Fell down the stairs
Lisa
20-odd years ago I had a motorbike accident during which I 'cracked' my coccyx (that's what the doctors said, anyway). Since then I had experienced numbness in my bum & base of spine area whenever I sat on a hard surface for any length of time. I ignored it - it didn't hurt.
3 years ago I slipped whilst walking down the stairs at home & bounced on my coccyx down about 3 steps before I came to rest. The pain of the fall was pretty bad, but I decided to go ahead & go to work anyway.... About 2 hours later I was back at home as I simply couldn't sit down.
I had the usual x-rays - no sign of anything. I was told it would be ok given time. It wasn't. After a period where it did actually improve, it then started to get steadily worse until it got to the stage it's at today.
I can't sit on a hard chair for more than about 5 minutes max before I start to feel pain. Soft chairs are better, but the pain is never very far away. I can drive for about 45 minutes on a good day, but have to ensure my car seat is pushed back as far as it will go but still allow me to depress the clutch. I can 'passenge' for about 10 minutes before I start to get pain. Long journeys result in a flare-up that can take up to 2 weeks to abate.
The very worst pain is felt when I go from sitting to standing, and I always have to work myself up to do this. It's obvious that the muscles are pulling on my coccyx, and it is a VERY strong shaft of pain which fortunately quickly subsides once I'm on my feet.
I have no pain when I'm lying down or when I'm standing, or going to the loo etc. Mine is purely a sitting thing. It also hurts if I cough or sneeze when I'm sitting.
Medical things I have tried to no avail:
- X-rays - nothing showing
- MRI scan - showed a mis-shapen disc. Consultant said I was suffering from referred pain from this. Didn't believe him but went through with an injection of dye into the disc followed by a long-acting anaesthetic. Within 10 minutes of the car journey home I was in pain again.... Consultant says I have a leaky disc, but can't account for the pain.
- Bone scan - nothing showing.
- Osteopath - tried his best but had to admit defeat eventually.
- Physiotherapist - detected that my pelvis was out of line. Some of the exercises she gave me to pull it back into place worked occasionally.
- Chiropractor - determined that not only was my pelvis out of line, it was also very unstable (this may explain why the physio's exercises only worked sometimes ?). However, no improvement after several visits so we gave up.
- Painkillers - haven't found any off the shelf that work. I've tried filling myself up with painkillers before & during long journeys, but still have as much pain as normal. I simply don't travel anywhere very far these days unless I absolutely have to.
- Cushion - wedge with cut-out - ouch - need I say more ?
- Cushion - doughnut - actually gives enough relief for me to be able to sit & type all this in without the usual pain. Totally recommend it, but sadly it can't be used in the car.
However, having found this web site I realise that there's still hope. I'm going back to my doctor armed with some of the information I've got from here & shall ask for a dynamic x-ray & to be referred to an orthopedic specialist (preferably one off the list). I hope to give the cortisone injection a try. I don't think I suffer as much pain as many others (as I don't need to take painkillers all the time), so the likelihood of having my coccyx removed is nil (at the moment) but I may ask him to prescribe me some pain-killers I can take when I have to undertake any travelling. It would be nice to get out & about a bit more.......
Updated 2003-04-27
