Back Pain is a Bitch

Okay, so here's what's going on...

Last Wednesday around lunchtime I got a bad headache, the kind that sits in your eye socket and I felt really queasy. This lasted the rest of the day and I went to bed early.

Woke up Thursday feeling ok, but by lunchtime my back was starting to hurt and ended up hurting so bad I left work 2 1/2 hours early. Came home, laid on the couch all night, went to bed early again.

Woke up Friday, back hurting right away. I had to have Les help me put on my socks and shoes because I couldn't bend that far and he also had to help me get in my car. He yelled at me and called me a stubborn Pollack, since obviously I shouldn't be going into work. I went anyway, because I am a stubborn Pollack. Forgot that the train kind of makes jerky motions around the bends, and by the time I got to work, just the lift of the elevator going up made me twinge. Suffered through until lunchtime, when my boss sent me home because she said I had lost all color in my face from the pain.

I went to my chiropractor Friday when I got home from work, felt slightly better, not by much. Thankfully Dana came over and helped me self-medicate until I pretty much passed out on the couch around 4? and slept there until Les got me up to go to bed for the night. I'm glad it was Dana, who has a penchant for the dark side of things, because I think anyone else might have been calling a priest to perform an exorcism on me, when I several times had all-out demonic possession style back spasms that manifested themselves as uncontrollable jerking, flailing, screams/cries/whimpers of pain, and a string of curses. Pretty much everything but the pea soup.

Went back to the chiro Saturday morning, got a GREAT adjustment, felt tons better. Not all better, but much better than I had. The pain was mostly only on one side at that point.

Went to see my primary doctor Saturday afternoon. They looked me over, poked, prodded, and gave me a series of (gentle) kidney punches. The outcome? Double up on the Aleve, take it easy, and follow up with my gynecologist on the fact I hadn't had a period in a year. (more on this later)

I guess I should explain that it was the kind of back pain that lives at the base of your spine, and exhibits itself in horrid sharp spasms of pain whenever you get the slightest bit off center or sometimes just for spite.

Moving on to the factors of the multitude of possible causes....

Possible Factor #1: I had not had a menstrual cycle (aka period) since last February. As in February 2008. That is, I hadn't - until last week. So maybe it's like PMS x12. I'm ridiculously bloated - and not in that "oh I'm a girl and I'm so fat!" way, but seriously - at max bloatage you would think I'm in my second trimester. (No, I'm not. See the fact that I *finally* had a period last week) I was concerned after the first missed cycle... and the second... but decided to chalk it up to pre-marital and work-related stress. I actually saw my gynecologist about six months in, and tried to bring up my concern over this, but unfortunately they were running behind on appointments that day, and I didn't get to see my usual doctor that I ALWAYS see, and the doctor I did see kind of blew me off and didnt' really listen, and basically told me that tons of women would love to not have to worry about their periods. I was so frustrated and exasperated, I figured that I had tried, and would just bring it up again at my next visit. Not sure if this is relevant or not, but for the record, the last time I was there (when the not-my-doctor blew me off) was a 6-month check-up (instead of the usual annual) becuase of the fact that at my last annual exam, my pap test came back abnormal, which meant they did a follow-up colposcopy (if you've never had one, thank your lucky stars) and told me to come back in six.

Possible factor #2: over the years I have been in several moderate car accidents, which caused back trauma, whiplash, etc (hence my having a steady chiropractor) Occasionally, it flares up a bit, although to be honest it hasn't been this bad (and for this long) in quite a while.

Possible factor #3: My mom suggested it might be kidney-related, which I rejected out of hand, telling her emphatically that I *KNOW* what back pain is, and this was it. However, when the doctor was doing the kidney punches, it kind of hurt a little bit on the left side. And since then I've been paying more attention to how much I pee. Which, now that I notice, is more than usual. I don't have trouble going, in fact you could make liberal jokes about I.P. Freely, but still... I have had a Urinary Tract Infection twice before, and an unconfirmed small kidney stone a couple of years ago. (I peed, saw blood, heard a "plink", but by the time I got a doctor appt, they could confirm nothing) Also, I have been drinking a lot more coffee since I started the new job. I have become a Dunkin' addict. So I've been having 1-2 large cups of coffee, and a soda with lunch. Caffeine, caffeine, caffeine.

So when I explained all this to my primary doctor... well first off, she looked horrified when I told her about not having a period for a year. She started flipping through my chart and asked if I had told them that before. I told her what had happened at the other doctor. She looked genuinely concerned, but when I told her that I had an appointment this Thursday (with my normal GYN), she told me to follow up with them and let her know what happens. She said with all the factors I threw at her, I had so much going on, that it was probably best to address one thing at a time, starting with why my cycle was all buggered up. But in the meantime, she asked if I was taking anything for the back pain. I told her Aleve (I didn't want to mention that I had tried taking the muscle relaxers and analegesics they had prescribed after my last car accident, but they were from September '07, and didn't seem to do any good, at which point I switched to Aleve). She asked if it was helping, and I said (honestly) not really. She offered a script, but I am always paranoid that doctors will think I'm fishing for prescriptions, so unless I really really need it, I try to do without. So she said to just double up on the recommended dose of Aleve, which is basically Rx-strength anyway.

After that, I spent the majority of the weekend sleeping - either on the couch or in bed. I went to work today - got in early in fact, since I woke up at 5 am (an hour before my alarm) because, duh, I had to pee. Made it through the whole day, but was moderately uncomfortable all day. Only a handful of the strong, sharp spastic pains, mostly just a more general discomfort and pain. That's where I'm at at this point, just waiting it out until Thursday, to see what my other doctor has to say....

In the meantime, I am tired, slightly irritable, definitely emotional, in varying states of pain and/or discomfort, and wishing for the days when I don't have to wonder if getting up out of my chair is going to set off a Turret's Syndrome-worthy string of expletives in a work setting.