opelmanta1900 wrote:
talked to a doctor yesterday and she basically said I can either tough it out with my back or go to physical therapy... she also told me something I've been told before but am not sure if it's true - that at the age of 38, the only reason I would get an MRI on my back is in preparation for surgery....
Pretty much what my Doc said (except for the 38 yrs old part, tack on another decade and change). Saw two different general practice guys over the past 25 yrs or so about it. Both said live with it, do some stretches and don't do $#!+ to aggravate it. If that doesn't work and it gets bad I could consult a specialist to see if cutting me open might help. I picked with the "live with it" advice. This past year when I had some flare ups the Doc added a low dose of amitriptyline that I take once a day.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-safely-take-elavil-amitriptyline-for-back-pain-296488
Some days in the morning it reminds me that it's still there but I haven't had the knee buckling, lightning bolts down the leg kind of pain in a few years.
Short of being paralyzed or unable to communicate on my own, there ain't nobody gonna cut me open to poke around my spine.