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Lower Back Osteomyelitis

Posted , 4 users are following.

mike90353
mike90353

I had knee surgery about a month ago and about 80% of the medical personal believe that's where it came from.  Woke up one morning with a dull back ache and thought it was from the physical therapy I was doing for my knee. As the day progressed it got so bad my sister and husband had to take me to the emergency room that night (just barely able to get in the car). When I got to the ER they pumped me up with morphine

and chalked it up to just favoring one leg over the other while sending me home with oxycodone. The next day while on oxy the pain got even worse and that night I was taken back by ambulance two parameds and cops to get me on the stretcher.  When I got back to the ER they said I had a 101 fever.  Long story short and after the second mri with contrast I was diagnosed with it. The doctor had a suspicion since I had no sciatica pain and was started on antibiotics. Now that I'm home I have to take an infusion of an antibiotic everyday for weeks along with multiple pain killers. The pain is brutal

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • elizabeth41115
    elizabeth41115 mike90353

    Posted

    I think everyone will totally agree that pain from ostio is brutal. Its is unforgiving and eats through bone marrow and does not stop until it is stopped. Im now 51 and fed up of the constant reminders of it with the scars i have. With the disabilities i have. I have a car on motability as i was awarded indefinite DLA mob. But now i have to claim PIP like thousands of others and now have to go into great detail, which I really do not want to do, but have to. Theres a big possibility i will loose my car, as i feel that no one will believe how i am because of ostio and that i had it age 5 i should now be ok. Its mentality taxing to keep going over everything. Im disgusted.
    • mike90353
      mike90353 elizabeth41115

      Posted

      I'm so sorry to hear that. All the pain killers I'm taking and they just put a dent in the the pain, Any idea how you got it at such a young age?

    • elizabeth41115
      elizabeth41115 mike90353

      Posted

      Hi Mike,

      Yes i do know how i got it. I got kicked in the back of my right heel in the school play ground. No bruises or anything, but i was in mega pain. So much so i was lay on the couch, mum holding my leg in the air as i could not stand it to be touched. Even the vibration of someone walking in the room was excruciating. A doctor came and looked at it. As there were no physical appearance he told mum that i was making it up and that if i wanted i could get up and dance around the room!!!!!!!  I still remember him saying that to this very day. Anyway mum decided to soak my foot in radox bath salts to see if it eased it a bit. Well when my foot was taken out all the back of my heel was the colour and consistency of blackcurrant jelly. It was dead. The same doc came back and i was rushed to hospital by blue lighted ambulance. And the rest is my fight with it. 😞

    • mike90353
      mike90353 elizabeth41115

      Posted

      That's horrible and from all the articles and stories that I read on line the biggest problem with this disease  it's never diagnosed in the beginning, people are sent home with pain killers.

  • osteomyelitisarmboy
    osteomyelitisarmboy mike90353

    Posted

    Been there Mike. I too am called Mike. Mine was in my left forearm in 2013. Starts with dull ache. Ends with me asking them to amputate. (They never) It will get better i assure you. I'm osteomyelitis free since 2012 now. Just gotta keep your head up mate.

    • mike90353
      mike90353 osteomyelitisarmboy

      Posted

      Yes I wished they had given me poison the night I went to the ER, the morphine only put a dent in it.
    • Irishlass123
      Irishlass123 osteomyelitisarmboy

      Posted

      Hi Mike I have had osteomyelitis in my 1st metatarsal head and sesamoid bone in my foot since June 2016. Theb ulcers keep recurring on my right foot as it is disfigured and I don't walk properly and I keep putting pressure on the same part of my foot when walking, thus the ulcer develops. I'm currently on a six week course of IV antibiotics to treat the infection. I saw an OP surgeon on Friday past and another one yesterday. Both have told me I need an amputation to prevent the infection from spreading. This has come as a great shock to me. I don't know a lot about osteomyelitis and wanted to ask how you know you are free from the infection and what did you do? I understood that once you receive iv antibiotics it kind of goes into remission, but that it could flare up at any time, and you never really get rid of it. I would appreciate any help you can give me on this subject please. I've asked to see a bone specialist in Oxford, but other than that I don't know who else I could get an opinion from.

    • mike90353
      mike90353 Irishlass123

      Posted

      I'm so sorry to hear that and pray that we both have a good ending to this.

      So many similarities even though mine is in a different location.

      I actually just finished my sixth week of the IV antibiotic and will have an additional two weeks or whenever my follow up MRI results come back to make sure it is not worse. I had the same question about reoccurring in which I asked the ID, primary, orthopedic Dr's and the infusion nurse they all said no. Only in rare cases of diabetes. My white blood cell count has been in range for for four weeks in a row now but I'm still going for a follow up MRI !  The ID Doc did tell me I will still be in pain when the bone heals. scary because I was told if the pain persists after six months to go for another MRI ??? What's also happening to me i I'm favoring one leg over the other and I too am not walking properly.Like you probably 95% 

      of the info I know about osteomyelitis I read about on the internet in which the I get yelled at by sisters and doctors not to look at it. But what are you suppose to when you are scared, The only ones that are flat out honest are the PT's. Mind if I ask how you got yours?

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