Still can't accept it

[ta0271]

I apologize in advance if this post is long, it helps me just to vent.

I've posted on here a few times regarding lower back pain. I've had it for 3 months now and it is getting progressively worse. I'm convinced it's due to Ankylosing Spondylosis, which is basically Rheumatoid Arthritis of your SI joints. Despite reassurance from my GP, she sent me to a rheumatologist for further reassurance, who I saw yesterday. She essentially said the same thing - that it sounds like muscular pain, because AS would cause "morning stiffness" where I wouldn't be able to move my back much for like an hour after waking up. But I do have a significant amount of pain when I move my back after waking up, and I keep worrying that it will continue to progress until I'm as bad as she described.

I've been told by my GP, and by some of you on here, that your anxiety causing muscle tension can cause your back to hurt. I know it's one of the most common symptoms of anxiety. But I just have a hard time believing my specific pain is due to anxiety for a few reasons:

1. It's constant - any time from when I wake up to when I go to sleep that I bend too far forward or backward, or sit for too long, it starts hurting. I would assume that anxiety pain would come and go as my stress got better or worse, but this has just continually gotten worse.

2. I'm having other symptoms of AS that I don't think are due to anxiety. My heels are always hurting, and it switches between heels and where on them it hurts, regardless of any recent activity or only wearing comfortable shoes.

3. I've been stretching and doing core exercises for weeks that are supposed to help with lower back pain caused by musculoskeletal problems and haven't seen any improvement. If anything, the pain has gotten worse.

Honestly, I'm just frustrated with myself at this point. I know that anxiety always makes you feel like it can;t possibly be the cause of your physical symptoms when it really is, but this time just feels different. This has been 3 months of unrelenting pain. Not a day goes by that I'm not constantly reminded of it every time I sit down for too long or bend forward. Yet I've been reassured by 2 doctors now that they're not concerned, and I feel more worried than ever.

I guess I don't really know what my question is. It helps a little to vent but I'm still so worried. Has anyone had muscular pain from anxiety that has been constant for months at a time, without coming or going? Has anyone had success with stretching and strengthening for back pain? And how long did it take for you to see results?

Thank you for anyone who takes the time to read all this.

[pablo0977]

The mind's ability to focus and amplify symptoms is amazing. For the sake of experiment I actually made my right arm ache once, or I focused so intently that I was able to magnify a minute pain response. Remember our brains are receiving thousand of signals at any given time. If you focus I firmly believe you can prioritize certain messages and amplify or exacerbate them.

[Catherine S]

Two years ago I damaged the muscles across the middle of my back on both sides of my spine. I was in alot of pain and taking alot of painkillers and had to find the best positions when sitting down or lying in bed...if i slept for a few hours the muscles would sieze up and trying to get out of the bed brought me to tears with the pain. It took about 8 weeks for that intense pain to ease off. The muscles recovered well as muscles do in time, however...it's remained a sort of weak spot, and if I've been walking for a while those muscles still do complain even now two years later.

I don't know if it will always be a weak spot or if those muscles will eventually completely heal, but my point is that muscles, especially back muscles that support the spine, need good posture and need to be strong. Anything less will prolong their recovery. Please believe that your back pain is muscular as the various doctors have told you.

ISB ☺

[ta0271]

Thanks for replying!

I guess what frustrates me is that I would be fine with this amount of pain forever. I mean I don't care if I'm someone that just suffers from a "bad back" now and it flares up every now and then - I'm an active person and love exercising so working through that wouldn't be a problem. I'm just so scared that it's this more serious condition that will keep progressing and keep increasing in pain and decreasing my mobility. I'm so afraid of the future. I want so badly to believe the doctors but there are just some things about my situation that don't add up and they never seem to address them, leaving me to keep worrying.

[Catherine S]

But even a muscular bad back can get progressively worse if not treated. You do alot of exercise but do you warm up beforehand? Do you have regular back massages? And when at home or work how is your posture? I'm living in Germany temporarily until 2018 with my husband's job, and they really do look after their health and fitness over here, with most of their furniture geared towards body posture, as are their cars.

You don't say what situation you refer to that makes you think the doctors are not listening to you, but you must have made them aware of it? So if they know about your worries and have examined you for the condition you worry about, they have ruled it out. Surely they know what they're looking for.

ISB ☺

[ta0271]

I do warm up beforehand but most of my exercising in the past has been running, which I think may have caused some muscular imbalances in my hips that are causing the back pains. I've been stretching much more to try to fix this. I've also always had terrible posture and have been correcting it since this pain started.

I guess that's part of what scares me. I've been doing everything you're supposed to do for a back ache and it has only gotten worse over 3 months, which seems like too long for a plain muscular back ache to last. Most sites say the pain should be better in like 4-8 weeks at the most.

[Catherine S]

I know your health insurance is different in the States, but is there a way you could be referred to an osteopath or similar? There is another person on the forum who for many months was convinced she had a problem with her lung, because of a chronic right side and shoulder pain. Her doctor kept telling her it was muscular but she was convinced it was something sinister, until she went to an osteopath who told her it was definitely muscular and now she's having regular sessions.

Might be worth an initial consultation at least, to have it confirmed as muscular.

ISB ☺

[ta0271]

I'm not sure there's any way to really "confirm" a pain as muscular, but both of my doctors have suspected that it is. Have you had any experience with stress causing muscular pain that is actually constant and lasts for this long? I think that's part of what makes me doubt it being muscular, since every post on here about anxiety-induced muscular pain seems to go away in a matter of weeks instead of months.

[Catherine S]

You've been reading the wrong posts then lol! There are plenty of people here experiencing long term chronic pain, and yes tension will certainly be a culprit. Tension causes your muscles to shorten and tighten up...when throat muscles do this it can give people discomfort in swallowing. This is the reaction to the 'fight or flight' situation when we are in danger, but if the tension is with us every day then muscles all over your body will be constantly tensed up and painful.

Try some deep breathing exercises, they may help release some of the tension if you can't manage regular massages.

ISB

[ta0271]

I guess maybe I've only been looking at the stories of people with back pain caused by tension, but if it's the same mechanism causing tension in other muscles then it should be applicable to my situation. I've been doing yoga, taking lots of walks, stretching and using a foam roller to massage my back and hip muscles, everything, and I still just keep getting worse.