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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’ve currently thrown out my back. I’m nearly completely bedridden and have been for about 2.5 weeks. For the first two weeks, I could only sit or stand for about 10 mins at a time and that was very painful. Now I can stand and walk around with minimal pain for about 45 mins (sitting is still painful).bI can’t lift anything. It’s getting better with intensive physical therapy, but I’ve got probably 1 more week until I’m at my usual mobility, and I won’t be able to lift heavy things for probably another 2-4 weeks after that.

It’s terrible.

My kids are 1 and 2.5. I cannot hold them, get them in or out of their cribs or high chair/boosters, change them, give the baby a bottle, even really watch them (they move too fast and I can’t turn my neck quickly). My husband is doing EVERYTHING. All childcare, laundry, cooking, pet care, cleaning, etc, etc. plus some caretaking of me (though I can mostly take care of myself, at least). We have asked the nanny to come early/stay late once or twice, but we don’t have the money to pay for any significant overtime.

I can at least snuggle with my older kid, and read to him, because he understands he needs to be careful with me, and I can of course talk to him, but  can’t even do that with the baby, so we’re completely disconnected.

Honestly, it’s nearly breaking us. My husband is so burned out, and my mental health is plummeting. [/quote]

Ugh, I am so sorry PP. I threw out my back when my kid was four and it was an incredibly difficult several months. A little easier for me than for you because she was old enough to walk and was in school, but I remember feeling so helpless and limited and struggling just to get through the day.

Have you been to an ortho or started PT? I would really, really encourage you to make appointments today if you haven't. I put it off for a bit because (1) I'd thrown out my back before and it recovered eventually so I figured this would be the same, and (2) I was scared that they'd scan my back and tell me I needed surgery.

But I was wrong. When my back was still painful a full 6 weeks later, I went to the ortho and they gave me steroids that started relieving the pain immediately. I then moved to an anti-inflammatory that kept me more mobile. I went to PT daily for two weeks and then twice a week for the next four weeks. I did strengthening exercises, they walked me through alignment issues, and they gave me a set of exercises I could do at home. They also did several chiropractic adjustments which helped tremendously - I think the combination of the medication and the adjustments have had the longest impact on making me feel better.

It's been almost a year and I'm feeling so good. If this happens again, I'll be at the doctor at the first available appointment. But I actually think it's much less likely to happen anytime soon because I've kept up with my PT (which is essentially yoga/barre and actually my PT told me that a regular barre class will address most of PT issues) and I take the anti-inflammatory anytime I get pain that makes me feel like I can't exercise. One of the biggest things I learned is that movement is the BEST thing for most back injuries, so the goal should pretty much always be to get yourself comfortable to move (safely, without overdoing it -- I still don't run like I used to and probably need additional PT to get myself to that point).[/quote]

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