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The official verdict is: compressed disc but no major herniation, as in the type that would require surgery. But even though this thing is "minor", it does need to be taken seriously to keep it from being a long-standing constant problem. One thing that some healthy people don't understand is that in a person like me with fibromyalgia, a single physical trauma like back injury causes the rest of the pain centers in the body to go into overdrive, which can lead to a body wide exacerbation, perhaps severe enough to leave me completely bedridden.

So in addition to the medication, I am doing additional treatment to not only help the low back but also keep the rest of my body healthy. This is a tricky balance. For instance, I will keep doing the aquacise classes as long as the warm water continues to keep my muscles relaxed, but I have to stop the Gazelle glider machine because that will aggravate the spine right now (I just hope I don't erase the progress it took me a year and a half to make).

The hope is that I can get back to what passes for normal in two weeks. But in order to do so, I will have to agree to some restrictions: in addition to no Gazelle, no lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk, no standing in one place for more than five minutes at a time, no sitting in one position for extended periods, no repetitive activity, and sadly, no extended time at the computer. I must alternate ice and heat treatments five times a day, use a TENS unit and very gentle adjustments at the chiropractor, short but frequent massage therapy, and stay on low doses of muscle relaxants after the steroid treatment ends (which is tomorrow).

I may vanish from the blog for awhile because I'll need to save my computer time for balancing the checkbook, getting paperwork ready for the ENT appointment on Monday (in case I forgot to mention it here, I've had an ear infection for SIX WEEKS), and finishing up some articles I had already started. So I'm out but not over.