Low back/sciatica and incontinence

So I was told by my former PM doc and a neurologist I was referred to a few years back that I needed to watch out for urinary incontinence, as it was a sign that my back was degrading. Well, that's happening. Not just can't make it to the bathroom on time, but when I get the urge and by the time I stand up, all I can do is clean up. I'm 44. Been happening the last 2 weeks, about 3 times. Last time this AM, telling me it's no accident. (Going by my old doc's adage, don't panic until it happens a third time, unless it's chest pain)

To briefly recap my back problems for those who missed it, diagnosed with early onset osteoarthritis and sciatica, spine as crooked as a politician, no disk probs last MRI (2 yrs ago), oddly enough. Currently on Flexaril, Ultram, Klonopin, Effexor, Ambien, and Topamax (Generics). None of these are new meds for me.

This is now officially scaring the hell out of me, because not only is the pain increasing in the sacral area in general, but new symptoms are cropping up. Not sure when I see my doc again, I get a letter about 2 weeks ahead of time in this system. This seems to be an indication that new nerves/bundles are becoming involved, specifically L5/S1, where before it was pinpointed to L4/L5.

I only have one hospital I can go to for care - monetary reasons - I hate tying up an ER bed, but they do have a "walk-in-clinic" that you have a chance to get into if you are there at 4:30am. Like I said, dunno when I'd see my regular doc again.

Trying not to go into full freakout mode, but this ain't right. New symptoms are always scary, but incontinence is tough to take. Especially at my age.

Hi LC, thats one of the symptoms I was always told to watch for. They told me its a sign of cauda equina syndrome, and needs to be checked out right away. I know you hate to tie up a bed in the ER, but really, if the nerve bundle at the base of your spine is being pinched and causing those symptoms, you need to go straight away. The big issue is, if you loose your ability to evacuate on either side, it can cause a whole mess of organ problems. Go get checked out, I think its important that you be seen by a doctor today.

LC,

Good luck at the ER and let us know how it goes.... thinking of you.....

--Tina

So I spent all day, literally, yesterday waiting to be seen by an ER doc, once I finally did, I got a couple of plain xrays of my back done (finally!), and once he saw the pics he unhesitatingly said I needed an MRI. Problem was, it was after 7pm by that time, and the MRI guy had left for the day. Cutbacks had reduced it to one shift a day I guess.

So here I am, up stupid early in the morning, about to head out to get the MRI I've been begging them to do for the last year and a half. Scheduled for 6:30am, but I ain't holding my breath. I have no idea when it will get read, or when the follow-up is going to be, but they will now have pictures of my back.

How are you doing LC. any updates?

The good news is that if surgery is needed....it will most likely help resolve most of the main symptoms...

Quite a few of us here have gone through spine surgeries and we can support you through it if it needs to be done.

Can they not refer you to a Neurosurgeon or Orthopedic surgeon if needed for treatment if it is non-surgical...I hope so...or at least someone who looks over the MRI can work with your GP if they need to order rounds of PT, steroids, injections, TENS unit, etc...

Keep us posted...

Livingcolor said:

"And I had a really cute nurse and intern (there has to be two people present at all of these exams) for the pelvic exam yesterday. One with her hands all over my bits, and the other one I felt like flirting with because she was really gorgeous and I have a thing for nurses. So I'm staring at the wall thinking "NASCAR, baseball, shipwrecks, the beach - no not the beach - bikinis, uh.... Apollo 13, guitar players, the engine firing order of the Chevy 350 engine"... Managed to survive without embarrassing myself."

WTH----looooooooooool....you really crack me up LC

I really hope things work out for you...

Finally, finally, finally, those results got to my regular doctor, and he just called me to let me know he will schedule almost the full works for imaging my back. MRI, Thoracic, lumbar, and sacral, he's also trying to decide whether or not he will use contrast too since I'll already be in there. Been telling them for 2 years, and finally, they will at least look at it. Probably 2-3 hours in an MRI machine for me, but I don't care, it will be worth it.

Best Christmas present I could get. They should be able to see the problem now. It's been on every other MRI I've had. After that, actual treatment. I hope.

UPDATE:

First, a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. I hope you are doing well.

I skipped going to my brother's for Christmas because I was awaiting word on the pending MRI or any other thing they needed to do, so I am on my own this Christmas, but that's OK. I've already Skyped with the family gathered at my brother's house in Texas, and that's good for me. I didn't want to be caught out of state, then have my phone ring and be told I have an MRI scheduled for the next day. So I'm holding down the fort, catching up on movies. (I forgot how amazing Gene Kelley was in An American In Paris. Hadn't seen it in a while. And I'm not one for musicals. If you haven't seen it, it's amazing. But I digress.)

But, I finally got the letter in the mail yesterday. State run hospital, wheels turn slow, but it's been scheduled. Thoracic, lumbar, and sacral MRI, with and without contrast, on Jan 2nd. Merry Christmas to me.

I also have some blood tests scheduled for Thursday, which would have cut our trip short, so it was for the best. Though for the life of me, I have no idea why this doctor is so concerned with my testosterone levels. They are in the normal range, if a tad low (340). Worst case scenario with that is a shot once in a while. I know hormones can cause all kinds of issues, but he seems to be focused on that. I turn 45 in a couple months. T production falls as you age. It's never been tested before. It could have been low my entire life, I didn't really get the growth spurt from puberty until the summer between sophomore and junior year in highschool. I grew 4 inches that summer, and went from a little undersized to the football coach trying to get me to try out for the team (I'm 6'2" now) But I'll play along...

The doctor also called me, on the telephone, at my house, not his nurse, he himself called, explained what was going on, and said we will get a diagnosis for you. I was flabbergasted. Really, that's all I wanted, since I know there's not really a fix for this, since it's basically structural and arthritis. But armed with an actual diagnosis, I would have the power to bypass all the BS next time I have to see someone.

I also talked to him about having a copy of my medical records, or at least these films on CD that I can carry a copy of with me if I'm caught out of range of the hospital. Or at least the critical ones, Radiologist reports, lab results for baselines, the last few patient visit notes, etc. He's gonna have to check, but since this hospital generally does not charge for transfer of patient records, he knows he can get that, but he didn't know about the films.

He also explained the reason for the delay in the full MRI, which actually wants to do immediately. Budget. New money kicks in at the first of the year. He'd have me in on the 1st, but they aren't scheduling MRIs on the 1st, it being a holiday and all, emergencies only. Understandable, but I'm first one in on the 2nd. Best I could hope for under the situation.

Also, after Jan 1, the hospital I go to is going to transfer operations from state hands to a non profit organization's. They run a number of hospitals, and they are very good hospitals. My mom even worked for one for a while. Nobody is sure how all the details are going to work out yet, but it will keep the ER and 55 beds open at the University hospital, and prevent further cuts there, but I don't know if this will allow me access to the specialists at the other hospital. Including pain management, physical therapy, and orthopedics. Even though this other system is non-profit, they do not offer what is so lovingly referred to as "indigent care", those of us without insurance, medicaid, or medicare.

So I got my Christmas present. A doctor, well resident - but I'll take him - who seems to be fighting for me to get good pictures of my complete spine, so we can proceed with the best possible options. Good Lord, here's hoping for a better 2013. For all of us.

Glad to hear the dr is going to get some current scans to find out what all is going on with you.

Hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas!!!

Susie

nvrthesame: The nurse and the resident were very professional, thank you. I was just returning the favor. At 44, I do not qualify for dirty old man status yet. Once I hit 50, look out.

Thanks for the info on Medical records, but I was told I could come in and look at them free of charge, but I'd have to pay so much per page for copies, and handling, etc. The other problem is the hospitals I need the info from are in Birmingham, Alabama, 7 hours away from me (including the one that had the shooting a couple weeks back - I know that hospital very well, my ex-wife had lots of post gastric bypass complications, and I spent a lot of time there - very good hospital, St. Vincent's), and I'm in Louisiana.

My former primary care doc (in Alabama), well his group, would have charged to send the records directly to me, but no charge to send records to my new doctor. Strange, I know. But when I go in for the followup for the MRI, doc knows I'm gonna want a digital copy of the major pertinent medical stuff, most recent films, last several visit notes, with scrips he has written, test results, any diagnoses with the ICD9 (or is it up to 10 now?) codes, plus his patient care plan. So if I'm caught somewhere else, I can make and will have duplicates of the CD, and I can put it on thumb drives too.

From that point, any new tests or pictures, I will get digital copies of, and can carry duplicates with me. If it turns out to be this collagen related syndrome, that's probably going to require a life-alert type bracelet, since a common side affect of that is sudden aortic rupture or aneurism, and colonoscopies and heart caths are contraindicated. Easily ruptured intestines and large caliber blood vessels.

In fact, what I'm searching for now is a medic alert thumb drive small enough to live on my keychain. I have a very small 32GB metal drive that would work, I guess I could just use fingernail polish to put a red cross on it or something with a note on my wallet. I use it for mp3s in my car stereo now. It was about 25 bucks. 32GB is a whole lot of info, and very high resolution graphics.

Sorry to hear things are taking so long...

I am a bit confused as I was reading back through the thread and you said back on December 14th that the MRI had been done an you were waiting on a call back and then had a follow up with your GP to move forward.....

But then on Dec. 25th you say they are going to schedule the MRIs and they were done on Jan. 2nd....

What was the first one not done of your your lumbar and sacral spine?

Just trying to catch up and see which Dr./Drs. dropped the ball...

Which Dr. is providing you meds right now? Is that the GP...and was all the results supposed to go back to him or do you have an appt. set with an actual Neurosurgeon who can really look over the results to determine if you need surgery or not.

I would absolutely be picking up the phone and tracking things down asap...The only good news I was saying before is that if they saw that you were an emergent patient, they would have hopefully called immediately....

It really stinks when things slow down right when you need answers...

Keep us posted...

mrsm123, it's the complete loss of bladder control occasionally, kind of a numbness, usually not being able to feel the fullness of the bladder, sometimes incomplete emptying, sometimes leaking. No problems with the other end. I do have the increased sacral pain, down to the tailbone, especially with pressure changes (moving from sitting to standing, or vice versa)

SB, I went to the ER in the hopes of getting some films made, and it worked. It was an ER doc that ordered the first MRI after seeing the plain xrays. That was lumbar/sacral only, I think. Never did quite find out those orders. At a minimum it was L3-S1. My regular doc called me instead of having to go in for a followup visit, gave me the results of the first MRI (arthritis, and some bone spurs, same diagnoses I've had for 15+ years, duh.), and said he would order the further imaging. So there was technically no followup appointment from the ER visit, the doc called me and said he was scheduling more tests, no need to come in for him to tell me that. When I went in for what was originally scheduled on Jan 2nd, The MRI was down (my freaking luck) so they rescheduled it for the 4th.

On the 4th, full spine, with and without contrast MRI films were made. I know the radiologist has to look at it, but I expected to hear something back by now. (Jan 15-16) I called the family practice clinic (Which is where I see my GP/PCP) and told them I wanted to know what the results of the MRI were. Couldn't get past the receptionist. Also told them I had filled my last of the Flexeril and Ultram, and would need refills by Feb 5th. Which meant I needed to see the doc before that date.

"I'll put a note on his desk" was all I got. rrrrrrrrr I told her to write it in really big letters. I'm giving them a week, then I'm hauling my hairy butt down there for some answers. Tired of this. He could call me like he did last time. I'm fine with that. Save me a 50 mile round trip. He could fax the prescription into my pharmacy and save me a trip altogether.

Or if he needs to admit me, admit me. The symptoms (pain and now incontinence) are not going away. These people don't know what I know about hospitals and patient's rights. I'll step on toes. I know the rules. I might upset your routine, and I'm sorry about that, but someone dropped the ball here, and it ain't my fault.