I found this thread oddly prophetic, since virtually simultaneously with its posting, my back likewise went out on me for 24 hours in a totally mysterious fashion Wednesday morning.
Oddly enough, I awoke around two a.m. on Wednesday and, on my semi-conscious trip to the bathroom, actually remarked to myself “Hmmm, you haven’t had any back problems for quite some time now, self, Way To Go!”, peed and promptly went back to sleep. When I woke up three hours later, I was in excruciating back pain.
Actually, I was in pain (similar to the crucifixion, with the agony being localized on my lower back of course) only when I attempted to get out of bed. I writhed around in bed for an hour or so, positioned myself every conceivable whichaway to hoist myself out of bed, and when I finally did so, felt a pain that allowed me only to express lament that God had forsaken me. I finally threw myself back into bed and (long story short) contrived to get myself some Advil, which, with the help of about 150% of the recommended dose plus 24 hous of bed rest, persuaded my back to let up on me a little.
Today, my back is fine. My GQ is: Does anyone understand WTF caused my back to seize up on me in the above-dramatically-told-but-100%-accurate narrative out of freaking nowhere for no conceivable reason? I’ve broken bones in my time, mind you, without realizing at the time that I’d done so (stress fracture in the meta-something bone in my foot), but my doctor explained to me what I’d done, and it made some sense to me. When this happens (maybe half a dozen times in my life) no one can make any sense of it to me whatsoever.
Sometimes I think that lower back agony is a kind of virus–that’s how it feels. I perform no acts involving stress of any kind on my lower back, but nonetheless am transformed into a suffering bag of protoplasm for a period of time, attempt vainly to treat the symptoms for a while, and the agonizing symptoms mysteriously vanish of their own accord after a period of time. This makes no sense to me, but neither does back pain. What action could I possibly have performed in a few hours of peaceful uneventful sleep to take me from congratulating myself that my back had caused me no discomfort at all to feeling like a prisoner under torture clearly outlawed by the Geneva Convention?
When I ask my doctor WTF happened, he explains “Shaddup and take these muscle relaxants.” I read two books by John Sarno, Back Pain Genius, but if I told you what HE thinks my back pain is all about, I’m afraid you’d laugh at me, that’s how counter-logical and downright silly Sarno’s “thinking” is–much loopier than my loopy viral theory of back pain (basically it involves treating one’s back as a sentient being, and asking it all sorts of questions as to why it has decided to cause one such agonizing symptoms.) Does anyone understand whence lower back pain comes, and how it might be treated? If you like, you can try to persuade me that Sarno’s the Man, and explain his ideas to me, but you’d have an easier time persuading me that little leprechauns sneak into my bed and fill my lumbar region with Unlucky But Magical Lower Back Pain Charms, frankly. Otherwise I’m open to explanation, whether they be viral, neuro-muscular, astrological, political, etc in nature.