ups and downs of symptoms/pain
 

Is it normal to have quite big swings in symptoms over a few week period? Two weeks ago I felt terrible with all sorts of stuff going on. Now for the past few days I've felt almost normal for the first time in months.

Is this typical?

Also I read something the other day about annular tearing in discs and chemicals getting released from the healing/inflammation process that can then irritate nerves etc. Then when the tears heal, the inflammation stops and the nerve symptoms settle down - could this possibly explain ups and downs in symptoms?

ups and downs of symptoms
 

edited as necessary

Thanks for the reply Maria. Although you sound like you're in a much much worse way than me the thought processes we're going through might be similar.

Speaking to the nurse that works with a local surgeon who's been helping me, she said its very normal for people to suddenly feel ok on the day they fill in the hospital admission forms etc.

This nurse told me about a lady that had waited two years for a govt funded surgery but changed her mind on the day of filling in the paperwork, but then two months later was begging to be put back on.

She also showed me a graph that a Dr did of his own back pain over a 2 year period and how it went up and down over the weeks but slowly got worse overall. So I guess feeling like you're better and questioning why you're doing it might be a normal thing before surgery.

symptoms
 

Rob,
I've not felt this consistantly better in the last 20 plus years. I've had some flare ups but they are limited in number and very short lived.

Of course I'm also medicated with Methadone at a low daily dose and Neurontin so I'm pretty sure that is making all the diff in the world.

But still, this is THE FIRST TIME I've been able to walk daily for pretty decent walks and I'm walking strong now, not lagging behind or whining about my back pain...

I'd like to cut off a few toes on my left foot that's driving me kinda nutz~

well its good that things are going so well thats for sure.

Hi Rob,
My symptoms don't seem to be as bad as yours but they do fluctuate. You know about caffeine - and by the way, you said you drink tea, did you know it is full of caffeine if it's not herbal? Maybe you should try cutting it out for a while. Then there's cold, which probably isn't an issue with you, and here's the one I can't figure out - sitting on a wooden bench for a while, as in lunch or watching sports! I think it must be that it doesn't allow enough movement in the lower spine and things stiffen up. I still think you might give aquacize a try. I swear it helps. Stress is also hard on the spinal cord - if the theory is to be believed, stress causes the production excess cortisol which can affect the nerves like caffeine.

I think keeping track is a great idea. That way you can determine if there really is progression or if it's simply a fluctuation with a possibly explainable cause.

I'm getting pretty confused about the fluctuations. I'll take on board what you say in relation to caffeine and see if that makes a difference - though I don't think this is the cause. When everythings flared up then sitting at a desk causes all sorts of stuff to go on and my legs feel very strange, the tingling is very intense and lately includes pins/needles in arms and legs, and a bone aching sort of pain in the legs. I've also been getting strong tingling/mild numbness from time to time in the legs. Plus the fumbling/clumsiness of the fingers is quite noticeable when it flares up.

But its doing my head in at the moment how it can go from being so bad a week or so ago to almost gone the past few days.

I'm pretty sure heavy lifting and activity does aggravate it - seems that whenever I do any really vigorous activity (rowing, swinging my daughter around, carrying stuff about etc.) then a few days later its no good.

I'm thinking this idea of local inflammation that occurs as part of the healing process for small tears in the discs, which then produces chemicals that irritate the nerve roots and spinal cords is possibly making sense. This could explain why it flares up - and when flared up movement etc. irritates it - then if the small damage heals it can be ok for a while, but then flare up again.

sitting, lifting, awkard movements w/bending
 

edited as necessary