Left Lower Back Pain - Please Help
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About 2 months ago I started noticing in the morning a dull ache in my lower back. As the weeks progressed, it felt like it was getting stiffer and stiffer and I started experiencing problems bending forward and discomfort while sitting.
Just before Christmas it got so bad that I had to pull myself up from a seated position in order to move and sitting down was painful and uncomfortable. No pain was experienced while standing or laying down. I went to a doctor who felt around for any lumps and then did a blood test for inflammation. The blood test came back clear so I accepted the pain and started to move on.
I felt like it was finally getting better, until about 5 days ago when I was sitting on the floor and got up suddenly, I seem to have moved the wrong way and I felt something tear/split in my lower left back. Seconds later, I got a shooting pain down my entire left leg and had to go and sit down. Sitting down for any longer than a few minutes is almost unbearable at the moment, I can't bend over from a seated position to put on shoes and I am experiencing a lot of pain radiating to my left hip area. It doesn't hurt when I lay down but I have been experienced numbness/tingling in my left food.
I saw another doctor yesterday and explained my situation, and got a less than desirable response. He said it could be my mattress, that back pain once you hit your 30s is normal and that I just need to wait it out and see if it gets any better. I understand where he is coming from, but I am a healthy 30 year old that has never experienced pain like this before and when it's at the point that I can't even but my own shoes on then there must be something going on?
Has anyone else experienced symptoms similar to this and if so what did it end up being? I am happy to go see a 3rd doctor to try and get some answers but in the meantime is there anything I can do to get some relief?
0 likes, 2 replies
amkoffee jess28387
Posted
What country do you live in because you went to the two worst doctors I have ever heard of . I can understand maybe checking your inflammation markers and even to feel around but that is so limited and there are so much more that can be done to try to figure out the problem. first of all and I'm sure you've probably heard of people complaining about sciatica pain the sciatic nerve is often times irritated when what is wrong with your back is pinching the nerve thereby causing the pain all the way down your leg.. so to address this kind of leg pain you need to address the back problem. Unfortunately at least in the US people young like yourself that have pain like this are so often dismissed because they're young. It's very unfair and I'm 57 so it hasn't really happened to me but I do see it happening to so many other young adults. you definitely want to apply ice to your lower back that will help with the inflammation which in turn will hopefully help relieve the pinching of the sciatic nerve. BTW there are other nerves that can cause this but the sciatic nerve is the most common. I know you know what a vertebrae is but in between two vertebrae is a disc. The disk is a jelly-like substance that's wrapped up with a fibrous material. when someone has a bulging disc that means that some of that gelatin material is squirting out of the fibrous material and sometimes when it squirts out it pinches the nerve there by causing the leg pain. there are many other conditions of the disc depending on the deterioration of it. there are also a lot of diseases and or conditions that can happen to your back to cause you lower back pain. some of these conditions can cause your nerve to be pinched. So where do you go from here? you need to see a back specialist. it's there is some reason you cannot get a back specialist then you need to see a doctor and insist that he do an MRI of your back. I'm surprised that no doctor even did an x-ray of your back but you need to have an MRI because it will show so much more than an x-ray will. A CT is good but it's got so much radiation that I've stopped agreeing to CTs unless it's life or death. I read somewhere it's got seven hundred times the radiation of a single x-ray. I've injured my back 13 years ago and I have suffered a lot of conditions in my back since that time. So if you ever want to talk more privately feel free to email me. Good luck I hope you get this figured out.
famdoc jess28387
Posted
This sounds like mechanical back pain initially. But now it sounds like you are having symptoms of a disc pressing on a nerve since you have pain going down you leg. The best treatment is not pain medication or surgery but simple exercises. Here are some sites I found helpful.
The first link has been most helpful to some of my patients who recommended it to me.
FAMDOC