Back problems - any ideas for ways to deal with this?

I have somewhat unexplained intermittent back problems that are really starting to cause me a lot of grief and was just wondering if anyone else has any ideas for getting some proper help with them? I am not looking for medical advice, just suggestions for routes to get it …

I have VHI but just wondering is physio covered for example?

I don’t quite know what the source of the problem is, but I have had them since I was in my early 20s. Once in a blue moon, I would just be unable to get out of bed without rolling onto the floor and crawling up the furniture to get upright and it would last for maybe a week or so, I would get put on anti inflammatoires and pain killers and it would go away.

It happened again just before COVID kicked off and I was abroad at the time and couldn’t walk at all. I ended up having to cancel meetings and got home (in agony). I couldn’t even walk around the airport. Anyway, my GP was fairly dismissive and again - painkillers / anti-inflammatoires and suggestion that I do more exercise.

Then it happened again during the lockdown but it went on for months. It’s improving but VERY slowly. Six months after the bout, I am still limping / wobbling / stiff and I think I might just need a new GP and some serious check over. It’s mostly in the bottom right of my back and down the inside of my hip and into my leg, but sometimes it’s like this sharp muscular ‘twang’ across my whole lower back.

It is slowly improving, but I’m just concerned this cycle is going to repeat again and just get worse next time.

I am / was in fairly good physical shape but the GP just keeps telling me I need to do more exercise when I’ve gone and I literally can’t walk, never mind go for a run. Getting from the car to the hall door was a problem, and it’s not due to some lack of fitness, it’s just been agony. Also one of my knees has started to pop / give way when turned to random positions.

Honestly, think I’m just heading for a complete mess physically and I’m only in my late 30s.

sundodger5

Get your GP to refer you to a specialist in that area.

It needs investigation and is above what a GP can diagnose in my opinion.

It won't go away but you know that yourself. Sooner it is looked at the better are yout odds for a better outcome.

I just found the GP, especially during COVID, was utterly useless. I got ‘diagnosed’ by phone.

Gen.Zhukov

You need to get a GP to send a referral to get a MRI done. The GP will prob send the referral to Affidea for a private scan at an Affidea clinic of your choosing. You'll get the scan and they will send a report to your GP. You will also be able to see the scan images on line via the Affidea patient connect app shortly after the scan and you can read the report about 2 weeks after the scan.

VHI will prob cover the scan (worth checking though)

Your symptoms sound very similar to mine and the results I got weren't good.

Your GP sounds rubbish btw.

I had moved before COVID and my previous GP had retired, so when I got back I was sort of stuck with a mess of GPs. I’ve yet to find one I’m happy with.

Gen.Zhukov

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118839323#Comment_118839323

Right. At this point it doesn't matter how good or bad the GP is. Insist that they refer you to a clinic for a lumbar spine MRI. This will get things going while you look for another GP.

Dempo1

I tend to agree with @Gen.Zhukov , this requires an MRI and you need a referral, doing it privately, MRI will cost from €250 / €350. From there the next step is a specialist, depending on MRI results.

I currently going through a process of elimination for chronic knee pain which numerous X-ray and MRI on knee , it is now believed my issue is in fact back related and going for an MRI in a few weeks

To be fair, I got caught up with covid delays, Cyber attack and pain was primarily my knee so hospital focused on that area.

I’m not worried about the cost, just want to get on the road to figuring out what to do about it.

It’s going on so long it’s fairly obviously something glitching in my spine. I don’t seem to have any symptoms of arthritis anywhere else and I think my knee is probably a long existing thing. It used to dislocate when I was a kid and both my knee and my foot always click when I walk. Nothing new there.

Also I’ve had pains in my right hip for as long as I can remember. I used to get them a lot before my teens. I was checked out as a kid, but it’s a long time ago and MRI existed but wasn’t used much other than for brains back then.

They saw something on an X-ray, a shadow on part of the hip bone and were panicking in case it was cancer, but subsequent X-ray re-read by a consultant dismissed that, and it was put down to “growing pains” and it was never much spoken or again…

But I assume it’s probably something to do with it as the pain in the hip is similar but a lot worse.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118839698#Comment_118839698

It's clear you require a lumbar/Spine/back MRI and it only requires a referral letter from a GP. I'm unsure how private clinics prepare reports on scan results but presumably anything of relevance found along scan images will be sent to your GP or they may furnish you with results directly but depending on results and if further interventions needed you'll then require a further referral from your GP to a consultant.

Hopefully it doesn’t turn up anything too nasty! I’ll look into just getting myself a date with an MRI machine.