Back Pain With Incontinence

[thelewisgang]

In the night last night I woke at 4am sneezing & immediately felt pain in my back. The pain, especially this afternoon has been horrendous. It is mainly in the lower left area & is causing pain in my left leg. I have used the high strength Voltorol rub & taken some strong pain relief. It is especially bad when I get up from a sitting position.

This afternoon I have had to make several urgent visits to the loo to empty my bladder & the last time I did not make it to the toilet in time!

Is this quite a common problem with back pain or should I seek professional help? thank you.

[Sqad]

anne......no....I don't joke on B&S.

[slaney]

Glad you are seeking medical help without delay thelewisgang - as others have said incontinence with back pain is a red flag symptom and you may need an urgent MRI to exclude cauda equina syndrome.

I would have been inclined to ring 999...

[slaney]

Sqad - your advice to wait until the morning was inappropriate.

[boxtops]

I'd take you to A&E tonight myself if I could.

[Sqad]

slaney...so you said.

I don't think so.

Do you think that he will get an emergency MRI scan tonight......No
Tomorrow.....maybe.
Do you think he will get surgical decompression tonight....no.
Tomorrow....no.......Thursday ...maybe.

All those "ifs" and he may well not have a cauda equina syndrome.

My advice remains and I respect yours.

[bednobs]

of course, it's perfectly possible that the incontinence has not been caused by spinal cord compression, but rather by the fact that thelewis gang has back pain so can't move as quiick as she'd like to get to the loo

[slaney]

Agreed Sqad, there may not be a cauda equina lesion, but it has to be excluded.

I have checked with elder son who is a neuroradiologist, and yes he gets out of bed in the middle of the night to do MRIs on cases like this, and yes the surgeons do operate immediately if necessary.

[thelewisgang]

thanks again everyone. Bednobs I can understand what you are saying about slow mobility with the back pain but I'm tending to leak when I stand up/walk to the loo. If I do not receive a return call by 7.30 I will get in the car & drive over there. thank you!

[slaney]

Yes bednobs that is a possibility, but thelewisgang still needs to be seen and assessed.

[Sqad]

slaney......we are doing AB no favours in arguing over management......it is all very confusing for them.

I have always accepted that we may disagree over our opinions but when it comes to the stage where one's opinion is stated as "inappropriate" I consider that to be quite unacceptable.

I will leave the medical questions to your good self in an effort to maintain a degree of consistency on AB.

[slaney]

Thelewisgang, as you are in a lot of pain, could you not get someone to drive you, or ring 999?

[anneasquith]

no expert, not a doctor. should you drive ?

[Peter Pedant]

and so what happened ? I am agog

The signs as reported would merit an urgent MRI
but of course in real life .....

[thelewisgang]

Sorry I haven't been able to get online till now due to awful problems on the home front (posting later on relationships section!). I did get a return call from the 111 service, explained it all to them & they thought it would be ok to wait till this morning to see how I was. I went to bed straight after their call...very early indeed & slept well.

Today my back pain is no easier but I've only had two occasions when I have leaked urine when I have stood up to go & visit the toilet so not as frequent as yesterday, thankfully.

I will see how the pain is in the morning & if still severe, will attempt to get an appointment to see my GP. thank you for your support

[Mamyalynne]

Hope you get sorted very soon, sorry you have other troubles too.

[FrogNog]

I wish you wouldn't wait and see.
If you are still leaking then something must be wrong if that's not normal behaviour for you.

[pixie373]

Keep a close eye on it. Best wishes xx

[jourdain2]

I still think that you should at the very least visit your doctor. A very big 'please'. When my back was very bad I was informed that it was possible that the Sciatic nerve could break under the pressure..............the results were unthinkable and so things got done.
I'm not a medic, but 2 who are have told you to seek help. I repeat my plea.

[jourdain2]

^^^ It doesn't matter whatever else is going on in your life, this comes first.

[Samuraisan]

I agree Jourdain