Hullo,
I've been looking for a forum like this for a little while. I wanted to write-up the details of my situation and see if the power of the Internet could help me out. I've been in 'the system', the medical system since June 2007 with my problem, and to say I'm frustrated is an understatement, but I will try not to let my barely concealed rage shine through here... trust me!
You'll also have to bear with me while I 'tell my story'... sorry. If you get to the end do give yourself a gold star though.
I've always been a little overweight... just beyond stocky, but more or a rugby player than a true couch potato. I'm currently 33 and in early June 2007 I was on a foreign trip and I was looking all around with great interest while touring, and I stepped off a kerb... the height obviously took me by surprise and I slammed down on the heel of my left foot. It hurt. It really hurt in the back... so much so that I had to spend two of the remaining days lying down in the hotel. Most disappointing.
Anyway, after a week or so back at home, I decided to go to my GP as the back pain was still there, and really didn't seem to be improving. I was a bit surprised by this as I've always been pretty hardy and any physical issues have usually sorted themselves out... so I hardly ever spent much time at the doc's.
Anyway, I went to the GP and she checked my ribs and told me I needed to lose a bit of weight and also said that there was "no silver bullet for back pain" and how long it might last "would be as long as a piece of string". Ah... I wasn't happy, but what can you do?
I carried on.
Then, in the middle of August 2007, I was walking through Sheffield city centre (quite small and level) from where I had parked the car to my office - about 10 minutes. As I walked I got this amazing pain in my chest - towards the left breast... amazing pain, like a stitch but rather worse. I pushed through it and got to the office, sat down in my chair and it disappeared for the rest of the day.
On the walk back to the car, it came back - it was really bad. I was sweating and every 10 metres or so I had to either sit down or bend over with my hands on my knees - it was really embarrassing 'cos it was hometime for everyone and I was in full view.
I got home... and it was OK.
The following day, a Thursday, I did the same journey and it started the same - as I walked through Sheffield city centre it came on, but when I got to the office this time it didn't go away completely - I could feel it. The journey at the end of that day - to the car - was the worst ever. I got to the car via the back streets in Sheffield city centre 'cos I thought I was gonna die and I didn't want to do it in public! Stupid, I know!
On Friday I made a point of working from home. I sat at home and worked on my computer and, mostly, everything was fine.
That weekend I did the same... basically I relaxed and did nothing. The pain didn't seem to come on, I was getting confident again.
On Monday, I went back to work in the office and it was back. I was starting to panic about this now and I booked myself in to see the GP on Tuesday evening. Tuesday I spent at home in bed.
On Tuesday I went back to the GP. I was given some GTN spray(?) nitro-glycerin stuff under the tongue... but the pain did not go away, but I told my GP it did if I slouched in my chair! How strange.
Anyway, she admitted me to the Emergency Admissions Unit at Sheffield Hallamshire right there and then. I got there and couldn't walk up from the car park to the EAU... just so much pain and a bit of worry.
I stayed in overnight. I had many ECGs at rest throughout the night, I was tested for a variety of things, including (I believe) blood sugars, LFTs and I had some x-rays at about 02:00 in the morning. In the morning, on rounds, the Consultant prodded and poked me around the left-breast and reassured me that it didn't sound like my heart.
Thank-you!
But, to be sure, he set me up for a load of follow-on tests. At that point I decided to use my company health insurance to get into the private system... aiming to speed things up a bit, I guess.
Through 2007 and 2008 I have had...Further ECGs.Stress ECG - on a treadmill - this told me it was not my heart.Ultrasound of heart - normal.Ultrasound of abdomen - normal.LFTs or further blood tests (3 times) - normal.Cholesterol and Diabetes tested normal.Gastroscopy - tube down my throat - normal.Manometry - tubes down nose, swallow water - normal.MRI......as you might imagine, the MRI was left until the last... I had that and was taken through the images. Basically, they looked pretty normal but there was the potential for nerve impingement or obstruction between T4 / T5. This fit with the chest pain I was experiencing as the nerve goes from the spine around there, apparently.
As soon as I was told this wasn't my heart - my mood lifted - and I just started pushing on through the pain. It was bad pain, sometimes it really, really hurt and make me gasp for breath, but I didn't care 'cos I knew I wasn't about to have a heart atttack - which was the big ghoulie I was fearful of.
The Consultant Neurosurgeon chappie I saw said that my options were either painkillers... or surgery. And he said he didn't want to do surgery. I'm glad! He said it was high risk and (he was Austrian I think) he really said: "ze knife is not ze answer here". I was OK with that, but I didn't want painkillers either, so I just carried on.
However, in late 2008, my back pain started to become more pronounced. I was experiencing lower back pain across my entire back. I was especially feeling some real pain in my left trunk (towards the back) midway up my upper body - mostly when I moved around in bed when reading books. I was also experiencing a lot of reflux - something which I had never, ever had in my life. On top of that, I have the odd click and pop from my waist area (very loud) when I move from a sitting position to standing - again, something I have never had before and it is very disconcerting.
Back to the GP, back into the private system... recommended to go see a guy at a Pain Clinic - an Anaesthetist - who took a look at me, said I was "asymmetrical" and passed me on for Physio..
I have been doing Physio. for about 7 weeks now. Some things are positive. With a variety of guided exercises (sitting in a chair and bending over to touch my toes) I think the lower back pain is getting less noticeable. The Physio. has me doing twists and arm raises as well - in an effort to improve the left pain.
He is convinced there is nothing wrong with me - mechanically, no disc issue or anything, no weak back. He says I have just trained myself over the last 15 years to slouch at a desk - while working the computer - the issues I have now have come from the stepping off the kerb but that could have happened anywhere, anytime and anyhow. Over the last two years I have probably been overcompensating with my posture to protect the area I damaged in that incident... which probably brought the chest pain on - all about posture.
I don't disagree. However, after 7 weeks of sessions and exercise, the pain in the left side of my trunk (towards the back) is not improving at all - not like I might say my lower back has done.
Add to that the fact that I can feel a small lump around that area and I get concerned it is not something that can just be fixed with rotations. The Anaesthetist and the Physio. both agree that the lump is a bit of fatty gristle... but I wonder whether it is interfering with my movements and somehow pulling on something when I move.
The pain here often comes on when I am lying down in bed reading and try to move, using my legs to assist me - or when I'm getting into the car and am lowering myself into the seat. I wonder what I can do about this... should I be asking for someone to take a proper look and seeing if it should be removed, or if it is a hernia or something? I don't know anything, and that's the main issue.
Add to this - nothing has had any effect on my chest pain over all this time! That nerve is still impinged around T4 / T5 and while I accept that it is the back pain that is having the negative impact on my day-to-day life, I find that good health is sadly becoming an old memory for me. Is there something I can have / take / do to help here - or is my only real option either painkillers or surgery... surgery I am not going to go for, by the way.
Phew! Sorry! I do sincerely appreciate any advice and any similar stories.
I have probably gone and helped myself to a bout of RSI after this entry.
Cheers, DpM
I've been looking for a forum like this for a little while. I wanted to write-up the details of my situation and see if the power of the Internet could help me out. I've been in 'the system', the medical system since June 2007 with my problem, and to say I'm frustrated is an understatement, but I will try not to let my barely concealed rage shine through here... trust me!
You'll also have to bear with me while I 'tell my story'... sorry. If you get to the end do give yourself a gold star though.
I've always been a little overweight... just beyond stocky, but more or a rugby player than a true couch potato. I'm currently 33 and in early June 2007 I was on a foreign trip and I was looking all around with great interest while touring, and I stepped off a kerb... the height obviously took me by surprise and I slammed down on the heel of my left foot. It hurt. It really hurt in the back... so much so that I had to spend two of the remaining days lying down in the hotel. Most disappointing.
Anyway, after a week or so back at home, I decided to go to my GP as the back pain was still there, and really didn't seem to be improving. I was a bit surprised by this as I've always been pretty hardy and any physical issues have usually sorted themselves out... so I hardly ever spent much time at the doc's.
Anyway, I went to the GP and she checked my ribs and told me I needed to lose a bit of weight and also said that there was "no silver bullet for back pain" and how long it might last "would be as long as a piece of string". Ah... I wasn't happy, but what can you do?
I carried on.
Then, in the middle of August 2007, I was walking through Sheffield city centre (quite small and level) from where I had parked the car to my office - about 10 minutes. As I walked I got this amazing pain in my chest - towards the left breast... amazing pain, like a stitch but rather worse. I pushed through it and got to the office, sat down in my chair and it disappeared for the rest of the day.
On the walk back to the car, it came back - it was really bad. I was sweating and every 10 metres or so I had to either sit down or bend over with my hands on my knees - it was really embarrassing 'cos it was hometime for everyone and I was in full view.
I got home... and it was OK.
The following day, a Thursday, I did the same journey and it started the same - as I walked through Sheffield city centre it came on, but when I got to the office this time it didn't go away completely - I could feel it. The journey at the end of that day - to the car - was the worst ever. I got to the car via the back streets in Sheffield city centre 'cos I thought I was gonna die and I didn't want to do it in public! Stupid, I know!
On Friday I made a point of working from home. I sat at home and worked on my computer and, mostly, everything was fine.
That weekend I did the same... basically I relaxed and did nothing. The pain didn't seem to come on, I was getting confident again.
On Monday, I went back to work in the office and it was back. I was starting to panic about this now and I booked myself in to see the GP on Tuesday evening. Tuesday I spent at home in bed.
On Tuesday I went back to the GP. I was given some GTN spray(?) nitro-glycerin stuff under the tongue... but the pain did not go away, but I told my GP it did if I slouched in my chair! How strange.
Anyway, she admitted me to the Emergency Admissions Unit at Sheffield Hallamshire right there and then. I got there and couldn't walk up from the car park to the EAU... just so much pain and a bit of worry.
I stayed in overnight. I had many ECGs at rest throughout the night, I was tested for a variety of things, including (I believe) blood sugars, LFTs and I had some x-rays at about 02:00 in the morning. In the morning, on rounds, the Consultant prodded and poked me around the left-breast and reassured me that it didn't sound like my heart.
Thank-you!
But, to be sure, he set me up for a load of follow-on tests. At that point I decided to use my company health insurance to get into the private system... aiming to speed things up a bit, I guess.
Through 2007 and 2008 I have had...Further ECGs.Stress ECG - on a treadmill - this told me it was not my heart.Ultrasound of heart - normal.Ultrasound of abdomen - normal.LFTs or further blood tests (3 times) - normal.Cholesterol and Diabetes tested normal.Gastroscopy - tube down my throat - normal.Manometry - tubes down nose, swallow water - normal.MRI......as you might imagine, the MRI was left until the last... I had that and was taken through the images. Basically, they looked pretty normal but there was the potential for nerve impingement or obstruction between T4 / T5. This fit with the chest pain I was experiencing as the nerve goes from the spine around there, apparently.
As soon as I was told this wasn't my heart - my mood lifted - and I just started pushing on through the pain. It was bad pain, sometimes it really, really hurt and make me gasp for breath, but I didn't care 'cos I knew I wasn't about to have a heart atttack - which was the big ghoulie I was fearful of.
The Consultant Neurosurgeon chappie I saw said that my options were either painkillers... or surgery. And he said he didn't want to do surgery. I'm glad! He said it was high risk and (he was Austrian I think) he really said: "ze knife is not ze answer here". I was OK with that, but I didn't want painkillers either, so I just carried on.
However, in late 2008, my back pain started to become more pronounced. I was experiencing lower back pain across my entire back. I was especially feeling some real pain in my left trunk (towards the back) midway up my upper body - mostly when I moved around in bed when reading books. I was also experiencing a lot of reflux - something which I had never, ever had in my life. On top of that, I have the odd click and pop from my waist area (very loud) when I move from a sitting position to standing - again, something I have never had before and it is very disconcerting.
Back to the GP, back into the private system... recommended to go see a guy at a Pain Clinic - an Anaesthetist - who took a look at me, said I was "asymmetrical" and passed me on for Physio..
I have been doing Physio. for about 7 weeks now. Some things are positive. With a variety of guided exercises (sitting in a chair and bending over to touch my toes) I think the lower back pain is getting less noticeable. The Physio. has me doing twists and arm raises as well - in an effort to improve the left pain.
He is convinced there is nothing wrong with me - mechanically, no disc issue or anything, no weak back. He says I have just trained myself over the last 15 years to slouch at a desk - while working the computer - the issues I have now have come from the stepping off the kerb but that could have happened anywhere, anytime and anyhow. Over the last two years I have probably been overcompensating with my posture to protect the area I damaged in that incident... which probably brought the chest pain on - all about posture.
I don't disagree. However, after 7 weeks of sessions and exercise, the pain in the left side of my trunk (towards the back) is not improving at all - not like I might say my lower back has done.
Add to that the fact that I can feel a small lump around that area and I get concerned it is not something that can just be fixed with rotations. The Anaesthetist and the Physio. both agree that the lump is a bit of fatty gristle... but I wonder whether it is interfering with my movements and somehow pulling on something when I move.
The pain here often comes on when I am lying down in bed reading and try to move, using my legs to assist me - or when I'm getting into the car and am lowering myself into the seat. I wonder what I can do about this... should I be asking for someone to take a proper look and seeing if it should be removed, or if it is a hernia or something? I don't know anything, and that's the main issue.
Add to this - nothing has had any effect on my chest pain over all this time! That nerve is still impinged around T4 / T5 and while I accept that it is the back pain that is having the negative impact on my day-to-day life, I find that good health is sadly becoming an old memory for me. Is there something I can have / take / do to help here - or is my only real option either painkillers or surgery... surgery I am not going to go for, by the way.
Phew! Sorry! I do sincerely appreciate any advice and any similar stories.
I have probably gone and helped myself to a bout of RSI after this entry.
Cheers, DpM