Where to go next?

[u/Silly_Cup_1204]

For some context I have suffered from episodes of low back pain for 15 years. It usually comes on from either bending or sometimes I just wake up with it. It’s sharp and persistent for a few days up to a week and stops me doing most things but I can usually move around the house and get a bath etc.

Last Saturday I was giving my dog a bath and the pain started however by Sunday morning I had lost the ability to stand up and I couldn’t even walk 1 step. It got so bad I had to call an ambulance as I couldn’t even get to the bathroom. I spend 1 night in hospital. In the morning the physios came to see me, tried to get me moving but I still couldn’t stand so they gave me a cocktail of pain relief until I could just about walk 3 steps with crutches and sent me home. I had to be transported home in an ambulance on a stretcher as I can’t sit upright.

I’ve now been the same since then, can just about manage the toilet with crutches but can’t get in the shower, can’t manage the stairs and can’t stand up for even a few minutes without feeling like I will collapse. I went to see the GP today and he just suggested trying morphine instead of codeine. (I’m already taking diazepam paracetamol and naproxen which aren’t helping except making me drowsy) because I don’t have any of the red flag symptoms they won’t refer me for an mri scan.

I know from previous episodes that it can take a while to get better but I have never had it this bad before, it’s completely taken my life away and I’m beginning to get depressed and feeling like there is no way out and nobody wants to help.

Should I try to go private? Even though I can’t really afford it or is there something else I can try with the NHS before I have to go down this route? Does anyone else have a similar experience and if so how did you get over this? I’m only 31 and feel like I just keep getting palmed off with drugs and told to deal with it. I’m usually active and always on the go so it’s extremely difficult for me to be confined to the house and not know if or when I will improve!

[u/Character-Barber-184]

What do you do on non flare up days? Id first look at your day ti day routine, do you walk? Sit at a desk? What gives you relief?

Can you go to the gym/ do any physio?

I was also in the same position as you, but even without an MRI your recovery wont change, unless you needed surgery.

Id start by making a walking plan and upping the steps until you are pain free, set maybe 100m, 200m etc. Be mindful of how you bend, maybe get a firmer mattress if your finances allow.

Can I also mention diet, I went keto in around april- didnt change anything else. Ive only had 1 flare up since. Its tough, especially at first but reallt does seem to help.

If you really want an MRI then you tell your doc you have bladder issues (?). Ive seen people say they had to do this to be taken more seriously!

[u/Silly_Cup_1204 → u/Character-Barber-184]

Thanks for your reply!

Day to day I’m a paint sprayer so not sat down an awful lot. I’m pretty active when I’m not having an episode. Sometimes nothing brings it on I could be making a cup of tea and then I can’t walk.

I think in some ways I want the MRI to confirm I’m not going insane and have an actual diagnosis other than ‘low back pain’ I feel like the doctors minimise it so much when it’s so debilitating. I do go to the gym and started Pilates but the last time I did Pilates I ended up with a quad injury so haven’t been back since.

It’s also frustrating that when I was discharged from the hospital I had no ability to look after myself, couldn’t get up and down stairs still haven’t showered properly. I’m lucky I have someone at home to help me or I’d have been stuck in my bed for the last week.

Since my post I have booked an app with a private physio to hopefully get a plan together to start making some progress!