Sorry for the vague title, but someone else just opened a Lower Back Pain thread a bit before me.
Anyway, my wife has been having some lower back pain. The thing is, it is not a constant pain. The pain is located at about elbow height, apporx. 2 to 3 inches to the right of the spine. She describes the pain as being stabbed, except that it is only momentary. She will be feeling nothing, then suddenly she has the severe stabbing pain that makes her gasp and tense up. The pain lasts for about 2 seconds and then is completely gone. There is no predicting it and no signs of it about to happen. She is usually completely unprepared for it whenever it comes. Some times she’ll have a series of “attacks” that come 4 to 5 times an hour for about 12 hours.
We’ve been to a bunch of different doctors about this. They found that she had gall stones and removed the gallbladder. That was about a year ago and she is still having problems. One doctor checked to see if the bile duct (what’s left from the gallbladder removal) was blocked. It was clear. She has been checked for kidney stones. All clear there, too. The doctors seem to be guessing and said it was muscle spasms and sent her to physical therepy. This hasn’t helped. In fact, they seem to be worse after the PT. My wife says that she has full range of movement during the “attacks” and that stretching does not help lessen the pain.
I’m not asking for any medical advice. I’m hoping to find someone that has seen such a thing and might be able to suggest a possible root cause that the doctors have overlooked.