Another distressing update after a long absence (which means another really long post). This one has to do with ruptured discs in my lower back. Basically I have several things that could be contributing to incontinence but I've yet to find any hard, definitive reason.
First, I've been dealing with the stricture with daily (or twice daily) stretching. It's painful every time, but it does help. I am able to void without much straining, though I still dribble and I still have frequency and urgency.
I have also been dealing with lower back pain. It has gotten worse as of late, though the symptoms have been recurring and intermittent since my early teens (no, I never went to a doctor for it).
The lower back pain and leg symptoms have slowly become worse over the years, with longer lasting, more painful, and more frequent episodes. About 2 years after starting a desk job, I was in a lot of constant lower back pain. It was difficult to stand straight and walk and the bottoms of my feet were intermittently either hypersensitive or numb. I was getting 'shocks' of pain in my thigh, making the leg temporarily give out.
My GP referred me to a physical therapist. She twisted me this way and that, pushed on my spine, and concluded that my bones seemed ok and my muscles were fine, it was the spinal cord binding in my lower back. She said the muscle stretches I was doing for my lower back were actually hurting me, because nerves don't stretch and I was pulling on them. She gave me core and nerve flossing exercises and sent me on my way. These exercises, along with tweaking the ergonomics at my desk, mostly helped and the symptoms abated.
Life went on for a couple years, still with intermittent pain and nerve oddness, but tolerable. Three months ago I switched from a desk job to a physical job on a bridge construction site. I don't need to do much heavy lifting, but the job is physical. I walk 5 miles daily, do anywhere from 24-48 flights of stairs daily, climb ladders, contort my body to crawl through confined spaces, and am generally active for 10-12 hours plus 2 hours of commuting daily, 5 or (lately) 6 days per week.
At first I felt great and figured time away from the desk was just what I needed. In the last month however, my lower back and leg pain have returned full force. It's less intermittent and more constant. I feel a pulling in my back as I'm doing all the above activities; it feels like a warning. We're so busy at work that I don't have time to worry about it. (Small aside complaint, it was so busy last week I had to forego lunch every day and did not have opportunity to change. I twice left the bridge with urine soaked to my knees--I only wear black pants and nobody commented). I could not stand, walk or climb without back and leg pain; I could not sit without pain either, making the commute agony. I have spent the past month returning home from work able to bear little more than laying flat on my back until morning.
The pain got so bad that I made an appointment on Monday for this Friday afternoon, upon hearing we would get out of work early Friday. My intent was to bring this up to my GP and get a referral, along with taking care of a few other things (blood tests before prescription refill) I haven't been able to get done lately.
Late Monday night, I was woken up by a rainstorm and realized I had left my truck windows open. I went outside to close them, got soaked, and slipped going up the tile steps in the entry. I didn't fall but in my efforts to avoid a fall, I wrenched my back doing a 180 twist back off the steps. I realized this was a mistake immediately. I was in screaming pain and I went numb in new places (buttocks down to tail bone on the skin, and in the genital region). My fiancé heard and took me back to bed. I laid awake worrying until I fell asleep. I tried to go to work the next morning, but found the pain hadn't improved and I couldn't even put socks on. I called into work (they weren't happy) and my fiancé drove me to the ER.
I was admitted, though the receiving nurse was convinced I had only pulled a muscle and said all I needed to do to avoid this in the future was do stretches before work. I still look very young (under 18 or barely over) and I sometimes wonder if this is why I'm so quickly dismissed as a 'non-case' in a doctors office.
Thankfully the ER doctor was more willing to listen to my constellation of pain/numbness symptoms and ordered an MRI. The MRI revealed herniated discs at L4-5 and L5-S1 with a tear at L4-5 and nerve impingement at S1 and L5. The scan also revealed evidence of degenerative disc disease in my lower back that has apparently been ongoing for quite awhile; the doctor also mentioned the beginnings of osteoarthritis (it runs in the family). They noted that I do NOT have cauda equine syndrome (thankfully) and that my incontinence must be caused by something else. I also have a cyst on my bladder (wtf?) that I should get checked out.
I had an appointment with a neurosurgeon this morning who confirmed the above. He does not recommend surgery in this case and stated that I could return to work as soon as I'm able--from his standpoint, today if I wanted. I asked if I would damage myself further if I went back to a highly physical job and he simply stated that I should preferably start with desk work (which I don't have right now). On my way out the door, he commented that I'm way too young to be having these problems. I wonder if that was an expression of condolence or a statement that he doesn't believe things are as bad as I'm saying.
I'm supposed to get a call tomorrow to make an appointment to start physical therapy, with the intent of strengthening my core to take some of the load off of my weak spine. I'm also on prednisone for the next few days to shrink the bulging discs. As of right now, I'm not able to stand or sit without pain for more than a few minutes at a time, so I'm wondering how I can even manage going back to work. It bothers me to not go back since the doctor apparently gave me the go-ahead. I think the workaholic culture has gotten to me.
A few lingering thoughts--after looking at spine diagrams, it appears that nerves at L5 are responsible for the legs and nerves at S1 are for bladder and bowels. I have nerve impingement at L5 and definitely have leg symptoms; I have nerve impingement at S1, so how can the bladder and occasional bowel issues not be at least partially attributed to that? I wasn't hoping for any new damage, obviously, but I was hoping for something to partially explain my longstanding control issues. I'm a little frustrated by that.
So for now, I'm here flat on my back waiting to heal and feeling guilt on whether I should report for work tomorrow or not. I additionally have a ton of work to do around the house (finish building the patio and retaining walls I started, build a shed) that I wanted to accomplish this summer. Sedentary and useless is a terrible way to be burning PTO but I'm now terrified of making myself worse. Apparently all it takes is twisting the wrong way.
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