I have been having some back trouble for about three years now. The symptoms change depending on my level of activity (or inactivity). More activity seems to make my back feel "better". I am learning that better is a relative term for me.
I started trying to find out what was wrong about three years ago when I went to this orthopedic doctor. He did lots of x-rays and prescribed physical therapy. This helped. Maybe not from the specific exercises I think it was getting better just based on an increase in activity. The doctor at that time thought it might be ankylosing spondylitis. I thought holy cow man that sounds bad. I guess it really is. If I understand it correctly, your spine gradually fuses together and you can't move it at all. It happens over time so you gradually get more and more immobile. Of course, this is accompanied by a decent amount of pain as well.
After a while the orthopedic guy decided that I should go see a specialist ( I thought he was a specialist) and he recommended that I see a rheumatologist. After I spent a load of money with her she couldn't decide if it was rheumatoid arthritis or A.S. (ankylosing spondylitis). I thought at the time that if I had to chose I would chose the arthritis. I really did not know about this disease either (still am not an expert). She just wanted to keep testing me and I finally bailed on her. I requested my medical records from both doctors and figured I couldn't be much worse off without these guys. I have since read over the notes from the rheumatologist and there was a lot of stuff in there that we never discussed. I mean, she stated in her reports that we had some conversations regarding treatment and the effects of certain medications etc., problem was we never had those conversations. She was just putting that stuff in there to cover her tail in case something went wrong. What a peach of a doctor huh?
I have not gone to a doctor specifically for my back since then (just about 1.5 years). The fundamental of staying active still persists. As long as I keep moving, I seem to be somewhat normal. I mean, I look like an eighty year old man getting out of bed in the mornings and after a long drive. However, I can still do most everything that I want. Funny thing is that cycling doesn't seem to hurt it. You would think that being bent over in that "C" shape for hours on end would absolutely kill me, but it is just the opposite. Cycling seems to keep my spine somewhat loose.
I keep a check on my blood samples for the usual stuff any aging adult should, but I add a test for Rheumatoid factor. Normal is less than 14 and my last test was 27. My symptoms seem to be heading towards rheumatoid arthritis. After doing a decent amount of research online it looks like this is not fun to have either. I am pretty bummed out about it and am not looking forward to going back to the doctor for this problem (another doctor of course). The treatment options look as scary as the disease and I am wondering (seriously) about just keeping my head in the sand and just staying as active as I can. Not sure what to do???? I thought that ALL my aches and pains were just a fact of life and a sign of me getting older. Seems a lot of them are a direct result from this rheumatoid thing.
LUCKY ME!!!
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