Sudden very sharp back pain

I'm 57 and had much the same thing happen 4 or 5 years ago... it was scary. Never had any back issues before or since.

In my case it was lower back and severe, no comfortable position, even in bed. Then just as suddenly as it appeared, it just 'went away' about midnight the second night. No rime or reason.

Hope your's goes away soon...

Erik

Herniated disk?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Your back is out, Ig. Go see a chiropractor. You probably have a lumbar vertebra which twisted to one side and stayed. Your chiro can tell you for sure, but most can be fixed and go away. Don't make a scheduled visit, just drop into a chiro's office tomorrow morning at

8am. I'll give you long odds that he can take x-rays and pop it back in for you before 8:30am. My current chiro has a machine which moves the lower body around, stretching and rolling from side to side to loosen up the lumbar area before he adjusts me. About half the time, that itself will put a vertebra back into its proper place. The longer it's out, the longer it will stay sore and the harder it will be to put back in place.

I've learned to put a lot of my "outs" back in. I fix mine by lying on my bed with my shoulders flat and my knees bent. Then I swing both knees down to the bed, first left, then right. I usually hear a pop or two and then throw my entire leg over to the side to do a stretch, one for each leg/side. That usually fixes me up, but I'm not recommending it for you. My back goes out daily and I twist to put it back in. My throacic spine likes to go out and ribs float, so my 24" bathroom door jamb comes in handy. I can usually reset anything from the middle of my back up to the middle of my shoulder blades without a chiro to help.

P.S: If you owned a real truck (say, a Toyota Tundra, with ergonomic bucket seats) you wouldn't have a back problem. ;)

-- If only he'd wash his neck, I'd wring it. -- John Sparrow

Ignoramus29059 wrote in news:CIadnQZbz_CKpTbQnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

In addition to the suggestions about muscles & the like, if it's mostly on one side, it could be a kidney stone.

The pain can be excruciating. It can come & go pretty much randomly, with no other symptoms. More often, there may be blood in the urine, or cloudiness from a UTI.

Good luck, whatever it is.

Doug White

(...)

What Erik said.

It's happened to me twice except I *could not* get out of bed for 2-3 hours until the pain went away. All by itself. Scary indeed.

My doc told me that the world's best way to mess up your back is to reach overhead while twisting at the waist. I believe him because that is exactly what I did before my back gave out the second time.

Just plain bed rest appears to be the best Rx.

--Winston

Just a little update.

This is definitely a spine pain, not a kidney stone or anything.

I tried hanging on a pullup bar. (I do pullups) This really helps.

Just hanging on it helped me a great deal, I go there once in a while, life does not look quite bleak, but it still hurts and I cannot do anything.

i

My Brother-In-Law was about about to get back surgery, but first he tried this gadget and now swears by it:

The cheesy infomercial adds make you think it is a rip off, but apparently it worked for him and his twin brother who had the same problem. What it seems to do is apply very gentle stretching when you are in a position where the back muscles are completely relaxed.

I would be skeptical about spending $200 on an anonymous, second-hand internet recommendation myself, so all I can say is look into it.

Pain is Mother Nature's way of saying, "don't do that."

Hope This Helps! Rich

Hi Ig, Welcome to my world!

First thing, look in the mirror. How does the stomach look? THOSE are the muscles that hold the spine in line.

Second - check your posture sitting in the truck. Slouched? Sitting on a big wallet? Both are bad news.

Most likely a slight vertebra pinch for 1 or 2 above, if not both...

It will probably be better in the morning.

I think you have a pinched nerve. I have a knee that will suddenly act like I sprained it and if I give it a bit of rest it will recover and feel fine.

Heck take a long warm bath and relax, you might feel better after wards. Floating in the tub will take a lot of stress off your back. Even better if you have a hot tub.

Wes

I've got back spasms several times, last two from balancing kayaks overhead and throwing them up on top the suburban. About a week later, pow! Muscle relaxers unknot the situation, then stretching and exercise. You need a doctor to diagnose whether you've got more serious problems like a blown disc or something.

Assuming it's muscular, the muscles I was neglecting are inside the spine (if I was butchering a deer, it'd be the tenderloin). I wasn't stretching back, only forward. I found I need to be careful stretching back, overdid it, and back was sore for two days. I was laying on my stomach, raised up on not quite straight arms, let pelvis sag too near floor. Now more on knees, hold for count of 10, 10 times. Also on back exercises lifting butt with calves on chair 100 times, doing Larry's stretch of knees to either side, leg stretches, etc. My doc recommended a heating pad before stretching, warm muscles stretch better.

Also, in addition to my 3 mi. walk with the dogs in the morning, I'm going to add some weights for upper body and lose some weight.

Good luck with your back. Take care of it, you can't do much when it's out as you just found out.

Pete Keillor

Kidney stones can fall out of the sky and hit you like a Greyhound bus, too. If it is that, you'll know soon enough. It is a very exclusive club. After kidney stones, your pain scale will be on a 1-15 instead of a 1-10. You think you are going to die, but you are afraid you won't. BTDT twice.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

Heart Surgery Survival Guide

This has only happened to me about 200 times...

You can expect this to happen again and again.

There are many solutions.

I tried cracker practors. You feel better right away. But, for me, I got dependant on them and had to keep going and going.

One year during apple season I had to keep working. So, I turned to pain killers. Big mistake, I was soon hooked and taking double doses. couldn't sleep at night couldn't stay awake by day. Don't go this route.

Now, first of all, I've learned that teenagers are cheaper than doctors. Hire that lifting done.

When it happens, I lay down and don't do shit till the pain is manageable. Then I have a 36" diameter exercise ball. I lay over it to stretch and then start doing slow exercises to stretch out and relax the pinch.

This works for me YMMV.

Karl

Gunner Asch on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 16:23:12 -0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Oh man, oxycodin under those conditions only makes the pain drop down to "hurts like a son of a bitch". Good God, you understand why people get addicted - not hurting is one of the major good things in life.

Sitting can agravate some kinds of back problems, and the pain can be there or lower (like in the legs or hips).

Good luck with it.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"Gunner Asch" wrote

I was in the ER following one of my procedures where they really messed up the urethra. I was weeping and wailing and begging for morphine. The nurse said she had experienced both childbirth and kidney stones, and childbirth paled by comparison. Then she interjected that she had experienced them AT THE SAME TIME.

I shut up. I mean, what could I say that was relevant?

They gave me some Tramidol (?) or something, but at least it helped.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?

Heart Surgery Survival Guide

I like a hot tub at the end of the day.

Steve

Hi Iggy, sorry mate - but welcome to the life of a late middle age tradesman. Happens to us all if you spent most of your life doing physical work. If this is the first time, your lucky. Consider it a sign - back injury is cumulative, yours is saying "Hang on, had enuff of this" and lets you know. You need to start building up the muscles in your back, NOW - you still got a chance, its not going to go away. Learn Kinetic Lifting, it helps. Try and reprogram your brain not to do the "I can lift this no worries" type of thing. (Bloody hard to do the last one)

Your lucky - you got a chance to do something about it, before your back is REALLY stuffed.

Andrew VK3BFA.

For me it began in high school, running a 100 yard dash.

It went out again a week ago, and all I had done was lift 7' logs into the trailer and roll my 700 Lb tractor over, then heave it back upright.

Many years ago I put a screw eye in the ceiling at the edge of the bed and hung a webbing strap low enough to reach to pull myself upright. It's helped a lot for the back, cracked ribs and broken collar bone.

Lift chairs:

need a wedge cushion in back to be comfortable, but then I can sleep in it.

jsw