Hoping to Have Hope

I  was busy with medical stuff all morning.  First a pelvic ultrasound to rule out any gyn issues causing back pain.  The less said about this the better, which you understand if you've had one.  Though, it was funny not  to see two little fetuses on the screen!  Also, I've decided you feel ill or injured coming out of those exams even if nothing is wrong (which you don't know until later!), especially when the tech tells the other tech, "Oh, be sure to get a picture of that."  Sigh.)

But I had a great visit to a new physical therapist who focuses on women's bodies, especially pelvic issues.  She noted immediately that my sacrum and tailbone are in torque, turning up and to the right (with the tailbone bent into my glutes).  The ligaments are all very tight, doing their best to protect the joints after the disc herniations and years of musco-skeletal issues (actually, a lifetime--40 years of wear from undiagnosed and untreated scoliosis, leg differential, and low muscle tone because of the hyperflexibility).  This makes a ton more sense than the physiatrists and neurosurgeon not able to figure out how the disc was causing tailbone pain and guessing at tests, diagnoses, and treatments.  So, if I understand it correctly, we have to loosen the ligaments, realign the sacrum and coccyx, and then strengthen the muscles.  At least it's a plan.  A much better plan than more useless injections.  It would also explain why the steroid pills helped when the injections didn't.  In fact, it explains a lot--why sitting causes pain that feels like muscle pain not nerve pain, why my back feels stronger even though my tailbone doesn't, why the tailbone pain corresponded to the disc herniations, why the tiny little hernia tear and protrusion don't explain the pain, why lying on my back and walking too much cause discomfort after awhile (when they didn't always, even after herniated discs).  Occam's razor at work, I'd say.

So, I'm very hopeful.  It makes sense.  There's an actionable plan of treatment and exercises.  I'm thinking about giving PT some time before we pursue any more neurology specialists, to rule out the musco-skeletal issues before chasing nerves and discs again.  Especially because I'm increasingly disenchanted with the specialists we've been seeing.  And really hopeful about this.  Which is a very nice change.