Back problem help

[Wizard]

I haven't slept in a bed in a decade because of back problems. I work out, take PT, an opioid patch, injections and nothing worked. My pain level never drops below 4. I sleep in a power recliner to keep me stable as I sleep. At first, I was able to sleep 4-5 hours a night which diminished over time. Two weeks ago the recliner mechanism bit the dust. Best Furniture builds and sells recliners. They build chairs for most of the major chains such as Lazy Boy. The Best Furniture company store sells the same chair as the chain stores but at half the cost...or less. The chair I bought was a new design with cushions like pillows, two motors and infinite adjustment of the chair. You can adjust the chair to almost perfectly support your body. I thought it would reduce my back pain...and it did...by a bunch. The other improvement is I am sleeping 6-10 hours a night. A good night's sleep has allowed me to be a semi-functional human being again. The pain has lessened. Not enough to fish but to have some enjoyment once more. Enough to put the bullet I was given when I was working, back in my drawer.

Wizard

[Captsteve]

Glad you sleeping better and the pain is less

 A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.

[apenland01]

Sorry to hear you aren't able to fish, but glad you are getting more sleep.  You can't underestimate how important sleep is to your general overall happiness!

I'll have to check out that chair manufacturer, as my mom needs a new lift chair to get out of her recliner...

[Mike Cork]

Sleep is so important. 3 months ago I had been about 6 months with only sleeping 1-2 hours at a time. My back surgeries have my back in such bad shape that there is no comfortable position. Long story shortened... I have a pain doc that does injections regularly but they just weren't effective anymore. I talked to my arthritis doc about the very low back and hip pain I was having and he sent me to his MRI guy (some super sports medicine guy) after that MRI he sent me back to the Pain Doc with instructions for specific L5 through S's injections and it made a world of difference.

Keep that bullet in the drawer brother, I know if you can't out think it, it's bad, but keep the bullet in the drawer.

[Donald Garner]

Wiz, tks for the update on your back pain.  Glad to hear the new chair is helping you with the sleep.  I know the feeling about lack of sleep with my pain that I have every now and then also.

I'm with Mike here you need to keep that round in the desk drawer...It's not time for that extreme measure yet 

I got you in my daily prayers brother.

[Smallie_Stalker]

Good to hear that new chair is working out for you Wiz.

Lack of sleep can really mess with your mind in particular and your body too. Add pain into the mix and it can get ugly real fast.

I'm sleeping in the hospital bed my wife had when she was sick to try and alleviate some of the back pain but it does little to help. I get 2 to 3 hours a shot and most nights that's all I get.

As others have said keep that round in the draw. And keep a PMA. I know it can be hard but if there is anyone that can do it I believe you can.

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[Wizard]

Thanks, Friends. I believe this chair is the real deal for me.

[Dark3]

Thats great that you have found some relief. It actually took me about 10 years to figure out that I cant sleep on my back without waking with severe muscle spasms where I would be painfully leaned over to one side. I always knew if I laid around to long on a lazy day I would pay for it but never knew exactly why. I think its the pressure on my low back when laying on it causing nerve contact which pisses everything off. Now I get sick of sleeping on my side and have learned I can lay on my back as long as I am just a hair to the side with the pressure away from my low spine.


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[skidemn]

I've had chronic problems with my L4/L5/S1 joints for years, going through opioid treatment, acupuncture, facet joint injections, radio frequency ablation (twice), and regular chiropractic treatments. My orthopedic surgeon wanted to fuse it, but I said no and tried all the listed treatments.

The fastest and most effective pain relief by far was acupuncture, but it only treated the pain, and didn't solve the problem long term, plus it was expensive and not covered by my insurance. I was a skeptic at best about it, but someone I trusted said I had to try it as it worked for them, and while it did work, I never healed my issue.

Radio ablation was extremely painful and didn't do a damn thing to help, and I'm shocked I even allowed myself to be talked into it again after zero improvement the first time.

Norco and Vicodin helped the pain, but came with the crappy side effect of bad constipation, so I finally stopped with that.

The facet injections worked instantly like acupuncture, and did last about 5 months the first time. However, each successive injection lasted less and less, to the point the last one lasted two weeks. My ortho used to just give me the shots in radiology, so they were only about $50 per treatment, but when he retired, the new doctor only performed them in the surgery center which added $250 per pop.

What has ultimately helped me get by the longest is a combination of three things, regular chiropractic maintenance, core strengthening/stretching and getting a new bed. I can't stress enough how going from a horrible old mattress to a Tempurpedic memory foam mattress with the motorized base, and zero G setting has helped me wake up pain free most days. Sure, a day on the water still beats the hell out of me and I am extremely sore, but I go home and do back bridges on the floor to get my back stretched out and hips tilted back into position, and lay in bed with the zero G position. Once in that zero G position, all the weight is off my low back and the spasms go away. I don't even need Flexeril anymore unless I do something stupid.

I also know that if I got drop about 20lbs it will do a ton to help, as I lost 30lbs a few years ago (before gaining it back slowly), and I was doing much, much better with back pain.


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[Wizard]

Many on UB have had back surgery. Most often 2nd or 3rd surgeries are needed. I wish I had not the first one.

Wizard

[skidemn]

Many on UB have had back surgery. Most often 2nd or 3rd surgeries are needed. I wish I had not the first one.

Wizard

This is the exact reason I said no to surgery. Too many people having additional surgeries to deal with problems that arose because of the first one.


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[Smallie_Stalker]

Many on UB have had back surgery. Most often 2nd or 3rd surgeries are needed. I wish I had not the first one.

Wizard

This is the exact reason I said no to surgery. Too many people having additional surgeries to deal with problems that arose because of the first one.


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Same here. I know several people that have had 3 surgeries and are no better off, and in 1 case much worse than before having the first surgery.



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[big g]

I feel for all you suffering with lower back pain.  It can be unbearable, and affect all aspects of your life.  It is a living hell!  I had two surgeries at L4, L5, S1, and pain down the right leg.  You will know when surgery is required, because the pain is so extreme.  For me the two surgeries didn't completely do the job.  But extreme physical therapy by an excellent PT after the second surgery, finally solved my problems.  I am now pain free for twenty years, but still have a drop foot from the original injury, but I have learned to live with that.  It was twenty years of misery finally put behind me.  Believe me when I say I feel your pain!!!!!!