Question: Hello. I have been having a lot of pain in my lower right back It's towards the bottom and it sometimes radiates to the top and around the side. I don't recall injuring it. There is no visible lumps and I don't feel any when I rub my back. My job is a barista (starbucks) so it's not that labor intensive. I'm 23 and I have had this pain since I was 21. I've gone to the doctor for it. She diagnosed it as a muscle spasm. She gave me muscle relaxers and all they do is make me go to sleep.
The pain feels like an intense dull pain. It's always in the lower right back and it gravitates around. Lately I have been treating it with
ibuprofen and icy hot. Every morning after a hot shower, I take 800mg of ibuprofen and rub icyhot on my back. This usually helps, but I don't want to be dependent on this for the rest of my life. I have tried doing stretches daily and it doesn't seem to help. I am wondering if this is something muscular or something to do with an organ.
About a month ago, when I woke up the pain was extremely intense. It hurt to take in deep breaths.I know it's not a
kidney stone; I have had those and I will explain my kidney stone story in the next paragraph. When the pain was intense, I took medicines, rubbed icy hot on my back, and layed on a
heating pad until I had to go to work. After work, I was able to see a chiropractor to see if it was something in my back. She thought it may have been a rib problem due to problems breathing.
Exactly a year ago, I went to the ER for a kidney stone. Again on my right side, I had a
sharp pain in one spot. The pain didn't radiate, it just felt like someone had stabbed me in the side. Scared, I went to the ER and they diagnosed it as a small kidney stone. I didn't need any medication, as it was so little it passed naturally. Since then I have been very cautious to keep myself hydrated. They are not sure what caused it. I don't have a history of kidney stones in my family and I watch my salt in take. I watch my alcohol intake as well. I have a drink -maybe- once every 3 weeks.
A few months ago, I woke up with a headache. Since it was my day off, I tried to sleep it off. That didn't happen, and I ended up throwing up. I'm not sure what made me through up, but as soon as I did, I had an excruciating pain in my side. My boyfriend brought me icy hot and I took a Percocet. I'm not sure if this has something to do with what is going on right now.
I have no major medical problems. I am not allergic to anything. My body type is average. I had my tonsils removed about a year ago and had no complications from that. I visited my doctor and told her my back has still been hurting. She suggested stretches and told me taking ibuprofen isn't that bad. Again, if there is something I can do to fix this I would rather do that than be dependent on pills. She prescribed me
Tramadol, but I don't like taking it because I wake up every hour. I told her about my kidney stones and she had me do a urine sample. There was blood in my urine, but I was menstruating at the time so that may have been the cause. As of Saturday, I dropped off another urine sample and I am waiting for my results.
Thank you again for taking the time to read this. I am not sure what I should do if my urine test results come back clear.