my back

[rayzee398]

Once a year I am in great pain with my back as is happening now. I was sent to physio a few years ago and because of the time frame my back pain had cleared by the time of my appointment. So I've had a bad back for about a month now and I went to see my GP who gave me an anti inflammatory and diazepam to stop spasms. I have a good relationship with my GP but there has been no investigation at all as to what could be the cause. I am worried because at times I can barely walk I've not been able to work for a month so this is causing me great concern. I explained this to my GP but he's not in the same pain as I am so is not overly concerned. All anybody has done is look at my back with their naked eye. I'd really like someone to look at my back and give me some answers. This pain comes on seemingly of its own accord at random times. Can somebody guide me please. As I said before I have a good relationship with my GP and don't want to complain about him but my back really hurts and doesn't seem to be improving he said he suspects its arthritis but don't I deserve more than "suspects".

[Hidden]

You have too be very pushy with gps and the NHS took me over a year for a MRI scan I would be worried if you can barely walk sometimes MRI will give the specialist more as to what is going on with your body

Push for it otherwise you be in pain forever it will come back again

[earthwitch]

Google "inflammatory back pain criteria" and if you tick all the boxes for it, ask your GP for a referral to a rheumatologist. If your back pain isn't related to injury, then it is possible its a type of spondyloarthritis (inflammatory spinal arthritis), and that really does need treating to avoid damage. Spondy can be very hard to diagnose though, especially in the early stages before it has done permanent damage that can be seen on xray. If you have a family history of autoimmune disorders, then that also makes an inflammatory arthritis a bit more likely.

[Poppy_Ann]

Hi Ray,

for most people with a bad back most doctors have no idea what you are going through keep a pain diary for a while at least for two weeks and put down how bad the pain is in a scale of 1 to 10 and how it is affecting your daily life like you could not even get out of bed or you had to crawl to the toilet as you could not manage to stand until you can show your doctor what you are going through you will not get any help except for more drugs.

I have had a "bad back" since 1976 when i was involved in a accident whilst in the army and at the time they just said i had sprained my back and put me on light duties for 2 weeks and then I was back to work but as the years have passed it has got worse and worse until 13 years ago I had to give up working as for most of the year I was having trouble just getting out of bed most days most of the time when I see a new doctor and they decide that they want to try and find what is causing the problem they all give different reasons and seldom come up with the same cause I have been told everything from there is nothing wrong with me (from a army doctor) to your back is broke in three places (at the national spinal injury hospital) the only one I still believe is one of the army doctors did a thing called MUA (manipulation under anesthetic) which is you are given a general anesthetic and then they pull you around to see if you react to it which if you do react then there is definitely something wrong even if they can not find it which at the time I was starting to think that it was all in my head but getting the result that there was something even if they had no idea what the cause was.

The only way you will get what you want from the NHS is to keep returning to your doctor until he sends you to your hospital to try and find the cause most doctors are put off sending people to a hospital due to the cost to the NHS and even if you do manage to get an appointment at the hospital take your pain diary with you to show how the pain affects you and how often it happens, most doctors do not think it is a problem until you are loosing a minimum amount of time off work, also I do believe is that as you get older the less the NHS wants to help as you will not be returning to work and start paying tax back into the system.

good luck finding a treatment to remove the pain I know what a bad back is like,

Regards Poppy Ann.

[Hidden in reply to Poppy_Ann]

All the Gps I've seen last count was 8 know nothing about lower back pain the one is see the most told me its difficult understand the back the old saying is once you got a bad back you it's there for life

[Poppy_Ann in reply to Hidden]

Hi there,

Yes you are right I do not believe any doctor knows what causes back pain or how to help get rid of it correctly or at least get it to a manageable level, I have forgot the amount of doctors I have deen about it but it must be around 100 to date.

The best doctor to see is a pain management Doctor or a pain clinic I do not know of anyone who has had a really bad back that has recovered completely the best we can get is when we can manage the pain so we can get on with the rest of our life.

Also one other thing I never thought about is thinking about when we get older and the pain gets worse how to keep on working if I had thought about it I may have just moved my career to the management side of things and cut down on the physical part of working but now it is too late to do and as I have been off work for 13 years and only have another 2 1/2 - 3 years to go unless the government move the goal posts again if i had been 1 year older then I would have retired 18 months ago but as they say that's life.

Regards Poppy Ann.

[Cynthia58]

Read SI bone procedure.

[Cynthia58 in reply to Cynthia58]

I thought my pain was in my back. Mri, X-rays showed nothing. Finally SI bone told dr in MY area. How surgery 3-15. Pain was 20 now 0. Check SI joint.