..

[C.Ann]

..................................

 

[JR6ooo4]

Sleep on an air matress for a few nights. Not the queen size super tall ones. Just about 6 inches tall. (Make sure you have a thick blanket on top because the plastic is always cold and that is hard on the kidneys. you feel like you have to use the bathroom all night.)

get one with an electric pump. Set the firmness so it feels good. Only one person on it, also. It was what made my back hurt the least. So much so that we bought a sleep number bed.

I hope you feel better soon.

Mikeeee

It is my experience that drugs do not stop the pain, they just make it so you don't care about it. Which is the next best thing, I guess.

 

[C.Ann]

Sleep on an air matress for a few nights. Not the queen size super tall ones. Just about 6 inches tall. (Make sure you have a thick blanket on top because the plastic is always cold and that is hard on the kidneys. you feel like you have to use the bathroom all night.)

get one with an electric pump. Set the firmness so it feels good. Only one person on it, also. It was what made my back hurt the least. So much so that we bought a sleep number bed.

I hope you feel better soon.

Mikeeee

It is my experience that drugs do not stop the pain, they just make it so you don't care about it. Which is the next best thing, I guess.

----------------
Do they sell air mattresses in twin size? I have a twin size bed here at DD's - full size at the lake..

 

[ajk912]

I am sure you tried this but have you tried a long, hot shower with the nozzle sprayer pointed right where it hurts? I have bad back pain sometimes and this can take the edge off.

 

[dismom2]

Definately HEAT. Use a heating pad, take a hot bath, etc.. Also, slow stretching exercises (I have been to rehab many times for back pain). You can try ice----at rehab they always used heat on me before I exercised, then ice before I left (with the electrical stimulation under the ice pack).

Also, as a person who suffers with back pain I can tell you that air mattresses kill my back. Maybe they work for some people, though. They are just very painful to me. Good luck---hope you feel better.

 

[WDWBarb]

So sorry you are going through this - sounds very painful.

See your doctor just as soon as you can. I agree with the suggestion of heat and the only other thing would just be rest.

I took Loritab when I broke my arm and my Dr. said exactly what Mikeeee said - it won't help with the pain, it will only make you care less about it. I found that I cared just as much. And I cried about it, too.

 

[DMRick]

I never found pain pills worked for me..the pain is just too intense. Since you have a problem with most pain pills, once you see your doctor, perhaps you should see about getting a portable tens machine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcutaneous_Electrical_Nerve_Stimulator). It fools your brain into thinking you have had pain meds..but you don't need any meds. I haven't taken a pain pill since I got it, and I was close to surgery. It doesn't work for eveyone, but for those it does..it's a Godsend.

I couldn't use an air matress at all. When I have flare ups, I had to sit up in a recliner (before I went to physical therapy and the ortho doc got me my own tens machine).

In the meantime, for myself, I alternate heat and ice.

 

[C.Ann]

-------------------
Thanks.. This is all "new" to me.. Obviously I knew I had back pain for ages, but didn't realize until after the tests that I actually had disk problems.. I was "offered" shots in my spine, but after seeing what happened to DD - I'll suffer first.. My son-in-law swears by Icy Hot, but there's aspirin in it, so that's not an option for me..

 

[themarquis]

What is it they say? RICE ... Rest, Ice, compression, elevation. Though I'd think you can't exactly "elevate" your back

Seriously, though, don't move around more than you have to, and ice it. Ice will take down some of the inflammation. Take an anti-inflammatory (such as motrin, but not tylenol, because it's not an anti-inflammatory and it's in your Lortab anyway) as well. You could alternate Lortab and Motrin. You can also alternate heat and ice. I don't think heat does anything to help, but it makes it feel better.

And go to the doctor and get things checked out. Most likely this is temporary, related to sleeping in a weird position or whatever. Slipped or messed up disks are generally not harmful but may be implicated in this kind of pain (though often times it is unrelated) They will want to rule out anything more serious, though.

 

[themarquis]

-------------------
Thanks.. This is all "new" to me.. Obviously I knew I had back pain for ages, but didn't realize until after the tests that I actually had disk problems.. I was "offered" shots in my spine, but after seeing what happened to DD - ending up in a wheelchair because of them - no one is ever going to go near my spine with any shots.. I'll suffer first.. I know lots of people have them - without issue - but since DD and I tend to react the same way to meds and such, it's just not a chance I'm willing to take..

My son-in-law swears by Icy Hot, but there's aspirin in it, so that's not an option for me..

Figures crossed it will be better tomorrow!

It's a weird thing about disk problems. It turns out that a pretty large percentage of the population (More and more each decade of life) has some disk degeneration. But some people have pain and some people don't. Likewise, some people have pain and NO slipped disks!!! There is actually some research that they may not be related in most cases. (there are of course some conditions where they are related and there is severe degeneration).

For years, doctors have tried to treat this kind of thing fairly aggressively, but there doesn't tend to be a ton of improvement, probably because the slipped disks are not the primary cause of back pain. Actually, chiropractic care is found to be about as effective as any traditional medical care in the treatment of lower back pain. Unfortunately, that may be because most treatments for lower back pain (traditional or not) produce not much more than a placebo effect.

 

[C.Ann]

 

[bumbershoot]

"Actually, chiropractic care is found to be about as effective as any traditional medical care in the treatment of lower back pain. Unfortunately, that may be because most treatments for lower back pain (traditional or not) produce not much more than a placebo effect."



Yay someone else mentioned chiro first. I'd find a very very gentle one. When I practiced I did Network Spinal Analysis, which I enjoyed receiving and doing. The only NSA people 'round here are ages away so I'm now under Atlas Orthogonal care, and I love it. I highly recommend it.

As for placebo effects, I don't believe chiro care is that.

But you know what? Even if it were a placebo effect, how BRILLIANT is that, that supposedly nothing is being done, but good things are happening anyway? Give me that over drugs any day!

C.Ann....go easy with the heat. Something in my exercise science and chiropractic background is going ping about heat with disc problems...if you're already inflamed, you want to be careful with the heat. So if you're going to do heat, be sure to do ice, too.


And if anyone is going out to the store, I absolutely swear by arnica. Both in homeopathic pellets for general healing, and in gels or cream form. I used to use Boiron brand gel and it's great, and it's probably at some store near you, but if you want to order any to come by mail, I use a cream from Salmon Creek Therapeutics. Something like that.


I wish you luck!

 

[dismom2]

Forgot to ask - what are the "slow, stretching exercises"?



They had me do different kinds of stomach strengthening exercises, including: a lot of leg lifts, sitting to standing, holding legs up one at a time with a belt type thing (to stretch leg muscles), stretching on a big ball, lying down and doing slow side to side twists, etc.. I can't rememeber all of them. I know you can do a google search and find exercises for back pain.

I forgot to mention, there are these heated patches you can put on your back for pain. They are really great! They make them for cramps, too. The one for back pain wraps around you and I think they cost around $7, which has one or two (depends which brand you get). They are the exact same thing as those hand warmer things that when exposed to air produce heat for 8-10 hours. They really help me a lot.

 

[themarquis]

"Actually, chiropractic care is found to be about as effective as any traditional medical care in the treatment of lower back pain. Unfortunately, that may be because most treatments for lower back pain (traditional or not) produce not much more than a placebo effect."



Yay someone else mentioned chiro first. I'd find a very very gentle one. When I practiced I did Network Spinal Analysis, which I enjoyed receiving and doing. The only NSA people 'round here are ages away so I'm now under Atlas Orthogonal care, and I love it. I highly recommend it.

As for placebo effects, I don't believe chiro care is that.

But you know what? Even if it were a placebo effect, how BRILLIANT is that, that supposedly nothing is being done, but good things are happening anyway? Give me that over drugs any day!

C.Ann....go easy with the heat. Something in my exercise science and chiropractic background is going ping about heat with disc problems...if you're already inflamed, you want to be careful with the heat. So if you're going to do heat, be sure to do ice, too.


And if anyone is going out to the store, I absolutely swear by arnica. Both in homeopathic pellets for general healing, and in gels or cream form. I used to use Boiron brand gel and it's great, and it's probably at some store near you, but if you want to order any to come by mail, I use a cream from Salmon Creek Therapeutics. Something like that.


I wish you luck!

lol, I just happened to have recently read a really great book about alternative medicine by Simon Singh. It's very very well documented and researched. Basically, the story is (I'm sure, knowing you from your posts, you would not agree!) that chiropractic care has been rather extensively studied and for many conditions, it does not really do much. But for lower back pain, it has been demonstrated to be as effective as any other kind of treatment. Unfortunately, it is just barely more effective than placebo. Whether or not you agree from your own experiences (and of course from our own personal, anecdotal experiences, many things seem to "work", but we don't know whether this is generalizable unit we look across a large number of cases!) , this is the case according to the well-designed studies that have been done.

But the placebo effect is a wondrous thing! Any treatment that uses the placebo effect is utilizing our own innate capacity for self-healing. Now, of course, ideally, we want to choose a treatment that is at least a little more successfull over and above placebo. Unfortunately, traditional medical treatments for lower back pain are middling at best. So choose a chiropractor or a traditional doctor -- either way, you will probably get some benefit.

 

[VickiVM]

Just an fyi - my mom's shoulder has been bothering her quite a bit and she's been feeling a little numbness in that are as well (already checked her heart - ok). We are trying to get her into her dr's office as soon as possible, but meanwhile I asked the nurse in her dr's office if it was bursitis, how to treat. She said to use the heating pad, but only for 20 min. at a time and only 3 times a day. She said further heating the area could actually aggravate the inflammation more.

I also get back pain after spending a lot of time baking/cooking in kitchen - always feel crappy the day after we entertain. After babying it for a day or so, I generally will fell better.

 

[pfishgirl]

I agree with HEAT... I have 2 buldging disc in my spine from a car accident.. Heat helps alot for me, better then any pill..

Becareful, some heat creams and one time use pads have asprain or other medications in them that may be harmful to you..

I soak in a warm tub, or I use an electric heating pad.. You may even want an electric blanket, if it won't make the rest of your body too warm

I also do simple stretching exercises.. sit or stand and raise your arms up to the ceiling and stretch your back as much as you can without over doing it

 

[Robindianne]

acupuncture might help?

Yesterday I did something to my back and I have been in significant pain ever since.. I don't actually remember "doing" anything - so I'm assuming that it may be the result of the 2 degenerated disks in my lower spine that were recently found on my x-rays.. In the past few days, I spent 2 days standing on the hard kitchen floor (wearing slippers) while baking ("standing" is always a killer for me, but it didn't "act up" right away) - and on C'mas morning, I sat cross-legged in a chair for 4 hours while everyone was unwrapping their gifts.. (Had to sit cross-legged because I have lost so much weight, when I'm "sitting", I'm sitting right on my tailbone - which is very painful..) It was about a half-hour after the long sitting session that my back became extremely painful (lower spine - nowhere near my kidneys) and I started to have a great deal of difficulty in even walking.. I thought sure it would be gone by today (did the ice thing; heat thing; Ben Gay thing; hot bath thing; etc. - but none of them worked..)

I finally broke down and dragged out the Lortabs the doctor gave me - 2 every 4 hours (per doctors orders) - with a max of 6 pills a day - and it is doing nothing - absolutely nothing!! Can't take anything else because of the tylenol in the Lortabs and tylenol is the only pain med I can take..

Nothing I would consider going to the ER for (pain or no pain) and my doctors office was closed today, so what else can I try?

I'm totally shocked that it wasn't gone by this morning and I don't want to wake up like this again tomorrow!! There are things I was looking forward to doing here in the house today - as well as the rest of the time my DGD is home from school - and now I can't do them..

I know there are others here with the degenerated disk problems, so what do you do when you have a flare-up?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[JR6ooo4]

For me it is after I am working, like leaning over a sink, or drafting table, or a transit at work. The lower back muscles get a workout and then cool down and get tight. If I do a twist or bend in the wrong direction something goes TWANG and I can be out for a while. Hours to days with so much pain I have a hard time getting up , or even sitting still..

muscle relaxers help stop the spasms and start recovery, but I can not stay awake for more than 30 minutes when I take one.
Heat works for me also, get a heating pad with an auto-off feature. very convenient at night, since you should not leave it on all the time.
Hope it is a little bit better already...

Mikeeee

 

[Michelle67]

Muscle relaxers always helped me a LOT more than pain pills ever did. I don't like to take pain pills anyhow.

As far as topical stuff, I really like Tiger Balm.

Best wishes, I hope you feel better very soon.