tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post4426321617912757400..comments2023-07-04T16:57:28.929+01:00Comments on Where's the Benefit?: That Proverbial 'Bad Back'Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714918894319998184noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-7182264980431050432011-06-05T16:58:30.953+01:002011-06-05T16:58:30.953+01:00I've added a paragraph to this talking about t...I've added a paragraph to this talking about the problem of scans and spinal injuries. Firstly because I noticed it was missing, even if it was a bit late, but mostly because IDS and his tame minions have now turned their attack of people with spinal conditions and I may want to point people at this.DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-86478661553396183602011-05-29T13:08:22.629+01:002011-05-29T13:08:22.629+01:00Yay my post came back! (second anonymous above). B...Yay my post came back! (second anonymous above). Being rather unwell it took me ages to write that post and required a lot of effort, when it disappeared that effort felt depressingly pointless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-3346259044647065232011-05-22T17:06:28.555+01:002011-05-22T17:06:28.555+01:00And 10 days later the posts finally reappear. Abou...And 10 days later the posts finally reappear. About time, Blogger!DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-75149547983046432632011-05-14T12:56:26.039+01:002011-05-14T12:56:26.039+01:00If anyone is wondering why most of the comments (5...If anyone is wondering why most of the comments (5 out of 6 if memory serves) have disappeared, Blogger had a major problem on Thursday and had to roll back to the status on Wednesday night, not just for WtB, but for every blog on the system. They promise they'll reinstate the missing comments as soon as they're able.DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-43576970668952395202011-05-12T15:54:29.119+01:002011-05-12T15:54:29.119+01:00This is such a valuable post! I'm another who ...This is such a valuable post! I'm another who has a 'bad back', but mine is caused by both ankylosing spondylitis and chronic spinal degeneration (osteoarthritis). My ank spond affects more than just my back, but for a flavour of my kind of 'bad back', consider I have to use oxygen due to restricted chest expansion (ie my rib cage doesn't expand as much as it should and expanding it hurts) and am on a whole cocktail of medication including morphine. I use a powered wheelchair outside but manage around the house, although doing chores in the kitchen brings on excruciating pain (and that's with the morphine!). I also know that there are many people worse off than me with more serious conditions and injuries affecting their back. But all of us have more than just a 'bad back' and to trivialise our conditions just because lots of people experience back pain at some point in their lives is an insult to what we endure every day. Having looked at the proposed eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payment yesterday (it's available on the DWP website) I'm horrified that it omits all reference to moving around INDOORS and 'forgets' about the need to get into bed, get out of bed, get to the toilet at night when you're full of sleep-inducing medication etc etc. I can see my highest rate DLA care turning into no PIP at all! I just hope that I can convince them that my mobility needs are sufficient for me to hold onto the wheelchair accessible vehicle for which a grant has been agreed by Motability!! The future is frightening; all the goalposts are being moved; there is no security in having an 'indefinite' DLA award; all the support we depend on is looking as if it might be taken away - and the government wonders why we're worried?!? What planet are they on?Janehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04924279884167633221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-5675880870318318582011-05-12T12:11:12.633+01:002011-05-12T12:11:12.633+01:00This is a discussion I have had many times. It see...This is a discussion I have had many times. It seems to me that most people are far more sympathetic to disabling symptoms that are totally out of their experience (such as seizures) than symptoms which are superficially similar to 'normal problems' such as back pain, fatigue, headache and nausea. However, in my personal experience the later can actually be more disabling.<br /><br />I've had a "bad back" in the ordinary sense since my teens, with various muscle pains that would sometimes require a painkiller or a short course of physiotherapy etc. This seems to run in my family and is experienced by many people. It is unpleasant and painful but rarely truely disabling and whilst it might sometimes prevent physical work, any person using this kind of "bad back" as a reason to avoid work long term should be considered fraudulant.<br /><br />However, in the last few years I have experienced two totally different kinds of "bad back", both of which are extremely disabling and have left me hospitalised for over a week at a time and almost completely unable to move.<br /><br />One was a disc injury impeding my spinal cord. This was more painful than I could ever imagine would be possible, despite the IV morphine and was so terrifying that when I finally left the hospital I had PTSD from the experience.<br /><br />The other was severe autoimmune inflammation of my sacroilliac joints accompanied by a high fever and vomiting.<br /><br />These kinds of bad back (and others) are completely different to the 'normal bad back'. Comparing them is like comparing a paper cut to amputation or a bee sting to a gunshot wound!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-9097525322934136212011-05-12T03:22:55.265+01:002011-05-12T03:22:55.265+01:00@Anonymous: There are lot of us on Ouch with EDS/H...@Anonymous: There are lot of us on Ouch with EDS/Hypermobility, which overlaps with Marfans, so if you have questions that need answering: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-64301706707431360712011-05-11T23:13:24.865+01:002011-05-11T23:13:24.865+01:00REally good article. I'd just like to add that...REally good article. I'd just like to add that my husbands 'bad back' turned out to be Multiple Myeloma. A bad back is often the first symptom of this terminal cancer although remission happens it always comes back as it has in my husbands case. He is now held together by titanium rods and is in a lot of pain but is still alive and living in fear of loosing his benefits. I too get really mad when I see the way the media talks about the bad back.Diana Leightonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17408296708694057711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-18610039603501292572011-05-11T21:22:20.067+01:002011-05-11T21:22:20.067+01:00Thank you for that article, for once someone has p...Thank you for that article, for once someone has put in words what I have been living with for years, despairing to ever know what is the problem which started when I was 11 years old. The recent discovery that I have something called Marfan Syndrome "may" explain it when I go for an MRI next week if it turns out that dural ectasia is to blame, but we can't even be sure that will be the answer. What I do know is that at 48 I am walking (well, shuffling) like an arthritic 90 years old, that even on morphine matches, they make the pain barely tolerable and that by god, I wish there was a magic solution! I'd gladly give up "all" those benefits, the mota car and all just to be able to function normally, just to be able to have a good night sleep without the pain that just turning causes me.<br /><br />Thank you again for sharing your pain, it made me feel a little less alone in mine at least for a while. :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7999633524276247455.post-32582325457732725852011-05-11T19:45:00.371+01:002011-05-11T19:45:00.371+01:00"The absence of a definitive diagnosis even a..."The absence of a definitive diagnosis even after decades of seeing specialists is not a cause for suspicion"<br /><br />This, this oh so much this, and not just for backs. The fear of persecution from being undiagnosed, especially with the current climate from government and the media, can be immense.Sam Barnett-Cormackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01904395421765346531noreply@blogger.com