Sacroiliac Joint Pain - Anyone?

by Lozhasleft 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  Lozhasleft

  About ten days ago this pain started...kind of around my hip bone then gradually increasing around my back and down my groin. I managed to see a Dr last Thursday and although I had no urinary symptoms I thought it was something to do with my kidney. By then it was becoming unbearable and strong analgesics and anti inflammatories weren't touching it.

  The Dr disagreed and said 'I think this is the Sacroiliac Joint'. He prescribed Naproxen. Since then it has got progressively even worse. Walking, sitting, lying down is just agony. The Naproxen seem to take the edge off it but thats all.

  Today I've spent most of the day in bed trying to find a position that brings some relief. The pain now seems to be accross my whole 'girdle' around my back. I plan to go back to the Dr tomorrow because I am in my final year of my degree as a mature student and am unable to function with this pain, so am hoping he can help somehow.

  Does anyone have any experience of this? I dont recall any particular trauma that may have caused it, not really. Is there any treatment I might ask for? Any tips for easing the pain? Anything?

  Sorry to be moaning guys but I would appreciate any knowledge/advice that anyone can offer please?

  Loz x
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  Lozhasleft

  bump?
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  Band on the Run

  Is this sciata? I suffered agonizing pain. It is important to stay with each health professional long enough to give treatment a fair trial. Any medications need to receive enough trial at a high enough dose so they can be excluded in the future. My biggest problem was knowing when to move on to another doctor. I was fortunate to live in NY where specialists are plentiful. Where I now live, specialists are very hard to find.

  I've thought of writing a book concerning this problem. TRust your gut feeling. Right now I am stricken with minor TMJ. The doctor gets wealthier by your continuing affliction. Work, school, relationship, your own sense of worth are severely threatened by chronic pain. Be aggressive without blindly jumping around.

  If you have access to a medical data bank, research your problem. It helps you to understand treatment options, what is normal to expect from a medical doctor, and who the prominent doctors are in the field. I was clearly dying. It seemed such a loss so I went to a medical bookstore and a major research library and did my own research. One paragraph in one article vividly described my problem. I found out hope existed. It required much travel but I sought out the researchers. I am only alive today b/c I did so.

  Harvard told me I was hopeless as did every teaching hospital in NYC and a few in San Francisco. I've been completely out of pain for more than ten years now.
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  Lozhasleft

  Thats encouraging BOTR...no its not sciatica...that seems to be disc related? This is the joint between spine/hips/pelvis. Here in UK we have free NHS but knowing what to ask for and what is needed is a bloody dilemma, to say the least.

  Loz x
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  FlyingHighNow

  My brother has a permanent injury/separation of his sacroiliac joint. He is in horrible pain all the time. It was not caught early after he injured it. He was a nursing student at the time. He was working in a restaurant kitchen, while carrying a 60 lb box. He slipped and sat down with the box still in his arms. It separated his tailbone from his pelvis. He didn't know and it healed with a gap in between the natural sutures, so there is grinding of the sutures when he moves to do anything.
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  Finally-Free

  I've been living with back pain for the last 35 years. It may be this, or it may be a disc problem as some chiropractors have told me. It started when I was 19. I've been to numerous doctors and chiropractors over the years. The most any doctor ever did was give me an x-ray, tell me that I was ok because my back wasn't broken, and tell me that I should stop making these things up just to get attention. A few suggested psychiactric help. Gotta love health care in Ontario.

  I suppose it isn't much help that I don't usually see a doctor immediately when I have a flare up, but a typical flare up usually renders me incapable of dressing myself for 2-3 days. I really don't want to sit in a waiting room wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Luckily, I have a friend who comes over to help me out when I have the bad flare ups.

  For me, chiropractors have been a bit more helpful and can usually get me functional within a week of visiting them. I also have a friend who gets me naproxen when I need it. Like you said, it only takes the edge off the pain, and I only take it when the pain is really bad. I found it loses its effectiveness if I use it too often.

  I don't do anything remarkable to trigger the flare ups. It can come on suddenly for no apparent reason, while I'm doing something as simple as flipping an omlette or opening the dishwasher. Interestingly, heavy lifting has never set it off.

  W
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  tenyearsafter

  I don't know how many tests (ie: MRI, xray, etc.) you have had, but typically sciatic pain manifests itself by local pain in the buttocks, often radiating down the back of the leg. The lack of relief you are experiencing with position changes or analgesics does smack of nerve type pain, perhaps a disc herniation or muscle spasm impinging a nerve. I would make sure to get an MRI if insurance covers, and that can confirm this type of injury.

  I had similar complaints earlier this year, and given that I had a history of back problems, I assumed I had sciatica inflammation again. When it got worse, I went to a neurosurgeon and he informed me the problem wasn't my back but rather my hip. I mention this because you said you had groin pain, and that is a very common pain complaint with degenerative arthritis in the hip. I ended up having my hip replaced in September, and I am good as new...back to full activity!

  Whatever your problem ends up being, I wish you relief with your discomfort...I hope it is short-lived and easily remedied!
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  blondie

  I have this kind of pain due to several skiing accidents...broke my tail bone several times.

  Now when it gets bad I have facet injections in the area. A radiologist has to do it. Some lidocaine in the location after he/she finds it with the x-ray machine and then watches and positions the needle and places the cortisone.

  http://www.txortho.com/tabid/20781/mid/38819/ContentPubID/499/ContentClassificationGroupID/-1/Default.aspx
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  oompa

  the very best i think you can do is buy an inversion table and hang your ass upside down...in ten minutes you may have amazing relief....i mean...kaboom...way better than my chiropractor...only a hundred bucks at a used store

  and also learn a good piriformis stretch...on back leg laid over and very contorted unfortunatly...it tugs on your sacrum...painful lil bugger...and yes get a massage focusing on all that lower stuff....oomps
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  Jadeen

  You might need SI joint pain injections. Just like Blondie described. Your doctor might also prescribe physical therapy for you, which the pain injections will help to knock the pain back enough for you to actually do physical therapy.