Back Pain...

I am going to post all those museum pics later--I want to talk about last week and today's dr appt first :) This blog is going to be all over the place...try to stay with me here!
Everybody was so happy Daddy came home thursday afternoon:





So, I've been working a lot on the house (packing, painting, cleaning, gardening) while taking care of L + O, who get heavier everyday it seems. My back typically aches at the end of the day, and in the morning is stiff. But Saturday morning I woke up and couldn't bend over or lift my left leg without a deep sharp pain in my left lower back. Fortunately, John has been home the past few days to help with everything. We got a storage unit just down the street, rented a uhaul truck and my brother Norman came to help use move a lot of stuff into it. I am so happy we kept those huggies boxes--I was able to pack so much stuff! I wanted to help, but my back wouldn't let me. I began to worry that I may not get better, and John will leave again..what will I do with L + O and the house that should already be shown to potential renters!?




Dada feeding Olivia :)

But we had the D.C. trip planned, and so I just tried to use my leg muscles more when bending over or picking things up etc. I noticed my lower left back hurt worst when I was sitting (esp in the car), or lifting my left leg (which I do everyday over the fence at the stairs) or bending over (which is inevitable with babies...). I noticed my left back upon touching it, had like loose gelatinous rolling knots or something loose...Now, Susan has had the same loose rolling knots in her injured back for a year..she has run the gamut with "treatments" and psuedo-diagnoses..with little to no improvements. Just lots of medical bills and doctors telling her she was weak (and the girl ran 6 or 7 miles a day..)

Anyway, I was finally able to go to the doctor about it today. I saw my regular doctor...the one who doubted my kidney stones etc...He doesn't think my back pain is a nerve problem which is good, but a muscular strain, which probably will require physical therapy. He ordered an X-ray to rule out anything else. When I asked him about the loose rolling knot thing, he felt it and said, "thats what's called a lipoma in your sacroiliac joint. It's very common--it's basically a cyst--a benign cyst that doesn't cause pain." Basically he thinks it's pure coincidence that my horrid back pain showed up at the same time this lipoma did. If you read these articles about them, it's pretty much defining my issue, and Susan's which has been ongoing for over a year. Here's a very helpful article: Treatment of the Back Mouse

Well, I don't have the x-ray results yet, but my doctor did turn out to be helpful with something--I looked up the 'lipoma' thing and found so many articles explaining how misdiagnosed and overlooked this problem is by most doctors, leaving so many patients with chronic back issues, that may have been solved with the proper diagnosis. There were many names for the condition: back mouse, episacral lipoma, and lumbar fascial fat herniation. Typically lipomas don't cause pain, but when they result because of a tear in the thoracodorsal fascia (which is just the fibrous connective tissue surrounding your back muscles and nerves)and the subsequent herniation (fat tissue that bulges out), they can get bigger and cause pain radiating through your back, butt and even legs.

I do believe I have been injuring my back with all the work I have been doing and in how I handle the babies, and I don't think it's a coincidence that this bad pain erupted at the same time I palpated this lipoma thing. Fortunately, all the articles I read on it, say their patients had 100% pain relief upon excision of the lipoma(s). I don't want to have surgery again, but if this pain doesn't go away I will. Susan is also frustrated that NONE of her doctors mentioned any of this to her as even a possibility. The way to diagnose it is to inject an anesthetic directly into the lipoma and see if the pain is gone. I hope it solves both our problems. Now, the problem is finding a doctor who doesn't blow us off or refuse the surgery. Apparently, (according to the articles, and forums filled with similar patient's accounts) many doctors are oblivious to back pain being caused by lipoma-creating tears.

I do think I will need physical therapy and learn to use my back correctly, and stretch every morning, but I would like to see a specialist and see about having it removed. Hopefully someone can learn from this blog and avoid unnecessary therapy and tests if they have chronic back pain similar to this. I read many people's frustrated stories having dealt with ignorant and dismissive doctors for 10, even 20 years, only to have the fat hernias removed and be pain-free!