Chronic back pain

[lindawatson]

I'm new here but its my husband who has osteoporosis. His Tscores are around -3.5 and he has lost 4 inches in height and suffers extreme lower back pain. He is on morphine every day and has a very limited lifestyle. He is recovering from bladder cancer and is awaiting a corneal transplant, so life is pretty hard for him.

All our GP does is to monitor his morphine and doesn;t suggest any other treatment.He is not due to see his osteoporosis consultant until November.I would welcome any suggestions you may have to improve his quality of life. Many thanks Linda

[Kaarina]

When you say that your GP does not suggest any other treatment for your husband do you mean that he has not offered a calcium and Vitamin D medication or any medication for osteoporosis? The doctor may be leaving this to your husband's OP consultant. Has your husband been diagnosed long with this condition and has he had his Vitamin D level checked?

There is not much help on offer generally other than medication and being told to do weight-bearing exercise which is difficult when in pain and there is not that much guidance on what actual exercise one should/should not do depending on the extent of the patients OP and healing from any fractures.

Many of us on the forum have learned that taking supplements: magnesium, Vitamin D, K2, boron or eating 6 prunes a day, having a good diet and exercising is probably the way forward. We also have to decide whether to take an OP medication or not after learning about what is on offer.

You may find it helpful to have a chat with one of the NOS nurses on the helpline, if you have not done so already. Tel: [phone]. This is a free service and I have heard it is excellent from those that have used it.

[Deb18]

Hi Linda I am sorry that your husband is not well. I do agree with Kaarina, GP's really are a bit restricted in what they can offer before a referral to an OP Consultant. Good advice on the calcium and vit D and prunes. Also the NOS nurses are excellent. I have spoken to them a couple of times and they have been very helpful. They can send you lots of useful information. Hope all goes well.

[Hindess]

So sorry to hear of your husbands problems with pain, I have exactly the same problem. Once diagnosed, I have been referred to the pain clinic. All they did was up my pain killers, I have Fentanyl patches, Codine, Paracetamol , Diazepam also Calcium and vitamin D. I also have had major surgery. I was referred to a mindfulness course run by the pain team. Still suffering from extreme pain. I was referred to the physiology clinic in the hospital and had a course of acupuncture which seemed to help for a few days! The back consultant tells me he can’t operate as it’s too dangerous, he also can’t give me an injection for the same reason.

Unfortunately there seems no way forward, They are trying to find out if they have an Osteoporosis expert I could see but I haven’t heard from them yet. My back is getting more curved and I can’t do a lot of “normal” tasks around the house or garden now.

If I get a solution, I will post it, I have hit the following button to this discussion in the hope that someone out there has any suggestions, good luck to your husband, I hope things improve soon. Kind regards, Phillip.

[lindawatson]

Thank you Philip it is disheartening to hear there does not seem to be an answer to this problem, my husband is on all the medication recommended by the consultant and GP and has been to the pain clinic, where only morphine was suggested. Good luck to you, we will keep battling on.