Ever win a bet.....

polrbehr

tonyb wrote: »

Yes Sir, you have that right. You learn to live with it. Seems a lot of us have this in common. More than I thought anyway. Maybe that explains why we men as we age get cranky.

Plus, there's also that whole... uhhh, you know... woman thing to consider too.

^^J/K^^, I hope you get some relief soon, man. (from the back pain)

shawn474

Advice from someone whi has been working in sports medicine and physical therapy for 15 years. See the doctor and get an xray. Why ? Because most insurance companies wont pay for an mri without first getting an xray. Xray will most likely be normal. Your guess is spot on - probably a bulging or herniated disc. There are many options these days in terms of PT, alternative treatment , pain managent and surgery. I, like you, exhausted all possibilities. I had a laminectomy in 2005 which didnt work. Fusion in 2006 has literally currd me from a decade of pain and suffering and allows me now to do things i had been avoiding for years. Not saying its the right way to go initially but sometimes surgery is inevitable. If you'd like to chat ofine, PM me. Good luck.

Jhayman

Or as the Women would say " get whiney" lol

tonyb wrote: »

Yes Sir, you have that right. You learn to live with it. Seems a lot of us have this in common. More than I thought anyway. Maybe that explains why we men as we age get cranky.

kn505

Tonyb, Sorry to hear about your back problem. I think you can file a workers compensation claim, especially if you still work for the same company.

Face

kn505 wrote: »

Tonyb, Sorry to hear about your back problem. I think you can file a workers compensation claim, especially if you still work for the same company.

From 15 years ago?

kn505

Why not? I work in insurance business. I have seen many WC claims filed many years later.

In Tonyb case, he experienced the back problem the day after moving 40,000 lbs of materials as requested by his boss. Maybe his boss and/or coworkers knew about it and can be a witness for him. WC laws are complicated and different by States. If Tonyb is not comfortable to file the claim by himself, he can seek legal advice.

tonyb

That company is long gone gents. Besides, in my business at that time a comp claim pretty much ment you would be out of a job and nobody else would be tripping over themselves to hire you.....ever. That my friends is how the real world works, not the commercial you see on TV.

Went to the Doc today, had a nice lookin' intern feeling up my back......uh yeah, female btw. Anyway, have to go get an MRI done but he did rule out a few things which was good. He tends to think in an injury such as mine having endured pain that long that it very well may be just a bad case of arthritis around the spinal area and muscle tissue I injured. But why now, why out of the blue ? Anytime a joint gets damaged it's going to get arthritis, I know that, but this bad, this soon ? The MRI will paint a more complete picture anyway. I still feel like it's something more than that. If it is what he thinks, options are drugs, physical therapy, or just putting up with the pain. So in my mind, it would be physical therapy as in that Asian girl walking on my back, drugs as in a glass of wine, and pain as in when the wife finds out.

tonyb

Just an update.

Got the MRI done, report sent to Doc. Results were a slight bump with some narrowing discs. Nothing major. Good news but arthritis seems to be the main concern now. Physical therapy is one option, asked me if I wanted an epidural which is also a common treatment.....what do you think I said ? LOL Also gave me some other meds but I'm just not one of those guys who subscribes to a lifetime of meds.

On another interesting note. I stated before the hospital would have charged 4g's for an MRI. Doc gave me some places to shop around, 1000 bucks was the average. I call up make the appointment, lady tells me if I pay cash, the price is only 350. Draw your own conclusions on that one.

nooshinjohn

Glad they are getting a handle on your back. I have one shoulder that now sits about 2 inches higher than the other, arthritis and a ruptured disk in my neck, to go along with a deviation of 1/2 inch in my spinal column where the neck gives way to the upper back. Hockey was a hell of a lot of fun, but I am paying the price BIG TIME right now.

Maybe I can get me some healthcare when the websites come back up....

BTW big guy, that was no lady doctor. It was PFB in his skinny jeans and a wig.

tonyb

nooshinjohn wrote: »

BTW big guy, that was no lady doctor. It was PFB in his skinny jeans and a wig.

Even so John, this cowboy bends over for nobody. Well......maybe if Kate Upton asked politely.

Oldfatdogs

Glad to here nothing major wrong,winter is coming as we get older we can feel it in our bones.Hope you feel better soon.
Dan

nooshinjohn

tonyb wrote: »

Even so John, this cowboy bends over for nobody. Well......maybe if Kate Upton asked politely.

ROFLMAO!!!

tonyb

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

Glad to here nothing major wrong,winter is coming as we get older we can feel it in our bones.Hope you feel better soon.
Dan

Amen to that Dan. All that Superman stuff we did in our youth and bounced back from....now takes triple the time to bounce back. At least your climate agrees with an aging body, Chicago's just kicks you in the ****.

BTW- Say hello to that wonderful lady you somehow managed to get to marry you all those moons ago. Hope she didn't mind much us spending your money for you and all that.

Oldfatdogs

(BTW- Say hello to that wonderful lady you somehow managed to get to marry you all those moons ago. Hope she didn't mind much us spending your money for you and all that. )

I will do that,you do the same,we just hit 30 years together.Bless her heart for putting up with me,she doesn't mind me spending too much truth be told she enjoys it as much as I do.She always tells me baby that's my stereo,don't change Anything.
Bundle them bones up brother.
Dan

obieone

They say "lift with your back straight" HA! Try doing that over a roof hatch, or off the back of a bldg. with a 8" gutter!

cnh

tonyb wrote: »

Just an update.

Got the MRI done, report sent to Doc. Results were a slight bump with some narrowing discs. Nothing major. Good news but arthritis seems to be the main concern now. Physical therapy is one option, asked me if I wanted an epidural which is also a common treatment.....what do you think I said ? LOL Also gave me some other meds but I'm just not one of those guys who subscribes to a lifetime of meds.

On another interesting note. I stated before the hospital would have charged 4g's for an MRI. Doc gave me some places to shop around, 1000 bucks was the average. I call up make the appointment, lady tells me if I pay cash, the price is only 350. Draw your own conclusions on that one.

Arthritis in your back? I've had that for years and I still manage to lift weights with some precautions--stretching and sit ups before and after "every" lifting session. Haven't injured myself seriously even once in my 50s. Am I stiff in the "morning"? You bet!

It's called age. About every decade or so some new problem kicks in. In my late 30s I realized I was losing the spring in my knees, would buckle when I tried to sprint at top speed. In my mid 40s my joints began to bother me lifting (started a regimen of stretching and Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM, and Fish Oil). Over a decade later no further degeneration that I can feel? Oh, and I gave up jogging due to the stress in my early 50s. Now I'm waiting for whatever the next phase for the coming decade will be? It's always "surprising". Hence when you say why NOW. Think AGE!

Always remember the PLACEBO effect is real. No one has a GOOD explanation for it. Least of all M.D.s. People think labeling it placebo dismisses it. But the real problem is to explain EXACTLY how the body/mind can and DOES heal itself! And often does so better than some surgery and drugs? And that's a big big problem. Because it CAN!

Take it or leave it. Everything above is anecdotal and possibly placebo, but I'm not nursing my back yet? And it is "arthritic"! And I have friends fifteen years younger than I who have to ask "me" to move stuff for them because their backs are so "bad"?

cnh

tonyb

Oh, I know CNH....age has lots to do with it.

I've always had some form of arthritis in my hands. As a youth, playing street hockey....I managed to get frostbite on all my fingers pretty bad. The kind of frostbite that turns your flesh black, I was lucky not to lose any. Arthritis never goes away completely, it has that " you can run, but you can't hide" relationship with you. Except as you age you can't run as fast, so it catches up to you quicker.

I guess in the back of my mind I always thought I could just keep running, do the Forest Gump. So I'm at a crossroads of sorts. I'm not a pill taker and never plan to be, don't even take aspirin. I'm more so a naturalist when it comes to my body but not one of those crazy wacko ones either. I don't discount the potency or need of pharmaceutical drugs, they have their place too, but I'll be damned if I subscribe to being dependent on them. Having what feels like a knife stuck in your back....with a twist, and having my convictions, brings me to my crossroads. I'll have to do more research on this and see if I can come up with alternatives.

I certainly agree CNH, the body is amazing at healing itself, given the right circumstances. We however are all different in our DNA makeup. Our cell structure has pre-determined on and off switches, after all we are just biological entities. We can change those off switches to some degree by taking care of ourselves, eating better foods,exercise, etc, but we all wind up in the same place eventually. Genetics has a lot to do with all of it, that's why some live to be 100+ while still doing all the wrong things, eating all the wrong foods. Yet some do everything right and still are susceptible to all sorts of disease. I know many steps forward are being made in genetics too and hopefully will find it's place in mainstream medicine. For instance, a simple blood test when broken down can tell you by your genetic code which diseases you will be prone to. You could then alter your habits accordingly at a younger age. To me, that's preventative medicine. To the HC industry, that spells lost dollars. But, that's a subject for another time.

I'll continue doing my research and see what I can come up with. Hopefully I'll find something that will enable that knife to be removed from my back. Maybe not too, always that possibility. Thanks for listening anyway, if anything, I have a better understanding of what my challenges will be.

shawn474

So there has been this school of thought that if the disc bulge / herniation was not impinging on the nerve root then that could not be the root of pain. However, in recent years, there has been an abundance of evidence to suggest that may not be the case and in fact there are MANY origins of back pain that are not clearly understood or well defined. What we do know is that pain takes different forms for different people. The biology of the body is an amazing thing. We often bandy about terms like "pain tolerance" and "threshold for pain". These are moot terms in my opinion. If a patient comes in and says their pain is a 6 out of 10 then I have to take them at their word. It doesn't matter that the injury looked less severe than the 4/10 patient I had earlier in the day. That is why there always needs to be individualized programs and protocols. All too often, we get caught up in the "cookbook" approach to treating issues and often miss the bigger picture. You are doing the right thing in researching all alternatives. Like you said before, the MRI showed nothing major. However, that could still be the root of your pain so do not dismiss it just yet. Deciding how to treat that pain is now the challenge. PT and such will certainly help, but is a losing battle as long as you are in such acute discomfort. Key is to control the pain initially, get to a point where you can initiate therapy that specifically addresses the deficiencies that are contributing to your back pain. Hope that makes sense........Good luck