Don't trust a chiro. There are good ones out there bad there are far more bad ones. Work with the soft tissue before you start screwing around with the structure. You'll be surprised what a good physiotherapist can do for you. Bonus... if you get referred by a specialist any good insurance should cover it... or some of it.

Also put some pineapple on your grocery list. It has an enzyme called bromelain (sp) that is supposedly a natural anti inflammatory. You call also pick up an extrat version at most health food stores and pharmacies.

Good luck, dude. I live with this hell every day. It ain't fun. Cheers.

Beepster

Also put some pineapple on your grocery list. It has an enzyme called bromelain (sp) that is supposedly a natural anti inflammatory. You call also pick up an extrat version at most health food stores and pharmacies.

A lot of turmeric supplements are paired with bromelain these days because they have found that they strongly compliment each other. Bromelain is also good for dissolving scar tissue on tendons, good if you suffer from anything like tennis elbow. It's also very good at breaking down protein, good to eat after a meal anyway. 


I'm not really sure about the effectiveness of turmeric in extract form versus spice form, although I suspect the extract that you get in pill form is a lot more concentrated. It can be pricey though. Jarrow Formulas do a good one. 


Another thing that might work is a magnesium drink called Natural Calm, it has fantastic anti-stress and relaxation properties and might just take the edge off, especially at night. 

Keep us posted. I hope all goes well. I'm not sure if you are having nerve pain (right on the spine or shooting pains) or if you're having muscle pain. If you're having muscle pain, regular massage therapy can really help. My wife gets muscle spasms from stress and desk work. If she gets a massage bi-weekly she is MUCH better. She does the hour and a half massage when she does it.
I have had good results from chiropractic if my shoulders get messed up. IT seems to help with muscle pain but for nerve pain... nothing but meds have helped me.
Also my wife has literally no disk left between her bottom two vertibrae. The doctor looked at her MRI and told her she shouldn't be able to get out of bed, but somehow it isn't pressing on a nerve except for now and then when it does. A few months ago she did something and it started to hurt with sciatica shooting down her leg. She was really a mess. She made an appointment with a new doctor at the same center I use. He just came over from Emory and is very good. He put her under the flouroscope and gave her an epidural. He hit exactly the right sopt and the novacaine gave her immediate complete relief, then the steroid took over and she was completely over it in a couple of days... I wish it was that easy for me. Epidurals really help some people with nerve pain. They also have something called a "radio frequency treatment". They identify the nerve that is giving the pain and use radio frequencies to burn the nerve away. It will grow back but sometimes it grows back slightly different and is no longer a problem.
So massage, chiropractic, epidurals, or RFT could be an answer but according to what sort of pain you are having. Also, nerve pain can cause muscle pain because you may "favor" one side or the other because of the pain in the spine. Does it hurt right on the spine in a spot or is it just the muscles that hurt? You could just be having muscle spasms but I doubt it. You need the MRI but you can also get someone to slowly move down your spine, right on the vertibrae and press. See if they hit a spot or spots where it hurts. If it does, you have a disk problem and nerve pain. If it is just swollen muscles that hurt in your shoulder and neck or in your lower back it could just be muscle spasms but like I said, a spine problem can cause muscle spasms.. so see if the spine bones or disks are tender anywhere... if not, I would go full bore for PT and massage and muscle relaxers.
Bottom line, it is your body and you need to educate yourself and have a say in your treatment.

The best for you!

Julien

Inversion table Bit. 15 minutes a day at 45 degrees.

Inversion Table Bit. 15 minutes a day at 45 degrees.

Could also be piriformis related - people often get it mixed up with sciatica. 

I gotta look into the inversion table. You got one, Craig?

Still trying to schedule an MRI. They won't schedule me until I can identify the make, model and location of each of the three stents I have in my heart. I have a team of crack medical records staff working on it. They said 4-5 days. So I might have a plan in another week or so. OTOH, I might just get lucky and wake up tomorrow feeling all better.

bitflipper


I gotta look into the inversion table. You got one, Craig?

Still trying to schedule an MRI. They won't schedule me until I can identify the make, model and location of each of the three stents I have in my heart. I have a team of crack medical records staff working on it. They said 4-5 days. So I might have a plan in another week or so. OTOH, I might just get lucky and wake up tomorrow feeling all better.

I do have one Bit. I use it. I've come home limping and 15 minutes later walked away not limping. I came home so kinked one day I could barely kick the clutch on the way home. I got on the inversion table, eased it back to 45 degrees, about five minutes into it, my lower back made a sound I could not re-create. Snap , crackle and pop. Several things happen on the inversion table. Your spine and the muscles there elongate, the blood flows into your spine and brain, your discs inflate when the joints elongate, the muscles totally re-adjust what tension they are in. That last part is the kicker and the reason for 15 minutes. Any longer than that and you may begin to have strange dreams from the blood flowing to your brain.