What could be causing my back to keep twinging/spasming?

[sftmin]

I posted before in the undiagnosed symptoms section about general pain and numbness/tingling, but today it's gotten a whole lot worse. I've always had an iffy back, but aside from one really bad trapped nerve rendering me immobile for a week with ridiculous pain, it mostly sticks to a slight ache.

A week or so ago, I lifted something into a shopping cart (it wasn't particularly heavy - I think it was actually a pack of toilet rolls, haha) and my back sort of spasmed/twinged. It was a really quick, tight feeling and really painful. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but the ache afterwards lasted for the rest of the day. I had to hang onto the shopping cart for the rest of the time we were out because I couldn't stand back up straight.

I just summed it up to having moved my back wrong and twinged a nerve, and I forgot about it.

Today though. Oh boy, today has been horrible.

I woke up with my back feeling achey, but nothing out of the ordinary. I felt dizzy, off-balance and just general unwell. My right hand was tingling and felt numb all day (I went grocery shopping and had to push the cart with one hand because my right hand wasn't happy at all). It got a bit better during the day, my back still ached but the dizziness wore off a little.

Then, at home, I was closing my mother's curtains and my back twinged/spasmed (like it did the previous time) except this time much worse and I vocally called out in pain (which I never, ever do). I went and half-laid down on my bed for about half an hour, and the immense pain wore off and it just ached. My left leg felt dead/heavy, and my knee (even up to now) had slight shooting pain every so often and my ankle/foot felt numb. My left arm and shoulder also felt really tingly.

After that half an hour, I went downstairs to make something to eat and my back twinged again doing absolutely nothing, and then again about 10 minutes later. Both of those times I sort of carried on what I was doing but in a much more stiff, immobile way.

It's been about 5 hours and I still can't move normally because I'm 1) terrified of trapping a nerve like I did 3 or so years ago and 2) the pain at the moment, whilst bearable just sat down, is unbearable when I stand up and move around. I just went to make a cup of tea now and just standing waiting for the kettle to boil, I could feel my lower back tightening/spasming slightly and I knew if I stood any longer it'd end up doing the same as before and really hurting.

So now I'm sat back in bed with a million cushions and my lower back really aches. The way I can describe the pain is similar to the ache you get when you stand for hours in the same place and your back starts to hurt, and then times that by about five. The right side of my lower back (weird because it was my left side that went numb/tingly before) hurts a lot more than my left side, and I keep getting random shooting pains all over (knee, my right hip right now as I type this, my wrist, my elbow etc).

What could be causing this? I suspect the answer to be 'just a trapped nerve' or 'caught a nerve' because that's what my mother's default answer is. But coupled with the dizziness in the morning and numbness/aching now, it feels weird - but maybe I'm worrying more than I should be.

[susan8888]

Hi ....sounds like sciatica or maybe a pinched nerve but I'm no dr.   A ct scan will tell more than an xray will so that's your best bet.  Good luck.