Beating back pain

[Sandiego619]

I'm new to this site but have been through an amazing emotional roller coaster due to this affliction. Initially it struck when my stress was at its highest and I was clueless as to what was going on . My GP (Dr. Gary Boone) initially diagnosed me with Reiters syndrome and with my previous anxiety prone lifestyle, that sent me into a tailspin of negative emotion (my life is over etc). This was shortly followed by suicidal thoughts and truthfully the only thing that kept me alive was my little girl. I'm still a little bitter about his nonchalant way of saying "you have Reiters but there are ways of dealing with it." So insensitive to the suffering of patients.

Fast forward.... I've gone through most medical and holistic treatments mentioned in other threads at my own expense: acupuncture, urologist (Dr. Bastuba) who prescribed various antibiotics for a year which did ample damage to my joints. He was also blown away when I started improving on my own with the help of literature (HITP) and called his associate in to listen to only scoff at my revelations.

I've done Vitamins, probiotics, alcohol free diet, herbals, teas, juicing, weekly massage, weekly chiropractor , yoga, daily stretching, meditation, Theracane and, prostate massage, and physical therapy through San Diego sexual medicine Debbie Cohen PT. I don't feel she truly was of much help other than doing biofeedback and teaching me what my pelvic floor at rest feels like. Skin rolling may have helped but she didn't educate me on trigger points which I recently purchased a book recommended on this site to further learn this.

Now my question: I can exhaustively control my pelvic floor most of the time now, and remind myself to stay relaxed and calm (most of the time) but the one issue that plagues me and is still my Achilles heal is the back pain. It started in the lower back and was at one time a 7-8 on the pain scale but is now down to 1-2 but as an added bonus it radiated to my sub scapulas on both sides with a little tension in my upper traps. I do constant rolling with a lacrosse ball to break the tissue up as well as meditate most days when I have time and daily stretching where I use wrist straps and hand from a pull up bar but I feel this is the last hurdle to getting me to that 95% mark. Any advice is greatly appreciated . I've been searching but have not located any trigger points.

[Caedar]

Do you work sitting at a desk? Have you tried a standing desk?

[Sandiego619]

I work in a vehicle most often times. Tried a donut as well which seems to take some pressure off.

[webslave]

If you are obese, lose weight. Obesity can cause a lot of back pain

For back pain control, try ice packs (works for me)
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8015

[Sandiego619]

I'll definitely give it a try then as well as the coccyx cushion instead of a donut. I personally don't think I have this condition quite to the same level as others explain it, but I have my good days and my bad days. The back pain between the shoulder blades and lower right rib are the most bothersome. If it were not for those issues I could nearly put this to the back of my mind. I am not at all out of shape and an avid Jiu Jitsu practitioner which I believe helped me through the first year instead of wallowing in my own self pity. I do have to admit though that living with this for the rest of my life is a bit dis-heartening. I would love for this to be gone but even a 99% recovery with zero back pain would be the same. I can also live with having to stretch daily by telling myself its good for me no matter what. I'll keep working on the back issue and hopefully I can resolve it. It came on abruptly last march which was almost a year after initial onset of symptoms. I figured out (by accident) reversing and not tensing the pelvic floor one day removed most of the groin pain. Since then I have learned far more than I would prefer to know about this area of the body. I'll your suggestion a try and report back results.

[webslave]

May be worth having some tests for ankylosing spondylitis (MRI, blood test for HLA-B27 gene, etc), which sometimes presents with low back pain that spreads up the spine, sometimes accompanied by uveitis (eye inflammation) and prostatitis.

[Sandiego619]

Ice on pelvic floor and tail bone and seemed to alleviate some of the tenderness. I persistently stretch every day which keeps everything loose. My pain between the shoulder blades has lessened significantly and yesterday I had an amazing pain free day. Today unfortunately I was required to sit most of the day and I am paying for it right now. I'll look into your recommendation. One day at a time and each better than the previous