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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. I had to up the ibuprofen today and took 600mg this morning. Haven't taken more yet but it's just been 6 hours. It's really manageable when the meds work but I can tell it's getting more sore.

Appt with Dr. Fisch this week. Seems like many DCUM users like him. I want to start this route first because I want an X-ray. [/quote]

It's up to you OP, but if you have back pain that is unexplained by a mechanical reason, has persisted for more than three months, and improves with movement and worsens with rest, you really should see a rheumatologist and not an orthopedist. Orthopedists tend to deal with pain that worsens with movement and improves with rest. Whom you see should not be decided by whom you think will give you an XRay.

A normal XRay of the spine will not find anything if inflammation is the cause.  If it is inflammatory back pain, a rheumatologist will first do an XRay of the sacroiliac joints using the Ferguson view.  If that is negative (as it usually is when the pain is of relatively recent onset), an MRI using STIR imagery is done.

My DD was repeatedly sent back to the orthopedist for a year and he kept saying it couldn't be anything.  We tried several neurologists because she was having great difficulty walking.  One of them finally sent her to a different orthopedist and that one said she should see a rheumatologist.  The rheumatologist dx'ed her on the spot, doing tests to confirm.

If you want to go ahead with the orthopedist, have him test your C reactive protein, sed rate, and HLA B27.  The first two (and you need both, not just one) are inflammatory markers--if one or both are elevated, it is a good clue that inflammation is the cause of the pain.  The last test is a genetic test for spondyloarthritis--caution, it often is not positive.  Do not permit a doctor to say you can't have spondyloarthritis because the genetic test is negative.[/quote]

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