why did it come back?
A year ago I started experiencing some lower back pain. I suspect it started due to several medications I was on at the time, but it never went away after i stopped taking them, so I went to my doctor. She prescribed muscle relaxers and NSAIDS, and when that didn't get rid of it, she prescribed prednisone. After that failed, she sent me to physical therapy.
Physical therapy was super helpful. I established a good routine that I do every day. I stopped going in January because I started a new job and it didn't work with my schedule, but i kept up my routine. By March, I had started biking to work and that pretty much eliminated any resididual back pain. I went about 4-5 months without really any pain at all.
Three weeks ago, it started up again, worse than ever. I just got off my bike one day and I couldn't even stand up straight. I have no idea how this happened, since biking usually helps my back.
This time, the usually things aren't helping. I was on prednisone, but it was just for a week and I can't be on that long term. The exercises eliminate the pain, but it's usually back within 15 minutes. I have a lumbar support pillow at home and at work. I'm very careful about my posture. I take NSAIDS twice a day, but they only do so much and they have some unpleasant side effects so I'd prefer to be off them asap. I have muscle relaxers but can't take them for more than 2 days in a row because they stop working and make me too tired.
I have no idea why it's this bad. It's this stiffness at my L4-L5, and when it's bad enough I can't bend over or even stand all the way up. It's not getting worse with time, but it's not getting better either. It's never been this bad before. I had an xray and they said everything looked normal. I'm only 25 and I feel like i shouldn't be getting this much back pain this young. I'm really struggling to live my life like this.