At 08:18 AM 8/25/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Well, on day 5 now of this nagging back ache ... been taking back pills to
>eleviate the pain during the day. Probably should go to the on-campus
>health clinic and have a doctor look at it ....
After all of my bad experiences with doctors, I'm usually the *last* person
to say this, but yes, I think that you should go see the doctor. When pain
goes on for more than a couple of days, it's always best to rule out
anything major. For one thing, the stress of not knowing why you're hurting
usually ends up in a person's back (since that's where most of us hold our
stress) so just the process of getting a doc to poke at you (and maybe take
an x-ray) should lessen the pain a bit. And besides, those back pills will
kill ya -- they're really bad for you.
What part of the back is hurting? Lower, upper? Lower back could be from
something internal, like your appendix. Another good reason to see a
doctor, since you could be taking back pain pills when it isn't even your
back that's the problem. I also get backaches from bad bouts of Asthma, and
the back pain goes away once I get the Asthma under control.
Are you using heat and cold? When I got a bad case of "mouse-shoulder"
(bursitis from reaching to grab the mouse) I was told to use cold to bring
down the swelling. Heat feels better, so my natural tendency was to use
heat to make my shoulder feel better, but icing is actually a better tool.
You might want to alternate a heating pad with a cold pack (20 minutes on
one, 20 off, 20 minutes on the other) to see if that helps.
>Knowing my luck though, he will probably say "We need to remove your
>spinal cord and replace it with a new one."
*snicker* I still remember quite vividly complaining to my older brother
about having a stopped up nose. I was quite young and gullible at the time,
and he couldn't resist. His response (totally deadpan) was to tell me to
stop breathing and then it wouldn't bother me. I tried for a few minutes
(told you I was gullible!) before realizing he was being a brat. Hopefully
your campus doc will be a bit more helpful!
>Lousy timing ... class just started last week here.
Hmmmm...bad chairs? I'd definitely look into both your sleeping and sitting
situations, since they could be adding to the pain. My mother in law once
had to get a new mattress because hers was putting some weird pressure on
her spine and causing pain in her legs.
Let us know how you're doing, Chad, and try to get off those back pills ASAP!
--Tamra
(not a real doctor, but I dated one once!)
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