Live Without Back Pain

I recently had RFA for my lower back, L2 through S1. It was a success, I’m glad to report. I first went through diagnostic injections to see if the spots they hit were the problem.

With the facet joint and median branch blocks (block the nerve pain temporarily) my relief told us this was the area.

So the RFA was done. It was not half as bad as I thought. During the procedure, I was slightly sedated but had to be aware of what was going on to provide feedback. The nerve pain is located using vibration (that’s what it felt like), I told the doctor when I felt the pain and then they burned the nerves.

Everyone is different, but I’ve read that relief can be expected to last for at least 6 months or more, which is fine with me. I now have no pain (I have an S1 joint issue which is separate).

Recovery wasn’t that bad. Once in a while the nerves get a bit angry because they are dieing and they “twang” you or hurt, but it wasn’t so bad for me, and knowing those little suckers were dieing was good to know!

I had some numbing down my left butt and thigh, but this was my really bad side, so there was a lot to burn. Nothing bothersome at all. Everyone is different, but I’m glad I did it.

Christina

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My wife is 4 foot 11 inches tall. She has degenerative disc disease at l4-l5 and the orthopedic surgeon says she needs fusion. She has been at pain level 9 since February. The only place she has been relatively comfortable is in bed. Because of her height, she was unable to get into or out of my recliner without assistance and had to have additional pillows under her calves.

We purchased one of the zero gravity chairs that has powered recline. She is able to get into, and recline the chair in a comfortable position, by herself. Most of the time she is able to get out of it by herself also. There are two models of this chair. The “silhouette” is 2 inches shorter than the regular model. This 2 inches is enough of a difference to allow her to be able to get in and out of the chair. She says that the chair is now the most comfortable piece of furniture we have. We tried out several models in the store. Because of her height, and back problem, she was unable to get the non-powered model of the chair to recline by herself. The store did not have one of the lawn chairs until three days ago, so we do not know if she could have reclined it by herself or even if she would have fit in it properly.

I would have to say that even though it was fairly expensive, this chair was a good investment for us. My wife is now able to join the rest of the family in the living room for longer than 5 minutes. The first day we had the chair, she even went to sleep in it!

Ron

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It’s so hard for people that have never experienced chronic back pain to truly understand how it is for us. I have a nurse and social worker that see me every other month or so just to see if I need anything like cleaning help, help with errands  etc.

Well, the social worker, who actually used to be a good friend of mine, calls and tells me about this program where you get a worker and they can help you shop, clean, etc.

Can you believe that she says: “It would be nice for you to have someone to motivate you, get you out of the house when you are hurting.”?

That was such a slap in the face for me! A social worker should know it’s not lack of motivation we have, we HURT!

Take care and I hope your pain is down.

Meredith

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So sorry to hear of all your pain issues! Perhaps a zero gravity chair can give you some relief.

I’m not sure if Medicare covers the zero gravity chairs or not; my guess is no, but it would definetly be worth checking out! The chair sounds like it could really help you a lot! I hope you can get one.

The fancier ones are nice, but any chair that has the zero gravity design will work in the same way. I’d suggest you start looking online and in stores like WalMart, Target, ect.

Like I said earlier I got my chair for under $30.

You could also check out LaFuma’s; I believe they were the first company to make the chairs and they have some models that aren’t too expensive; I think they start around $100.

Here’s a link to LaFuma:  http://www.lafumafurniture.com/

Best of luck to you!

Bill

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My physiotherapist gave me stretches to work on the neck & shoulder tension/pain. I am to try and do them twice a day: once in the morning and then at night but today I wasn’t able to do anything really.

I am in the process of applying for disability because I just can’t manage like I could before and I’m only 37. The thing I hate is when others around you who do not know of your chronic pain look at you in pity and end up saying: “But you’re so young, how can this be? Maybe you should exercise more and so on, and on and on…”

I occasionally turn at them and glare, say nothing. I have caught myself saying: “Would you like to spend a day in my shoes? How about we trade and then you can tell me how it really is, because if you don’t know, you just don’t know. Chronic pain is no joke!”

If there was some way I could whisk it all away with a magic wand for all of us, I would do so in an instant.

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Very often back pain and insomnia are being part of the same story. Many back pain sufferer have to take some medication at night before going to bed. Many say that insomnia is the worst part of their problems.

In many cases, people who suffer from insomnia caused by back pain, report: “I’m so exhausted all day.” , “I can hardly keep my eyes open.”, “As soon as I crawl into bed I start to get anxious.”, “If I do fall asleep for more than an hour or two, I am in agony from lying in one position.”, “I never sleep much past 4 AM – that’s when my meds wear off. Then it starts all over again.”.

For example Erin, one of our new members, reports:
“I too can relate to pain and insomnia. I now have horrid stabbing pain in my neck and shoulders/upper back. It seems while it was once before only mostly pain in my lumbar/sciatic region, it is now all over. Making it harder to control and manage. I often take my pain meds as late in the evening as I can and putting myself to bed. Some nights it works and others not. We all know what that’s like. It’s been so cold and damp here this past week it’s made my pain all that much worse and it is very hard for me to find any sleep at all. After 3 to 4 nights of 2 to 4 hrs sleep, I finally collapse all night from sheer exhaustion. The next morning is as bad from where I have laid in the same spot all night and not moved. It’s really a no win situation. Just another thing we have to live with.”

What is your experience and what works for you?

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Hello everyone!

I am new here and have just been lurking lately because of all the things going on.

Recently, I had my SSDI hearing, and it was a nightmare. I met with my attorney the night before, and he had done NOTHING! That’s right, no medical records, nothing. Then I go into the hearing, and he’s stuttering and stammering like he’s never been in front of a judge before! I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

The judge only asked me two questions: one about my income and the other about what I had written on the initial application- which I hadn’t seen in nearly 2-1/2 years. Through the whole hearing, the judge didn’t look at me once. Needless to say the verdict came back “unfavorable”.

I balled like a baby when I read the paperwork. He had the nerve to say I didn’t seem the least bit uncomfortable at the hearing. How would he know? He even wrote that it seemed I hadn’t seen my pain doctor since 2007! I see her every single month. When I called my lawyer to find out what to do next, I was pretty upset, and he just said, “Well, I’m out too – you know.”

When I called to pick up my paperwork from the old attorney, he got snippy with me and handed me back the paperwork I had given him the first day – untouched! The next morning I ran into my neighbor who got a favorable verdict and decided to call her attorney. I met with him this week, and he was appalled at how things had been handled. In fact, he’s encouraging me to file a malpractice suit. I normally am not a vindictive person, but I want to prevent him from doing this to anyone else.

I’ve had a headache since this whole thing started.

Good luck to all of you waiting for your Social Security hearing and/or verdict. I hope I didn’t scare you. I hope this didn’t get too long. I’d love to hear from all of you when you get a chance.

Kirsten

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7 Tips to help ease the back pain:

Hi there!

I myself cannot take Tylenol PM or Advil PM because it has the opposite effect. Taking these meds keeps me wide awake versus the Daytime Non-Drowsy Allergy meds that cause me to fall asleep. I’m not sure why. Yet, there are times when nothing seems to work. At times like these I’m thankful for a good book.

I was recently told by a nurse friend on another list I belong to that this reaction is caused by my hyper-sensitivity to medication in general. I have to be extremely careful about what is prescribed and the class/family of drug it is, as not only are there a slew of antibiotics I’m now extremely allergic to but muscle relaxers, anti-depressants and neuro medications as well. I’m glad I have such wonderful group of pharmacists at my local pharmacy who also keep track of this for me and will hold filling a Rx – until they’ve spoken with me to confirm a possible conflict. Only thing is this makes treatment of my chronic pain somewhat of an issue — as there’s only certain things I know I can take.

Coleen

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I have been a back pain sufferer for many years. Now I am pain free and what helped me was a combination of several treatments and remedies.

Together with my chiropractor we established a treatment plan.

I changed my life style, lost over weight, reduced the stress factors in my daily life, learned how to lift heavy things the right way, paid attention to my body postures while working and sitting, and I started a special exercise program to re-establish muscles balance.

I bought a new ergonomic chair for working at my office desk and a special mattress to sleep on. And I worked with a physiotherapist who show me some relaxing exercises.

For sure, movement and exercises are very important factors to help to stop the back pain.

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