CHRONIC BACK PAIN

[angie912]

I SUFFER FROM REALLY BAD CHRONIC BACK PAIN BOTH MY UPPER AND LOWER BACK HURT I HAVE HAD AN X-RAY ON MY LOWER BACK AND IT COME BACK FINE.
I CANT STAND FOR TO LONG IT SENDS PAIN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM SITTING IS THE SAME
AS FOR WALKING IT IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE I CANNOT WALK FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES 10 AT MAXIMUM I FEEL LIKE AN OLD AGED PERSON AND ITS HORRIBLE AS I CANT DO MUCH FOR MY CHILDREN.
EVEN JUST CLIMBING THE STAIRS TYRES MY OUT I BECOME BREATHLESS AND CAN HARDLY BREATH FOR 5 MINUTES.
I TAKE COCODEMOL PAIN KILLERS FOR THE BACK PAIN BUT IT IS GETTING WORSE AND THEY DONT SEEM TO WORK SO WELL NOW IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN DO THAT WILL HELP MY BACK LONG TERM

[Joanne1982]

See a chiropractor and physiotherapist. The former knows things about your spine that the physio doesn't, but they can work together to first work down the tense muscles which line your spine then the chiropractor will 'click' you into place.

An x-ray is very helpful. If i were you i'd go straight to the chiropractor as i saw about 6 different doctors and they simply aren't bone specialists. It took me 5 years to realise this. I felt like an old person like you too and i'm only 26, it started when i was 21! Forget painkillers, you aren't getting to the source of the problem and you can actually cause more harm than good (if you can't feel the pain you don't know what you are doing to those areas if they are numb). You need a life-long solution.

Please:
1) get an x-ray
2) take it to a chiropractor and explain your problem

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

The various causes of chronic and severe back pain are arthritis, degenerative disk disease, systemic diseases, facet syndrome (similar to pinched nerves symptoms), herniated disk, spondylolisthesis or the forward displacement of one of the lower lumbar vertebrae over the vertebra below it or on the sacrum. Other factors could be spinal stenosis or constriction or spondyloarthropathy (disease affecting spinal joints).All of these disorders can be diagnosed by a x-ray but CT and MRI are the investigations of choice.

One possibility that is coming to my mind after reading the severity of symptoms is that of multiple myloma. Multiple myeloma (also known as myeloma or plasma cell myeloma) is a progressive hematologic (blood) disease. It is a cancer of the plasma cell. A common early symptom of multiple myeloma is pain in the lower back or in the ribs.Diagnosed by complete blood count(may show a low white or red blood cell count),complete urine examination(elevated proteins and Bence Jones proteins are typical.) , serum and urine electrophoresis , ionized calcium levels in blood and urine,x-rays bones and bone marrow aspiration and biopsy.

Pls discuss these possibilities with your doctor and get yourself thoroughly investigated.

Hope it helps.Take care and pls do keep me posted on how you are doing.