For bout a month now, I’ve been in and out of the doctor’s office, an orthopedic, and now a physical therapist’s office. I’ve had x-rays of my hips and lower back, a CT Scan of my spleen since I’m just getting over mono, blood work to rule out a couple of things that run in my family like lupus, and an ultrasound of my kidneys to see if it was a kidney stone like my doctor originally thought.
When all of that was ruled out, I was sent to an orthopedic. The orthopedic said that it sounded like my facet joints being inflamed due to the mono though it was rare for my age, and my muscles were tightening in response which could have resulted in my siatic (not sure how to spell that, sorry) nerve being pinched by them. I was told physical therapy for two week, twice a week, my muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory.
When I saw the therapist, at the end of the session, she said it sounded and seemed more like a disc problem to her. We told her that disc issues run in my family which they do, on all sides. I go back to therapy this Wednesday and Friday, and then the orthopedic on Friday afternoon after therapy. If I’m not feeling better which I haven’t been, then I go for an MRI.
I’ve been on 3 different pain killers which I’ve been told to stop taking them now to prevent getting an addiction to them. I can only sit in the computer chair, I’m home bound from school (a teacher from the county comes to me), I can’t bend in any way, I can barely get dressed, I can’t even lift my left leg up to put a sock on. I’m a 16 year old female, I’ve always had minor back problems, at least the last few years I have, but nothing ever quite like this. My dad seems to agree with the therapist, and I’m just worrying a lot. The pain goes from the lower left side of my back, through my butt, down my leg to my foot and back up, just on the back side of my leg. For a few days the pain was just to my knee and back, but it’s started going down farther. I’m currently sleeping on the couch before I can’t lift my leg to get in my bed (it’s a higher then normal bed), and this has been going on for the last month or so like I stated above.
Is there a doctor on here or someone that’s gone through something similar that could maybe give me an idea of what exactly this could be because if it’s a disc issue then I’m basically looking at surgery and missing a lot of the last 9 weeks of the school year which the 9 weeks starts tomorrow and I’ve already missed basically half of this semester.
Posts Tagged Diagnosis.
I am a 43 yo female with chronic low back pain. I have been through MRIs, CTs, Mylorams, sensory and nerve conduction studies, plain x-rays, ultrasounds and physical therapy. I’ve had cortizone shots, as well. My pain began back in 1986 during my first pregnancy. At 26 I had a partial hysterectomy. Recently I have had two colonoscopies and surgery to remove my ovaries in which they found an extensive amount of scar tissue and endometriosis — which was not the reason I had the partial hysterctomy. Until April 1, 2008, I would experience constant aching in the low back, but only suffered severe bouts about five or six times a year. On March 31, 2008, I fell flat on my back and have had severe low back pain ever since.
My symptoms are as follows: The triangular area at the small of my back will swell enough that I can cup my hand around it. The SI joint on the left side is very tender. I have a stinging pain that goes from the SI joint, around my buttocks and left hip, crossing over to my left groin area, down the inner thigh all the way to my toes. I have severe aching in both my feet. My left knee will swell twice its normal size. I often cannot walk or stand because the weight causes the pain to become more severe. I cannot sleep at night because I can’t get comfortable.
This has always been located on the same side (left) with the same symptoms, although now the symptoms are constant. The doctors don’t seem to be finding anything on any of the tests. My neurologist said that I have mild L5 nerve root damage, but nothing is compressing the L5 nerve root. I do have a small disk bulge at that level, but again, not compressing the root on films. She’s the one that found mass that led to surgery and other findings (that didn’t show up on films, either!)
I had colonoscopy from severe constipation with extreme gas and bloating, but that came out clear, too, but symptoms still exist. And I have had some unexplained weight gain, as well. Any ideas or suggestions on who I should see next?