Re: Kris - back pain

[Guest guest]

Kris,

Have you tried ice for your back? My back 'goes out' periodically, typically

from doing nothing. I just move and WHAM, horrendous pain. I've had it hit so

hard that I sometimes am literally frozen. I, also, think mine is from an old

injury. I fell off my horse when I was 14 years old and hurt my left hip and

left lower back. After years of thinking it was only my back, the doctors

discovered my hip was adding to the problem. I had trochanteric bursitis in my

hip. The trochanter bursa is on the outside of your hip. It finally got to the

point that the outside of my left thigh burned 24 hours a day. I had surgery to

remove the damaged part of the bursa in 1998. The doctor said the bursa was in

horrible shape. I have systemic lupus so any time I have inflammation going on

in a bursa, tendon, ligament, etc. it is much more resistent to treatment than

in a 'normal' person. The surgery helped tremendously and I've only had a few

bouts of flare ups of the hip/leg burning in the six years since surgery. The

worst flare was in May 2001 when I was hit on the driver's side of my car and

the door handle slammed into my hip and side of my butt leaving a nice big

bruise. It took 2 cortisone injections in the joint, lots of ice, and two

months of physical therapy to settle it back down.

My back does not 'go out' nearly as often since they got the hip under control.

However, it still does it an average of 2-3 times a year. When it goes out, I

have this large (about the size of two fists) area in my left lower back where

you can feel a hard lump of muscles. I have found that the following things

seem to shorten the duration of the intense pain

1. A cortisone injection either in the middle of the knotted muscles or

sometimes just anywhere in the butt.

2. An ice pack to my back for 20 minutes of every hour. I have several of the

gel packs that I keep in the freezer. The one I normally use for my back has a

cover with velcro straps so that as my back improves I can just strap it around

my waist to keep the ice on my back and be able to be mobile.

3. Spending a lot of time in the recliner vs the bed. For some reason I can

get more comfortable in the recliner when I'm having a lot of pain.

6. Muscle relaxers - flexeril seems to work best for me and I take it three

times a day when my back flares up. I continue taking it once a day for an

additional week after my back is better.

7. Some sort of NSAID - over the counter, such as aleve, ibuprofen, etc. or

prescription, such as mobic, vioxx, etc. Currently I take mobic 7.5 mg every

day because I've been having a lot of joint pain (most likely just due to

lupus). The doctors won't let me take any other NSAIDs or even a higher dose of

mobic because I am on coumadin. Of course, check with your doc before taking

any meds since lots of meds can aggravate the pancreas.

8. As my back begins improving, I alternate moist heat with the ice.

I hope your back is better soon. By the way, where in TN do you live? I live

in Athens, AL, which is 20 miles west of Huntsville and just a few miles south

of the Alabama/Tennessee border.

take care,

Alabama