Seeking Reassurance: Back Pain & Cramps

Hi all, I will try and keep it short as I know that everyone has his/her own problems, but I am sure that you all need reassurance once in a while as well and I guess this is what I am looking for with my post today. I am hoping that someone can tell me ''yeah, I've had this before, its normal and you will be fine''.Its been a week now that I have had non-stop, lower back pain and cramps (charlie -horse type cramps) in the thighs, the lower back pain igoes all around my back waist and teh painful spots are all related. The pain is really unbearrable, its kind of like a 8-9/10 ... this all started a week ago, its been 7 days now. I am taking Robax which has Ibuprofein and is a muscle relaxant. This helps me usually for 3-4 hours (brings the pain down to maybe a 4-5/10 and then shoots all the way back up. I was sick as well, had some light fever on the first day (38 degrees celcius) and I thought it might be a muscular virus or something, but 7 days later, absolutely no change and the pain is still as severe as the first day. I know its annoying to hear other peoples comments and all but I would really appreciate hearing back from you guys as I am quite worried as I am not feeling any better... Should I call up my neuro and tell her about this new symptom or is it absolutely not related to bfs or something worse? Thanks in advance, Will

Hi,I am just recovering from this year virus and it also got me quite strong pain in the back. I had to use diclophenak applications to relieve it.I cant say mine was 8 or 9 points (as far as I can remember this grade of pain practically requires not ibuprophene but painkillers (and often opiates)), but well, 4 to 5 was quite realistic in my case (can not move without a strong word). it was really lasting over a week and was only getting worse until I applied local medication.Because you also report previous flu, I may suggest the this is a special feature of this year flu.Please remember that BFS people are very sensitive and may have lowered pain threshold so pain might be felt much stronger than related damage (so just do not afraid so much)Part of BFS group disorders could be fibromyalgia at which pains are really hard (however again not 8-9 as far as I may judge on my experience).Anyway in this case it is worth to check your back with neuro, but all suggests that this is rather acute inflammation (like radiculitis, which is really really bad in terms of pain up to inability to move) and not something irreversible. Treatment is usually conservative, long but still efficient.Wish you complete and soon recovery,Yulia

Honestly this sounds like you got something on top of your BFS (we cannot blame everything on BFS honestly). BFS causes diffuse pains that can be pretty severe, but never a 9/10. On the other hand many women set their 10 at labour pain ( including screaming your lungs out, crying and occasionaly fainting accompanied with the wish to instantly die ) , so maybe a male 10 is different from female 10. But I think you should see a doctor and check if you have some inflammation or pinched nerve going on.

Thanks for the responses ladies, Ok maybe my 8 & 9 are a little exagerated or as Chrissi saod its a male 8 & 9 ... but jokes aside, its really painful and has kept me up the last few nights. The feeling in the thighs is like when you work out hard and you need to stretch out your muscles, but in my case stretching does absolutely not help. its been like this for a week now and I have been getting more worried because I remember reading that in some cases, people would start having lower back pain and Charlie-horse cramps as symptoms when they were diagnosed with als. Another thing is that I have this pressure and burning sensation in those areas (thighs and lower back) and that I have been twitching in both thighs quite a lot recently. As you can see all this has gotten me quite worried and I am really trying to keep calm and tell myself that this is not related to any als symptoms, but as most of us do sometimes, I am unfortunately worried Its really weird as this all started suddenly, I remember last week I was feeling pain in my legs while working (I sit while I work as I have an office job) and I was trying to find a comfortable sitting position but just couldnt find one and I still cant. I gather, you both think that I should go see a regular doctor or call up my neuro and talk to her about it?Thanks Yulisar and Chrissi and anyone else who will respond to this post. Will

So now that sounds more like the BFS I know I had similar pains that kept me up at night for weeks, so this CAN go along with BFS, yes. Especially your fever and the time of year (it is autumn...yes...season of the BFS relapses..) make me think of a BFS relapse.

I really hope that its only a rellapse ... what sucks a lot is that I was actually doing very well ... its been over 18 months that I have been twitching but over the past 3-4 months or so I have been able to reduce my anxiety levels really a lot and without the help of any meds. But this pain in the back and teh thighs has just got me really worried again, especially since I remember reading that some patients diagnosed said that they had the same thing (lower back apin and thigh cramps = charlie-horse type) as initial symptoms ... I hate BFS ... but there are other illnesses that I hate even more ... so I'll take BFS and try to deal with it with the help of my 3 year old boy Thanks again for writting back!!!

I think to see a doctor is a good idea but not because of ALS fears but to check if you do not have any radiculopathy.Sometimes warm bath may help, but again ask doctor first.and do not think about ALS. Yes ALS victims can have pain in their limbs and body but only when the disease is quite developed, and it is becasue of too much load for the rest of muscles taking body weight instead of paralysed musclesand becasue of upper motor neurons death causing spastic paralysis. unless you do not have paralysis, it is not your case but rather something close to flu reaction.our cramps are nothing common to spasms associated with spastic paralysis. In that case no one can make the muscle flexed again, and we easily can do that even in the cramp.

and please remember that flu is usually a BFS provoking factor

Will,As the others have said, BFS is not a catch-all diagnosis for any medical condition that you're not sure about. Having had ruptured and bulging disks in my lumber region, the pain you describe sounds like a disk problem or muscle spasm (back injury). For what it's worth, my BFS kicked off over a year ago with back damage, a virus and the twitching all at the same time. Do yourself a favour and go to the doctor for some decent painkillers and professional diagnosis.CheersSM