think about it.  Anyway, I drank myself silly with water, and the difference this morning is NOTICEABLE.  I'd say 70% better.  I'm no anatomy expert, but maybe there was some sort of wilted tissue around a nerve ending that needed a little puffing up with water to stop the nerve from being traumatized through the night.  Also, before I got out of bed this morning, I quickly did the youtube excercise mentioned by one of the posts here for the sciatic nerve.  I got out of bed gingerly out of habit, but nothing pinched or caused me to fall to my knees.
    I'll continue to drink oodles of water today (probably turns out to be the recommended daily amount) and a big glass before bedtime and see what happens.  I'd rather get up and pee in the middle of the night as an alternative to the pain we've all been feeling.  This may not be the answer to my prayers, but it costs a lot less than a new mattress, and it has made more of a difference in one night that weeks at the chiropractor.

[debra747]

Just a note that I have been doing ROLFING for 20 years and with this recent type of back pain had a session.  My rolfer was working on my internal muscles (under rib cage) and said I am holding there (probably emotional based).  I felt a physical release immediately.  

It has always been my problem; to hold in my emotions and holding tension in my center (muscles).  This is still an on-going issue for me but rolfing has helped me a great deal.

My rolfer for YEARS has encouraged me to do yoga; telling me that yoga will provide the same release.

Debra

[candy34987]

I had the same problem;pain on the left side from shoulder to lower back after 45 minutes of lying flat on my back. After I got up and pressed over my kidney I could feel the pain. After 5 minutes the pain was gone and I did not have the pain for the whole day.I had acid reflex for years. In the last month the acid reflex was not bad at all but the damage was done already (inflammation of the esophagus and maybe some ulcers). After reading this forum I took Prilosec, as suggested by someone, only for 2 days and pain went away.I will continue with Prilosec and I also started to drink flex seed tea. Tea is rich in omega 3 and therefore is anti-inflammatory. It is good for soothing irritated membranes. How to prepare; use 1 teaspoon of seeds to 2 cups of water, bring to boil on medium heat (#4 on stove), reduce heat to #1 and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not use anything to strain the tea; seeds will stay on the bottom. Drink hot. If you let it cool it will be the texture of raw egg white. I hope it helps. It is outrages that medical community does not have a clue.        

[qoidonc]

Same story: morning pain so excruciating that I cannot move at all for twenty minutes or so, disappearing later.  Amazing how no one really has an explanation.   Mine tends to be one-sided.

[znel101]

I have been having a real bad lower-back pain. When I wake-up in the morning, I can hardly lean up to get out of bed because of the pain. I can not stand for long period of time. It subsides for a little while when I take advil (4 200mg tabs). This came out of no where a couple of weeks ago. Anybody knows what I am talking bout? If so, let me know. Anybody have any help tips?

[mikey210]

I HAVE HAD WHAT EVERYBODY HAS BEEN TALKING ABOUT FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS AND HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER. I'M NOT GOING TO WRITE A BIG LONG PARAGRAPH BECAUSE PEOPLE GENERALLY DON'T READ BIG BLOGS. JUST FOLLOW THIS REGIMENT AND YOU'LL BE EXPERIENCING RELIEF IN A MATTER OF TWO WEEK'S TIME:

2 500 MG OF MAGNESIUM
2 500 MG OF CAYENNE
2 595 MG OF POTASSIUM/GLUCONATE
2 450 MG OF TURMERIC & BROMELAIN

FOLLOW THIS EVERYDAY FOR A WEEK AND YOU'LL BE AMAZED AT HOW GOOD YOU'LL FEEL. AFTER A WEEK OR TWO, DROP THE DOSAGE DOWN TO 1 VITAMIN PILL OF EACH ONE. THE PROBLEM IS YOUR BODY HAS A VITAMIN DEFICIENCY AND THAT IS WHY YOU'RE BACK AND HIPS ARE ACHING SO BADLY!

[candy34987]

This is to people who have:pain on the left side from shoulder to lower back and over the kidney after lying flat on a back. This pain goes immediately away when you get up or sleep on a side.
I have finally figured out cause of the pain. In my post on 9/11 by candy34987 I wrote that I tried Prilosec and the pain went away. Prilosec reduces acid production. I only could take it for 4 days. When I stopped the pain returned. It gave me an idea that the pain was caused by acid.Too much acid in a blood will cause inflammation of kidney that is why there is a pain over kidney and the muscles from shoulder to lower back. You have to alkalize your body. In my case I am avoiding acid forming foods, eat some grapefruit with each meal for digestion. Drinking grapefruit and lemon water to alkalize my body. I also drink carrot juice, chlorophyll and take ginger(anti-inflamatory and for digestion).  I am still drinking 2 cups of flax seed tea with 1 tablespoon of flex seed oil just before going to bed. Tea will coat kidney and gallbladder and get rid of inflammation. I do not want to do it during the day when kidney is working harder. I boil flax seed now for 5 min. in 3 cups of water. Pain is gone and my blood pressure is normal.  

[candy34987]

My symptoms returned. Last post 9/26/10. Since Prilosec worked in my case I think that symptoms are related to Gerd. I will try slippery elm powder and have to order dried papaya, it seemed to work for people with Gerd. Some people were saying that after they stopped using Prilosec symptoms returned within 3-6 month and were worse then before.

[shayman]

i have this problem and i think that our problem is a combination of serveral of the conditions mentioned above i feel mine is caused by a poor lifstyle, bad posture and poor diet it has caused me to suffer from gerd and mabe ibs also i feel i am dificient in some sort of vitamin through years of not drinking enough water each day of my life. i have disc trouble also. now i always listen to my body and my body tells me that this problem in the main is caused by acid that doesnt mean you have to get acid when you eat certain foods like pastry or cucumber i never did until a few months ago now i get a little heartburn and the odd reflux the excess acid ime talking about goes through my system it inflames my kidneys and irritates my bowl causing me to feel throbing, acheing, and burning all at once also pain from the worn discs and tightened mucles in the lower back through bad posture which 90% of us suffer from. my acid is caused by years of eating late at night usually sugary foods my condition has worsened  alot lately i get sick in the mornings if i get cold or if i move about alot i also get car sick if i travel on an empty stomach even on a full stomach i get car sick if driven at speeds especially round corners my doctor has put me on lansaprazole which i took for a week and expierienced no improovement so i stopped taking them but i have found out that they need to be taken for 2-3 weeks before a patient may see results so i started again yesterday i am going to try magnesium and some other vitamins  also i am going to drink alot of water too 8 pints a day is recomended and i am lucky to mabe drink 2 usually i will update in a few weeks incase anyone is interested

[Unichere]

I would have a full blood work up and check your magnesium level and D3 levels. Also if you take calcium it may make a difference. I have DDD and have had 5 back surgeries an 4 neck surgeries, rotator cuff surgery and I have FMS. I have all 18 trigger points. Not a fun way to live in pain. I recently had to adjust my D3 level and magnesium as they went out of whack and I am hurting. This is why I am up at 2:38 am now. I take pain pills and I have to take one before I can get out of bed. Most the day I am fine and then about 4 pm it starts again. Just adjusted my medication and vitamins with Dr,orders. already starting to see some relief.

[thatguy606]

I’ve read this entire thread. I’m a 26 year old male who suffers mild back pain every morning. On the 1-10 scale, it’s maxed out at 4-5. 10 would be what I would consider ‘near deathly amount of pain’ so I assume when you folks say 8-9 that is the level of pain you feel.

I am the spitting image of health. My resting heart rate is 56, blood pressure 107/56 and I am fit. I work out 4-5 days/week with regular swimming in the summer. I ride, hike, swim and generally enjoy the outdoors.

My diet is organic, mostly, and consists of meat, veggies and small amounts of carbs. I consume large amounts of water throughout the day and small amounts of beer/wine during the week. I take regular vitamin pills.

I have had a few IBS like symptoms and my body likes a ruite. To be very detailed about it, I have a bowel movement between 9-9.30AM every day, rain or shine. If I miss it, my body reminds me. If I am camping and the sudden diet shift (dried foods) affects my cycle my body bloats and I will have dyariah. This is like my bodies ‘reset’ and with a change in diet I go right back to my cycle.

My doctor tells me I am in remarkable health. All tests show I’m healthy and I almost never get sick. In the last 10 years I’ve taken possibly 4-5 sick days.

My work life is 40-50 hours/week desk job, with moderate amounts of stress.

My personal life is easy going and relaxing.

My problem started about 6-8 months ago when the economy first started to affect my job. I figured this back pain was stress related and overlooked it. However it has not gone away.

What’s not work:
- Different firmness of beds
- Diet changes – there is nothing to ‘fix’ in my diet. I eat very balanced meals. I cutout all carbs for 2 weeks with no change.
- No soda – cutout everything but water with no affects on my back
- Stretching – I am limber with no tightness after 30 minutes up, though I’ve never been able to touch my toes, working on trying has yield no results.
- Pain pills/back pills – nothing I take has a lasting effect as the problem on its own goes away in 30 minutes. I generally dislike piles.
- Peeing in the middle of the night – this makes no difference on how I wake up and would rule out my kidneys/bladders not operating properly

Having enjoyed nothing but great health my entire life and with no personal changes I’m going to be researching more serious long-term dieses like Ankylosing spondylitis.

I don’t understand organs very well but the idea that my bladder or other organs were not functioning properly does add up. The only thing that has seriously changed in my life is the amount of stress I experience.

[thatguy606]

I forgot to mention that in the last two years I have hurt my lower back helping people move on 2 occasions. So I wore a movers belt on our last project without issue. My back appears to have fully recovered.

What surprises me is that this issue is well documented in this thread yet no sold answers on how to fix.

I will be putting my efforts behind this and get to the bottom. I will keep you all updated.

[mrjohnp]

Morning All
I decided last night to have a look on the Internet about back pain/stiffness in the morning and consequently came across this site.  The reason being, as you might guess, is that I get a stiff lower back in the morning which lasts for about 15 minutes and then gets better after I have had a hot shower or a bit of a rumble around the the bed with the Mrs (I suppose that takes my mind of the back discomfort).  
However the nagging discomfort very often does not go away but the stiffness does, especially if I caught the wife (think about it).

I have just turned 50, am a 'New' Australian after emigrating there from England but live in the Sultanate of Oman where I work.  
I workout, am not overweight, 6ft 5, don't drink or smoke and am kind to children and animals.
After falling off a broken computer chair a few years ago I had an MRI and was shown 2 herniated discs. This caused tingling down my right leg and numbness (at times) on the shin.  I tried physio for a year but to no avail and then came across a Osteopath who after 2 sessions got me walking tall and 90% better.

I know that my discomfort is caused by pressure on the nerves in the spine due to the herniated discs but I have also noticed that if I sit on a soft chair my lower back aches. I am far better off on a firm chair or in an evening, when watching TV, lying on the floor with cushions behind me.

I have for the last 6 months or so started using an Inversion table for 15/20 minutes before I go to bed. I strap my ankles in and invert to about 160 % from vertical with the odd few minutes at full inversion.  I also take my MP3/AVI player and watch part of a movie to take my mind of being upside down( I find my ankles hurt after about 5 minutes due to them holding my weight and its boring just hanging there).  When I am back up and out I get straight into my ‘firm’ bed.  I have found this helps.

If you think about it we only have to stretch a tiny amount to take the pressure off the nerves.  I notice not having been inverted the night before, in the morning, my back is very stiff.  Not wishing to sound crude, but we are all friends here, but I have also noticed that my morning ‘wood’ is back to its full boyish behaviour in the morning when I have inverted the night before.  Hence the rumble with the Mrs around the bed comment earlier.

I have to think that as we get older, our bodies don’t work as efficiently as the used to. Toxins, stress etc all add to the degenerative process.  Our bodily fluids circulation slows down when we sleep / lay down and it seems that our lower back, for some reason, possibly dries out more.
Has anyone tried sleeping on their back with the middle of the bed raised slightly (so the mattress is slightly convex) around the hip area? It would make it impossible sleeping on your side but I might give that a go also.

Turmeric and Bromalie (in  tablets) are good for anti-inflammation and natural.  If your body pats are inflamed, they are going to be touching other areas of the body causing even more inflammation

[chevyman617]

I work on Classic cars and my back is in so much pain I can barely pick up a screwdriver. Anything over the counter I can take. I have to be alert and dont want prescriptions. Thanks!

[delta1a3]

I have the same exact severe pains in the morning along with the pain  with deap breaths. I don't have any other problems. As you, I dread going to sleep thinking of the upcoming war in the morning. Rest assure, I'm going to find out what this is because frankly, I'm very tired of it

[pritish_sharma]

Hi,

I have been facing this issue for three years... had a horrid time explaining the symptoms (early morning pain) to my doctor.
I have undergone "n" number of tests and they all seem positive.

recently I have started doing some yoga (a 15 min session) in the morning and evening.

trust me, it has HELPED a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0BLxSY2L3Y

Try it. Hope it works well for all of us

Regards,
Pritish

[kaykay123456]

i also have back pain in the morning after sleeping about 6 hours its always in the lower back area have not been to the doctor yet but i have found relief if u prop your head up in bed it will take away the pain it has for me,hope we find the real problem soon cause this really ***** to wake up with pain

[Vaithan]

So glad I found this message board. I was begining to think it was just me. I've not been able to sleep for more than 5-6 hours a night for nearly a year now. I thought at first I'd pulled my back at work but when the pain kept coming back I put it down to the bed mattress.

Now I know however it was none of the above and I've been scratching my head as to what it could be for ages. I'm a 30 year old male and I used to get paralising back pain as a child but I put that down to growing pains ect. Clearly this was a mistake and I should of got myself looked at a lot earlier.

It's got to the point now where the pain actually makes me feel nauseous. It takes my breath away and I can't move without it feeling like I've been stabbed. I'm actually sat here right now having just been forced out of bed yet again by this pain. I've tried all kinds of possisions in bed, up to and including sleeping sat up (thats a hard one to do) nothing has worked.

One thing that makes me think that this is a muscle problem more than anything else is, if you undergo voluntary paralasis (getting drunk) you'll not get the pain at all. Ok you'll have a hangover and it's probably not a good idea to use this method long term but it does help.

I'll be going to the doc's in the new year to hopfully get this sorted out. I'll also try a lot of whats been posted here to see if anything works. If it does I'll post back with my results.

Anyway, here's hoping you all have a good new year.

[Vaithan]

So glad I found this message board. I was begining to think it was just me. I've not been able to sleep for more than 5-6 hours a night for nearly a year now. I thought at first I'd pulled my back at work but when the pain kept coming back I put it down to the bed mattress.

Now I know however it was none of the above and I've been scratching my head as to what it could be for ages. I'm a 30 year old male and I used to get paralising back pain as a child but I put that down to growing pains ect. Clearly this was a mistake and I should of got myself looked at a lot earlier.

It's got to the point now where the pain actually makes me feel nauseous. It takes my breath away and I can't move without it feeling like I've been stabbed. I'm actually sat here right now having just been forced out of bed yet again by this pain. I've tried all kinds of possisions in bed, up to and including sleeping sat up (thats a hard one to do) nothing has worked.

One thing that makes me think that this is a muscle problem more than anything else is, if you undergo voluntary paralasis (getting drunk) you'll not get the pain at all. Ok you'll have a hangover and it's probably not a good idea to use this method long term but it does help.

I'll be going to the doc's in the new year to hopfully get this sorted out. I'll also try a lot of whats been posted here to see if anything works. If it does I'll post back with my results.

Anyway, here's hoping you all have a good new year.

[NickityNic]

I find that lying on my side in the fetal position in the morning... this is after having to struggle to get to my side by pulling myself with my arms and my head board, extreme tighten of the abdomen muscles(I literally feel like I'm paralyzed from the waist down in the mornings)... helps. I think that the long hours of not moving while sleeping is part of it. I have a brand new mattress, which was recommended for lower back pain. I've tried pillows between my knees on my side, pillows under my knees while lying on my back.
I've been to physio for the last few months, but he says my muscle tone is good and my alignment is holding...(I've had back issue for years, but NOTHING like this!) I do my stretches and strengthening excercises, I've tried muscle relaxants before bed.
I'm not over weight, I haven't had children. I'm a 37 year old female with a high tolerance for back pain, but this is now getting ridiculous!! I do have a long torso, but I highly doubt that has anything to do with it... but at this point, who knows, maybe that's the common thread!
Now has hit the point where I will be heading to my Dr.'s in the New Year... if Physio hasn't helped, I know there's an issue of something else. Also thinking of sewing on sharp objects to back of pyjamas so I don't end up on my back in the middle of the night(which seems to be the killer position for me... it's like I get "stuck" in my mattress and don't know how to get out without waking myself up).
I'll keep checking back to see if anyone has come up with a miracle explanation, and I'll report back if I find one!
Here's to having a pain free 2011!!

[sonyslave]

I have the lower back pain while in bed upon waking up in the morning.  It hurts to inhale.  But not every morning, I've observed that the pain is worse when my girlfriend sleeps over and we share my queen sized bed.  I suspect that I don't move around as much while sleeping when she is next to me because I don't want to injure her with an elbow or knee.  I suspect sleeping mostly in a stationary position all night causes the lower back pain to tighten resulting in pain upon waking.   Since then I've kicked her out of my bed and that seems to have helped a lot.  Occasionally, maybe twice a month I'll still have lower back tightness, but that's due to me not rolling around enough while I'm sleeping.  I also think that mentally reminding yourself to roll around/move around before dozing off helps.

I'm on my feet for work, usually with an equipment bag hanging from a shoulder.  In the morning my lower back will tighten up on it's own about 15 minutes into standing.   This was chronic for about 6 months.  I tried doing a variety of stretches for my back (I'm in good shape, 39 years old, lean, and workout 2 or 3 times a week at high intensity, weight training, muy thai/mma boxing).  My stretches did not work.  I went to one free yoga class, it was a slow stretching type of yoga, not a "workout" yoga class.  At the end of the class I thought that I had wasted my time because we did not do any lower back specific stretches.  However for the next week my lower back was GREAT (this included a 5 hour flight in coach)!  Since then I go to yoga twice a month to keep my back happy and it's been working fine.  Yoga has taught me that everything in you body is connected and the routines affect many parts of your body even if you don't feel like it's hitting your back.

Also, a buddy of mine injured his back thorough years of sports and injuires.  He had major chronic pain.  He took up yoga and it's saved him from all the pain meds he needed to cope with the pain.  His back was really messed up, he does yoga everyday and it works for him.

Last note on yoga: It's popular now and there are a lot of BAD instructors, find a good one that will talk you through the nuances of body position.  If they are not covering the small details properly find one that will.  

For the sendentary:
Evolution has designed our body to MOVE, and our bodies expect to MOVE.  If you are not MOVING your body you are taking away a process it DEPENDS ON for good health.  Get off you *** and use your body!

Hope this helps somebody.

[je339999]

i am a 46yo male w/ similar difficulties upon waking. so painful i cannot take a full deep breath upon waking, excruciating back pain that seems to be emanating from the kidney area.  if i have the need to urinate upon waking this pain is magnified.  have always slept on my side or stomach, sometimes sleeping on my back alleviates it, but not always.  my girlfriend and i tried switching sides of the bed to no avail.  still sleep only 5-6 hours at a time, because more sleep equals more pain.  after i am up and moving everything feels fine.  i walk about 3 miles at work (part of my duties) on a concrete floor, been doing the job for over 12 yrs, but no difficulties until about 2 years ago.  have been considering investing in a new expensive mattress but hate to think of throwing money down the drain.  what would be the first thing i should try?

[jowgc]

Don't invest in a new mattress it didn't work for me. read the comments from Jules1421 on feb 13. I agree with her that it is GLUTEN that is the problem.  I have suffered with this pain for a while and went on a gluten free diet, for other problems aswell, bloating, rashes on my arms, weight gain and unable to loose weight, problems with heavy and unpredictable periods. Everything was fine and I felt good but then then went to a Gastroenterologist and seh told me to go back onto gluten contained foods for 3 months so that I could have a blood test to tell me if I was Celiac (gluten allergic). I could only manage 2 months as all the symptons came back.  I have had the bood test done but will probably come back negative as I didn't wait the three months but I couldn't bear the pain.  I started back on the glutem free diet on the 2nd December 2010 and I have only now started to fee pain free in the mornings. I would try it for a couple of months.  It's worked for me don't care if the test comes back negative I'm staying on the gluten free diet.

[BooandBubba]

Well all i can say is god bless the internet and all you people it pain in morning.
Im 34yrs old with two children and every since the birth of my son in april 2009 I had had pain in my lower back around my kidney region. At first i put it down to post birth pains and epidural and the pain seemed to come from there but after 6mths the pain changed and sometimes i had the pain every morning sometimes i wouldn't have it in a few days to week. I suffered from kidney reflux as a child and into my 20's so was sure positive something had to be wrong with my kidneys but ultrasounds showed all was perfect and started to doubt myself I even had pain as every time i went to doctor when it was severe they couldn't find anything. no kidney infections no pain anywhere. I taught i was going mad and i'm sure they taught i was mad too.
I am now 11wks pregnant on my 3rd child and the pain is so bad in the mornings it makes me cry. I can't get out of bed for ages and even when i do i tend to shout in pain. My kids tend to play for ages every morning just waiting for me to get out of bed and like everyone the pain starts early morning and can barely turn over in the bed without screaming in agony. i do get some relief if I wee if a make myself get out of bed, with becoming pregnant I can't seem to hold it for long, but since becoming pregnant I find nothing helps. When i do eventually get down the stairs with kids all i can do is sit on couch with hotwater bottle to my lower back and wait for the pain to even ease. Days like today where its very bad I could be stuck on couch for most the day in pain. I don't feel need to eat or drink until the pain is gone. The pain is becoming worse every morning and I am at a loss as what to do. How do you get diagnosed with DDD ? or Facet Syndrome ?(Bare in mind I am in Ireland) I have had MRI where they found nothing, I was told yrs and yrs ago by chriropractor i had a S shaped spine( i think) neck area goes opposite way or something, I used to do gynastics in Secondary school and used to swim but all these excerises cost money now which i just don't have. I wouldn't excerise anymore in a gym like i did in my mid 20's used to go daily.  
Where do I start ?? would love if someone can give me a starting point ?
Thank You

[BradleyJ88]

Wow, your experiences are the same EXACT symptoms as mine. I wake up in the mornings, with the pain in the kidney area and I was thinking it was my kidneys but seems to be that everyone with this pain has had a back injury.. A few years back I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disk Disease by a chiropractor, I am only 22 years old and the chiropractor said that I had arthritis of a 60 yr old man. My back pain used to be so horrible I would just want to lay in bed all day long.. I have recently figured out a way to relieve MY back pain 100 percent, It took me 7 years of daily intolerable pain and a lot trial and error on my part....hopefully some of these things could help someone out reading this...

I did find some stuff that help out AMAZINGLY to lower back pain throughout the day. Get a gym membership and strengthen your CORE which are abdominal muscles and the surrounding muscles that stabilize your core, start stretching your leg mucles such as hammies and glutes etc..... a lot of people have back pain due to the fact their muscles from their lower body are too tight and pull an extreme amount of tension on their lower back causing back pain, drink at least a gallon of water a day to help hydrate your muscles and keep them loose, also at the gym do compound exercises such as DEAD LIFTS and SQUATS, as these exercises especially dead lifts will be the best way to strengthen lower back and the core. I found that hydration is EXTREMELY important to relieve the pain in the mornings, I usually carry around a 1 gallon jug of water with me where ever I go..

I have been dealing with this since I were 15yrs old, my family doc who is garbage always told me I was fine and did not do anything not even look into my kidneys with a simple blood test. Due to the fact, I have done a lot of research and trial and error with my own body. What I have listed above are things that actually help out my back pain, i wish it didn't take 7 yrs to figure out...

[fiorimillion]

I suffered same symptoms. Doctors said it was a muscle spasm but didn't understand why just in the morning.  Muscle relaxants did not help nor anti-inflamatories. It was suggested that I go gluten free for a different set of symptoms.  The intense pain in the morning went away and hasn't come back.  I would suggest that you get a blood test for celiacs immediately - push the doctors and then go gluten free.  Couldn't hurt and may help - alot!

[lemonlady]

I too have these exact same symptons - morning pain in the kidney area and stiffness of back - all disappearing 10 mins after getting up. MRI scan showed degeneration of the spinal discs - something that normally happens with old age, but can start earlier. Other tests showed nothing. I accept the degeneration of the spine but still don't think it would be a cause for the very specific pains in the morning. Will try the magnesium, stretching etc and hope it doesn't get any worse.

[ktch27]

What a great amount of feedback on this lower back issue. I'm researching for my husband who has been waking up with excruciating pain for the last 3 weeks. He's 27, in amazing shape, and never been diagnosed with anything serious before. He does have an issue with constipation, and I'm wondering if a gluten free diet could help him out. The suggestions are wonderful, and I will pass them along for him. Keep up with the conversation, we're all in need of finding out a cause of this awful issue.

[JPSF]

I see myself in so many of these comments and after reading ALL of them, I definitely see commonalities and want to share my chiropractors wisdom.
I too suffered from IBS in my late 20s/early 30s, reduced my stress and it got better. Had amoebic dysentery after a trip to India 24 yrs ago, and recently found out that once you have that gastric nightmare, it leaves your intestinal tract more open to ailments (that is for sure).  Hurt my lower back in gymnastics in HS, living with chronic back pain. However this morning back pain in the kidney/rib area just started 8 mos ago or so.  I was on Lupron injections for 3 mos prior to surgery this July for hysterectomy due to uterine fibroids(another commonality for some women here). That was when the pain started.
Now in hindsight, that was probably coincidence, but it is a very strong drug that could have triggered a response for this flare up.  All the groundwork was there.  I see my Chiropractor regularly and he said the new pain in my back was most likely a build up of toxins.  He suggested a 2 week liver detox immediately.  Always helps (try to do annually) problem is once you go back to a regular diet, the same patterns emerge.  He recently gave me Zypan which helps with digestion as he said I was lacking acids to help break down foods like normal people.  I had been so full of gas, bloating after meals, weak abdomen.  WOW - I have been taking them for 2 weeks now, huge difference.  I was so stunned by them after day 4 I went online and found incredible reviews on Amazon.com of all places where dozens of folks said that for the first time in years they stopped taking antacids due to their success with Zypan and how well their symptoms subsided.  Zypan is made by the company Standard Process. You take 2 pills with each meal, and even with snacks (non raw foods).  They unfortunately are not vegan, as made from bovine and ovine spleens, (makes them smell awful) but HUGE help.
So after synthesizing all the comments here and from my chiropractor's comments, it kind of sounds like for whatever reasons, some of us may  be missing certain enzymes in our bodies that explains why some of us have accompanying digestive issues, and that perhaps this lack of enzymes, minerals whatever..has caused leaching from bones and muscles and resulted in inflammation and this excruciating pain after being prone for 5-6 hours. I hope we all find better relief for the pain soon.  If you live in SF, my chiropractor is amazing...thanks for everyone else's posts, just reading through was like a lightbulb moment!

[Aby25]

Hi there.
Many thanks for all your contributions. I will go straight to the point. I am also one of those who suffers from this severe pain, around the kidney area some 5-6 hrs after going to bed. I have been through many blood tests, kidney and abdomen ultrasound scans, all coming back clear. One thing for sure is that this is somewhat linked to the kidneys. For me this is how it all started, I had a severe un-explained diarrhoea for about a week. The very same day that it stopped, the back pain started. I can put my head on the block and say that it is something to do with intestinal abnormalities, the kidneys and urinary tract. I will definitely be taking this site with me to my GP and rest assured, I never go down without a fight. I will be back with a full explanation as what this is. Surely there are only 3 lines of enquiry that Doctors need to follow......1 Pain ONLY comes early in the morning (WHY)....2 Pain is around the kidney area (WHY)........3 Pain is worse when lying down (WHY).......That should give them a clear direction on which routes to follow. Watch this space !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Annamelisa27]

i have same problem, what are the best i should do? I start feel this when I was pregnant. Anyone know where we get this? if before I can sleep longer now its like alarm that wakes me because of the pain.

[dawn9394]

Help!  I have been in pain for at least a year and it is getting worse.  Now I can feel my lower back begin to ache before I head to bed which makes me dread sleep.  Last couple of nights took a Vicadin and it did nothing when I woke.  This morning the pain that used to first wake me up at 8:30 now is waking me up at 5:30AM.  That was exactly 6 1/2 hours of sleep!  I am a 37 year old female and wondering what type of doctor I should see after reading this post???  Thought of my GP, or my rhematologist then my chiropractor but before I go on a wild goose chase and waste a bunch of money for nothing to be found I thought I would chime in and see what my first step should be.  I am going to try magnesium and start some excersizes.  My husband thinks I don't have a problem that I should just exercise but I still have the pain after I play tennis.  My mom had a whole host of autoimmune diseases so this makes me wonder if it isn't something like this.  It took the doctor years before they diagnosed her with Scleroderma.  So, my question is what doctor should I see first?  Thanks for all the posts it is so nice to know you aren't alone.

Dawn in Katy, TX

[Tedromer]

Hi once again,

If it is any comfort to anyone , the back pains I suffered on going to bed and throughout the night have now dissapeared now for some 8 months, So the good news is that the pain hopefully will pass. Why they went is still a mystery and I hope they do not return to a 76year old like me.

What have I done..  tried to eat less, do a little more walking exercise and slow down a little and stop picking up heavy weights..

But whatever you do have a notebook and a pencil and record it and give the result a 0 to 10 after 5 - 10 hours.  At least you can look back and look to see if anything works.

Pills for me of any kind really gave little relief.
Magnesium seemed to make a change after about a week
Tablespoon of epsom salts (Magnesium Sulphate heptahydrate) every couple of days in a tumbler of water for about a week seemed to be the best relief. Loved epsom salts as it's a remedy I once used to make potions for all sorts of complaints from back in the 50's when a chief chemist .

My son goes to a chiropracter and it is interesting that when he applied massive pressure from his experience for some 2-3 minutes on the affected areas the pain relief was almost instant.  Yes it returned after 24 hours but there was relief.  But do choose a chiropracter carefully.

As for doctors they can only give you their opinion of experience and if you go to 5 doctors they will all have a different pill and suggestion. So the best you can do is make sense of what they are trying to say. It it doesnt make sense don't do it.  After all it is you that will heal yourself.

Whatever you do try something and record the result.  You then know not to do that again and can try a different tack.

I hope you all get some relief.

  

[Duff49]

I'm 62 and had this issue most of my life. I am perfectly healthy and had no major injuries. I am one of seven children and I have 3 children plus nieces and nephews with the same type issues. I also have had long term IBS.

I found out that my family has a hereditary neurological condition known as HNPP and CMT. This is where the cover or shell over the nerves does not completely protect the nerve. They can then be injured easily. The nerve endings can become hyper sensitive to pain and temperature, It can cause partial numbness for an extended time(months) and injured motor nerves can cause muscles to not respond well. This can happen simply by sleeping on your arm or just crossing your legs for 15 minutes.

Although I have not had a doctor tell me it is related, I believe that is what's causing my back pain. If you have these other symptoms also, that may be the root of your problem.

[BackPain101]

Thank you so much for your contributions. I will go straight to the point. I am also one of those
who suffers from this severe pain, around the kidney area some 5-6 hrs after going to bed.
So glad I found this message board. I was beginning to think it was just me.
I've not been able to sleep for more than 5-6 hours a night for nearly 3 months now.

I accept the degeneration of the spine that  would be a cause for the very specific pains in the morning.
I too have these exact same symptons - morning pain in the kidney area and stiffness of back –
all disappearing 10-15 mins after getting up


Somebody ask these questions on one of the post,  that most of us were asking:
1 Pain ONLY comes early in the morning after lying or sleeping for 5-6 hours (WHY)...?
2 Pain is around the kidney area (WHY). ?
3 Pain is worse when lying down (WHY)  ?

Answer:
My thoughts after reading most of the comments; (Please do keep an open mind…)

What if these pain are caused by our intestines, kidneys, and other internal organs etc. pushing
or pressing on our spine for approximately 5-6 hours?  When the spine starts hurting (just like
the kidneys)   the pain radiates from the back to the front ( “like a belt pain from the mid back to the front rib”) ?
The acids of our stomach and the food that we eat contributes too right?

Of course it wouldn’t hurt right away especially for few minutes or couple of hours.
But as we get older and our bones (and spine) deteriorates, plus the weight, bad posture, type
or nature of work or job we do, type of bed/mattress , etc
(and everything that affects our daily living) then
everything  takes a toll on our back and our spine. I think that explains why we are of different
age, sex and walks of life but having the same pain.

What have I done..
Trying to eat less, do a little more walking exercise and slow down picking up heavy weights..
Lie down on 2 to 3 pillows on my head

Meds that gave me a little or some relief :
PRILOSEC  first thing in the morning
Bengay Vanishing Scent Gel (Non Greasy)  as needed especially when pain starts.

But whatever you do please take notes and record the results  ( a score of   0 to 10 is good)
So we can look back and share  if anything works.

Keep up with the conversation, we're all in need of finding out a cause of this awful issue.

I'll keep checking back to see if anyone has come up with a miracle explanation, and I'll report back
if I find one! please do reply back to me for feedback too OK?

Mr. Pain in the Back

[gatorhtr]

I'm 71 years old and have suffered with this kidney area pain and upper and lower back pain for a good part of my life.  I've had every test one can possibly have, been referred to rhumatologists and other specialists, tried acupuncture, chiropractic and all manner of alternative treatments.  

To make a long story short, I concluded that doctors have no idea what they are dealing with on this issue, and haven't been to one for it in years.  Instead, I look at like I'm only in severe pain maybe 30 minutes daily, and the rest I can deal with.

The things I do that helps are (1) I found a vibrator about a foot long with two cylindrical balls that I use on my back for about 15 minutes every morning, (2) after voiding I do stretching exercises for about 15 minutes every morning, and (3) I count my many blessings daily.  

Thanks to everyone posting here.  It helped a lot to know I'm not totally nuts!

[bwood304]

This just started 4 days ago for me.  I'm fine one day and the next I wake up to horrid mid-back pain.  So bad it hurts to breath, partiucularly exhale.  Getting up and out of bed is difficult, but once up and moving around it is tolerable.  Not perfect, but ok.  What the heck??  I doens't make any sense to me.

[Accashak]

This has been such a relief to know it's not just me......

Two things have helped me
1 sleeping sitting up - sounds odd but really seems to help.
2 as some people have mentioned going gluten free made a huge difference to me - unfortunately I had to go back on gluten for blood tests for coeliac disease and the pain came back again - have stopped gluten again and won't go back on it again despite what the bloods show !!!

Am really hoping the pain goes away again as at the moment the only thing that seems to fix it when it comes on is to get up and have a warm drink and move around - which is not ideal at 5 am , or to pass wind very loudly - which is totally antisocial..

[Flobb]

Just wanted to add some of my own findings. I am 36 and suffer back pain when i wake, been like this at various pain levels for nearly 20 years.
I used to see an osteo to crack my back and give me a massage, this would help initially for a while and after several years seeing the same person it was noticed it usually occured befor summer and befor winter.

I moved and tried a new oste, they pushed my back and made things worse, never went back. Took 1 and a half years for one particular disk pain to go when touched.

I progressed with the doctor.
I believe when i was young i was found tonhave a duplex kidney. Although this is not directly realated a lack of space may cause te back pain.
I have no issues urinating.
I do not suffer from constipation.

Initially going out for a run used tosolve the problems.

Once spent a 8 hour flight stood up to america as i couldnt sit.

Sleeping sat up worked for about 6 months

I have tried 4 matteresses over the past 10 years. Even a temper matress
I now am on a firm quality mattress which appears to be the best but is not a cure.
I sleep with one pillow under my head and two on the floor when i wake up. 5-6 am. I then sit up.

I had an mri and was diagnosed with anklylosing spondalitis, maybe not spelt right. I was given bufenretard, 800mgof ibrobufen, slow release, x 2. I dont take these now as i believe they cause the hip pain.

Hot showers as mentioned earlier help to stop the pain in the mornings, HOT. But this is now startong to not work so well.

I will be going back to the doc to get more advice and see about the vitamin deficency.

This is really starting to grind on me now, lack of energy and slow to start the day.
Hopefully some proper research will be conducted soon.

My heart goes out to all with the problem. Its a strain, i know.

[NickityNic]

I know this might sound strange, but I started taking a B complex vitamin and D3 vitamin, and ever since I have not woken up with back pain... it may ache a bit during the day(I blame my heels for that though)... but WOW... I posted back in Dec2010 for description of the excruciating pain I was in! I have no idea why or which one it is, but as long as I'm pain free in the morning... hoorah, I'm keeping with the vitamins! Maybe this is just a fluke thing, but if not I wanted to share as it seems we have alot of the same symptoms, but no cures/relief!

[macpearson]

Wow!  I am soooo glad I came across this blog.  I thought there was something wrong with my kidneys as I have the same type of pain, sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left and sometimes on both sides.  I guess I don't need to have tests done, as the pain does feel muscular in nature.  Now, I have been working out (weight training and eliptical) so I don't know if that is the case, but it does subside somewhat during the day.  My weight is normal and I don't have any other physical challenges I am working on so I will keep this posting to see what else I can learn.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post.  I am 53 and have never had back pain before so this is new to me and I don't like it!

[sc28]

I am 41 and have recently started feeling mild- meduim lower back pain only in the morning.  Thought it may have been linked to menstral cycle but reading this blog advices otherwise. Occasional suffer of IBS type symptoms.  Have informed doctor and gave bloods which show nothing.Will now keep a diary.  Thanks - nice to know you are not alone.

[TJW1007]

Thank god I found this site and I’m not going mad!

My pain started a few weeks back but having sat back I see a link to when I was pregnant with second who is now 9 months old. When I was pregnant I got lower pain and couldn't sit down for long before getting lower back pain, when I got up the pain in my back took was so painful it brought tears to my eyes each time - so there must be a link.
I’ve been to the doctors and had some test done, but nothing has been found. I go to the chiropractor every month, he uses a small hand machine that helps your spine stay straight. I’m going to increase this to a weekly visit.

I've just returned to work and travel, an hour on the plan to Melbourne sitting in E class wasn't nice, and I have a Singapore and china trip coming up in June and July. I thought sleeping in a hotel bed might help, but 4am this morning woke up and could hardly move with the pain in my lower right hip/back (when you read the post how many are at 2/3/4/5am!)
. Half an hour of walking around the pain does go and I can sit back down, but not lay back down to go to sleep.. with two young children, a full time career it's getting pretty tough to get through the day with little sleep.

I have emailed my boss to ask for support to fly business until I get this fixed, reading these post I just hope there is a solution, there must be.... I’m going to find it and when I do I will share with you all what it is.

For now, going to take a hot bath and read a book and get ready for the day that has already started.

[chatoo]

got bad lower back pain in morning until i go to bathroom and it eases up little any one got any  INFO

[318jum]

Hi Guys, I to have had all of the above pains and actually thought i was drinking to much alcohol so hit it on the head and at first the pain was not there, but after a few days the pain returned. i was sure i needed a kidney transplant as i dont drink enough water as i drive alot for a job and cant always get to a loo. it has been so reassuring to see so many with the same pain. thanks for putting my mind at rest.

[Tedromer]

Hi one and all,

I may have commented that my lower back pains stopped some eight months ago and they have  But since then my shoulder blade area has become almost as painful.  I am 76 take no pills of any kind and just put up with it.  I assumed it was old age, arthritis and genetic as my mother suffered the last 15 years of her life till she was ninety with  a similar pain.  She had to give up her gardening and could lift nothing with her right arm.

My problem is similar and its impossible to use my right arm to clean my anal areas. My mother got around the problen for herself that she used a sponge on the end of a stick. it was that bad.  I once could throw 40 x 25 kgs of salt onto a truck anytime .  not at the moment.

My wife complains that when too close my shoulder blade blades grate and grind and she cannot sleep.  So I have a problem ...

As a manufacturing chemist of the 50's  and as I have said before the one product that was packed in great abundance in those days was Epsom salts (Magnesium sulphate hexhydrate).. about a tonne a week for the company I worked for.  and the dosage was listed at a teaspoon  in a tumbler of water when needed.  It does keep one very regular with bowel movements. .

So my thoughts have turned again to the use of Magnesium.  This week on Monday I took the teaspoon of epsom salts  and my notebook reports that it did bugger all.  So I took another dose on Wednesday. Still bugger all.  But on Friday morning I have woken up and just know that I have no pain or crackling in my shoulder blades.  The pains have almost disappeared.

Is it due to the epsom salts?  I do not know but if anyone has similar symptoms please  try it and lets know what happens.  Today I have dug two holes to plant trees and pulled and tugged at branches like there is no tomorrow and still just the hint of a twinge of pain.
So different to last week.

If you look up the effects of Magnesium on body tissues there seems some justification for taking magnesium if it is low in your normal food intake.

Would someone repeat what I have done and lets know what happens.

I really hope that you all find some relief from the pains that we suffer. I will keep taking a teaspoon about every third or so day and let you know if the pains return.

Ted Romer

[sugaries]

I've been having the exact same thing(s) the past three weeks.  When I lay down at night I can hardly to to sleep because the lower back pain, radiating around the right side to the front and into my abdomen.  I wake with the pain several times in the night.  If I get a total of 4 hours sleep a night, I'm doing good. I've taken a handful of aspirin and slept on ice packs and nothing helps.  I can hardly get out of bed every morning because of the pain and I walk with baby steps and all hunched over.  By the time I've roughed it through the shower, morning coffee and my getting ready for work regimen, it has improved vastly.  I do a lot of walking at work so that helps work it out, but if I have to sit for any length of time, I get "stove up" and I feel a "fullness" in my back and right side of my waist, but not the stabbing pains that I experience during the night.  I, too, have pain when inhaling and exhaling, but the inhaling is worse.  Mine started out of the blue.  I hadn't experienced any falls or anything.  I'm thinking I may have overstretched while stopping and bending for something at some time, but can't recall feeling any pain at the time, so I have no clue how or why this started.  Heat doesn't help, ice doesn't help, anti-inflammatories don't help.  I'm only grateful that it doesn't last up into the day or I wouldn't be able to hold down a job.  I also work a part time job on weekends and often have to stand for extended periods of time.  When I do get to sit it's on an elevated, backless chair...like a barstool, but not....and I have no back support.  Since this started three weeks ago, my pain comes back during the day when I'm at this particular job because of the uncomfortable working conditions.  I appreciate the input from others about the possible diagnoses.

[JOlive]

I am a 41 year old female and have the exact same problem.  I feel perfectly fine until about 4:00am and it's hell until I get up.  I can tell you that everything feels stiff and it also feels like I have a pinched nerve on my left side starting from my butt.  My daughter is 6 months old and I NEVER had back problems before this.  It's been a good month now.  The one thing I wanted to mention was that I had a massage about 2 weeks ago, my shoulder was hurting, also really stiff and I couldn't help but notice that the next morning I felt perfectly fine.  I thought it had gone away but it was back the following morning.

[GrannyLala38]

Could the infrared lamp be increasing levels of Vit. D?  Many people now have decreased levels.  Would be worth getting blood level checked and/or increasing intake by using Vit. D pills (they usually come from soybeans).

[GrannyLala38]

There seem to be common themes that alleviate the very particular problem of this type of pain occuring only in morning after lying down for at least 5-6 hours.

Position during sleep time
Diet/Nutrition
Exercise to increase muscle tone in areas to better support spine/pelvic regions
Bowel and Bladder emptying with attention to reduction of bowel irritation
Manipulation of spine to relieve pressure

But, the main reason for the pain always seems to come back to the same thing: Inflammation

During the day, gravity exerts compression on the inflammation which reduces swelling/edema in a specific area  (think of how an ace bandage works), at night while reclining the compression is off.

I have cared for Spina Bifida patients and came to understand just how the lower spinal nerves control bowel/bladder, etc.  And, it's a two-way street (think referred pain).  Check out the neural (nerve), anatomy of the lower spine and the organs influenced.

Anything you can initiate to control inflammation anywhere in the body will reduce it in another area to some degree.   Though there are various causes/sources that come into effect, the end result is the same-irritation of the spinal nerves connected to the area of inflammation.

This is over-simplified, but there is an answer to the puzzle.  I wish I could do some studies using heat sensors for spinal inflammation during sleep cycles, electrodes to monitor spasms, etc.

Granny Lala

[Neon27]

I'm a guy, 27 years old, 5.8" tall, 168 pounds, fairly fit, on a healthy diet, and generally good postured. I've been sleeping on a Tempurpedic bed for over 2 years.
About 1 year ago I had a surgical procedure performed on me (inguinal hernia surgery) and was confined to a recliner while I recovered. Everything recovered wonderfully, and I was fit and healthy for about 4 months when all of a sudden, this 6AM lower back pain started to develop.
I've tried a bunch of stuff, but I'm still suffering from this CURSE!
I've given-up. I just set my alarm to wake me up at 4AM, I get out of bed, find my reclining chair, and sleep there until I need to wake for work. The pain isn't as bad if I sleep in my chair.
This condition brings new meaning to "I feel suicidal, but only in the mornings"

[Carlyladida]

i went online today to see if i could find some kind of underlying reason for the pain i have each morning in my lower back upon waking. its so horrible and sometimes i just don't even want to try to get up because it hurts so badly. i usually wake up because of the pain, its hard to roll over and sometimes it happens in the middle of the night when rolling over during sleep and then there i am awake. it does go away when i am up for awhile, sometimes right after i use the restroom but getting on the toilet to go is sometimes a feat in and of its self because my back hurts so much. i was wondering if anyone else also got the same pain when standing for some time, ie. doing the dishes or sorting laundry, sometimes i get the same pain at that time, and like when sorting laundry i find it hard to bend down to pick something up, not all the time, but most of the time this happens as well as the morning pain. I haven't even mentioned it to the doctor. I hardly ever even see a doctor, but the pain is so terrible each morning and it's starting to affect the way i am emotionally during the day, it's hard to have a good start when pain is the first thing you experience upon wakingl. I have had this going on for at least 5 yrs now, I'd like to mention that sometimes lately it hasn't happened, but it does happen more than it does not. I also will say that i am a 44 yr old woman and I haven't had any children, however I do have endometriosis and wonder if perhaps this is a contributing factor, but when seeing that men also have this problem i suppose not. has anyone found any solutions? I have read every single post as of yet on here, i felt like leaving this comment and going back to see and hopefully somewhere on here is a plausible solution, good luck to all of us with the debilitating problem! I am not happy anyone else is going thru this but I am happy to know i am not alone and that it isn't uncommon as I thought perhaps it was.

[RainInThePain]

Okay so

1) Doctors are no help. They do not know what it is we are suffering from.

2) We can collectively collate symptoms,

3) Maybe we can also start to figure what it is that is causing this back pain.


I have had this for about 2 years. I almost don't take any notice of it now. I wake at a normal time (rather than at 5/6am as it was) and get on with life - after a short time of being vertical the discomfort fades. If I lye down at other times for a prolonged period the discomfort will return. If I become run down likewise the discomfort in the back region, after lying, will increase.

It is not a pain in the arse. But it is a real pain in the Back! I have had enough and want rid of this. Doctors will not help. However, we have this resource. So lets investigate. Some questions for you:

1) Do you have slightly blood shot eyes? In the corner of of you eyes, where others have white, are your eyes a little blood shot?

2) Do you feel slightly run down at times? Often with other intermittent symptoms like a cold or cold sores in your mouth or a slight soar throat or even a funny tum?

I do have a theory as to what may be causing this back pain in some of us. But I would like to see if anyone answers the above questions.

Half of the problem is the worry and uncertainty - I am sick, what is wrong with me etc. I hope you can get on with your life without too much worry. In the mean time, where medicine can only deal with what it knows, we can collectively try and pool our symptoms and potentially look for solutions.  

You are not alone!  

[gregghealy]

Im a 45 year old male. I was born with short tendons in my feet and grew up in corrective shoes and walk on my toes. Never got the operation to fix it. Ive been told Ill be in a wheel chair by the time Im 50...

Three years ago I was diagnosed with moderate arthritis in my lower back and bad L4 and L5 discs. I get up some mornings with crippling pain in my lower back. To the point where the muscles are spasming unevenly and I walk hunched over badly and it effects my neck, hips and shoulders feel like they are out of alignment and crack and pop. I dont think there is anything to fix my pain short of heavy meds (I wont cause I like them to much..). Anti spasm meds help (flexeril) with little side effects for me.

After living with this for a while I notice my diet and digestive process effects the severity and duration of the pain. When I eat crap food and have any constipation or irregularities other other than normal daily "activity" its worse. For example, if I stick with reasonable portions of good food at home Im pretty good. After we go out and eat somewhere and I over eat I can count on paying foe it with pain. My brain realized the less I ate, the less it hurt and I ended up losing 60 lbs. I needed to lose some weight but I lost alot of muscle mass complicated by a knee injury that had me immobile for a stretch.

I guess my whole point is eating healthier may help some people. It helps me and there really is no way to fix the root causes of my pain.

Good luck everybody.

[ejhern]

It sounds like a nerve pinched between bone  and or musscle. Movement frees it enough to loosen or reposition it for the day but it tightens back up or shifts position when your body relaxes during the evening. Pinched nerves can be crippling making it hard to breath, turn, or shift. Perhaps some core strengthening (pilates) or back strengthening (lat and trap pulldowns) of moderate to heavy weight will release the nerve permanently. I have used this method successfully with similar symptoms

[mybadback]

Wow, I didn't realise so many people suffer like this. I have only had this awful pain for the last two weeks, and it has made me realise how much we rely on our backs to help us do things in our daily lives. I wake up and dread getting out of bed because as soon as I do, the pain starts and goes right into my hips and legs, and a tingly feeling in my inner right thigh as though cramp is just about to start. It takes me all my time to get dressed,go downstairs and make breakfast, then I have to take the dog out, which is more painful when he pulls forward on his lead. But the strange thing is, once I manage to sit for 30 - 45 mins the pain starts to go then I can move about better for the rest of the day. I'm so glad I saw this site, I was beginning to think I was on my own with this dreadful pain. I haven't been to the doc yet as I wanted to see how the pain affects me so if I do have to go I have a record of what happens when the pain is bad.

[roadtotruth]

Pain after 5-6 hours of lying down.  It's REMARKABLE that we all say the same thing.  Kind of blows me away.

Mine started about a year and half ago.  Same as the rest of you, although I don't know if I'd call it excruciating.  It's bad enough that I HAVE to get up and this definitely was disturbing my sleep.

About 8 months ago, I started having ridiculous sciatic pain, and long story short, I tried everything from acupuncture to epidural/steroid injections, but the cause was a disc bulge in the L5-S1 part of my back.  The bulge was compression my sciatic nerve.  Almost 3 months ago, I had a microdiscectomy to relieve the nerve pain and that has helped tremendously.  However, the lower back pain after 5-6 hours of lying down is still there.

The crazy part of this is that the nerve pain had gotten so bad, that I'd been getting up every 2 or 3 hours to walk around, and I HAD FORGOTTEN about the lower back pain upon waking up!  Never once thought to discuss it with my team of doctors.  So... In about a week, I check in with my orthopedic surgeon, and I'm going to see what he has to say about this pain.  I hope he doesn't tell me it's degenerative disc and related to the fact that the disc got weak from the bulge.  I do NOT want to have to have any disc dissolving surgery!  

I am intrigued by the suggestion it's related to inflammation/digestion.  I'm going to try Prilosec and see what happens.  But I'm hoping my orthopedic surgeon has heard of this and can clue me (us) in.  How crazy is this - that nobody knows what it is???  

I'll be back after my appointment in a week or so.

[morningpain01]

I have been reading everybody's posts for about 6 months now hoping that someone would have an answer. I can surely relate to most of you. I am 29 years old and I have been suffering from this early morning pain since I was 16 years old. I go through spurts where the pain is unbearable and spurts when its not so bad. It only occurs after more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep. The pain radiates into my stomach region and if it is bad enough it hurts to take a deep breath. It always seems to get better after I use the bathroom in the morning and I move around for a bit. Sound familiar? I don't wish this pain on anyone but it feels better that I am not the only one going through this. I have had cat scans and x rays and have been complaining to doctors about this since I was 16. No answers. I do have some medical issues and was wondering if any of you share any of the same issues. I  have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis but this pain was around long before I was diagnosed with arthritis. My sister has crohns disease so bowel problems run in the family. Do any of you have these problems or do they run in the family? Maybe this is an immune issue.

[roadtotruth]

I wanted to add that YES, I also have been feeling extremely rundown the last year.  I never used to be a napper but I've certainly become one.  I've attributed it, however, to interrupted sleep.  Between my sciatic problem and the 5 or 6 hours I get to sleep before I am forced to get up and move, it seems clear that I'd be exhausted during the day.  But... what's your theory?

Also, I don't know if my eyes are bloodshot, but I've had excess mucus and water leaking from them for months - I believe that's my allergies though -- even though I'm on Zyrtec and Mucinex.  Argh!

This is making me feel way older than I actually am, and that's the biggest bummer of all.  

[soreback955]

HERPES:

Has anyone thought about this?  I unfortunately have it, and it made me wonder if there could be a connection.  After doing some research it might?  Evidently the virus sits dormant in the lower back or "spinal ganglia" and that's about where it hurts!

A thin pad in the curve of my back strapped on with a velcro belt has really helped.  I sleep on my back and that makes it worse, so I try to sleep on my side, but usually can't.

Hope this helps?

[GZCHN]

Someone with the knowledge please help us! as we all suffering about neck and lower back pain as SJMCRAE(original posted on2007), and i come to this site becasue i thought it i could find some really 'Medhelp', talking and sharing experiences is not really a pain killer for me, SO, plesae point out some ideas if you have, either to see a doctor or doing more excercises, really Appreciated!

[roadtotruth]

So... I return here after seeing my orthopedic surgeon today.  Reminder... I've had the morning back pain/strain for just under two years.  I started having a different problem with severe sciatic pain last fall, and had an MRI that revealed a herniated disc - a large disc bulge compressing my sciatic nerve.  L5-S1.  I was given all kinds of pain meds, first opiates, but then nerve blockers (like Lyrica) and Naproxen.  I also had a series of 3 epidural injections at the site of the bulge.  During this time, I was out of bed very frequently, every 2-4 hours, and the OTHER low back pain that I was having after 5-6 hours wasn't around any more.  Don't know if it was the injections or meds or just the fact that I was no longer lying down for that long, but I wasn't experiencing it.

It's now been close to 3 months since my microdiscectomy to clip off the disc bulge, and about two weeks ago, the low back pain after sleeping 5-6 hours returned.  I'd all but forgotten about it.  I described it to my orthopedic surgeon this morning and he gave me a less than satisfying answer.  He said that often this the first complaint he gets from patients before their MRI's reveal disc issues, either herniations or disc degeneration.  He said the pain is muscular and comes from the lower back muscles protecting the damaged disc(s) all day long before we ever go to bed.  I have the pain from hip to hip.  He said those muscles are tighter because they're working harder.  He said he'd recommend light stretching before bedtime and after getting up.  Knee bends, etc.  I said that it was VERY disruptive to my sleep - having to get up after only 5 or 6 hours, I'm exhausted, and then when I shake off the pain in 30 minutes or so, I have a hard time going back to sleep.  After that, I tend to OVER sleep and spend the rest of the day feeling exhausted.  He pretty much said this is just how it is.  Exercise, walking, light impact stuff, and stretching.  I just cannot believe there isn't more that I can do.  

I saw a neurologist last fall, and she recommended a "gentle" (her word) chiropractor, so I may try that route.  Also, I've had good experiences with acupuncture so I may also give that a try.  I'm just not at all satisfied with my surgeon's response.  Something doesn't sound right, because some posters here have said they had clean MRI's - no herniations, no degeneration.  I don't get it.  Back to the drawing board.  :(

[connip]

For well over a year now I have experienced what is no less than debilitating pain in my lower back.  What I gather from reading above is the kidney area.  This pain only seems present in the early morning hours; waking me from sleep from about 3am onwards.  If I try to avoid the pain I stay in bed and have fragmented sleep.  If I get up I enter the toilet for what feels like an intense bowel movement.
I am an otherwise healthy individual and don't understand the anal impulses that seem to be the only thing that diffuses my discomfort.  As I have mentioned; I am doctor approved (in past 6 months) to be a healthy 41 year old women.  The only exception I have is that my uterus leans forward.  This should bear no weight to the problem I have indicated.  Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thank You.

[colin75]

Hi all, Having read all your comments and suggestions, im still at a loss.
I have all the symptoms.. 5-6 hours sleep, then woken my paralysing back pain, i have to slip/roll out of bed, i can hardly breath. Ive tried a new bed/ mattress, been to the docs, and found nothing wrong, so im stuck with it.
20-30 mins after getting up, the pain is all but gone and i feel perfectly normal.?
So strange , as up until a few months ago i could easily sleep for 8-12 hours!...now im lucky to get to 6 hours.
Im a 36yr old male in otherwise good health..
What the hell is it!???

[Duksa]

I am 23 years old, playing semi-professional soccer in a good shape and I have the same symptoms as you guys, bad lower back pain (kidney area) in morning until i go to bathroom and it eases up 20 minutes after i weak up.  Been to doctors, did all sorts of testing and there is nothing wrong with my abdominal organs.  Any help?

[TennisNut500]

It's possibly a pinched nerve. One of your discs could be closing at night Ipinching the nerve) when you lay down and relax and then as you get up and move around, it opens back up and eases the pain.

This is what was happening to me - same symptoms. I tried several things unsuccessfully.  But then I went to a Chiropractor (I know many people consider them crackpots) - he took X-rays and showed me the problem. With 8 weeks of treatments (3 times/week), the back problem was completely resolved. The treatments opened up the disc all the time (even while I slept) and when I wake up in the morning - there is NO pain.

Just thought I'd pass this along...

[goodlifeseeker]

I just started experiencing this a few days ago and was wondering what the hell was goin on! Sorry for all those going through this, but it is nice to know we are not alone in our symptoms.  I am a 31 yr old female who was recently diagnosed with herpes.  I thought this had something to do with this new pain as my waste excretion has not been the same.  This leads me to believe urine and bowel problems play a big role and may have something to do with the condition that is seemingly affecting everyone on this blog.  In my opinion, most doctors are quick with whatever diagnosis they learned in textbooks first instead of doing their own research to find the root of the problem.  
Regardless, everyone's comments seem to stem from a digestive issue or back injury.  Most seem to be digestive.  When we have digestive issues we fail to absorb the proper nutrients for healthy living. Digestive issues are known to be caused by the immune system being compromised, which makes sense in my case at least.  A weakened immune system can be caused by numerous things which may be why some of us have different backgrounds but retain the same symptoms.
I am extremely healthy overall and am very active physically and eat well.  My body may be fighting a virus now on a consistent basis since I'm not taking an anti-viral (i take lysine, echin., zinc, vit. c and cranberry supplements) but I have also read about Candida and am thinking this may be the common root in all of us.  If this is the case, the food we eat really does have an impact on how we are feeling..... all the cookies, processed foods, etc are only feeding this harmful bacteria.  I think if we are "too" healthy and try to kill off all bacteria, this is actually when the bad bacteria are enabled to feed.
I read about a product called Threelac which I'm gonna try and will advise all about results.  Here is a link if you'd like to try too:

http://www.amazon.com/Threelac-Probiotic-Dietary-Supplement-053-Ounce/product-reviews/B000F4H5U4/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

It just seems to make sense.  I know my body and it feels like it is fighting something more all of a sudden.  I recently had a mensus too where i've researched the hormone fluctuation can only make this type of bacteria worse.  Its too much a coincidence my pain started the 3nd day of this.  

I hope this helps shed some light as far to a possible knowledgeable answer as to what is happening in our bodies.  I will be updating with any results or new findings.  Until then, Espom salt baths and massage are helpful.  Taking a little more time in the morning to walk/stretch/meditate/destress helps too.  

Best of luck to all and thank you for sharing your stories too.  

[YahYeeRee]

I have read many of your posts and I also have been experiencing the same pain.  I wake up in the morning and my lower back kills me.  The pain radiates to my kidney area and feels like someone is squeezing my kidneys or muscles in that area.  I pass urine every morning like the majority of you do and the pain does subside within about 30 minutes or so.  I also have pain that radiates down my right leg at times as well.  I also have noticed that there are more women on here than men who are experiencing these symptoms.  And many of these women are around the same age range as myself. (25-35)  Do you know that endometriosis is very common in women of this age range and all of our symptoms fit that. I am actually due for my annual physical and I have a feeling that may be what it is.  Check with your doctors guys.  Hope this helps =)

[eh82nyc]

It's comforting in a weird way to know I am not the only one experiencing this.  A week or so ago I woke up and went to use the rest room and had a lower back pain that stopped me completely from moving until it slowly faded away after a few minutes.  A few nights later I started waking up with a pain my lower back that radiated under my right rib cage and feels like I am being bear hugged when I wake up and move certain ways.  I just have to wait for the pain to go away - my lower right rib cage is very tender as well - I assume it's somehow related - Advil Liqui-Gels seem to help - I assume it's some kind of inflammation perhaps, I don't know - going to see the Dr this week to at least rule out life threatening stuff - the pain is rather annoying because of how sporadic it happens. 29 y/o male *sigh*

[roadtotruth]

Just wanted to tell you that the radiating pain you mentioned down your leg (I assume the back of your leg), sounds very much like what I had.  A disc bulge in my L5 area was pressing against my sciatic nerve.  Only an MRI will reveal this if that's what it is.  I went through every kind of doctor before I gave in to a microdiscectomy to remove the bulging part of the disc.  The radiating pain was gone almost instantly after the surgery, but sadly, my surgeon tells me that the disc is weak due to the original herniation, and I will probably always struggle with that morning back pain.  I wish you the best, but don't rule out seeing an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist to get an MRI.  I hope your trouble clears up withOUT surgical intervention!

[ccd2281]

I too have experienced the left lower back pain.I blamed it on a bad bed too. Now it's a year later. I first bought a memory foam mattress pad then a new bed.I now have realized it's not the bed it's me. I dread going to bed.Sometimes i can put a pillow under my knees and get some relief.I can't determine a pattern on which morning I will wake up in terrible pain.I was referred to an orthopedic dr and she wants to send me to physical therapy so strenthen my back. I can't miss work 3 times a week to do this. I'm getting a mri next week.She did see from my xrays I have disc degenerating and arthrisis. I'm 33 so it's a little earlier for both of those but she didn't see concerned on that just wanted the month of physical therapy but basically had no answer and didn't seem to really understand my pain.

[Tedromer]

Hi one and all,

In this forum in the past I have posted a few comments and suggested what has and hasn't worked for me.

Pills of all kinds have been next to useless at relieving pain as I do a simple assessment a few hours later and record it.

As I have said I started out with lower back pains that come in the night and may go when I get up in the morning.

Now at 76 with Xrays in my hand I was told some months ago that I have osteo-arthritis in the right shoulder and have been told I just have to live with the pains till whenever.

Using te arm has just been terrible.

So I decided to retry a treatment that my mother and stepmother used all their lives.

I have tried using infra red lamps before but only on an ad hoc basis every few days and that had little effect.

So I decided to put the 150 watt lamp  30 cm from my front shoulder for 10 minutes and then at my back for 10 minutes.  I now do this night and morning.

After the third day the relief difference became dramatic.  The pain threshold would be 1 on a 1-10 scale  I can now lift my arm to vertically above my head.  I can now toilet myself with that hand.

Suddenly I feel like a 50 year old and now lift my 40 x 25 kg of salt to load a truck

It has now been three weeks and while the pain threshold is still only 1 /10  I would recommend trying it.

I have taken no pills during this period.  They did nothing before so I had nothing to lose.

I hope this may help a few of you to try a treatment with very little cost but for me great relief.

Ted Romer  

[VPMM]

I am going to keep track of my symptoms on the calender - after years of experiencing these same symptoms: every other month and sometimes each month I too wake up to heaviness in my lower back which radiates to my front making me hold my waist while I walk to the bathroom.  While urinating I can feel relief around my waist.. like   "ahhhh" the pain decreases, but does not leave until I have been up walking around.  
So, I will keep track. I wonder if it is female related - like when I ovulate; althgouh, I am menopausal -   It was comining every other month and last about a week.  wierd!

[ayraveda]

I have been having this problem for several months but it has gotten worse in the past few weeks. My left side is worse and after I've been up for a while it gets better but never goes completely away. I usually wake up at 5am with the pain and feel like I can't move. I have been getting massage, far infared sauna, acupuncture, chiropractic, and epsom salt baths. They all help some but it keeps coming back. I HATE THIS! It seems to be a muscle/inflammation problem according to my massage therapist and she has helped me the most but I can't live like this. I have had to resort to muscle relaxers and pain pills which I hate to take. The muscle relaxers seem to help the most but I can't function very well when taking them. My pain is also in my buttocks, hips and upper thighs so I'm beginning to think I just have a new place for my fibromyalgia to hurt. IDK! Any help is appreciated :) Good luck everyone!

[moulson]

HI wow i thought this was just me having this weird terrible pain that no one knows what causes.....I am a young woman who over a year ago quit taking my birth control pills, and then it all started...First with this back pain and only in the mornings, they sent me for a scan and it showed rectal wall thickening....which they then blamed it on ibs, i began with new symptoms along with this pain, over a few monthes it was soo terrible, i then had a Lap surgery done and it showed i had endometriosis, i had it removed and the pain after surgery was worse, (bc i was so inflamed) they put me on a different bc pill and i had break thru bleeding, after a few monthes of this i just decided to try the bc pill i was previously on before all of the pain.  I was absoulutly pain free within a month of taking this pill.  NO PAIN IN THE MORNING!!  I stayed on this pill for a while and was pain free.  I really want to have children so ive now stopped taking the pill and guess what, the pain has returned with a month of not being on them.  So therefore i strongly believe that this has to do with my endo, it almost feels to me like while laying something is trapping gas which causes the pain in the morning and then i get up and walk around and it goes away.  How many of you ladies have endo or rectal wall thickening?  

[tammie318]

I have had the same symptoms and I think Im lactose intolerant???Try cutting dairy products from your diet.Drink your coffe black I didnt think that was very much but it is!!No dairy!I went 1 day and already I feel better dont know if this is why but???doesnt hurt to try

[Heelixx]

Ok.. I'm a 33yr Male, Fit (although smoker), 10st 8lb, 5' 8". I have had this issue for many years now with no outcome from my doctor. Each morning the same routine:
Wake (when i mean wake it's more a stir from not actually being asleep.. more likes just warn out and fatigued!!)
Instant dull ache of which moving is nothing but a chore.
Mixed with a rather sluggish get up & go.
urinate... (that's better)!
Cup'o'tea, sit down, 30mins-1hr the pain eases off.
Horrible dull ache for rest of the day, with more than my fair share of disc crunching up & down the length of my spine, but nothing quite like 1st thing..!

So there you have it! Something that is common as muck but our Doctors can't quite put their fingers on. But I do get one diagnosis:

"Take these "Naproxen" 2-3 times a day" erm.... masking the pain.

I need results, not to their palms with Prescription money that they get a cut of!

Anyways... good luck with definative diagnosis peoples ;)

[RVdave]

The good news is that reading these comments tells me we're not alone.  The bad news is that a permanent cure appears elusive.  I'm a very healthy, athletic male (runner) and except for the first 30 - 60 minutes each day have no discomfort.  Unfortunately, that first hour is hell.  As you know, it's easy to get paranoid and imagine all sorts of terrible causes, because the pain is so severe it radiates to lots of other areas.  Prostate, colon, or testicular cancer has all seemed likely to me, but fortunately I'm clean.  One thing I have learned, lingering in bed, which I used to love to do, only makes things worse.  The quicker I get up upon awakening, the better.  MRI's, PT, xrays, etc. convince me this is a non-threatening disk problem that can be masked with drugs, but isn't worth the risk of surgery.  Good luck.....to all of us!

[malmarie]

I can't believe there are so many that are dealing with this!! Seems it is primarily women....I am hearing that some of you had some kind of trauma in your lifetime, I am curious as to how many of us had an epidural during childbirth. I feel the area of my pain stems from the same point in which the needle would have been injected. After 4 kids and repeat epidurals, I am convinced that my pain may be attributed to this!

[hawnsun]

I, too, have been waking up every morning with tightness in my lower back and groin area which goes away within 5-10 minutes after I get out of bed and walk around.  This has been going on since December 2010.  I've been seeing a lot of massage therapists and also mentioned it to my regular GP doctor.  At least 2 of my practitioners mentioned that my PSOAS was probably tight and needed to be released (relaxed).  So, I researched psoas muscle pain and release and did some of the recommended exercises and, for the first time in 10 months, my lower back does not hurt in the morning.  I also saw my rolfer yesterday and she further released my tight psoas muscles.  I hope this info will be helpful to someone and I'm so glad I found this website cause I thought I was the only one with this condition.                

          

[hawnsun]

p.s.  In my research, I discovered that the psoas muscle is approximately 15 inches long and attaches from about the middle of the spine down to the top of the thigh in an S-shaped pattern.  It could get 'stuck' in contraction due to trauma (falling and/or twisting, etc.) or stress.  I believe I had a very stressful work situation last December (along with a fall last November) that triggered this muscle to stay in contraction (especially when lying down).  When doing the psoas releasing exercises, it was advised to go gently since the psoas will tighten up if the therapy is too aggressive.          

[karma56]

I have read through the posts and What I see is that most of you don't feel the pain until you have slept 5 or 6 hours.  Mine is a bit different.  If I lay down for anything more than 10 minutes, I have the same pain trying to get back up.  Yes, I have fibromyalgia and IBS, but this is ridiculous.  I have never felt such severe pain in my life.  I have started sleeping on a wedge pillow and it's not near as bad in the morning.  The problem with that is I slide down off it through the night, because of my restless sleeping.  Then in order to get out of the bed with the least amount of pain, I have to drag myself back up onto the pillow and stay there for 20 minutes or so.  I still have pain getting up, but at least I don't feel like I'm in labor.  I've had the tests and the lower back x-rays and all was well.  The idea of being this way for the rest of my life depresses the heck out of me.

[ADNK]

If any of you have had a laproscopic gall bladder removal, another site indicates that a bile- duct injury may be the cause of the pain.  If you had this surgery recently, and exercises, changing the mattress, diet adjustments have not had any effect, you might have your doctor check it out.

[CindiK]

I have exactly the same thing. Have you found a solution?  I have also wondered if intestines, kidneys or gall stones might be the problem. I also wonder if its back or insides! Im a 46 yr old female. Cycle at least 6 hours a week. I wondered if its the cycling and not enough cross training as I can do up to 24 hours a week for major races.  I have the same thing where I almost have to rock my body to turn over to get out of bed. I get up for 15 minutes, go to the loo, get back into bed and the pain goes.  Its the weirdest thing in the world. I can sleep from about 10pm to 3 or 4am, then usually can go back to sleep again, but when I wake at 6am, most times, its the same pain.  If I lie on my side in foetal position, its better, but as soon as I fall asleep, I seem to turn onto my back. The pain is always from lying on my back, only after a good few hours and EVERY SINGLE DAY OF MY LIFE. And its a chronic pain. I must add, that passing wind seems to help, which makes me wonder if if those muscles in that area might stretch the inner muscles, or what the heck?  I do have ruptured disc between L3 and L4, so I have had back problems for years and years, but this is something COMPLETELY different. I would love to hear if someone with the same issues has found a solution.  Is anyone as crazy as I am to WISH it was a kidney stone ... ??? Then at least there would be a solution, an operation and voila?!!!!!!!!! Please keep me posted!

[CindiK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7LpKdLoF3A
Trying it! Thanks. Will report back and see if it helps my 4am spasms. Sounds like it might be something to be excited about - the cycling means that I never stretch this muscle! Lets hope!

[Bowderchoff]

Cant quite believe how many posts there regarding this. I have some info on the topic that could be useful, I'll keep it quick:

I've got ankylosing spodylitis (athritis type). Its not to bad to be honest, think I manage it ok. I too wake up early in morning with lower back pain, not too chronic, but enough to wake me up and be too uncomfortable to go back to sleep. Whats worked:

- Started sleeping on sofa bed, it almost moulds to my shape better. But struggle to recreate it elsewhere. But whats gutting is that i had to dismantle it when moving and when put back together it does not work as good!

- Now This bits interesting. My chiropractor reckong the pain is due to the spine/disks (stuff in that area ... not his words btw) rehydrate that time of day and therefore swell. Ok so I've never heard that before but anyway. But I have noticed that ever time I drink in the evening (i'm not an alcky btw), say 3 pints +, I dont get the ache, never! Its not that I'm still pissed in the morning either. Alchohol is a dehydrant or whatever that word is. This ties into what he is saying.

I'm not sure how much use this info is as becoming a full time **** head is not much of a solution. But if the link does turn out to be common, then I'm sure something can be done!

[sherimirayn]

I have the same pain that you are describing. I have arthritis in my back. Did any of you think that this pain could see the arthritis or something more serious? Every morning I wake up and cry because the pain is so severe. Anyone's help in this matter would be so much appreciated.

[CindiK]

Ok, report back after one night of Psoas exercises. A year of having to walk for 15 minutes to get rid of the pain at 3 or 4am ... and it was 70% better this morning after the exercises last night.  2nd night ... will report back tomorrow! I think we are onto something with this muscle in the back! HOPEFUL!

[CindiK]

Another night ... 80% better! I am relieved that these PSOAS exercises are the answer. I really thought it was colon/kidney stones/gall stones or something weird. Just google PSOAS exercises. I found so many and have been doing about 4 different ones. I can post them if you like. Standing, lying, sitting.  Give a great stretch! Stretches in places I have never stretched before and OBVIOUSLY need!  THanks HAWSUN!  It all makes sense because I cycle a lot, so am always 'doubled over' and then spend a lot of time in front of my computer 'doubled over'!! Cant believe that stretching the psoas muscle can give such grief ...

[GiGi_1970]

I wrote yesterday about my disc/lesion situation in my back. I would like to add I have no ankle reflex on the left, and both arms(not sure what the reflex is called)on the back elbow, no reflexes. I have not seen the results of the MRI, I was just told a few things about it, as the Dr. was in a mad rush. I also think he left a heck of a lot out(because this has been going on for so long, probably felt like a goofball putting me thru it)As I said I find it impossible to believe I have no nerve problems, not only the reflexes right?,but the pain is so undeniable, its a freak show everyday, an electric lightning shower!(lol). A burning, itching, sunburn, stinging needle and electric storm all over my body. BTW I've also had a LP mainly testing for MS, no bands(?)but slightly elevated protein and glucose. I can say one positive thing about this long hellish experience, it has made me tough as nails, I am so not the same person, but in a good way. But I've had enough now. I know the pain will probably never go away but I need it to be tolerable-I have extremely high tolerance for pain(duh who wouldn't after years of it, right folks). And can I add, why the heck not put me on some strong ***meds? Now that they know, give me some good stuff!(have done pee tests, too). One more thing..there is some kidney dysfunction, in the urine...Anyone have an opinion about that?       Sorry this is so long.

[hawnsun]

I am so glad to hear that the psoas exercises are helping.  I'm still doing them myself.  My back is less tight now but my groin is still a bit tight in the morning.  I've found that I have to go easy on the exercises in order for the muscle not to go back into contraction.  Thanks for your feedback!

[dandilaroche]

Thank you very much for your generous explanation you are a SAVIOR.... I have pain since May 2011 after mooving and I was really thinking that I am dying (after all tests and Doc consultation).  But reading this forum is a real savior because I have pain 24 hours a day in my low back and my right hip and now after doctor consultations I have pain everywhere (they really like to touch at the place where it hurts the most) so I can hardly move and all my bones crack like if they rub agains each other.  I am 60 years old and have hard time with the doc diagnostic... nothing serious !
I will try your yoga (gentle) and sleep on my back with pillows onther my legs will also help I am sure.
God Bless,  Danielle

[CindiK]

Yeah, thanks! I am definitely getting more sleep with the psoas exercises working, and dont need to do the 3am 4am walk about to relieve the pain - and get back to sleep. I can get back to sleep by just changing into foetal position on my side. I am doing the stretches daily, but am also doing some gym work for cross training. I am cycling quite hard now as its cooled down drastically in Japan, so sitting in front of the computer and cycling seem to be the wrong things for the psoas. Anyway. Since I have done 4 different variations of the psoas exercises which I found on utube and just randomly selected a few I liked, I am definitely soooo much better.  The fact that I am so much better MUST MEAN that there is a link between the psoas muscle and the back pain. Yet it still feels like colon - this is a joke, but it feels like the colon is joined to other internal organs or something weird!!! Best way to describe it!!  Unfortunately, as with all exercises and muscles, there isnt a miracle pill or quick fix.  Depends how bad the pain is for someone to do exercises and stretches daily, isnt that so!  I try to do my stretches when I am warm or after exercise. Im interested that you too havent had a complete REMEDY - but the same as me, a marked improvement!  Just pleased that I dont have to get up in the night and walk around in order to relieve the pain and get back to sleep! Thanks again!

[vimbie]

I have that also,,alcers on tongue as well.
lt can be lack of vitamins cause for the tongue alcers they say its lack of vitamins.

[vangrl]

like "Bowderchoff" the only time I don't have lower back pain are the times when I've had a few drinks the night before. I've been suffering with this for almost 2 years, the pain goes away almost immediately upon getting up.

It makes me feel like it must have something to do with being dehydrated or too hydrated? it's totally weird

[vangrl]

like "Bowderchoff" the only time I don't have lower back pain are the times when I've had a few drinks the night before. I've been suffering with this for almost 2 years, the pain goes away almost immediately upon getting up.

It makes me feel like it must have something to do with being dehydrated or too hydrated? it's totally weird

[backtears]

What a great find this forum is. Thank you all!!!! My horrific morning back pain has just gotten worse. I put up with it when it was mild without complaint because I'm 69 and well things just start sagging and dragging about now. I'm going to try several of the things mentioned on this forum. I had a yoga injury to my psoas several years ago (my own fault) and have forgotten how important it is to keep that muscle strong. My physical therapist is helping and suggests until we get things back in shape that I get up after the 5 or 6 hours of sleep when the pain begins and move around for 20 or 30 minutes and then go back to sleep if I can or take a nap in the afternoon. Because I'm retired this may be helpful. If I had to get up for work like most of you guys it would be a difficult option.  Besides the awful morning pain I've had to give up sleeping with my two cuddley kitties at night as they hog the bed, sleep on top of me and complain when I toss and turn in pain. So behind the closed bedroom door they softly complain and rush in as soon as I open the door in the morning. I think they sleep there all night. Ohhhh please, someone figure all this stuff out soon. In total compassion I join with you all and wish each one of you a pain free future. ♥

[VanesaScot]

I have slept for the last two days without pain!!!!!! :) :) :)

I had the same problem as most people in this forum for the last 4 months.

I still feel a bit of pain (10%) when I try to get up and still a bit once up, when bending the upper part of my body (30%).

The only new thing that I have done for the last two days is the PSOAS stretches (there are lost of examples in youtube). The improvement has been amazing!
I have also started sleeping on my side with a pillow between my knees.

I still think that the bit of the pain left will improve with general strengthening of the abdominal and back muscles. I will keep trying to rid myself of all pain and I will post if I manage.

Thanks CindiK and Hawnsun for my first two nights of proper sleep in months.

[daniela2cu]

OMG i thought i was alone (thank God for the internet)
Same thing horrible pain in the morning only. i have to grab onto something to help pull myself out of bed, trying my best not to bend my waist because i would scream bloody murder. I have to stay stiff as a board until i get up and walk around a bit before the pain subsides. WTFIT?

Its getting worsts its been 4-5 months now and i cant take it anymore.

Thought it was the bed...no sleep on both my daughters bed, same thing, slept on the floor etc. felt like Goldie locks.

SO WHAT IS IT?

[Claiton345]

My problem started with a low back pain. After some exercises it almost disappeared.  Later the pain reappeared in the middle of the night, around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and nothing seems to stop it. When I wake up, for about 20 minutes, I feel this intense pain in by buttock and right leg again and I can only reduce it after some stretching. Then my sleeping hours are gone. I tried different approaches to whatever was causing my sciatic nerves to act so painfully. One day I realized that most of the pain would go way (within 20 minutes or so) after I went to the bathroom for a # 1 or the habitual morning # 2 or just releasing some gas from my bowels. I realized that the pains were more intense when I had load of stool, or my bladder was filled or I had in my intestines ready to be unloaded or let go. So based on that I decided to modify my diet and observe the changes. Now I trying to modifying my meals time so I will go to the bathroom before I go to sleep. This way I won't have much left over in my intestines during the night, I am eating foods that are rich in fiber, avoiding foods that produce lots of gases when trapped in the intestine, and drinking very little liquids before I go to bed. My believe is that these residues of food produce gases as well as an enlarged filled bladder pushes and compress the sensitive nerves in the sciatic region and create that early morning pain. If this theory proves correct there will be some benefits with it. Firstly there will be some loss of weight because you will be eating healthier food. Second it will help to clean your colon tract. Forth, you will be able to sleep more hours and won't feel tired the rest of the day and the list goes on and on. Anybody can try that. If it doesn't help, it won't hurt either. Reply to ***@****
Fortunately I am feeling some progress and hope I am correct in my theory.    

[Homeo]

Start with taking body fish oil capsule just before sleep although there are many other remedies for this condition but this is the easiest for all to get , now for sciatic pain I use micro dose of vitamin B1 depending on  which side , unfortunately you can’t get B1 in micro dose  

[sputnik51ca]

Hi everyone,

I'm a 27-year-old female in good physical shape. About 2 months ago I started waking up with severe mid-back stiffness that prevented me from finding a comfortable position...and then when I tried to move - ouch! Sharp stabbing pains.

I have tried:
Changing my mattress (no difference except I'm now poorer)
Getting an x-ray (they found a bit of degeneration but they couldn't tell me if it was causing the pain or if it was just a normal part of aging)
Going to physio (no difference, but I'm still faithfully doing the stretches every day)
Sleeping on my back (with pillows under my knees)/side(with a pillow between my knees) rather than my stomach (it actually hurts worse!)

Now I'm currently going to massage therapy, which seems to help. My massage therapist says that my ribcage is twisted/uneven. She is able to correct this through massage (I have knots upon knots upon knots). So this is hopeful but it's not fixed yet.

I'm also trying out yoga and magnesium supplements - just started, so still skeptical.

The only thing that REALLY REALLY helps is sleeping with a Thermacare heat patch all night. I know there's all these scary warnings on the box telling you not to sleep with them because you could burn yourself etc. but I guarantee you won't (unless you have incredibly sensitive skin). They last 8 hours and they haven't eliminated all of the stiffness,but I can sleep through the night and no longer get the shooting pains that jar me awake.

Good luck everyone...and p.s. don't you hate it when people post, "You should go see your doctor"? Yeah I know!!! Been there done that...the doctors are baffled so I'm resorting to the internet...

[Homeo]

There are lots of natural remedies for middle back pain if it left side the easiest thing you can get is licorice but natural licorice if you have it in the morning as tea next day you should be much better but homeopathic  Glycyrrhiza glabra 5c is much stronger and better, anyways both work as well you should be pain free in 7 days good luck.      

[Paulinareb]

I am 21 and have had no kids and I experience this severe pain almost every morning, if not every at least 3/4 times a week. I cheered and danced all of my life do maybe that had something to do with it but I have had X-rays, blood work, kidney ultra sounds etc. and everything comes back normal. For about a year I have been trying to figure out where this horrible morning pain in my lower back/spine/kidney area has been coming from! Its hard to describe the pain to the doctors because it doesn't feel like a sore pain it almost feels (as weird as it may sound) like poison in my back! It hurts horribly to take deep breaths and to move. Once I'm up the pain fades within about 15/20 minutes and is gone all day long. It makes no sense I just want to know what it could be!

[CindiK]

Awesome news Vanesa.  I agree that the Psoas exercises are the specific solution and the reasons I've personally got myself into this painful situation is that I cycle a LOT and I sit at the computer a LOT, and the two together mean that I never stretch the Psoas!  Good luck and lets keep posted.  Sadly, it isnt a CURE, but it certainly is HELPING! ;) IF I am lazy and dont stretch the psoas, I have farrrrr more pain!  Hawnsun has really helped us here!

[hawnsun]

I'm glad, CindiK and VanesaScot, that the psoas exercises are helping.  I'm still not 100% yet.  I'd say I'm about 95% better in my lower back. The tightness has shifted from my lower back to my groin area.  It's probably cause I don't have the proper setup for my computer viewing (which I plan to change soon).  Also, I find that if I do the exercises every day, then my psoas muscles are sore throughout the day (not just in the morning).  Probably will experiment with exercising gentler and see if the soreness is part of the healing process.  Any thoughts on this?  Also, it's interesting that you brought up the colon connection, CindiK, cause I've thought about that, too!                  

[LivnwithpAin]

After years of suffering with pAin I have been diagnosed with anklyosing spondylitis. I am positive for the HLA B27 gene. Read up on it and request the tesf

[LivnwithpAin]

After years of suffering with pAin I have been diagnosed with anklyosing spondylitis. I am positive for the HLA B27 gene. Read up on it and request the tesf