my-journey-to-be-pain-free

[my-journey-to-be-pain-free]

For those of you who have any sort of back injury or injuries, have a congenital birth defect of the spine, etc. just know I am a strong advocate for serious back conditions/defects/injuries.

I stand with you 🖤 100%

[my-journey-to-be-pain-free]

My name is Shea (shay), I’m 19. I have debilitating back pain, and a pile of health issues. This is my journey to be pain free and healthy (well as healthy as I can get). I made this blog as a way to help my sanity. I got some test results back that were... not the best. We think it could’ve been a misdiagnosis for something else so before I put it out there for the world, I’m going to get a second opinion from my orthopedist.

One thing I can talk about, is something I was embarrassed about but now I share it, I make it known because I’m not scared of it anymore. In March of 2019 my grandmother got really sick, however we didn’t know she was sick. She has copd and congestive heart failure so we thought maybe she had picked something off the floor that one of the kids (nephews. My sisters kids) and that she just had fluid around her heart. Well she actually had the flu and double lung pneumonia. She was really weak so whenever she tried to walk on her own, she fell. Me and my mom had to lift her up and walk her to the bathroom and then back to the couch. She ended up putting most of her weight on me, which in turn made me pull a muscle in my back. My quadratus lumborum (or ql). The quadratus lumborum is the muscle that’s typically ‘the core’. It’s the biggest muscle in your back and you have 2, one on each side.

My ql was in a constant state of spasm for 4 months without letting up once. I could only stand for 30 minutes at a time and it took twice that to recover and be able to stand for that long again. Xrays showed scoliosis, which I had self diagnosed myself with about 5 months prior based on my posture. I later learned it was a mild s-curve which can be the most severe form of scoliosis. I did physical therapy for 1 month. The only thing that helped instantly was adjustments. After a month I said goodbye to my amazing physical therapist and everyone I’d come to be friends with (all the physical therapy ladies) and a month later I got my first job.

I was there until I was fired in may. I found a new job in 2 weeks and it seemed like I was aggravating my previous injury so on my second day I left early to go to the hospital. They sent me on my way with some medication to help and a weight restriction. I followed up with my doctor, she cleared the restriction, sent an order for another round of physical therapy for my back and xrays. Xrays showed degenerative disc disease of my l5-s1 and a partial sacrilization if that same area that had been previous seen on xrays. I was devastated with the results. I was still having pain so I bought a braces to wear at work (which I was fired from almost a week ago after 3 weeks) and I went back to my doctor. I told her I felt something else was there that xrays weren’t showing. So she scheduled a cat scan that I went to Friday. I won’t say my results but I will say that it’s not what I was expecting. I’m still trying to cope with it. It’s hard. I never thought that I’d be where I am. Depression sucks. Being in pain sucks. But that’s why this blog exists. To document this journey.

And I hope that maybe along the way, I’ll help someone else.