Kissa
08-23-2004, 12:26 AM
I'm having some serious pain here, more so than ever. The meds aren't touching it at all. My tailbone in particular is really hurting bad. I know I need another MRI and a good doctor, still working on that, my insurance is funny and most Nuero's here make you wait 3 months to see them. I can't suffer that long.
Any advice on what to do, should I call the PM? call my GP? Hurts tons to sit on a chair and its getting nearly difficult to get out of one once in it. I'm kinda stuck for hours till either I have to go to the restroom or get meds. I'm really suffering here. I'm taking vicodin nearly every 4 hours PLUS the morphine, it's doing nothing. I think it's an acute flare up of some sort. Any ideas or suggestions how to calm it down would help.
Thanks
Any advice on what to do, should I call the PM? call my GP? Hurts tons to sit on a chair and its getting nearly difficult to get out of one once in it. I'm kinda stuck for hours till either I have to go to the restroom or get meds. I'm really suffering here. I'm taking vicodin nearly every 4 hours PLUS the morphine, it's doing nothing. I think it's an acute flare up of some sort. Any ideas or suggestions how to calm it down would help.
Thanks
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LFCA
08-23-2004, 02:52 AM
Did you somehow injure your tailbone? A number of years ago, I had the same problem (desk job, though I walked back & forth to work several miles every day & almost always many blocks during lunch hour). Don't remember getting out of a chair being a problem, but, for some reason, my tailbone REALLY hurt. Only thing I could think of is I might have sat down with a particularly hard impact on a hard chair & perhaps bruised it. It took about three or four months for the pain to go away (took only an aspirin or two daily during this time), then, just one day, it was totally gone & has never returned these many years later...pain went as mysteriously as it came.
I have since learned that tailbone pain may be coming from the Gluteus Maximus Muscles, which are in the buttocks area. You could likely do self-massage treatment on this area with a very hard rubber ball against a wall. You might try this & see if you feel pain in doing this in this probably unexpected area. This would tell you if your problem is coming from this muscle (either or both sides). Since this is the muscle you use to get up from a sitting position, it seems reasonably likely.
I have since learned that tailbone pain may be coming from the Gluteus Maximus Muscles, which are in the buttocks area. You could likely do self-massage treatment on this area with a very hard rubber ball against a wall. You might try this & see if you feel pain in doing this in this probably unexpected area. This would tell you if your problem is coming from this muscle (either or both sides). Since this is the muscle you use to get up from a sitting position, it seems reasonably likely.
Flycatcher
08-23-2004, 07:30 AM
Sorry to hear of the new pain Kissa, not exactly sure what could be causing it. I would think that your PM should be consulted first to get the pain under control. Seeing your GP wouldn't be a bad idea to get to the physical cause of the problem as well, of course you may well end up back in the neuro's office. If it's bad enough you might consider the dreaded ER, my wife ended up there for her neck pain one day and they did an immediate MRI, dx'd her herniated discs in a few hours (I had to wait 6 years for my internist to do that).
Some simple things that might ease the sitting pain: Try using a plain old chair cushion to sit on, the kind that ties onto dining room chairs. It sounds crazy but my wife was looking into those expensive cushions at the ortho shops because I couldn't ride in her car anymore, the bucket seats were killing me within 10 minutes of riding. I tossed a chair cushion in the car and saved about $60 on the fancy stuff. It's amazing how much that helps, told my Mom about that and she's gotten similar relief with a rupture at L5-S1. I also use one of those "2 for $5" travel pillows for lumbar support, couldn't sit more than a few minutes without that.
My wife prefers alternating ice packs with a heating pad on her neck. Personally, cold causes me a world of pain but a heating pad does wonders at times. Epsom's salt baths also help at times but it can be tough getting back out of the tub if the pain and stiffness are really bad.
Wish I could offer more input but considering the meds you're on, I'm not sure what else would be of any use. Let us know what you find out, okay?
Jack
Some simple things that might ease the sitting pain: Try using a plain old chair cushion to sit on, the kind that ties onto dining room chairs. It sounds crazy but my wife was looking into those expensive cushions at the ortho shops because I couldn't ride in her car anymore, the bucket seats were killing me within 10 minutes of riding. I tossed a chair cushion in the car and saved about $60 on the fancy stuff. It's amazing how much that helps, told my Mom about that and she's gotten similar relief with a rupture at L5-S1. I also use one of those "2 for $5" travel pillows for lumbar support, couldn't sit more than a few minutes without that.
My wife prefers alternating ice packs with a heating pad on her neck. Personally, cold causes me a world of pain but a heating pad does wonders at times. Epsom's salt baths also help at times but it can be tough getting back out of the tub if the pain and stiffness are really bad.
Wish I could offer more input but considering the meds you're on, I'm not sure what else would be of any use. Let us know what you find out, okay?
Jack
Kissa
08-23-2004, 09:43 AM
Never injured it, for all I know maybe it dislocated itself like everything else does LOL
The pillow idea sounds great, hubby and I even talked about doing that. I have one for my back so it's not a crazy idea. I even thought about getting one of those hemmorhoid ring pillows to take the pressure off.
I woke up this morning miserable now both sides of my back are killing me. GRRRR
Thinking ice and heat too. I'm just at my wits end.
I'm not a fan of the ER bout all they'll do is give me a shot of morphine, which is fine shortterm but not long term.
Fortunately my legs seem fine and I have no numbness so I'm greatful.
It's just so frustrating, we're supposed to go on a trip next week and I hope I can make it through the plane ride, it kinda scares me. Not the ride but the pain while on the ride. I guess I'll pack up some extra meds and put them in my pocket just in case!
It's a 4 hour flight but hubby split the ride so I didn't have to sit for 4 hours, there's no way I could!
The pillow idea sounds great, hubby and I even talked about doing that. I have one for my back so it's not a crazy idea. I even thought about getting one of those hemmorhoid ring pillows to take the pressure off.
I woke up this morning miserable now both sides of my back are killing me. GRRRR
Thinking ice and heat too. I'm just at my wits end.
I'm not a fan of the ER bout all they'll do is give me a shot of morphine, which is fine shortterm but not long term.
Fortunately my legs seem fine and I have no numbness so I'm greatful.
It's just so frustrating, we're supposed to go on a trip next week and I hope I can make it through the plane ride, it kinda scares me. Not the ride but the pain while on the ride. I guess I'll pack up some extra meds and put them in my pocket just in case!
It's a 4 hour flight but hubby split the ride so I didn't have to sit for 4 hours, there's no way I could!
Shoreline
08-23-2004, 01:21 PM
Hey Kissa, Your right about the ER, The only way to ge them to do any diagnostics on a CP patient is to claim aninjury, it's wrong but there thinking is today is just another bad day.
Have you been tested for osteo perosis ? You wouldn't even need to have fallen to cause a stress fracture which are extremely painful. Does your PM have the ability to Xray and read them? Osteo usually hides untill you have a fracture that leads to testing.
You know how you hear about older folks falling and breaking a hip. It's from osteo but it doesn't happen in that order. You can be walking along, the hip breaks, the ball on the femur slips out and that's what causes the fall. Many people think the broken hip is caused by the fall but it's actually broken by the time they hit the ground.
I don't want to give you one more thing to worry about, but my wifes only 37 and has the bones of a 60 year old. Were waiting for the next bone density test next month to see if 6 months of the nasal spray and 6 months of of Fosamax has made a difference.
She had back pain and couldn't remeber injuring it. What led to the DX was the back pain, an Xray with 3 stress fractures, no fall involved, just the stress fractures of the spine on weakend bones. She had over 30 fractures of ankle and foot bones but that was atributed to the CMT, so no bone density test was performed even with signs staring them in the face. But if an easy esxplanation is available, HMO's encourage the easy DX and discourage the testing and refereals.
Traetment for a broken talbone, Coccix (sp?) is laying on your tummy, you would likely need suport from a pillow under your tummy to prevent severe lordosis from occuring and unfortunately laying on your stomach isn't usually the ideal position to relieve pain unless you have an anterior bulge that is relived by this position. Certainly try the neutral spine positions to see if that helps.
As far as the Glutes, everytine I thought my trigger point was the glute max it turned out to be the glute minimus or the periformis which just takes a good doc with the right touch and knowledge of anatomy to pinpoint the pain. All 3 muscles intertwine, blaming the glute maximus is sort of like calling all leg pain and rediculopthy sciatica, It may be a sciatic impingment but you have alot of other nerves at different levels that can cause radiculopothy. Sciatica is kind of a catch all term for any leg pain. Just as most flank pain is atributed to the larger glute max rather than the deaper muscles.
The pressure point therapy recomended with the tennis ball is a good idea, obviously someone else has been to PM boot camp.LOL
One of the latest things my PM group is doing is Botox for back muscle pain. It not only stops the spasm but blocks some of the neuro transmitters that send the pain signals. Just a thought. But it seems if you have a PM doc he really needs to examine you to try to figure out what's going on and make the needed diagnostics happen.
If your PM doesn't have the abilty to do an Xray on sight than I would start at the GP if he does, wait for the radiologist and then take the films and the report back to the PM. Call your PM first and ask him how he would like you to proceed. Increased pain doesn'r always mean we just need an increase, an increase in meds could just mask another problem that needs to be adressed. I hope your feeling better soon.
Good luck, Dave
Have you been tested for osteo perosis ? You wouldn't even need to have fallen to cause a stress fracture which are extremely painful. Does your PM have the ability to Xray and read them? Osteo usually hides untill you have a fracture that leads to testing.
You know how you hear about older folks falling and breaking a hip. It's from osteo but it doesn't happen in that order. You can be walking along, the hip breaks, the ball on the femur slips out and that's what causes the fall. Many people think the broken hip is caused by the fall but it's actually broken by the time they hit the ground.
I don't want to give you one more thing to worry about, but my wifes only 37 and has the bones of a 60 year old. Were waiting for the next bone density test next month to see if 6 months of the nasal spray and 6 months of of Fosamax has made a difference.
She had back pain and couldn't remeber injuring it. What led to the DX was the back pain, an Xray with 3 stress fractures, no fall involved, just the stress fractures of the spine on weakend bones. She had over 30 fractures of ankle and foot bones but that was atributed to the CMT, so no bone density test was performed even with signs staring them in the face. But if an easy esxplanation is available, HMO's encourage the easy DX and discourage the testing and refereals.
Traetment for a broken talbone, Coccix (sp?) is laying on your tummy, you would likely need suport from a pillow under your tummy to prevent severe lordosis from occuring and unfortunately laying on your stomach isn't usually the ideal position to relieve pain unless you have an anterior bulge that is relived by this position. Certainly try the neutral spine positions to see if that helps.
As far as the Glutes, everytine I thought my trigger point was the glute max it turned out to be the glute minimus or the periformis which just takes a good doc with the right touch and knowledge of anatomy to pinpoint the pain. All 3 muscles intertwine, blaming the glute maximus is sort of like calling all leg pain and rediculopthy sciatica, It may be a sciatic impingment but you have alot of other nerves at different levels that can cause radiculopothy. Sciatica is kind of a catch all term for any leg pain. Just as most flank pain is atributed to the larger glute max rather than the deaper muscles.
The pressure point therapy recomended with the tennis ball is a good idea, obviously someone else has been to PM boot camp.LOL
One of the latest things my PM group is doing is Botox for back muscle pain. It not only stops the spasm but blocks some of the neuro transmitters that send the pain signals. Just a thought. But it seems if you have a PM doc he really needs to examine you to try to figure out what's going on and make the needed diagnostics happen.
If your PM doesn't have the abilty to do an Xray on sight than I would start at the GP if he does, wait for the radiologist and then take the films and the report back to the PM. Call your PM first and ask him how he would like you to proceed. Increased pain doesn'r always mean we just need an increase, an increase in meds could just mask another problem that needs to be adressed. I hope your feeling better soon.
Good luck, Dave
Kissa
08-23-2004, 02:10 PM
Thanks guys. I talked to my Rhuemy a while ago and asked for a bone density test but he said I was too young. Being that I have EDS I am at risk for having it now, age 38.
They do free ones here all the time I am going to check into it and re-request I have one done.
I'm pretty miserable. I'm not having any leg pain just the tailbone and just a bit above on left and right. I never had these problems till I had that ESI :(
They do free ones here all the time I am going to check into it and re-request I have one done.
I'm pretty miserable. I'm not having any leg pain just the tailbone and just a bit above on left and right. I never had these problems till I had that ESI :(
LFCA
08-23-2004, 04:48 PM
No actually, I've never been to PM "boot camp". Except for the tailbone problem of over 20 years ago & knee pain that wakes me up about every four years like clockwork, then is gone the next morning, I don't experience pain. Even still downhill ski at age 76!
However, my wife sprained her knee last year & did some "book-learning" on trigger points & was able to alleviate her pain residue quite quickly using the book's massage technique. Today her left shoulder & arm are dully aching, so she'll probably be working on those later this afternoon.
However, my wife sprained her knee last year & did some "book-learning" on trigger points & was able to alleviate her pain residue quite quickly using the book's massage technique. Today her left shoulder & arm are dully aching, so she'll probably be working on those later this afternoon.
Kissa
08-23-2004, 11:22 PM
PM boot camps are pretty helpful, I've done them before. They usually last a good 6 weeks. You don't benifit from everything you learn but you will learn something overall so they are great for folks with CP who haven't done them yet.