Severe Back Pain Treatment Options

 

        Severe back pain is nothing to take lightly. The pain can often be so bad it not only affects the way you walk or stand, or sit, the pain can cause tremendous mental emotional stress which affects your thought process and personality. Severe back pain has been responsible for job loss and marriage breakups. There are very few things that people say has a bigger impact on their enjoyment of life than severe back pain.

 

       If you suffer from severe back pain, you will undoubtedly consider back surgery at some point. When the pain affects your life the way that severe back pain can, you will consider anything if it will relieve the pain. If you haven’t had time to read the State of Ohio Workers compensation program, do so now. This is a must read and will give you invaluable information to use in making your decision. Here are the simple facts. Back surgery is dangerous. Not only do you run the risks of every surgery such as reaction to the drugs and infections from the hospital, but more than half of the patients are worse after the surgery. Some studies show that up to 75% of the people that have one surgery have a second surgery within 5 years. I’m not suggesting you completely avoid surgery, but with statistics like this, surgery should be the method of last resort. Everything else should be tried first.

 

        One popular option to surgery is muscle relaxers. It may surprise you to know that this type of drug does not just go to the muscles and relax them. The medications in this category are actually designed to block nerve impulses that are sent to your brain. There is no direct effect on the muscles at all. Another important consideration is the fact that every drug you take is going to have side effects. This is where it is important to have a pharmacist that you trust and who will give you all the important information about the specific drug you are using. For instance in many of the muscle relaxers, if you take too much it could be fatal. Other side effects could include slowing down your heart rate, jaundice, seizure and or convulsions, confusion, loss of balance nausea, vomiting, tingling feeling under your skin, memory problems, fever and headaches.

 

        It should be pointed out that major studies have shown that over the counter pain relievers can provide as much pain relief if not more than muscle relaxers. They also do not have nearly the number of side effects as muscle relaxers.

 

        Be sure to read any material you can before actually taking a muscle relaxer to make sure you are comfortable with the possible effects to your life and whether the relief it provides will be temporary or permanent. It should be noted that one of the more popular muscle relaxers can cause death if taken in combination with certain other drugs.  So another important consideration would be to make sure that you get all your prescription drugs at the same pharmacy so your pharmacist can monitor any interactions between the drugs you are taking because often times different doctors are responsible for different medications and each doctor doesn’t always know which ones others have prescribed.

 

        Another type of drug is an anti-inflammatory. This drug is designed to decrease your body’s response to injury. Side effects are very important to watch in this category also. Many have the potential of creating a life threatening heart or circulation problems and the longer you take the medication, the worse the threat gets. You could have serious effects on your stomach or even intestinal bleeding the good news is that if you accidently take too much of this kind of drug it probably wont kill you but it could put you in a coma. Side effects also include coughing up blood, rapid weight loss, fever, headaches, bruising, chest pains and shortness of breath.

 

        Then there are the narcotic pain relievers. These “may” be habit forming which should be a real concern for you especially since severe back pain doesn’t just go away in a day or two in most cases. You may need to use this type of drug for an extended period of time. You will suffer from withdraw symptoms when you stop taking the drug. This type of back pain relief can cause death if accidental overdose is taken. Other side effects common to most of the drugs in this class are diminished breathing and seizures. One of the popular drugs in this category (Tramadol) cannot be crushed. If you do crush one and accidently inhale some of the powder, or dilute it with a liquid, it could kill you. Also, seizures are common with people taking this type of medication.

 

        Physical Therapy is another option that many people consider as an option for back pain treatment. The fact is that a high percentage of people who go to a medical doctor for low back pain issues will consider physical therapy. While physical therapy has a strong reputation for being a safe method to treat back pain, a major study which resulted in recommended by the Department of Health and Human Resources suggested that the benefits of physical therapy did not outweigh the costs associated with the treatment and that people might better be served if they were taught proper icing and heat applications for home therapy.

 

        Finally, there is the choice of a chiropractor. The report by the Department of Health and Human Resources referenced above state that Chiropractic can be very helpful for treating low back pain.... Because there are no medications involved in chiropractic treatment, there is no potential for side effects like there is with prescription drugs.