Numbing Your Butt!!!!

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2005

Am afraid time is all you have. However,, depending on your age and size you may want to see the doc for help preventing a clot from forming.

I had my feet pulled out from under me in jr high. Had a horrible time standing or sitting. Of course they thought it was my tailbone so,, back then we didnt run to the doc for every little ache and pain. AS a adult i had problems with a blown disc in my back, but during the ct scan they found i had actually had a verticle fracture of a vertebra and it had healed with scar tissue and was actually larger in diameter than the others above and below it now. That and spina bifida occulta. Have to watch my p's and q's now or i get in a world of hurt. If it shifts and slides forward from not paying attention to what and how i do something and ill be in bed for a few weeks.

apaisRN, RN, CRNA · Mar 9, 2005

Go to the ER! Your symptoms indicate you may be seriously hurt. If so, it will cost you more money down the road if you don't deal with it now.

UCDSICURN · Mar 9, 2005

Given your situation and the fact you've waited this long, I'd see If i could get seen in a clinic or urgent care. I'm not sure what the cost of an urgent care visit is, but it's FAR less than an ER visit and a lot of places can do x-rays in house. Clinic visits run around 50ish dollars, and maybe a couple hundred for an x-ray series, far far less than the thousands an ER visit will cost.

Hope this helps.

CRNANUPE_2B · Mar 10, 2005

I Really Think That I Have A Blood Clot Or Something, My Right Leg Feels Horrible Like There Is No Blood Flow! You Guys Really Do Not Understand.. I Cannot Sit Down In Class So I Have Not Been In The Last Two Weeks! I Am Basically Failing Nursing School. As Far As My Weight And Height, I Am 6'1 And I Only Weigh 132 Llbs! I Am Really Really Slim! I Just Hope That It Is Nothing Too Too Serious! But It Really Feels Like I Have Knots/tennis Balls In My Butt, I Just Hope That It Is Not Stopping The Blood Flow In My Limbs. Thankyou All For Your Input! Thankyou!!!!

webblarsk · Mar 10, 2005

If it is that serious you shouldn't be messing around. You should take the advice of fellow posters and seek treatment. Most hospitals will work with you on payment!

allamericangirl · Mar 10, 2005

I have 3 herniated disks. What you describe sounds like the pain that I had when my disks were irritated and swollen.

1. You MUST see a doctor.

2. You MUST follow the doctor's prescribed treatment.

Health insurance or not, you may have a serious injury that could leave permanent and serious damage. There are medical facilities in all commuities that treat people without insurance or money. You set up some kind of payment program with them. Don't go to burbs, go to the inner city. Your community will have some kind of "city" hospital.

The possible injury:

This is how the doctor explained it to me: When you injure a vertebra in your spine it can cause the disk to become inflamed and to swell. A disk is inside each vertebra in the spinal column. The disk cushions the vertebra so bone isn't rubbing against bone, and bone is not rubbing against the nerves in the spinal column. The disk when irritated, swells, and as it swells it can expand outside the vertebra, putting pressure on the nerves in the spinal column. The pressure of the swollen disk or disks, squeezing against the nerves cause the nerves to become inflamed resulting in pain into your leg(s), knee, neck, arm, pelvis,etc., depending upon the location of the injured vertebra and the nerve that the disk it is squeezing. A swollen disk can cause a serious and PERMANENT NERVE DAMAGE, which could result in paralysis or permanent loss of use of a limb. A swollen disk can also swell so large that it will rupture, which is then permanent damage to your spine that will result in spinal surgery. The knots in your butt that feel like bruises are probably from the nerve irritation.

The first treatment that I was given as ice and anti-inflamatory meds in large doses that made me vomit. I just can't take big horse pills of anti inflamatories. I didn't understand the use of ice and did not use it enough. I also used a heating pad because it felt good. Guess what? It made me have more swelling in the area and caused MORE damage! This went on for some weeks with no improvement. I had a huge knot in my butt, like someone's fist, it felt like a bruise. I had pain down the inner part of my upper thigh, knee pain and eventually swelling of my knee, and pain down the outer part of my calf and on to the arch of my foot. This was from pressure on my sciatica nerve. It got so bad that I drug my right leg. I couldn't carry anything without adding to the back/leg pain. I couldn't carry a gallon of milk. The knee became inbearable and swole up twice it's size. I finally went to an Orthopedic Surgeon who diagnosed that I had a knee injury and surgery was done to repair torn cartilage. The knee was better but the back didn't improve.

The knee problem was really coming from the pressure on the nerves in my back. I went to a different doc who sent me to have a Kat-scan (sp) to see specifically what was wrong. I have three damaged vertabre with swollen (heriniated) disks. The disks become heriniated and so swollen that they are trapped outside the vertebra and put extreme pressure on the nerves. I was given more anti inflamatories and told to use ice. It didn't help. By that time the disks were too inflamed and swollen to respond.

What worked: I was given a series of three injections into my spine as an outpatient at a hospital. I was injected with a type of steroid to aleviate the inflamation in the disks. It was not cortisone. I was told to go home and lay flat on by back for 24 hours, and to keep ice on the area 15 minutes every hour. I felt better after about 4 hours, so I got up and it was business as usual, housework, gardening, etc. Within 48 hours I was right back in the same boat again. I went back to the doc.

They repeated the injections a month later, but that time I was warned that this treatment would only be available to me a total of 3 times, because the injections can cause the bones throughout the body to become brittle. This time I stayed flat for 24 hours. It didn't work. There was a little relief but there still was a lot of pain.

A month later I had the 3rd series of three shots. There is a name for this treatment but I can't remember the terminology. I went right home and laid flat on my back for 48 hours, iced religiously, and got up only to go to the bath room. It worked. The pain was gone, except for when I went to bed at night, I would have this wierd drawing of the muscles in my butt and leg and it would jerk. I learned to control that with med pain management. I did NOTHING but light labor for weeks after the treatment. I am very, very careful.

Here is the rest of it. I have occasional pain when I am a bad girl and do not take very good care of my back.

My pain management therapy involves an RX for Soma Compound q.i.d. and 1 or 2 Oxycodone p.r.n. The Oxycodone is very habit forming and I am extremely careful with it.

See if you can figure out where in the spine you are hurting. It is more likely your spine that is injured, than your butt.

The objective here is to get the swelling down that is probably happening in the spine.

If I had done these things at the first of my injury, the doc says that I probably wouldn't have had to do the shots. These are the things that you can do that may help or aleviate the condition completely, and things that you can do by yourself:

1.Lay flat on back on floor and with knees bent put your feet and calves up on a chair. Position is just like sitting in a chair, but you are laying in the floor with your legs in the seat of the chair. This takes all pressure off your spine.

2.Take hot soak baths to relax the back and butt muscles several times a day and then apply

3.Ice, ice, ice, ice, ice, and more ice, to the area of your spine that this is coming from. Do not put ice directly on your skin, wrap a plastic bag of ice in a thin cloth.

4.DO NOT sleep on your stomach. It puts 75 lbs of pressure on your back. Sleep, or lay on your back, flat to take pressure off of any specific area of the spine. When you lay on your side, there is about 50 lbs of pressure on your back.

4. When you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees to your ankles when you lay on your side and put a rolled blanket or towel against your back at approximately the waist to aleviate any strain from balancing yourself on your side. Keep your back as straignt and close to natural body posture as possible.

5. Go to the pharmacy, tell the pharmacist your predicament, and ask him for the strongest, best anti inflamatory you can buy over the counter, and take it as directed at the max dosage.

6. If you have herniated disks they will probably not go down for a few days. A little ice and a dose or two of anti-inflamatories will not do a magical quick cure. Keep after it, it will take a little time. Call your advisor at school, ask for help, suggestions, advice and what you can do to keep from flunking out. Get on it.

Back pain is miserable and it just eats at you and makes you crazy until you get it to go away. It seems to take over your persona. If these things don't work after a few days, then you must figure out a way to see a doc. Oh... and keep studying, catch up your work and don't get behind again! Good luck!

I Really Think That I Have A Blood Clot Or Something, My Right Leg Feels Horrible Like There Is No Blood Flow! You Guys Really Do Not Understand.. I Cannot Sit Down In Class So I Have Not Been In The Last Two Weeks! I Am Basically Failing Nursing School. As Far As My Weight And Height, I Am 6'1 And I Only Weigh 132 Llbs! I Am Really Really Slim! I Just Hope That It Is Nothing Too Too Serious! But It Really Feels Like I Have Knots/tennis Balls In My Butt, I Just Hope That It Is Not Stopping The Blood Flow In My Limbs. Thankyou All For Your Input! Thankyou!!!!

ktwlpn, LPN · Mar 10, 2005

I Really Think That I Have A Blood Clot Or Something, My Right Leg Feels Horrible Like There Is No Blood Flow! You Guys Really Do Not Understand.. I Cannot Sit Down In Class So I Have Not Been In The Last Two Weeks! I Am Basically Failing Nursing School. As Far As My Weight And Height, I Am 6'1 And I Only Weigh 132 Llbs! I Am Really Really Slim! I Just Hope That It Is Nothing Too Too Serious! But It Really Feels Like I Have Knots/tennis Balls In My Butt, I Just Hope That It Is Not Stopping The Blood Flow In My Limbs. Thankyou All For Your Input! Thankyou!!!!

DOOD!

It's you that does not understand-how many times do you have to be told to go to the ER???? How much nursing school HAVE you attended? If there was no blood flow to your limbs for the past 2 weeks you would have 2 black shriveled gangrenous legs dangling. :uhoh21: ....You can make arrangments to pay the bill over time-they can not refuse to treat you...I am sure you can afford $10.00 a week,can't you? There is no magic pill for you to "numb your butt" There is no excuse for your behavior :lol_hitti ---if you flunk out of school it is your own fault for not taking care of this.....And at 6'1 and 132lbs it's NO wonder you fell and probably broke something-you need more MEAT on those long skinny bones....eat a cheeseburger,pleeze :

apaisRN, RN, CRNA · Mar 10, 2005

Don't tell us we don't understand! We do understand that you are sick and need treatment from an in-person professional. What do you think, I'm going to package up some oxycontin and mail it to you? Frankly, you sound extremely immature and I hope you do a LOTof growing up before you are allowed near a patient.

duckboy20 · Mar 11, 2005

take an aspirin and call me in the morning

CRNANUPE_2B · Mar 11, 2005

FIRST OF ALL THANKYOU ALL FOR ALL OF YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS! I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART! I WILL GO TO THE ER AND SEE WHATS GOING ON!!

apaisRN I FEEL VERY DISTURBED BY YOUR COMMENT! IF YOU CANNOT SAY ANYTHING HELPFUL PLEASE DO NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL! ESPECIALLY AT A TIME LIKE THIS!

THANKS TO ALL THE MATURE NURSES THAT RESPONDED, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!

SproutRN · Mar 12, 2005

Dude, it's 5 days after your original post.....why haven't you gone to be checked yet???? :smackingf

Sprout :nurse:

martymoose, BSN, RN · Mar 12, 2005

As I see it, there are three possible painkillers otc- tylenol, advil, and aspirin. Other than that, you would be needing a prescription for anything else from a doctor. If youre having access to prescription drugs that weren't prescribed for your specific condition, then that would be illegal, wouldnt it?. No one here is going to suggest illegal stuff. I would suggest you go to a clinic asap and work out a payment plan- heck they have credit companies that finance - my husband didnt have a job at the time and he got financed for some major dental problems. I would think you should be able to make some arrangement somehow. I hope you are not causing any further damage to yourself - you will need those legs and behind for your job! PLEEEZE get it checked out- hopefully its not too late, and I hope you get well soon- C