Quote:
Originally Posted by Desinie
I've been having mid back pain for awhile now and pain right on my mid spine. It's gotten worse the past few days after being awake for a short while. It now also involves the burning nerve pain I get in my feet and other places at times and increased spasticity in my back.
.... I requested more than once an MRI of my spine, mostly because I've never had an MRI of my spine ever and the back pain I get. He flat out told me, " You don't need an MRI of your spine." I had a MRI of my brain in May and there were no enhancing lesions. I've been on Copaxone since October of 1999. ( one month after my official diagnosis)
Anyhow, my question is, Do you all think that my increase in back pain and burning pain is a lesion on my spinal cord flaring up? Tips on what I can do to be more comfortable? I'm taking 800mg of Ibuprofen and it helps some.
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I think the way I would first try to approach this, is to ask for an xray to see if there is something wrong. Surely he can't deny you that . . .?
If nothing/something shows up there, how about trying physiotherapy or massages by a place that is EXPERIENCED in dealing with MS. We have a free clinic here for MS massages, and most of our "other" licensed massage therapy personnel have to do practicum time at the free clinic to ensure they know how to manipulate someone with MS. This is important.
Spinal lesions are sneaky on a MRI. If they are small, they often don't even show up. If they are big, you KNOW it . . . cause they most often wreak havoc in many obvious ways. Knowing whether you have spinal lesions or not is not going to change anything anyway. You either do or don't, and there is no drug you can take that helps spinal lesions in any significant way anyway. Either way, whether you know you have them or not, they need to be careful when messing around with your back . . .
I have had back pain that is caused from my spinal lesions, and I know this only because the pain from them comes on/goes away just like any other MS attack symptoms. Also, I had xrays and underwent treatments that did not help in the slightest.
I have actually had MS "attacks", where the only symptom was this unrelenting "spinal headache" that radiated from my upper spinal cord. The feeling is fairly distinct, and the only thing that helped was doing NOTHING (laying down) most of the day. In every instance, the pain let up (like a light switch) when the inflammation did.
Good luck!
Cherie
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