Donna,

A sneeze can do a lot of things. And yes, I have heard of bedrest for
back problems. I was told to do that when I first had my sciatica. I was
also told to avoid stairs and stay on flat surfaces. That was difficult
since I live on the second floor, but I did my best.

Hang in there! I hope the meds are helping.

Hugs,
Carole

Yikes! Donna, You actually made me cringe when I read this! Stop that! (The
sneezing I mean)

When my back starts aching from too much standing/sitting, I lay down on the
couch for awhile. It does help me as I think it takes the verticle pressure
off the lumbar joints. Can't help with the medication. I've never taken it.
GaryZ

Bed rest all day long = bad. Bed rest the way this doc prescribed it = good.
The hard part is the getting up and down from the bed. Be careful not to do
that too fast. However, the 1/2 hour laying down removes the pressure of
gravity and your upper body from on the disks and the 1/2 hour of mild
activity will help keep your back in the functioning mode.

Good grief, Donna. You don't do things by half, do you honey? Take care of
yourself and let us know what the tests show when you get them. I've never
heard of Lyrica, but I don't even pretend to know all the medications out
there.

We love you, DeeTee

Lyrica is pregabalin and is a med.used by Fibromites. It's for nerve
pain and those who use it either like it or find it doesn't work for them.
You can get the dizzies on it; a lotta standing is a bad idea when you're
first on it.

  It's  a cousin of the Neurontin many of us take....I know I can't do
without my Neurontin. I could take PK's and MR's all day and nite and they'd
never touch the nerve pain I have but Neurontin stops it.

  The burning pain in butt/thigh is sciatica (nerve) pain.

   I haven't been able to get Cush's Bad Backs pages to load...I dunno if
he still has them up, but the main thing with disc slippage/ hernia is to
baby your back. If you baby it well enuff it can heal up on it's own. I've
healed many a slipped disc by taking it very very easy on my back. Don't
lift anything more than a pound...you need someone else to lift for ya.

   Beats surgery because back surgery is a hit or miss kind of thing.
Epidural injections help many...but again, not all.

   Try exploring here: http://www.spineuniverse.com.

Baby Your Back Hugs from Rosie

Donna,

Sorry to hear this. I was told years ago bed rest is ok as long as you don't
stay there all the time.

I don't know anything about the med.

I sure am with you in thoughts and prayers. Take care and hope it heals up
quickly. You have had enough to deal with the last few years.

Yikes. I'm thinking you may have started something with the rolling around
on the floor, then blew it with the sneeze.:(

Lyrica is a fairly new drug, being used for neuro/neural stuff. My mom takes
Cymbalta for her back nerve pain, and just swears by it. It's also used as
an anti-depressant. So many of these drugs have dual benefits. Be careful
moving around the house the first few days. You'll probably be a bit dizzy
and dopey.

Take care, and let us know what happens next.:)

Hugs,
Kelly C.

Hi-
I take Lyrica for electrical type pain, including burning, tingling,
numbness, etc.  with pretty good results.  The first time I tried it,
we upped the dose too quickly and I did have waves of terrible
tiredness.  We tried something else, but it wasn't taking effect
quickly enough, so I went back on the Lyrica.  We upped the doseage
more slowly this time and I have no side effects other than hunger.  It
sometimes can help in just a day or two, but might take up to 10 days
for the full effect.  What dose are you supposed to take?

Janet

bummer, sweetie!  i'm sorry this happened to you.

yep.  sneezing, coughing, strong hiccupping, bending over in a chair tying a
shoe, picking up something from the floor, simply sitting at a table and
just turning the page of the newspaper (like i did), lifting something of
any weight or something lightweight but bulky or other simple things can do
it.  usually, though, something else initiated the blown disc and preceded
the event that was noticed, in your case, the sneeze.

i like what your doctor told you to do about alternating resting and
activity in short increments.  that's a smart doctor you have there!  he's
on top of the latest course of action.

i have no experience with lyrica, though i did get anti-inflams and muscle
relaxants when i blew mine.  like rosie said, epidurals may help or may not,
but it's worth a try if it becomes intolerable for you.  i'm hoping you heal
up quickly, hon!  (((((((((((((((gentle hugs)))))))))))))

kate

Well, now, this has been a rather interesting day and a rather painful
day!

Was sitting doing some paperwork this afternoon, (as that was about all
I could handle for the day after spending a wonderful thanksgiving day
with 2 of my brothers and their families as well as my parents, and
rolling around on the floor playing with nieces and nephews!  Getting
too old to be doing that, but it is fun while you are doing it.)   Just
got to pay the piper afterwards with the aches and pains.

In any case, like I said, was sitting doing some paperwork and all of a
sudden sneezed rather hard and "pop" went my back and then major pain!
Owwwwwieeee!!!   Went and laid down for a bit, but just couldn't seem to
get comfortable.   Kept feeling like I was laying on top of a golf ball
or something.   As the day progressed, I started experiencing some
burning pain in my left butt cheek and down into my upper thigh, which
changed to numbness in the lower part of the leg.  The burning sensation
was/is really really uncomfortable though.  Worse than dealing with just
plain pain.  Called my pcp and he rx'd skelaxin and told me to use my
vicodin.   Later in the evening he called back to check on things and
told him about the burning and numbness and he sent me to the ER.   ER
called in a ?physical medicine doctor to see me, who is sending me for
an MRI on wednesday, but also gave me some Lyrica as he said that would
help considerably with the burning pain which is rom nerve
inflammation/irritation.    He thinks based on my symptoms and x-rays
and his exam that I may have ruptured a disc or two.   Now how the heck
do you do that just by sneezing?   In any case, he also told me he
wanted me to do 1/2 hour of bed rest, then 1/2 hour of mild activity,
1/2 hour of bed rest, 1/2 hour of mild activity, etc. for the next few
days, with minimal time standing on my feet.   I thought that bed rest
wasn't good for back injuries and that that was just an old myth?!   He
said, no, bed rest can have a place in the care of back injuries.
Anyone else ever hear of this?

In any case, I do the MRI on wednesday of next week, he is sending me to
PT and also talked about sending me to get 2-3 epidural injections for
the pain---this will be determined for sure once he has the MRI report
and sees me back in 2 weeks.
Have never taken the Lyrica before and am wondering what others
experiences with it are.   When I take the skelaxin, all I want to do is
sleep all day, and am worried about the lyrica and what reaction that
might have on me.   What is everyone elses' experience with this
medication???

Donna G.
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ANGELS EXIST, but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call
them FRIENDS......