u/forgetfulfeline

Before this, I was very active and athletic. I ran almost every day and did marathon distances, and for the most part had no back pain except for an occasional flare up. Now I can barely walk around the house for a few minutes or stand long enough to brush my teeth or shower.

It HAS improved some because now I can rest without pain whereas before it was very bad 24/7 even resting in any position. I was also not walking at all. I was crawling to the bathroom, and any weight on my left leg was pretty unbearable. Now I can stand up and walk to the other room, albeit slowly and awkwardly, kind of dragging one leg. The pain is shifting up the leg which I hear is good, but it's still very sharp. I still get some dull pain and tingling down the leg, but mostly really sharp pain right where the top of the glute muscle meets the pelvis. Sometimes I shift a millimeter on the couch and gasp involuntarily from the pain, then it hurts for hours after. I can't tell if it's nerve pain or muscle spasm.

Walking seems to be the biggest trigger. I keep seeing advice to walk so I'm not sure what I should be doing. Swinging my leg forward seems to be the worst, as well as leaning forward at all while sitting or laying. I think any movement in the pelvis really. Bending over while standing actually feels ok, although obviously I keep my back straight, bend my knees and avoid bending over far. I tried virtual PT but could not do any of the exercises without pain. Even very light movement like cat-cow stretches hurt. The only thing that feels good is a glute bridge. I'm honestly kind of afraid to go to in person PT because of the pain it will cause just to get there, wait in the lobby, walk in the office, etc. Any amount of standing or sitting or walking becomes pretty painful after a few minutes and just gets worse and worse if I can't lay down. I used a wheelchair at my last Dr appointment and it was still very painful but I think walking would have been a lot worse.

The virtual PT recommended trying the epidural injections so I can get moving more and do PT, but my PCP is saying they're more for chronic cases that have been going on for months as they do have risks. The PCP just keeps saying to move as much as I can while keeping the pain manageable even though I keep explaining that literally everything hurts. And as an endurance runner, I'm totally capable of pushing through the pain if I should, but it certainly seems like anything painful is setting me back with hours or days of increased pain afterwards, so I'm not sure I should be pushing through it?

Currently I'm taking 1500mg of gabapentin and methocarbomol as needed. I've already tried a shot of toradol, a pack of steroids, three weeks of ibuprofen, oxycodone, Tylenol. There was no accident and I have no idea what caused this. It almost just seemed like it was caused by sleeping on my side since it was always worse in the mornings but I don't know if that could really cause a herniated disk. I'm wondering if I have some hyper mobility that could have contributed, and maybe taking muscle relaxers while continuing to run and exercise made the injury worse? They did say I have mild scoliosis. Back problems do seem to run in my family as well. I have taken the soft mattress topper off in case it was that, and currently I can only sleep on my back. It's very uncomfortable because I used to be strictly a side sleeper but now if I try laying on my side it feels very bad, not painful right away but it feels kind of like a joint somewhere is being pulled out of position or hitting something else. I have always used a pillow between the knees but I'm not sure my spine is staying straight. It always feels like my pelvis has to roll forward or backward, it doesn't just stay straight on its own. I always thought the mattress was too firm, like it actually made the hip touching the mattress ache, but somehow my spine still feels like it has a curve through it rather than staying straight. So I don't know what to make of that. Maybe a scoliosis/hyper mobility thing?

Any advice appreciated.

On trails my dog typically just follows the trail and at forks I can just get his attention and point which way to go. But recently we tried a wider bike path, and he really wanted to stay right in the middle. I kept trying to get him on the right side and then reward him but he would just drift right back to the middle, over and over and over. I think I was confusing him because in order to steer him over, I had to slow him down until I could grab his harness or collar, and he thought I was continuously asking him to slow down or stop pulling. Then I'd say ok go and he'd head right back to the middle. So how do you get them to stay on the right while still running out in front of you? I'm guessing we need to practice more commands while just walking first, but would you try to have them in front of you and then lure with food to the right or what would be the best way? Do you use different commands for stay on the right side vs make a right turn?

I've already done two series of obedience classes with my dog with a trainer in Vegas and had hoped to continue to the higher levels and the e-collar training, but after moving to Reno I'm not finding anything similar. All I'm seeing are board and trains and really expensive private lessons, which are not really what he needs and way more than I can afford. I just want to keep working on his reliability around distractions and eventually get him off leash. He knows the basics pretty well and doesn't have any major behavioral problems. High prey drive around squirrels is really our biggest issue. If anyone has any recommendations I'd greatly appreciate it!

Just wondering if this is a mal trait and if anyone might have experience or any insight. Whenever we play tug, fetch, etc, right when he seems the most into the game, he will completely switch off and just start vacuuming up everything off the ground and eating it. Grass, weeds, twigs, leaves, cobwebs, foxtails, anything. I've tried to get his attention back with toys, running around, calling him, jumping around... no luck. I've tried "leave it" (he's usually very good at leave it with treats) and I've tried correcting with no luck. If I can get him away from one thing he just moves on to something else. He's 1.5 years so I'm not sure if he could still grow out of this and what I do in the meantime... It seems like either we don't play outside with toys anymore or I just let him eat stuff, but I'm afraid if he eats enough inedible things he could get really sick. He's really so well behaved otherwise but this one thing is so frustrating! TIA

Currently, my ferritin is 41 and iron is 112. Six months ago, my ferritin was 11, and I've been taking a 45mg iron supplement. My doctor just says I'm fine now and didn't really provide further advice. From what I understand, I'm still not in ideal levels and will probably just fall back into deficiency again without a supplement, but I'm confused about how much to take now. I am female with average menstruation and an endurance runner which makes my requirements higher. I was on PPIs for the last two years but have discontinued them recently so that might help too. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!