lumbar pain

hi guys

i just wondring

i have been having ongoing pain for past few weeks since duing recent ITU admision down in my lumbar spine/back area. (T10-T12 area)

spinal xrays have ruled out fractures and i have and no trauma there.

walking is unbearable and taking all pain relief and meds and alternative pain methods known to man!

had dexa cantoideiy osteoporsi/osteopena but that doent explain either way bout the paina ot arasymptomatic and so i am waiting for chronic painteam review to help.

this adds to pain already get from the chronic asthma intecostal muscularskeletal pain

any ideas??

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Hi Snowygirl ..

Just an idea - but have you had your vitamin D levels checked?? I didn't realise until I saw resp con yesterday that low levels of Vit D can cause bone and muscle pain and also contribute to severe asthma. Only know this because he said mine were low. Not sure if this is any help???!!!

Hope you get your pain levels under control.

Sending big hugs.

Rach. x

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when I had long ITU admission last year I had excruciating back and hip pain for ages after. It was caused by position I was in in the hospital bed...I suppose that when not with it don't move to get comfy...so muscles etc had got ""stuck"" I saw osteopath and that helped enormously.

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thanks for the replies guys

i had no idea that low vit D levels can contribute to both severe asthma and bone/ muscle pain i will indeed get this checked out, as i am not sure this has been, i have been taking multivits but stopped recently, maybe worth me taking them again, see if it improves?? hmmmm - thanks rachel.

wondered bout an osteopath, gp went to do choose and book for me for pain clinic - earliest appt 51 days so gonna do a letter marked urgent as well to get me seen quicker to get my pain under control.

hope it is something as simple as vit D deficiency be great!! wonder if i should start taking multivits and vit D anyways ??

xx

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Hi snowygirl,

Glad to hear you're 'up', if not exactly 'about' much. Hope you get some positive answers from the pain team.

GM

@ Rachel. Thanks. Might look at multivits myself for knees. Heck of a painful over the weekend.

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51 days for pain clinic? That's a long time to wait if you're in pain!

Wondered if physio sessions could help - think there were a couple of people on here who'd had these with non-resp physios and said it relieved lungs as well, kind of 'stretching' chest area (I think it was Lydia79 mentioned this?). Plus if you have messed up muscles/spine a bit physio might be able to sort it out - osteopath could as well but I have no experience of seeing one so can't comment!

The physio I see at the moment was the first person, after seeing multiple doctors etc, who actually managed to work out what was going on with me and my spine and to start fixing it! It's not related to breathing issues (I think), except that all the contortions I inflict on myself when breathless don't seem to improve it so the treatment may well work on both issues - and therefore maybe could be something which would work for you? (Not specifically what I have obviously, physio would have to see you and advise).

Hope this is useful and you do find a solution soon. btw excellent news re RBH, crossed fingers a fresh look comes up with some solutions!

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Hello Snowygirl!

Surprised you're not on Vitamin D along with calcium to offset all those steroids you're probably taking. Might be worth chatting to your GP/Consultant about that... And get some sunshine

I'm really glad to hear that you've been referred to the chronic pain team, though 51 days seems an awfully long time to wait. I absolutely love the chronic pain nurse specialists. I have been very lucky with the entire pain team - they're all really good at seeing me as a whole person, working around my complex allergies/contraindicated medications/rare conditions, etc. It makes prescribing any medication a bit of a minefield, but they have been really wonderful and careful, and have taken my priorities into account (I hate feeling 'out of it', for example) when helping to set up a pain management plan for me.

Things that I have found particularly helpful in addition to the usual pain meds:

- TENS machine

- Diclofenac gel (this is an NSAID, so you may need to discuss with your GP/asthma team)

- Guided imagery audio

- Heat pack/hot water bottle/ice packs

When going into my appointments I find it helpful to have a list that includes:

- The current impact of the pain (when it's worst, whether it affects my sleep, driving, concentration, social life, etc.)

- What I want to gain, short term and long term from pain management (e.g. sleep through the night, sit for 2 hours at the cinema, be able to exercise, go back to work full-time)

- Questions about lifestyle factors that I can adopt or change to improve things

- Non-medical strategies that might help

- Suggestions of things that I'd like to try

Wishing you all the best with it, and hoping that you can get good relief from the pain.

Jo

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thanks for your replies and ideas guys...

off to gp in morning to discuss the idea of low vitamin d levels cuasing the problems...

@jo - i was on adcal - but i am allergic to nuts and as a pharmacist pointed out, there is peanut and soya oil in the adcal preparation so need to discuss with gp tomorrow bout the calciumk supplement.. the only supps i am cos of long term steroids is the aledronic acid for the bones grrr...

so i will he sure to mention it to gp in the morning.....

usiing TENS maching, hypnosis

heat packs

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I know about the Adcal - that's really annoying, isn't it? I'll check what preparation I have. It's one of the soluble ones...

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thanks wishes

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conundrum posssibly solved!!!

phnecall to surgery and blood tests confirm i have very low vitamin D levels and need injections and vit D treatment to correct.. so hopefully all will be resolved keep u posted

xx

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Result! Maybe will help a bit with asthma too? Looks like some things might be moving towards getting better, crossed fingers for you.

Hope you're feeling better after last night...

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hopefully we shall see...

got impressive bruises!!

still shaky and lil sore!! chest tite most of day today.. relieved by sally unti earlier, went for walk round corner, couldnt breathe- inh, no help, needed 7 nebs to recover :S no costa though

xxx

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Poor you, Snowygirl, but I'm glad to hear that you were able to avoid going back to Costa, and I hope that you had a good night, and that you feel rested today. Take it easy now! Just because you're home doesn't mean that you can rush around like superwoman

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Hi again Snowygirl,

Just thought I'd come on this thread again as I saw my physio today and while the main problem I'm seeing her for is improving, she noticed that a couple of areas were being troublesome and painful when she pressed on them, and thinks this is down to me using my accessory muscles for respiration a lot (areas were thoracic outlet, which I did have issues with before, but also upper thoracic spine which have not had issues with before).

She was able to do treatment on them and saw improvement as she was working though which made me wonder - I imagine if I'm using accessory muscles enough to cause this then yours must be REALLY overworked given all the asthma attacks you've been having, so thought maybe once you've got the Vitamin D sorted out a bit and the pains from that have (hopefully!) gone a physio might still be able to help with anything left? Just a thought really but it really hit home today for me how much all this breathing stuff can affect other things and I imagine it can only be worse if you're brittle and on lots of medication.

Hope you're feeling better after latest attack!

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hi philomela

i have the upper spine - intercostal cusle prob anyways for that very reason

heopfully vit d will help that d

x

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good news to report!!

lumbar pain completely gone, only pain now is upper back and chest - intercostal during attacks

boohoo!!

xx

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Wow, that was pretty quick! Was thinking getting Vit D up would take ages, at least that's one less thing for you to worry about. Hope you can maybe get something sorted out for the rest, though tricky if you can't have anti-inflammatories.