Chronic upper back pain for 33 years, any miracle treatments that I don't know about?
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I'm asking this on behalf of my grandmother. She is 76 years old and has had chronic pain across the back of her shoulders for 33 years after a fall. The fall happened in 1985 when she was working at a mushroom farm and she missed a step when coming down the ladder. Ever since, she has been in pain and painkillers don't really work anymore. She's been told it's a trapped nerve but she does exercises and again they don't really help. I don't want her to be in such pain but the doctors just keep giving her painkillers. Are there any treatments she could ask the doctor to try or any ideas of what the pain is?
Thank you in advance
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amkoffee amyheuser
Posted
Yes, yes and yes! I understand that she has been suffering all this pain in her shoulders for many years. But I'm getting the impression from you that it has gotten worse. I would urge you to ask her doctor to do a couple of blood tests to check for inflammation. The first test is called an ESR or sed rate you may have heard of that before. The other one is called a C-reactive protein or CRP. If these are elevated then it is likely that she has something called polymyalgia rheumatica. It presents with bilateral pain in the shoulders as well as the hips and neck. But everybody feels their pain in different places the main thing is that it is always on both sides. If her blood test does show that she has elevated inflammation markers then the doctor will want to put her on prednisone. Typically you start at 15 to 20 mg a day. Most people with PMR report relief from the pain hours after taking their first dose. I injured my back 13 years ago so I didn't notice any additional pain in my lower back or hips but I could feel it in my upper thighs and neck and arms. These are a little different than the norm but still definitely PMR. PMR pain does not respond to pain medication of any kind other than steroids. I can vouch that opiates will not touch the pain brought on by PMR. I was on opiates at the time I was diagnosed with PMR and the opiate pain medication did not come close to touching the pain I was experiencing from PMR. And this is also why I think it could be PMR. Since her pain medication is not controlling her pain.