Rolling around in pain

[Therrin]

Well apparently I've either got a slipped disc in my spine, or a kidney stone, but the blood work will be done on Mon or Tues.

ARGH.... Sadly, I'm kinda wishing it's a kidney stone; but only cuz that'll hinder my activities much less dramatically.

Besides, who wishes for a kidney stone? Ugh. Feels like someone stuck an icepick in my back and occasionally wiggles it around a bit.

[Joanne]

Here's a vote for a kidney stone. They hurt horrible bad, but generally pass and you're OK. Not so much with back problems.

Get better!
Joanne

[Dawn_CL]

If you have horrible pain to where you can hardly move without hurting down in the lower lumbar area (just above the coccyx or tail bone) then i can just bet its a slipped disc.
If its a slipped disc then the doctor may prescribe some sort of steriod in pill form that will help ease alot of the pain BUT i believe they will also recommend a chiropractor.
Kidney stones, i believe, usually hurt at certain intervals and not so much when you move around casually, they hurt usually during urination or other things regarding the kidneys.
Back in my younger years i was a paramedic (before i got tired of all the politics and turned my attention on mines LOL ) so im quite savvy on these things.

All in all, i DO hope its nothing serious and wish you all the best in the days to come!

[Therrin]

I've "felt" it for about a month and a half now. Usually in the morning, or when I was sitting still somewhere (computer, car, bed, etc). Then the pain started getting worse. Nothing I could think of that "set it off".

Then it went away for a while (or at least I didn't really notice it much), then it started really hurting about a week ago. Feels like its somewhere between the T10 to T12 region, near the posterior axillary line.

It's been a few years since I did EMT, I don't remember all the proper phrasing.

Started out as a dull ache, and now its a sharp pain that radiates around to the front near the anterior axillary line.

The last two days I can't manage to find much in the way of a position of comfort. urine test came back negative, so they took blood to do a kidney function test, then I suppose a kidney ultrasound, depending on what the results are.

I don't have insurance for an MRI... so it'd really suck if it's a disc pushing on something. Luckily my norco gets refilled tomorrow, but I'd like to know what's going on, not just cover up the pain.

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Therrin,

Sounds more and more like a disc problem. The problem with those is they are known to 'relax' for awhile with no pain or anything, then all of a sudden if you happen to make a wrong move in your body enough to irritate it, then back comes the pain. Where you are describing the pain is right around the area that LL (lower lumbar) disc problems are known to occur. Very seldom in the upper areas of the spine. Also, with those types of disc problems you really cant find a comfortable position to sit or lay down in, wiothout the pain starting in again after a minute or so. Disc problems are also known, at thier first stages, as a dull irritating type of pain. As the condition intensifies so does the pain. The pain 'recurs' so to speak. Another thing that seems to occur with disc problems such as these, are where the pain occurs and where it does not. what i mean by that is, the pain might feel like in a certain region such as the T10LLR but in reality would be in an entirely different region of the spine. This being caused by the spinal cord itself signalling the pain radiating from another area of the spine. This isnt ALWAYS the case but it does happen. But being the area youve described, id be willing to bet its a slipped disc that may be pinching a nerve in the spine. When the nerve is pinched that causes the very sharp pain. The dull pain being the slipped disc while the pinched nerve being the sharp pain. The dull pain starts out just as pain from the slipped disc but as time progresses and the disc isnt taken care of then is when the nerve starts coming into play thus getting pinched or affected in some way by the disc being out of the proper lumbar position.

I would say, if you are able to get this looked at and taken care of, you would be better off always wearing some type of LL support. The types for lifting are really good but im sure there are better back supports out there to be had for the roping things you do. The use of this additional equipment would lessen the chances of other disc problems as well as keep the disc problem you may already have at bay and from being irritated any further, just in case you have no means of having it fixed.

In any case, i do hope for the best.

[Therrin]

Whoa, yeah that does sound unfortunately familiar to what's going on. The referred pain comes around to the front, as I mentioned in the last post. I still can't think of anything that I twisted or whatnot, I just felt it when I woke up one morning.

A LL support of some kind is a good idea though, even if for some odd reason this turned out to be a stone of some kind anyway. I'll have to look up some of them.

It'd be nice to have insurance again. Someone else PM'd me and suggested some special kind of chiropractic stuff that sounded fairly interesting.

Thanks for your input on it though, all of you. I appreciate it.

[Dawn_CL]

Hi Therrin, Those discs can get out of whack in ways youd never dream of. They can get that way from twisting or turning even in the slightest way, they can even happen while you are sleeping and you would never know it until a few days or weeks later.

If you get some type of chiropractic support then your roping activities or whatnot wouldnr become as hindered.

Anyways, we all hope you get well soon and see you back out visiting the mines and working to keep them open for future generations to see.

[Therrin]

Well apparently my kidneys are functioning "within acceptable limits". (whatever that means)

And, frankly, it's amazing considering all the stuff that went through them between 17 and 25.

Which means there's something else getting pinched in my back. *sadface*

Fortunately the pain went away on it's own again a couple days ago.
Unfortunately, I still don't have any idea exactly what's causing it when it rears its ugly little head, or how to "fix" it.

Methinks a lower lumbar support is a great idea! (Thanks!) I dug one outta the garage to start using during my 'extracurricular activities'.