Hi, my name is Bossyboots!

Bossyboots

Been diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis at 77yrs old.   It seemed to come on quite quickly this year with various pains in back and was diagnosed by a physio about a month ago.   Very bad at doing the exercises and am in considerable pain when walking and standing.   Better in the morning but not always.   Very down about the whole thing especially as (except for the pandemic) have always been quite mobile,dog walking, exercise and pilates classes so has come as great surprise.   We moved house at beginning of March to Lewes, East Sussex and that seemed to bring a lot of pain on with all the moving stuff around and general high levels of activity.  I have about 4 or 5 fractured vertebrae (MRI disagreed with DEXA scan!) but have ostopenia not osteoporosis.   Apparently mild arthritis in right hip which I was not aware of so all this sudden pain has come as a considerable surprise to me.   Have not been seen by a GP and the physio doesn't recommend a MRI.   The MRI in 2018/19 said no spinal stenosis.   I thought it took years to come on and that the difficulties would be gradual not quite quickly overtaking my normal life.   Sorry to go on but I'm still grappling with the whole issue of being in pain when moving around is so new to me and of course life-changing, even at my age!   I'd love to hear how other people have coped.

Ross_Alumni

Hello @Bossyboots and welcome to the community, thanks for introducing yourself. It's lovely to have you aboard  

Sorry to hear of everything you are going through, it certainly can be difficult sometimes to adapt to a disability so it's absolutely understandable that it has impacted your well-being.

This is a very supportive and welcoming site to be a part of so I’m hopeful that you’ll find it to be a positive outlet. Feel free to have a look around and get involved wherever you’d like 😊 I have included below a few of the pages I’d recommend having a look through to get used to things:

• The virtual coffee lounge which is one of our categories, in which we play games and talk about general subjects such as hobbies and interests
• The recent discussions page, which shows an overview of everything happening across the community
• The categories page, which shows a full list of discussion groups on the community

If you have any questions at all then don’t hesitate to ask.

Sandy_123

Hi @Bossyboots welcome to the forum. Sorry that your in alot of pain.  You say you havnt seen your gp so I'm presuming you havnt been given pain relief, it may be worth getting pain relief from your dr to help.  Also a mri may confirm a diagnosis.  
 I have problems with my spine and it does limit things that I can do, pain relief is trial and error until you find one that works.

Bossyboots

Thanks for that Sandy - I tried to make appt with GP but was fobbed off with telephone appt. with physio (who was really good and helpful but didn't think I needed an MRI, but I've been in more pain since I spoke to him a few weeks ago!)  I may be able to speak to the pharmacist at my gp practice who has been helpful about my other prescriptions.  I shall definitely try that next week so that when I go out I might be able to last a bit longer before sitting down! Love the cat!!

Sandy_123

Thanks about the cat.. if you get a phone call from drs he / she will still be able to prescribe painkillers and hopefully investigations like MRI etc. So still worth having I think.  
Have a look around the forum and join in with the conversations, mostly in the coffee lounge. 

Bossyboots

will do. thanks

Tori_Scope

A warm welcome to the community from me too @Bossyboots I'm sorry to hear that things have been tough for you lately. How are you feeling today? 

Along with the pages that Ross pointed you towards, I was wondering whether you might like to visit our category for discussions relating to chronic pain and pain management too. We have plenty of members who are in a similar position to you, so you're in good company. 

Let us know how you get on with the GP and pharmacist this week!