Hello Fiona

Want to say heres BIG HUG wont make pain go away but may just help you knowing they have found out why you had such awful pain i remember it all so well and how horrid it was for you.
sorry see you in such pain,i have found when other disceaes start up that yes RA does subside as if body knows what it can handle.
im glad it has for you long may that contiue.
not alot help but just to say thinkin of you.
lv melly

Hi Fiona,

Sorry to hear of all your back problems but I'm pleased for you that the RA is giving you some respite!
I hope you don't have to wait much longer to see the spine specialist .
Love and hugs, Doreen xx

Dear Fiona

Great to hear you are still in a good place with your RA. So sorry to hear about your back problems.

Oddly enough I am reacint well to my drugs and my mild RA is overall good though I am still have stiffness. I too have chostochonritis and ostheopenia and I haved back problems. They say that not RA and a separate condition. However walking or standing starts off my hip and then my back goes rigid like an ironing board and I get a lot of stiffness and pain. Taking a break doesnt allieviate it much so I am usually forced to go home so shopping for clothes or going to an exhibition is a nightmare as I get progressively stiffer like the iron man out of wizard of oz. I have lifts in my shoes....

Hi Fiona

I'm sorry you're having a bad time with your back, it sounds horrible. I hope you get to see the neurosurgeon soon.

Mrs Woman - you have desdribed the feeling that I get - my back going rigid like an ironing board. It happens if I stand in one position for more than a few minutes. Overall though, my back problems are minor compared with others.

Lyn

Dear Melly, Jean, Dorat, Barbara, MrsWoman, Deb and Lyn,
Thank you for the replies to my post about the Spine problems.
I see that I am certainly not the only one to experience some kind of back
problem on here!
Barbara, MrsWoman and Deb - you all seem to be suffering a lot too!
The thing I loath about the Spine pain, is the way it puts me off going outside,
especially in this cold weather! (It is really cold again down here in Plymouth.)
Yesterday, I made up my mind to go privately to see the Neurosurgeon in Exeter, as my N.H.S
appointment cannot guarantee that I will be seen by him and because it is now so long
since I first hurt my back in August - with no opinion from anyone, except the Consultant
Radiologist who looked at my M.R.I results at the Hospital.
However, I need my G.P to write to him with a referral for me and she is not in the surgery
untill Friday!
So instead I have arranged to go to the Hairdresser tomorrow, for a skin test and to discuss
getting my hair trimmed and coloured next Tuesday with her. I have told her about my back.
It has now been a year since I have been to the Hairdresser and my hair is down to my waist
again! Which is fine -I am lucky that it still grows fast, but I hate grey in it - which I get
towards the front! Also, just a bit shorter would be nice, but I do intend to keep much of the length
because it disguises the slight curve in the top of my Spine.
I have found too, that this Spine Kaphoses has made me lose confidence in my ability to do
simple things, like go to the hairdresser, Opticians, etc, because of the pain that sitting
in chairs that do not support my back can cause. (At home I have my memory foam "V"
pillow for the settee and a soft pillow for chairs - so I shall take the soft pillow with me!)
I am due to see my Rheumatologist on the 12th of March and I don't want him to see me
without a Hairdresser's Appointment for a year!
I think that it will help me with my self confidence, which has definately gone down since the
back problem!
Much love to all of you,
Fiona

Lyn - what's a "backfriend please? It sounds very interesting and useful.

Love Jeanxxxx