Back Problems?

melmarie26

Is anyone still struggling with this? I've taken way too much ibuprofen over the last 3 months. It never really relieves the pain, just takes the edge off. I spend a lot of time sitting on the couch, tending to the babies and it seems to aggravate my back too.

I already had 2 bulging disks prior to pregnancy. I was terribly miserable during the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy. After delivery, while walking to the bathroom, I felt an immediate change in the pain. It actually hurt to bear weight on my right leg. I would get what felt like a knife in my hip, right rear and right low low back. Im a little over 3 months post partum now and still hurting.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what was your diagnosis? How were you treated? Are you feeling better now?

Sorry for being Ms. Complainy. The babies are sleeping great, I just wish I felt better, so that I could too.

pea-kay

The post-delivery pain you're describing sounds exactly what happened when I herniated a disc in my lower back. Exactly. I ultimately had to have surgery to deal with it. But that was two years ago (literally, the day I felt that pain was Dec 1, 2010) and my kids were 3 years old, not 3 months old. I am so sorry you're dealing with this.

I'd try to get an MRI as soon as you can to get it diagnosed and some kind of treatment plan. Maybe PT or epidural steroid injections will work for you? I was in constant, excrutiating pain, and nothing worked except the surgery.

Good luck, mama!

melmarie26

Thanks for taking time to reply PeaKay.

I do feel better knowing that I'm not alone in this whole ordeal. I'm not relieved that you had to have surgery to stop the pain. Bless your heart! Which disk herniated? Was the recovery terrible? Do you have any post op limitations?

I injured my back at work in 2008 trying to extract a very large man out of the front passenger seat of a small car. I was the only nurse at triage early that morning and his wife was hysterical. I should've left her at the car and got help but, grabbed a wheelchair instead and ran to grab him myself. Sad thing is, he didn't even make it. Blot clot in lungs. Really makes me mad, I injured myself and we couldn't help him. MRI said 2 bulging disks, between L3 and L5.

I did epidural injections, they made me huge. PT is a good idea. Losing all this baby weight should help too.

I'll get another MRI and look into PT. I should've already looked into a repeat MRI. Nurses suck as patients. We're good at telling people what to do but, don't do it ourselves.

Thanks again PK. Post more pictures of your fellas!

pea-kay

By the time I had the surgery (after lots of drugs and ESIs that made it worse) I was SO glad to have it! Ha! I think I couldn't lift anything or twist for like two weeks? After six weeks I was back to 100% (well, all restrictions were lifted - I was feeling great well before that.) I had a microdiscectomy/laminotomy or something like that? laminectomy? can't remember the exact terminology. My herniation was really bad and was between L5/S1, IIRC. 

Good luck! Mine herniated when I sneezed getting dressed one morning. Yeah...

mrsmac08

I had a very similar situation.  I had little back pain while pregnant, but as soon as the spinal wore off from my c-section, I had intense pain in my lower back and numbness down my leg.  Everyone sort of brushed if off at first because I just had a c-seciton and delivered two big babies, and had gained 70 or so pounds. But, it got worse and worse. I ended up going to physical therapy (required by insurance before my MRI) but it just made it worse.  Once I had the MRI, it was clear that I had a completely herniated disc (L5 like pea-kay). I probably didn't have pain there during my pregnancy because the babies pushed me so far out of alignment. I had a steroid shot but I had an unusual reaction and the pain and numbness got worse. The numbness in my pelvis and leg was concerning and my pain was unbearable so I made the difficult decision to have surgery when my babies were about 4 months old.  But, I was so glad that I did! The surgery was easy, it was supposed to be overnight, but I insisted on making it a day surgery (I probably didn't need to do this, but I just had to for myself, I know my babies would have been fine for a night without me!). It was longer than expected (about 3+ hours) because things got worse between my MRI and surgery date.  I wasn't supposed to lift for about 12 weeks, but my surgeon and I knew this wasn't realistic.  I made it two weeks without "lifting", and tried to lift as little as possible after that. I was even able to nurse the babies when I got home after the surgery (before that I would cry most times while nursing because of the back pain, so this was a huge improvement!).

I honestly felt better right after the surgery..with improvement over a couple weeks.  I do still have numbness (1 1/2 years later) which is probably permanent, and some back pain on occasion, but it is SO much better than it was. 

I wrote a very similar post on here (and pea-kay replied with great advice too! ) when I was trying to decide about surgery because I was very nervous about it. Go get an MRI and good luck!!

mrsmac08

I should just add that if you have a similar diagnosis, PT and steroid injections do work for many people!! It just didn't work for me.