I previously wrote a post about a month ago concerning my husband who injured his back/neck around Feb time doing a forward roll (so nothing too serious). Although he initially had no symptoms a week later his back was sore and since then he has been in pain ever since. He attended his GP initially, then a sports physio and finally a chiropracter all of whom said it was muscle strain/whiplash and would soon clear. 5 months later he is still in so much pain that he is unsure if he can continue working (he is a lorry driver).
He went private for a MRI scan the results of which he got a week ago which just showed normal wear and tear. We were concerned re discs etc as he has symptoms which come and go like fatigue in his legs (like flu), pins and needles in hands and numbness in back. Although we are thankful that nothing worse showed up is it possible that the MRI could miss something (he actually felt not so sore on the day he got it, typical!!!)
Having read up I am concerned that he has developed chronic pain symptoms (ie the injury is long healed but the pain is still there).. how does this be fixed.... also why has he pain when he presses the 3 or 4 joints in his spine.... anyone any similar stories or any help????? his quality of life has changed dramatically - used to do 60 miles on bike at weekend... hasnt been on it since February.... depressed... cant see a way forward....
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flirtygert
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I'm sorry your husband - and presumably you - are suffering like this. It's very frustrating when a scan comes back "normal" as it doesn't really give you any answers about the pain.
I was in this situation for a very long time with my chronic pain. The issue is that he is still in pain whatever the cause might be, and the pain needs to be managed better. I would go back to the GP and take a list of everything he has tried already - including medication (including things like paracetamol), physio, chiropractor etc and what the effects of those things were, good and bad. Also make a list of how this impacts on his life - being unable to work, unable to persue hobbies, the effect on your relationship, sleep, effect on mood. If you present something written down it is all there in black and white. Ask if he can be referred to a pain clinic. There may be some things your husband has to try before the referral gets made, such as trying certain medications for a while, but if he hasn't tried them before they may help.
If he's already done this, go back and do it again! No one should have to put up with pain just because a MRI scan is clear. Sometimes we have to be persistent in order to get what we really need.
To give you a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, I eventually got the right sort of treatment for me and am able to cope far better with the pain these days. I work part time and manage to exercise. There is still life out there.
thanks teadrinker. He has made an appt this morning with our GP for next Monday. Same gp he saw before but I think because he has full movement etc gp more or less said there was nothing he could do. However maybe if he shows has had MRI and pain still there mite get better pain relief. Because he still has the pain on the facet joints when you touch them he still feels that some damage has been done to those joints but surely that would show up on MRI. He really cant go on as when he gets home he just wants to go to bed due to fatigue.... depressing... always had such a bright outlook till this happened...
Sorry to read what awful pain you husbands is having did they do any x rays or was it just a MRI scan as I'm having chronic pain si muscle joint and I've had nothing
Initially after he got the injury he went to A & E where he had a back xray which didnt show up anything - we thot if something had been missed then it would show up in the MRI. He still feels that some of the facet joints are sore when touched and that there is still an injury there somewhere...... not sure what to do next. Made an appt with GP for next Mon so will get further advice there.
You could try massaging his back and neck, gently and equally both sides of the spine.
He could get a training stand for his bike, and rebuild his stamina. Get advice about posture to protect his back.
He could get an occy health report -private if necessary which will suggest changes to his cab/work pattern that will help to orotect his back.
Gentle stretching exercise like pilates or yoga will also help. Akthough do just one as the breatjing patterns are different.
He could meditate (plenty available on line) to give the brain a rewst from the pain signals. Also good at clearing negative thoughts.
There is also strong evidence that if you flood your body with seratoin and other "happy" receptors, there's less room for the pain receptors to latch on in the synapses. Quite easy to do - just do sonethjing that he likes, something that gets him in the zone (fully focused on the activity where tine flies by and all that is experienced is pure joy of the activity).
Something I've started to do when I have something my body doesn't like - listen to study music (reaches different brain waves). Seems to diffuse the circle of can't do, but have to do, pain. There are different types, chose one that you like the sound of.
With both meditation and study music, do not do while driving. There may be an overwhelming feeling of fatigue afterwards - this is normal, it's the body getting rid of physical and mental stress. Do not fight it, let it happen, the body will heal quicker.
Unfortunately there is no cure for chrinic pain, but you csn do lots of things to poke it into a corner. All and any alternative therapies. They are experienced with everything that thge NHS can help. Stretching exercises, meditation, getting in the zone, new hobbies, making sure working environment is suitable, having fun.
I just replied on another post saying that my pain has given me so much opportunity to grow as a person, discovering new talents, and freed up time to do these. Chronic pain doesn't have to be a closed door on your life, it's a turning point to reassess your life and shake up your priorities.
Doing nothing and moaning about the pain is not a solution, trying new things is. If something doesn't help after a few weeks, try something else, and with chronic pain, the mind needs soothing as much as the body does.
Pain doesn't stop you doung things - you stop yourself from doing things.
Athletes push themselves to their limits and suffer a huge amount of pain, they don't give up because of the pain. The only difference is that they chose their activity and accept pain as part of it. We have had pain thrust upon us for no particular reason, and we have to find a way to live with it. Life is what you make it.
thanks for replying Zanna - unfortunately he is still looking at the fact that he feels some damage has been done to the joints in his back as they are sore when pressed. Has made appt with GP this morning for next monday so mite get better pain relief then. Think is just hoping that it will get better which is what his chiropracter has repeatedly told him. Because he had such a stressfree life/job, contentment, able to do what he wanted in evenings this has been a major setback for him - lifechanging and possibly career changing too...... thanks for advice.
I am not only an athlete but I also coach, the pain DOSE STOP YOU! I push and push but physically I can’t do it... I also had the numbness in my feet stems and hands and my back kills me . I’ve done everything you could think of and it hasn’t gotten better... the excuse of chronic pain is ridiculous it hurts to where even though I push myself to get out of bed I physically can’t.. being an athlete and a coach one would think I am stronger then this pain but it’s beating me. The pain is real . I have not given up but to say the pain doesn’t stop you , is totally wrong maybe once you experience it you will understand more
Therein is the problem. Pushing yourself will increase your pain. Already tight muscles become tighter. Compensation pain on compensation pain. You should know this and how the body works and you should also know you can't beat pain by punishing your body. You need to take time out for rehabilitation.
I've had many days unable to get out of bed. Most recently, my husband had to come home from work to help me onto my feet. That took 2 months to recover from going back to the rotation of activities and heavy duty pain killers. When my whole body went into spasm in 2002, it took me over an hour to get out of bed and walk 10 steps to the bathroom. I was put on a very strict rotation during waking hours of 15 mins sitting, walking, resting, and stretching for 3, yes 3 months. Each action was done gently and slowly and only to the point of pain. So if I could only raise my arm to do a side stretch then that was what I did. At night, I had to rotate hourly from side, back, side.
Slowly, extremely slowly, my body calmed down a bit so the chiropractor could work on it. He explained that pain is layered like an onion, with the origin of the pain in the centre. He worked on peeling the layers of pain away. The layers are compensation pain and trigger pain. Although he gave an image of an onion, in reality it was more like cobwebs, with triggers causing compensation and compensation setting off triggers. This unpeeling took 18 months. While I got weekly, sometime twice weekly treatments. I also had stretching exercises to do and increase my activity rotations by a minute a week only if my body tolerated it.
The other thing he told me was that each cell in our body have a blueprint, which tells each cell what to do. Healthy cells make painfree organs, muscles etc. With chronic pain, the blueprint has been re-written over time and any therapy should involve rewriting the blueprint back to the original.
When we exercise and use our muscles properly, the cells freak out thinking it's wrong because it doesn't match the chronic pain blueprint, the body creates pain, because pain is the body's way to get us to stop what we are doing. (A pain free person would not feel pain).
This is where pacing comes in. You have to trick the body. By finding your activity limitations, you work with them and slowly increase activity. If you go too quickly and do too much your body will create pain, then you have to go a step back. Over time, variable for everyone, your body will freak out less and less with activity.
You also need to get your body to relax fully. Whether that's by massage, meditation, floatation, your body needs to know being relaxed is good, is the right blueprint. It's been 15 years since the day of the body spasm, and I still can't get my left leg to relax. I don't know if it ever will.
This chronic pain blueprint is why we get reactions after exercise and we need time to recover.
The overall aim is to have non reactive activity, without peaks and troughs of activity, pain, recovery time.
When moving, you need to find new ways to do things. Getting out of bed for example, lay on your side along the edge, move both legs out and at the same time push yourself up to sitting. REST for a minute or 2. Then (have a brush or mop handy) hold the brush centrally to your body, feet hip width apart, push on the brush to stand up. REST again.
Or, you can get on your knees while in bed, and walk off the bed backwards.
Use the brush to help you balance as you walk by keeping it central and pushing it far enough for you to take a step. Bring the other foot next to it. REST. Repeat starting with the other foot. REST. Repeat. The walking pattern is half a stride.
Going downstairs. Turn round so you are going down backwards. Different muscles are used. Lead with one foot only and bring the other onto the same step. Hold the banister.
The other thing I did which helped greatly was to listen to pain meditations. I started with guided stories and breathing exercises and built up to multi wave meditations. Some days, I did them back to back for 3 or 4 hours at a time. It took a couple of weeks vefore my body started relaxing.
I was a mother of an 8 and 6 year old, a wife and I managed my rehab myself. I worked part time. I did not use painkillers at this time despite the pain level being 10. I cooked and did as much housework as my body let me do. In all it took 4 years before the pain levels were stable at 6. This was my new bearable pain. I started my own business to make my life easier. It took another 3 years to be stable at 4, which I consider to be pain free. I've had 4 relapses where I've needed 2-3 months of pain killers.
If I hadn't taken that time out for rehab, my body would have shut down completely, I would be on long term pain killers, and be in a wheelchair, and still in a great deal of pain.
Even today, I work out what activities will do to my body, and find ways to either prevent or lessen it. I know and respect my limitations. While there are times when a reaction is unavoidable, I plan how to recover quickly.
I know the pain, I know very real. I also know it's hard work, patience and determination that has kept me on my feet all these years.
Quite often the pain in chronic pain is not originating where it is felt. There are tiny muscles between each vertebrae which are attached with even tinier ligaments. If he's brnt his neck awkwardly when roly polying, then some ligaments and muscles may be stretched. This could be causing the pain rather than the bones themselves. Also, if parts of the spinal muscles go into spams, other muscle groups join in. This is a natural teaction to injury or what the brain percieves as injury. It's designed to slow you down. What a good practitioner should be doing is recognising this process and what stage it is at, in order to reverse the process. This can be lengthy (three steps forward and two back and there may be a worsening before recovery). I've been working on my pain issues for 12 years, with the pain starting 8 years before that.
Life changing doesn't have to be negative. There's a lot of freedom to do what you want - I started a business which I work at when I feel like it. I pick and choose the work, not always based on price but more interest factor, such as stretching my ability, learning new skills to complete. There are also plenty adult education agencies which can provide retraining, quite often free, if he fancies doing something different. His employer also has a duty to redeploy him into more suitable work if there is any available. There is an officer at thecvjob centre specifically for the disabled and long term illness who can advise on how to change jobs. The CAB will put you in touch with the agencies that offer adult retraining.
As for filling evenings with activity, there are plenty of activities that you can do with a bad back, just maybe need to learn something new or a different way of doing things. There are even bikes - the ones you lie down in. Just need to find a specialist supplier who can build one to suit your husband. It doesn't have to be the end of the world.
Your support will be invaluable and it may seem like an uphill struggle. One day it will all fall into place when the right treatment is found and begins to work. Maybe you can ask his mates to help out too, sometimes its easier to try something someone else suggests.
My body makes lots of different pains. My initial injury has been healed but I know which pains to ignore because my body is just making them. The flip side, I know which ones to pay attention to because that's part of my ongoing problems. I know how my body reacts to extremes of activity and nonactivity, and how long it takes to recover. Without these parameters I wouldn't be able to keep myself safe.
For example, I should only walk on the level. Well, I live on a hill so I have to walk up and down hills. I got walking poles for extra stability and now I go cross country and hill climbing using the sticks. It gives me a day of extra pain but this is just my body complaining, there is no extra damage or actual reason for the pain. So I just spend the next day doing pilates and meditation. It's just become part of my life now.
The negative scan is good news. The problem now is that you are in areas that the medical profession know very little about. The effect of muscle behaviour on pain.
Contact an Alexander Teacher and see if they can help.
You may need to contact a massage therapist to look for muscle knots and micro cramps.
Yoga teachers may be helpful as well. Muscles when they go into over contraction can generate a lot of pain. To stop the pain you need to re-learn not to over contract the muscles. There is also the issue that there are mechanisms to contract muscles in the body but now mechanism to lengthen out a muscle once it has over contracted.
Hi flirtygert..,I too have flu simptons ..pins middles dizziness..oh and messed up lower back..pleased read my scan post xi too had wip lash very pain full,,my heck swollen up..lasted few week!!!!pain I think..and had chronic pain since 23.. Now 38... Causes you to feel flu ish shivey etc pain doe
S mad things!!!!oh and pain can bring on fribo they told me yesterday x
PS.flrtygert.? Pain causes depression..big full on style..of cause can't go back to work!!earn etc!!its not wonder depression kicks in!!!!!I am looking into volantering or??I've not to lift on not to stand.sit.long..bend.lie.dance.exercise .ride bike.oh work!!!l that's what they think!!!!!make a new thing every day or two weather its go for walk,,see that family member..go fed ducks..write nice message on here..I always feel better doing a good thing for someone else...carer coming out..?its what I've done since young age!!to be told can't.. Ever think about it.?look what happened when went back!!!had to provide my old gp wouldn't!!!but will do something..go talk to old person near by ???the things go on..that's what I am doing from now..not letting this xxxx painnget me no kore
Sounds like you are reducing your pain medications.
Sometimes this can also be caused by nerve damage in the neck region of the spine
You could ask for a CT spine. I was told I had minor changes but was in a lot of pain, but apparently you can have small problems with a lot of pain or a big problem with very little pain. Anyway when he opened me up to do a fusion and said the problem was worse than what was on the scan. So although the MRI says that it is not conclusive. Also has he had bloods taken or seen a neurologist or rheumatologist to rule out other things? Let's hope it gets better for him x (PS get him on fluoxetine or another SSRI, it is an anti depressant but also can have positive effects on pain and a TENS machine (from Boots can be helpful too)
I know how your husband feels unfortunatly. Ive been fighting the NHS to do something about my pain for 20 odd yrs now. All they are doing for me now is reducing my medication to the point where im in even more pain than before. My pain is in the sacriotic joint area and according to most you can not get pain there. How rediculous is that?! Im sick to death of being told there is nothing we can do. You just have chronic pain your MRI came back with just changes and arthritis. Well there you go theres the cause now they are saying i have nerve damage and are still reducing my medication, which is causing further discomfort to an already tired and painful body just so i can live longer HA why would i want to suffer longer than i have to im constantly depressed fed up and sick of fighting to get help. Dont except their excuses keep pushing if something hurts there is a reason dont let them fob you off like i did. Try not to let your husband rely on painkillers they are NOT the answer. You need a proper diagnosis and answers to his questions the same as i do. Get your husband to keep fighting and going back if he is not satisfied with the answers he is getting or the treatments dont work. Finding a distraction will also help something like art or photography that can be done and all engrossing it helps to take your mind from your pain for a short time
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