Ooouch! Pain Management

[rhbgirl24]

Just curious if anyone on here has chronic pain and how they manage it (without drugs).

A little back story: in 2008 I was in a sideswipe car accident and severely injured by back. Over months of treatment and tests they finally figured out it was my sacroiliac joint on the right side. Physical therapy was done, surgery was talked about but I said no. No real other options for handling the pain were given to me besides pain medicine which I didn''t want to get into.

I started trigger point needling (similar to acupuncture but only one needle at a time, and its manipulated to relieve muscle pain - treats my symptoms but not the cause) last year, and went for a full year before stopping (simply for cost reasons, once it was no longer covered a session was over $800 with norm insurance.) Didn''t alleviate it completely but made it manageable.

So now its really bothering me, like SUPER bothering me - affecting my daily life, and today with this weather I''m loopy I''m in such pain. I do take alieve and I''m not sure that helps but take it occasionally anyway.

So as I''m sitting here with an icepick between my hip and lower back I am wondering - how do you deal with it? Does biofeedback work? Anyone have any other suggestions....

Just curious.

 

[joflier]

I occasionally go to a chiropractor, which does help. I also take a lot of advil or aleve. Advil seems to help the most.
You might want to check into anti-inflammatory drugs (nsaid''s). Their not narcotics. Those have helped settle things down for me in the past.
Otherwise, stretching and massages can alleviate some of the pain, too. I''m sorry your in so much pain! I hope you can find something that works for you!

 

[cnspotts]

I''m sorry to hear that you''re having such miserable pain issues. I hope that I can offer some help as someone that has been through similar pain in that area. With a couple of "tools" and Stretch, stretch, stretch I know you can work through this.

A little background first, I''m a massage therapist so I see a great deal of people with back issues and various degrees of pain. Unless someone has had this experience themselves they cannot possibly imagine the feeling for someone else. Unfortunately I have and can. Over the years I''ve done various things to self help the pain to a degree of normalness and finally I can say that I am no longer experiencing pain plus I am so much more intouch with my body because I understand it better.

Not only does doing massage at the pace I work, 30-40 week, I''ve been involved in 3 car accidents that didn''t cause any breakage but lots of muscular issues for my back & neck. Also I''ve been thrown from horses, kicked, had severe falls from them landing on rocks, rivers, trees etc. Lots of body pain and damage, again nothing broken thankfully. And lastly it''s awful to admit but I am a clutz to the highest degree. I fall simply walking in my yard, at work, on the sidewalks....etc. completely embarassing. As soon as I recover from one fall, I do it again. Lastly this is all compounded on top of a classmate in 6th grade having pulled a chair out from under me (all for humors sake). Little brat. I have ongoing SI joint issues plus I''ve got a broken tailbone and every fall just brings it back to my attention. I cannot sit for long periods of time, thankfully I work standing up and I no longer ride horses.

I typically don''t take pain medication and if I get some I generally dont use it all up, I don''t care for the way it makes me feel. Over the years they say there is nothing they can do for the broken tailbone but Ive done plenty of "therapy" on the surrounding muscles to keep them relaxed when they "freeze up" or spasm. Manual manipulation has been the key, sitting in hot tubs on a jet aimed at the "knot" or trigger points, and stretching. I''ve also used an inversion table with great success and not so much with a chrioprator (except when the problem is acute).

For the last few months I have been using a Foam roller (get from a sporting goods store) I roll on it (face up) from my heels to my neck. I didn''t care for it at first (beacuse it hurt a little) but about a week into it I realized it''s been the best self help yet, better than most massages, better than any session with my chiropractor. I''ve gotten the adjustments in my spine that it needs without the yank and pull of the Chrio, plus it''s a self massage as good and better than any my coworkers have done for me. My posture is straighter, the muscles are more relaxed and I breath easier. I use it in the morning, and again at night before going to bed. I also use a ball on the SI joint to "roll out" the trigger points along the attachment of the Piriformis muscle which is the cause of a great deal of back issue problems. See info <---- I don''t have to do it everyday anymore either!

In fact a few weeks ago I sold my inversion table because I just don''t need it anymore! The foam roller has been the best treatment for my back/pain!!! As for the ball, I sit on the floor and place the ball under my butt cheek up against the SI and roll back and forth in tiny little movements right where it hurts the most (on the trigger points). This gets the muscle warmed up, and the blood flowing into the knots eventually relaxing them. I get a ball from Walmart called the Sky Ball in the kids toy section. It''s clear plastic that''s super bouncy, about $8 This one works the best and I''ve used plenty. SkyBall <---- It''s about the size of a softball

I hope this helps a bit, sorry to be so long too. If you have any questions, just ask.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Not sure for your condition, but have you talked to your dr. about cortezon (sp?) shots? My dh went in a few days ago b/c of back pain and it went away.

When I was in high school, I was in a car accident and fractured a few vertebraes (sp? - can''t seem to spell today) and for years was fine. Within the last five, what I''ve found is that if I stand in one spot for certain periods of time, my back severely stiffens up and hurts like crazy. One day (who knows what I was thinking), but Old Navy had a huge sale on school clothes and I stood there for 35 min and that really messed up my back. You need to look at how your carrying yourself.

REALLY talk to a dr. Also, maybe yoga? Or maybe not. A dr. should be consulted.

Also, ibprophen works wonders. I do not think pain meds do much of anything except zonk a person out.

 

[rhbgirl24]

Joflier: I did see a chiro. 3x a week for about 4 months, 1x a week for 6 months, now once every couple of months. I did help, however the problem isn''t really with the spine, but a symptom is the muscles pulling me out of alignment. Advil and Aleive are pretty much the same thing, or have the same anti inflammatory affect. I''ve tried both and does sometimes help.

cnspotts: Thank you so much for all that information! I am so sorry you''ve had to go through all those injuries! DH will rub the area and it does help, but only when he gets in there to the point of extreme pain. Just like the trigger point needling. If I can take it, the next days its bruised but overall better. Maybe lasts 2-3 days. From what I understand this is only treating the symptoms once again, because this isn''t a muscle problem, but a joint and tendon problem. So they are out of wack which makes the muscles hurt, tense, and spasm, hence the pain.
I have tried an inversion table, man does that hurt. To the point of tears... was afraid I was going to do damage. I tried it twice and haven''t again.
You''re right the sitting is what is killing me, and right now I have an office/government job and its mostly sitting!
I will absolutely try the foam roller and ball. I did get a deept issue massage machine thing from Brookstone for the lower back and that helps as well.
As for the ball, that looks pretty big. You place it under your hip/butt area and just manipulate it back and forth? So your lower half is inches off the floor? I want to try it.
Thanks again for all the info.

MC: thank you as well! I have talked to Dr. MANY of them. Hence the trigger point needling. Most want a pain management treatment that involves higher drugs. There seems to be no "fix" just ways to cope.

 

[Karl_K]

TENS helped a lot for my arm/elbow once the bone chip was out.
Wish I could still do it.

http://www.bigkneepain.com/tens.html

For the most part I just live with it and darvocet on really bad days.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 4/9/2010 3:49:55 PM
Author: rhbgirl24

MC: thank you as well! I have talked to Dr. MANY of them. Hence the trigger point needling. Most want a pain management treatment that involves higher drugs. There seems to be no ''fix'' just ways to cope.

Okay, one thing to keep in mind is IF your dr thinks pain meds are what you should be on, you don''t have to take the full amount. For example, just because you''re told to take 5 mg of vicodin per day, doesn''t mean you can''t cut the tablet up and take 1/4th. Pain meds aren''t the same as other drugs that need to be taken at prescribed amounts (IMO). My dr gave me an RX for Ultram and I told him that the full amount is too much and he shrugged and said buy a pill cutter (at pharmacies for $3.00). The thing is, though, I don''t even take the med because it causes my head to go numb or something. I take 1/4 if I''m gardening and bending over a lot. . .so about 2X per month!

 

[decodelighted]

My sister and I have both worked with The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. Be careful with the over-the-counter pain meds -- they can be rough on your stomach & create secondary problems you might never have otherwise. GOOD LUCK and HUGS!!!!!

 

[joflier]

I''m also talking about prescription anti-inflammatories. Their stronger than over-the-counter stuff. Some people get great relief from that.