Stuck in bed- severe lower back pain/spasms

Im sorry to hear your suffering, i also have bad back issues and a lot of pain, my doctor has just messed around with the meds i was stable on as worried about addiction, my pain has more than doubled since he took me off it, so unfair, specially when i told him im happy to come off the medication when i have my surgery in the next few months.

can you not call your doctor and get a home visit ?

or call 111 and maybe they can send a doctor out to you.

pain is horrible and someone needs to help you, it can be unbearable and makes everyday tasks a nightmare without correct help.

are you seeing a specailist for your back ?

i always find spending too long in bed makes it worse for me. i limit my time in bed now. i am also looking into getting a orthopedic mattress as that helps.

hope you get some help soon

I am so sorry to hear of your pain and suffering and can totally sympathise with you. I have been suffering with my back for over two years and suffered two slipped discs in April when I spent five weeks in hospital.

I was scheduled for surgery on 26th November but sadly this was suddenly cancelled due to my liver function being far too high to operate. 0bviously I am currently devastated at my surgery being cancelled after waiting so long and very worried about the results of a liver scan taking place next week. I personally think it is due to all the pain medication I have been taking but we will see. I just hope and pray it is nothing more sinister.

Please keep contacting your doctor to get things moving and get some help.

Thinking of you.

Best Wishes

Sylvia

i am so sorry you are in so much pain. Having had the same myself on and off for years, when you have a flare its awful.

Try to keep up your fluids,up I know its a nusiance having to go to the bathroom, but essential.

Can you get someone to keep topping up a hot water bottle for you, heat relaxes the muscles and helps with the pain. Do you have any diazepam or anything similar, even paracetamol on a regular basis help. Try to read or watch tv if you have one in your bedroom, it helps to distract you.

I hope you feel a little easier tomorrow.

Thanks guys

I've managed to crawl out of bed. My GP has prescribed Diazapam & Cocodamal. Things have calmed down for now.

I was supposed to have surgery to relieve tension off a nerve in June but I cancelled it last min. I'll have to give it some thought again.

Sorry to hear you are in so much pain.

Sadly our laws regarding the dispensing of pain meds have become ridiculous (at least in my country, the US - perhaps too if you are in Britain). Doctors don't make house calls and by law, they can't prescribe you any kind of strong pain medicine (vicodin, percocet) without personally seeing you in their office and handing you the prescription. Hence when you get to the situation you are in - of being immobilized in your bed and in horrible pain - you are simply out of luck unless you prepare for such incidents in advance.

Of course one way to prepare is to be sure that if you are ever prescribed pain meds, don't throw away the unused pills when your pain has stopped. These pain meds don't deteriorate in strength all that much over time, so in this era when pain meds are difficult to get when you need them, it is wise to keep leftovers for instances like the one you describe. And of course on the other hand, don't simply take strong pain meds for minor aches and pains, they aren't for headaches and mild discomfort. Reserve them for just the severe episodes in your life of pain, stop taking them when not necessary, and save the remainder for future episodes.

But probably the better way to deal with your situation in advance is to have a talk with your doctor - the doctor who KNOWS you have a bad back - and simply ask him/her to write you a prescription for "breakthrough pain." If your doctor knows you well he will understand that in some instances you can "wrench your back" (i.e. experience "breakthrough pain") and that you will be incapacitated and unable to come to his office. But you know, and he knows, these situations are likely to happen. So ask him for a 2-3 day supply of enough medication to cover moderate-to-severe breakthrough pain - enough to leave you functional (e.g. to get out of bed to use the bathroom) and to be able to sleep without discomfort. Usually that will be about 20-30 pills of something like 5/500 vicodin or something equivalent. Most compassionate doctors will be able to do this (since technically you are "in their office" and you are describing a legitimate concern). And you are only asking for enough to get you through the typical "worst period" of an exertion, which is usually 2-3 days at most, after which you are sufficiently mobile to get to his office.

A couple of other comments - it sounds to me (and I could be wrong) like you are one of those people (and I was in your situation long ago) for whom back problems are just starting to emerge, and perhaps you are fighting the idea that you "have a permanently bad back." Accept the fact that you do, and now at this point you will have one for the rest of your life. Anyone who was scheduled for a decompression surgery (you shouldn't have canceled it) and who has been immobilized recently with bad back spasms for 1-2 days has a bad back. It does not "get better on its own," it just goes into remission for a while. You are now vulnerable to throwing your back out and someday, perhaps sooner than you will like, you will throw your back out and while most of the pain will then subside after a few days, you will notice that a low-level amount of pain does NOT then go away, and suddenly pain is with you 24 hours a day. And that pain will worsen and worsen with time.

I don't say this to scold and I don't say it to scare you. I say it simply to suggest that you must now take matters into your own hands and deal with it sooner rather than later. If you haven't done so, develop a relationship with a "pain management doctor" (sometimes called a physiatrist). Talk to him/her about your options (get a scrip for physical therapy, try spinal injections, get a TENS machine, talk about the kinds of pain meds that might work for you, ask for a small amount of "breakthrough" meds to keep on your shelf as needed, discuss whether you should still go ahead with the decompression surgery, etc.). Pain management doctors are leery of new patients at first, because addicts often try to play them for quick prescriptions for hard narcotics. But if you establish a relationship with that doctor now, go through all his tests (X-rays, MRI/CT-scan, nerve conduction studies, diagnostic injections, etc), and show him that you can take pain meds responsibly, and that you are willing to go to physical therapy, he will be able to help you better when and if things get worse because he will know you and he will trust you.

Good luck and feel better...