My low back X-ray looks very peculiar. Lumbosacral area has been giving me sharp pain that does not radiate. The pain is so bad I cannot stand for very long, can't do hardly anything standing up. The only drug that has numbed it is Lyrica. I take opiates for bad legs. I spend nearly all day laying down. I posted this over at the back forum, but this is also an orthopedic issue.
My first question is, on a plane black and white X-ray of the vertebral bodies, does a fracture show up as a white line? On my X-ray, the last lumbar bone has a white irregular line in it, that goes from back to front about halfway across the bone. I didn't know if this is just some blood vessel or what.
Also, I have a question about the relationship of the sacral spine to the lumbar spine. A lateral X-ray was taken of my low back with my legs bent, and the sacral part is perpendicular to the lumbar part. Should the sacral spine be like that if the knees are bent? If anything, that angle shouldn't ever be the 90 degrees, and in fact should be even less if legs aren't straight? All the disk spaces are where they are supposed to be. Please enlighten me.
My history and pictures show the thoracic spine with compression fractures from a falling accident many years ago, on X-ray the bones appear crumbled on the edges, disks vapororized, the bodies misaligned, tilting diff ways, and the whole works curves to one side. At the time, the pain was sharp, natural fusion took place over time, now the pain is just deep aching muscle pain from being permanently wrenched out of place.
Now, the lumbosacral spine that is the subject of this post, the discomfort there began several years ago, I thought it was just an aging processs, maybe the disks were fading or arthritis or something. Recently the pain became quite sharp, so I had an X-ray, and all the disks are in place. I was declared normal in the lower back. But how come the pain?
I look at the X-ray, frontal view of the whole spine, and the lower spine leans in the opposite direction of the original thoracic injury's curvature. The orthopedist did suggest the old injury may be affecting the low back somehow. He says I should do therapy, lose weight (it hurt before I gained some weight recently from IBS). My family physician then advised me no therapy, instead upped my antidepressant. *Sigh*
I say I've got a broken bone because that's how it feels. I also think I've got a whole spine that is about to fall off itself. Second opinion is expensive, so that's why I'm here. Also, I am afraid sudden or strenuous movement might hurt me, even afraid the Lyrica might mask any worsening of the situation. Any replies at all would be appreciated.