Anyone with experience of back pain?

Anyone? Please?

I've just taken a couple of Co-codomol but the pain is just unreal. I'm going to have to cancel the gym aren't I? ?

Don't mess with your back.

You could have pinched a nerve, pulled a muscle or anything. See your doctor.

Ibuprofen can't hurt though. I also see an osteopath on and off, but that was after seeing my GP first.

Yes I have numerous problems, that I wont bore you with!

I would cancel the gym and see your GP/physio as soon as possible. Try to keep it mobile without doing anything too strenuous (stretching etc) as keeping immobile can make things worse.

Ibuprofen/paracetamol will help as will cold/hot compresses.

Hope you feel better soon

x

I'm no expert but it sounds as if something (disc?) may be pressing on a nerve in your back - I had similar and it's agony. Docs prescribed me voltarol which is an anti-imflammatory which takes about 3 days to work on me. In the end I got fed up with this happening every 6 months, and getting nothing but repeat prescriptions from my GP so I went to see an osteopath. Osteopaths treat both soft tissue as in massage and bones like chiropracters so seemed like a good option. It took 3 sessions initially to sort the problem and I've been back a couple of times for one session at a time in the last few years to keep things tip top, can't recommend it highly enough. Oh and I took up yoga at my gym which I think really helps keep the muscles strong

But in the mean time you should probably cancel your gym session and rest up til it feels better. You can take Nurofen and paracetamol at the same time, and those stick on heat pads are quite good, or just a bog standard hot water bottle would help. ?

I dont think excersise will help,it may loosen you up for a while but as soon as you rest it will start again.

It could be Sciatica

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=330&sectionId=1

Thank you - I'm sorry to sound so desperate but I can hardly stand up.

OK - I've cancelled my gym appointment and will rest up. If it's no better tomorrow then I will make a GP appointment and take it from there.

Gosh this is frustrating - I was really looking forward to a busy active day.

Sounds like you've trapped a nerve CBH. I've done this many times - in various places in my back - and I too wasn't able to move. It's quite frightening if it's not happened before.

The only way I could really get it back to normal was to go and have ultrasound and massage. I found a fantastic physiotherapist who sorted me out on many occasion. She charged £45/50 which was well worth it to walk again.

Maybe worth ringing one and seeing what they say?

Hope you get it sorted soon

MrJ suffers from a lot of backache. The best thing he was advised was to do gentle stretching exercises to try and ease it and painkillers. Until you get to the docs anyway.

I don't think the pain is sciatica Clodders - it's definitely just in my back and not shooting down my legs.

I'm going to walk Woody again this afternoon and I'll do some gentle stretches - I found that helped earlier on. Thankfully my gym are honouring the free voucher I had for the PT session and have said I can use it when I rebook.

Fingers crossed it'll be better with a day of rest but if not, I won't hesitate to contact the GP and take it from there.

And you're right Peaches - this is the first time this is happened and I am a bit spooked. <daft icon>

CBH, are you able to drive? If not, do you have means of getting about - taxis, bus? If so, I'd highly recommend you get yourself down to a physio otherwise you could well be in pain for the rest of the day, and (from my experience), a trapped nerve gets worse at night.

Pick up the phone and ring one at least and see what they say. Why wait until tomorrow? It won't go away itself.

I had similar problems on and off for years.. with me, it was a bulging disc that would press on the sciatic nerve.. causing pain to shoot down my left leg and my foot to go numb.

Anti-inflamatories are the best, eg. Ibuprofen etc. Definitely don't do any gym-type exercise but do walk and carry on as normal as you can because lying flat on the floor probably won't help unfortunately. You could also take paracetamol as well as the Ibuprofen because even though you don't expect it, a bad back can make you feel flippin lousy.

Unless you've done something very serious, (which you would know because you wouldn't be able to move at all), I would see an osteopath rather than a GP. The osteopath is a specialist - they will be able to identify what you've done and how best to treat it. Take the painkillers, do the exercises they set you and you should hopefully find things will get back to normal really quickly ❤️

Edited to say 'who am I to say don't go to a GP - I'm not a medical expert ? ! - Go to see your GP AND an osteopath!' ❤️

I'm going to give it til tomorrow morning and see if I can ease it with a hot bath and gentle stretching. I'm not sure I can drive today and to be honest, I'm really broke until tomorrow when H gets paid. He's in Australia at the moment but I'll have access to our joint account tomorrow so I can use our debit card for a taxi if need be.

My GP is great and when I needed a Podiatrist she was able to recommend one so hopefully she'll know a good local Physio/Chiropracter if that's what I need.

I'm one of these people who hates going to the GP and "making a fuss" but I will go tomorrow if I'm no better. I can't believe that simply bending over has caused this pain! I mean, I lift weights all the time at the gym but when I go to switch a plug on - this happens!

The key to me is the I bent over bit, which sounds exactly how nerves get trapped. Bending over, stretching the spine, nerves move and then gets pinched when spine straightens up again. Very sharp and very painful. And in my experience, doesn't go away on it's own, it needs manipulating out.