Back pain/sciatica

-dabz- said:
Dr West at Hope hospital did mine, I was told he had Harley street cred (pardon the pun, couldn't resist)
Other than back ache when I do certain things, for instance sitting for any length of time cripples me, I can live with it...It's the financial/work thing that is my real suffering. I was cheated out of benefits about twelve years ago and have no income whatsoever apart from the odd bits and pieces....It's soul destroying and a struggle to keep my mental health in order when it comes to xmas, birthdays ect....Luckily I have a missus who wiped my arse when it was really bad and has carried me financially ever since, but it really isn't fair...As one doctor put it, "you've fell through the cracks"
Click to expand...
Mr Leggett did mine, who I believe went on to Hope Hospital. It must be annoying for you though. There is so much misinformation about backs. I don’t think GPs are that clued up, they just pass you on. I went to a physio for years who kept taking my money but never told me the disc was damaged and would not get better without surgery. Mr Leggett, when he saw me initially, explained that one could have maybe 3 bad episodes of a bulging (slipped) disc and it could right itself. However, time would come when it would not go back, too damaged. He just parred off the sticky out bit. Less disc but pain free. I guess I was just lucky, but was told to exercise regularly and I have ever since.
 
hilts said:
I found the more I read up on back problems the more confusing everything got. Any sort of surgery would have to be the very last resort though.

Some docs say rest
Some say that's the worst thing you can do
Yoga, pills, hard mattress, soft mattress, chiropractor, osteopath, bend toward the pain, bend away. It's a bloody crap shoot.

Exercise and osteopath worked for me pretty well but I probably have to accept it will never be 100%. Maybe it's like any instrument abuse it then it breaks don't use it and it becomes weak and seizes up.

Daft thing is it might not even be your back.
Click to expand...
Correct...I could write a book about the conflicting bullshit they have told me over the years...I threw a doctor out of my house once and told her to fuck off...During one of the worst episodes, I phoned for a locum, she turned up and wanted to stop my pain meds and put me on anti depressants instead after claiming some gobbledegook about pain being worse when you're depressed, which she had just assumed because my parents weren't well at the time. She thought she was being a smartarse and it was the exact opposite of what I needed. The madness ended when the father in law had had enough of seeing me like this so he stuck me on the backseat of his space cruiser and took me to hospital and demanded I was looked at, bearing in mind my gp's had left me to rot on the floor for three years. They gave me a scan of some sort and within minutes it had turned into an emergency, they said I was close to losing my bladder and bowel function. Fucking GP's are nowt but fucking drug pushers, not once during that time did they see fit to give me a referral. This is just a fraction of the crap I've endured.
 
hilts said:
I found the more I read up on back problems the more confusing everything got. Any sort of surgery would have to be the very last resort though.

Some docs say rest
Some say that's the worst thing you can do
Yoga, pills, hard mattress, soft mattress, chiropractor, osteopath, bend toward the pain, bend away. It's a bloody crap shoot.

Exercise and osteopath worked for me pretty well but I probably have to accept it will never be 100%. Maybe it's like any instrument abuse it then it breaks don't use it and it becomes weak and seizes up.

Daft thing is it might not even be your back.
Click to expand...
I just swear by Pilates, gets your body and spine in alignment.
 
Jimmieblue said:
Mr Leggett did mine, who I believe went on to Hope Hospital. It must be annoying for you though. There is so much misinformation about backs. I don’t think GPs are that clued up, they just pass you on. I went to a physio for years who kept taking my money but never told me the disc was damaged and would not get better without surgery. Mr Leggett, when he saw me initially, explained that one could have maybe 3 bad episodes of a bulging (slipped) disc and it could right itself. However, time would come when it would not go back, too damaged. He just parred off the sticky out bit. Less disc but pain free. I guess I was just lucky, but as told to exercise regularly and I have ever since.
Click to expand...
I had them tell me three different things...1. disc pressing on a nerve, 2. disc had burst and the stuff inside it, they call it crabmeat, was causing the problem, 3. It was a bit of disc left over from the original op.
When my back first went I was also told after scans the the disc above the problem one was ready to go too...Still waiting for that to happen 30 years later. Because of this, I have wrapped myself in cotton wool dreading it would blow, this in itself has brought it's own problems with fitness and stuff. They fucked up big time with me...

Big shout out to Nick McKie, physio at Wythenshawe hospital. The only one who came out of all this with any credibility because he told me the truth from the get go...Although he gave me every treatment a physio can give, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, traction, TENS, you name it, he said from the get go there was fuck all he could do and they were only sending me to him to make it look like they were doing something...In other words, an op was too costly.
 
I don’t think you will be the only one who has suffered like this.

The dissemination of information in the NHS between GPs, consultants and others seems to be a problem, particularly where backs are concerned. If you are lucky enough to be given a definitive diagnosis in the first place, you can then make the right decisions.
 
Jimmieblue said:
I don’t think you will be the only one who has suffered like this.

The dissemination of information in the NHS between GPs, consultants and others seems to be a problem, particularly where backs are concerned. If you are lucky enough to be given a definitive diagnosis in the first place, you can then make the right decisions.
Click to expand...
By the time I had my first op, the pain had gone and I'd got myself as fit as I've ever been but my surgeon insisted I still needed the op. I felt like the decision wasn't mine to make and I trusted his judgement. Big mistake.
 
-dabz- said:
Correct...I could write a book about the conflicting bullshit they have told me over the years...I threw a doctor out of my house once and told her to fuck off...During one of the worst episodes, I phoned for a locum, she turned up and wanted to stop my pain meds and put me on anti depressants instead after claiming some gobbledegook about pain being worse when you're depressed, which she had just assumed because my parents weren't well at the time. She thought she was being a smartarse and it was the exact opposite of what I needed. The madness ended when the father in law had had enough of seeing me like this so he stuck me on the backseat of his space cruiser and took me to hospital and demanded I was looked at, bearing in mind my gp's had left me to rot on the floor for three years. They gave me a scan of some sort and within minutes it had turned into an emergency, they said I was close to losing my bladder and bowel function. Fucking GP's are nowt but fucking drug pushers, not once during that time did they see fit to give me a referral. This is just a fraction of the crap I've endured.
Click to expand...
We are masters of our own destiny.
When my GPs wanted to keep me on tramadol I just asked for referral letter to see a consultant privately. £200 and a week later I was down for a new hip on the NHS.
Completely agree with about GPs.
Don’t forget they get a bonus for NOT referring you to a consultant.
www.independent.co.uk

NHS GP practices offered cash rewards to not send patients to hospital

'Cash incentives based on how many referrals GPs make have no place in the NHS,' GP leaders say
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
denislawsbackheel said:
We are masters of our own destiny.
When my GPs wanted to keep me on tramadol I just asked for referral letter to see a consultant privately. £200 and a week later I was down for a new hip on the NHS.
Click to expand...
Totally agree, but I was about 25 at the time and was a bit green. I had never stepped foot in a hospital and hadn't been to the doctors since I was kid. As daft as it sounds I viewed them as authority figures.
 
When I originally did my back I was laid up for 3 weeks never once did the doctor send me for any assessment I had to go through the job for physio and pay for a chiropractor, he’s the one who said it was the fluid had gone in between my discs ( don’t even know if it has) it wasn’t until my X-ray last year that I’d had anything from the nhs, I thought I could ride it out. Trying now just to get an appointment to see the doc to get maybe done better pain relief maybe a scan is proving impossible as you must ring up or go online at certain times trouble is it’s all crap. I’m going tomorrow and sitting there until they offer me something.
 
Blue Maverick said:
When I originally did my back I was laid up for 3 weeks never once did the doctor send me for any assessment I had to go through the job for physio and pay for a chiropractor, he’s the one who said it was the fluid had gone in between my discs ( don’t even know if it has) it wasn’t until my X-ray last year that I’d had anything from the nhs, I thought I could ride it out. Trying now just to get an appointment to see the doc to get maybe done better pain relief maybe a scan is proving impossible as you must ring up or go online at certain times trouble is it’s all crap. I’m going tomorrow and sitting there until they offer me something.
Click to expand...
Are you sure about the fluid bit? You may be getting it mixed up with the stuff inside the disc itself. Not sure of it's scientific name, they call it crabmeat because of it's consistency. When a disc splits this shit gushes out and causes problems.
 
Blue Maverick said:
When I originally did my back I was laid up for 3 weeks never once did the doctor send me for any assessment I had to go through the job for physio and pay for a chiropractor, he’s the one who said it was the fluid had gone in between my discs ( don’t even know if it has) it wasn’t until my X-ray last year that I’d had anything from the nhs, I thought I could ride it out. Trying now just to get an appointment to see the doc to get maybe done better pain relief maybe a scan is proving impossible as you must ring up or go online at certain times trouble is it’s all crap. I’m going tomorrow and sitting there until they offer me something.
Click to expand...
Get an MRI scan, not an ordinary one. If the disc has bursted a bit and the stuff like crabmeat has leaked out, gradually the body will absorb it apparently. The disc could be permanently damaged or not, with care it might heal up. Best to get an MRI scan and see exactly what is going on. Don’t be fobbed off.
 
Jimmieblue said:
Get an MRI scan, not an ordinary one. If the disc has bursted a bit and the stuff like crabmeat has leaked out, gradually the body will absorb it apparently. The disc could be permanently damaged or not, with care it might heal up. Best to get an MRI scan and see exactly what is going on. Don’t be fobbed off.
Click to expand...
I had almost 2cm of inner disc protruding when I herniated mine, took a long time but went away without surgery
 
idahoblues said:
I had almost 2cm of inner disc protruding when I herniated mine, took a long time but went away without surgery
Click to expand...
That’s good, I think that will happen a few times as we get older, but then it might need an intervention, so take care.
 
idahoblues said:
It’s always on my mind
Click to expand...
The right exercises are good and help. I eventually had mine done aged 52 after about 4 bad episodes. The neuro surgeon did a phrenoscopy, so very little invasion, scar about 2 inches. Just parred off protruding bits, like parring an orange. He gave them to me in a tiny bottle. The thing is to get it done before any nerve damage sets in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top