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Is it Margie? I've been struggling to work out how to handle my back pain too. In Nov last I sought help from a physiotherapist I once did p/time reception work for. I was weepy about my PD, so when she asked me about my pain PD 'took over' the consultation. Result? She was fazed by it. Said she had no expertise, couldn't really help. But she'd do what she could to give me some relief. In 4 sessions over 6 weeks I got what i call 'sympathetic relief' - it was great at the time of treatment - soothing, relieving. BUt (?? because she approached it as a PD related muscular problem) it did nothing to alleviate the pain in the long term. In the time since then I have come to realise the need to separate out what is/not PD caused/related. So, having thought it all through again, and having moved to a different city to live, I began again with a new physio this week. But this time I laid out the two probable causes - some kind of RSI from too much keyboarding (for which in '89 I'd had a single successful manipulation of my thoracic spine) AND/OR my left-sided PD. This physio approached it as a spinal problem, and gently manipulated the vertebrae in both my lumbar and thoracic spine. The affected thoracic vertebrae were acutely tender - v. painful to bear her firm touch. No pain or tenderness in the lumbar spine (which is making early morning movement difficult). I have had some relief from the thoracic pain already, but lower back is as sore and stiff as ever. So now I'm thinking that the problem in my left upper back is 'occupational' and the lower back pain is probably caused by/related to P'n rigidity. It's taken me months to work this out. But if I hadn't, I'd have gotten no help at all. I go back tomorrow for another treatment and I'm optimistic. They do seem to take notice when you have taken the trouble to nut it out yourself, and to participate in treatment decisions. I'm learning. I hope this is of some help. Will you tell us how Dick gets on? Beth Leslie On Mon, 10 Feb 1997, Dick Swindler wrote: > Barb (Mallut) - You bring up a good point - one which I almost included in my > original response, except that I was holding my 9-month-old grandson on my > lap at the time, and had more help typing than I could cope with. Now that > he's in bed, I'd like to respond more fully to the following point: > > In a message dated 97-01-26 02:49:24 EST, you write: > > >It seems that the MD's I've gone to over the years either blame EVERYTHING > on > >the Parkinson's, or miss the connection by a mile. I know others having > >major > >chronic diseases often run into the same problem with their doctors. Kind > of > >a medical "can't see the forest for the trees" type of situation.... > > Dick has had exactly the same problem, and I'll bet most other "Parkies" have > too. In his case, his tormentor is constant, sometimes incapacitating back > pain. His GP refused to even address it, saying, "It's the Parkinson's." > His neurologist, a highly respected PD specialist, simply said, "It's not > the Parkinson's - you'll have to see your GP." Meanwhile, his back pain > continued unabated, and he felt he had no place to turn. We were hoping > that, if it helped nothing else, the pallidal stimulation would alleviate the > back pain. It actually did for a month (an interesting phenomenon - wish we > understood why) before the pain returned. > > Finally(!!!), last week his GP agreed to send him to the University of Ks Med > Center for an evaluation by a back specialist >