Musculoskeletal or more serious?

Question

I've been having 2x per week chiropractic adjustments and 1x per week trigger point massage since April (7 months!). About 2 months ago I went to my primary care doctor with intense fatigue & trigger point pain along my spine and flanks. He ruled out a rhuematological cause based on blood work and gave me prescription strength NSAIDs which left me sleepy but didn't really improve my condition. I have trace white blood cells and "inflammation" in my urine. My flanks hurt, my lower back hurts and my entire upper back and the area along the left side of my spine hurts. I don't "hold" the chiropractic adjustments and I'm thinking my problem is more serious and not related to my spine at all. If I had some type of cancer and it spread to my spine and bones, wouldn't it show up on spinal xrays? It really sucks to be in daily pain for 8 months with no respite. I'm also terribly anemic, but the doc thinks this is due to the fact that I carry the trait for Thalassemia. I used to be a runner.

PS I'm only 43, I'm not over weight and I used to be a 25 - 30 mile per week runner before I started having all of these problems.

Answer 1

Have you discussed Fibromyalgia with your doctor? There is no specific test for fibro, but a diagnosses is made when all other causes are ruled out. A chiropracter would not help the symptoms of fibromyalgia, it affects the soft tissue not bones. I ask because you conplaine of pain in the trigger points, fatigue which are common in fibro. The pain is usually a deep muscle ache and spasms that can involve any part of the body. Joint pain is common also. Sleep disturbances are usually associated with fibro as well as restless leg syndrom, stiffness especially in the morning, anxiety and depression, pain worsening when there are changes in the barometric pressure before and after a storm, cold and humid weather also make the pain worst. The trigger points become hard and hurt to touch. If your doctor is not familiar with fibromyalgia I would suggest seeing someone who is qualified. Its a complicated syndrome and there are many aspects that need to be treated in order to be able to function. I was diagnossed 10 yrs ago and my doctor didn't know enough to treat me properly. I am now disabled and have to take narcotics to aleviate the pain to a point where I am able to function with some normalcy. I would think that a spinal xray would show a tumor, but I would ask for an MRI to rule out the posibility of a buldging or herniated disk or anyother problem with the spine. The pain of fibro is much like rhumatoid arthritis but it doesn't cause the deformaty. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

There are several things you can do to reduce the symptoms and increase your resistance to infection. Considering you have ruled out any severe problems, you need to consider the following;

Get plenty of cranberry juice going into your system.

Start stretching all of your tight muscles (is why the DC treatments don't hold) You should have been advised of this by the doctor. If not, perhaps you need to seek the services of another who stresses the stretchings. Become about 85% of your satisfactory recovery.

If you eat well, you may enhance the protein assimilation by including papaya in your dietary.. Insufficient protein is often the cause of being overly tired. Also is usually accompanied by darkening around the eyes. You may want to include some amino acids also.. This problem could be the primary factor in your anemia.