I know I've touched on this subject a bit here and there but in the last 6 months I have not been a fan of my back. I first 'injured' it in January 2009 but it recovered nicely...until January 2010. Then, all back-related hell broke loose!
It started slowly - mile pain over the weekend and the BAM!!!! on Feb 2nd I went down at school. Literally, in my classroom. Tears. Telling kids to go to the office to get a secretary. An emergency sub situation where I literally said "Good luck. You have kids from this time to that time." No directions at all!
I headed to Urgent Care where I got some much needed painkillers and a prescription for massage. Then started the treatments. And now, almost 6 months later. I FINALLY went to a doctor...should have gone a while ago but massage and chiropractic had gotten me through. After this last recurrence 2 weeks ago I made an appointment at Rebound which is known for joint and orthopedic surgery. This is the same clinic that years ago repaired my Mom's knee.
I went in, talked the usual doctor talk with the doctor and was whisked off to XRay. When the doctor came back in he was kind of smiling and said "Well I have some interesting news" and I literally thought he was going to tell me I was pregnant (I'm not...thankfully). Turns out, I'm an anomaly. Most people have 5 Lumbar Vertebrae. I, on the other hand, have 6. If you google "L6 spinal" like my loving Mother did you will find the word anomaly in the heading :) Oh special me!
I've done an hour or so of research and there isn't a ton but I'm going to dig more. Even my doctor told me that some people believe the extra vertebrae causes the back pain and some don't. Personally for me, I feel it explains a lot. Though, not only do I have an extra vertebrae, one of the nodules on my L6 is fused where it should not be. It is fused on the left side (and not on the right) and ALL my pain in no the left...coincidence...I think NOT!
I also have a bulging disk, which is not exciting. Hopefully the physical therapy and healthy life choices (it really is time to kick my ass in gear) will help with this.
Now I'm doing Physical Therapy with massage and acupuncture in the mix. Yes, you read that right...acupuncture. It really was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and I was in SSOO much pain I was willing to try anything - even if it involved needles. I was doing chiropractic and probably will again soon...but I'm not comfortable/happy with my past provider. So we'll see.
In the end I am glad I know more about myself now, at least my internal self. It alters the course of treatment and the way I'll take more caution to write things down and think about the future. Surprisingly, it also makes me calmer about all of it. Now I know I am not crazy...not that I was imaging the pain...but just for some odd reason makes it all make sense now!
Surgery is a possibility, especially to un-fuse my L6. The doc said that would make for a pretty painful pregnancy and standard delivery if I wanted that. Again, we'll see. I'm hoping to avoid it at all costs but it might be inevitable.
I'll going back in 7 weeks. So I'll update you then. So if you're ever out with me and I'm walking slow, taking breaks, or not going as hard or fast as I used too...now you know. This doesn't mean I can't participate in general walking activities (zoo, light hike, shopping) it just means I need to be careful and make good choices to keep myself healthy!
Picture to be back soon...thanks for the tip Nick.
well theres your problem! all kidding aside, transitional vertebrae arent that uncommon, with an estimated incidence of just over 4%. most are just never seen! if you want to read some more info, let me know but there isnt much out there about it. i peeked at a few journal articles but their focus didnt really speak to your direct issue. although the biomechanics of having a lumbarized S1 seem to put more strain on that extra disc, the overall number of people who present with low back pain and have this anomaly isnt any higher than that found in the normal population (~4%)...you should let your anesthesiologist know, however, that your landmarks are different if/when you get an epidural or spinal when you are having a baby. also you should think about blurring out your personal identifiers on the xray, as someone who calls other doctors a lot, you can get quite far with those little numbers there ;) hope you feel better! (ps sorry to drop in on you from cyberspace like this but seriously let me know if you want what real info i can scrounge up) - nick g
ReplyDeleteWow! Glad you got some answers!!
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