I have had chronic moderate to severe
back pain ever since I had surgery for Scoliosis in December of 2002. I also have a dislodged screw on the lower left side of my back, which I think happened a year or two after surgery. I have also suffered from '
pain attacks', which all I can describe as severely painful. The
pain radiates from my spine area and wraps around my lower abdomen. I mainly feel the
pain in my stomach muscles and ribs. These '
pain attacks' come on gradually and for no real reason. They have also increased in how long they last, my last attack a couple months ago lasted about 6 hours and it was about a week after surgery when the first one happened, they used to last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. I also have deep
pain in my right hip that seems to radiate from my lower back. I have a numb spot on my right hip/outer thigh area and another one that spreads just below both shoulder blades. I have also had unexplained bruising that appears mainly on the middle/upper right side of my back, but it has also appeared on the middle/lower left side and they usually run along side my surgery scar. I also have a lump that appears on my lower left back, where my screw is dislodged. That usually appears when I have been doing a lot of bending, or playing with my son. It doesn't take very much to upset my
back pain, or to make that lump appear. I'm also very sleepy a lot, even if I've had enough sleep. My back is also very
itchy all of the time, I don't know of that matters but I thought I'd add that anyway. I have been to my orthopaedic doctor, but he doesn't know why I'm in all this
pain or why I have these strange symptoms. His advice was to go to a
pain management clinic, but I would really like that to be a last resort. I have also tried physical therapy, but it only increased my
back pain. I would really appreciate any advice! Thank you very much for reading my post.
Sarah
