Good Morning All
I was walking back to my desk with the morning coffee’s and suddenly I had this really weird pain which instantly caused me to collapse on to my knee’s . Now I have a really dull, stiff pain in my lower back, which gets worse when I try to get up . Do you think this is MS related or something different ?
Thanks
Ant
Hi Ant,
MS commonly causes weak core muscles, which in turn can lead to back trouble.
In this case it may be that you have actually injured your back, but that it was indirectly caused by MS, because it wouldn’t have happened if your muscles were supporting your back better.
I “put my back out” badly on average once or twice a year. When it’s really bad, I can hardly move, and am scared to cough or sneeze.
Once I’ve done it, it’s usually like it for at least a week to ten days, and I have to take strong painkillers, and be very, very careful.
The GP sometimes asks me if I think it’s a relapse - I tell her no, I think it’s a straightforward injury - but obviously she knows I don’t have normal muscle strength, which makes injuries more likely.
Tina
Hi Tina
Thanks for coming back to me . I am too scared to sit still or lie down for too long as it feels that it may just lock up . Trying some Ibruprofen now and waiting for a call back from my nurse !
Thanks again .
If it’s really bad, you may need something stronger like codeine, as well.
I’m lucky, and have these on repeat prescription anyway, so I don’t have to get in touch with anyone specially, every time it happens.
I’ve got ibuprofen, paracetamol and codeine all on repeat. Although I don’t routinely take all of them (the whole point was to be able to mix it up a bit, so I’m not on one thing continuously), I do take all to the maximum allowed when I’ve done my back.
Of course, this means I need the repeats sooner than usual, so I usually just add a note for the doctor: “Don’t worry - I’ve not suddenly become addicted - I’ve just done my back again!”
She knows this happens to me from time to time, and that I’ll get through painkillers at a much faster rate until it heals.
Tina
See I have never had this happen before, so I want to try and distinguish if it is MS related all just done my back in ! I was only diagnosed about 2 months ago . I was only carrying 2 cups of coffee so not like I was straining myself . Horrible feeling, and if it is MS related then just another symtom I have to get used to I guess.
Like I said, you probably have weak muscles, so there might not be a nice definite yes or no answer about whether it’s MS-related.
Yes in the sense that weak muscles would increase the chances of putting your back out - even without undue exertion. No in the sense that healthy people also often put their backs out, so it’s not something that’s only caused by MS - it just might increase your risks.
My mum, who doesn’t have MS, has put her back out leaning slightly forward over the sink to brush her teeth, before, so it needn’t always be caused by heavy lifting, even in healthy people. It might be something you do every day, that you just somehow did at a slightly awkward angle. If the weakness is there, it doesn’t take much to set it off.
You maybe stooped slightly as you tried to balance the coffees, or something like that. You don’t have to have been weightlifting!
Tina