Prolotherapy

I've seen chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, and medical doctors... I've had x-rays and MRIs, blood tests and neurological tests done... I've tried creams, essential oils, tape, and electrical muscle stimulation...but all to no avail. At most, I experienced a 30% improvement over the course of three months (with each professional or group of professionals) before plateauing. One chiropractor thought my back problems stemmed purely from a curvature in my spine. He wrote up an 11-month treatment plan after which he stood in front of my fourth set of x-rays and said, "It could be hereditary," meaning, "Since I couldn't fix you, you must have a genetic problem." One medical doctor diagnosed my back pain as Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction and wanted me to get steroid shots. "Just pump and dump after treatments," she had suggested since I was still breastfeeding Isaac. Once he was weaned, her plan was to prescribe me a handful of pain meds because "nothing really fixes SI Joint Dysfunction." 

I've had chronic low back pain for over eight years - since I was pregnant with Aislin. Everyone had warned me that my lower back would hurt during pregnancy, so I wasn't surprised when it did. I had gotten so used to the pain throughout those nine months that when I started feeling contractions in my lower back, I thought I was having the usual aches and pains. I didn't realize I was going into labor. After she was born, my back continued to ache for months. Lifting her off the floor was painful, second only to leaning over the tub to give her baths. As she got older, lifting her into her car seat became my #1 least favorite movement. But this will pass, I thought. My back will recover as the rest of my body does. 

I realize now that, when I was younger, pain was just easier to ignore. I was in my 20's when I had my first three kids and I thought my body could push past anything. I also never took the time to slow down and think, Something is very wrong here, I need to get it fixed. (Or maybe I did but figured we couldn't afford it?) My back hurt when I sat on the floor to do crafts or fold laundry...but I ignored it because I was watching TV with my husband and we were having fun together. And because my back was supposed to heal, some day. 

The pain became harder to tolerate after my third child was born. I was still plugging along, going to the gym and keeping a healthy weight, but it was becoming harder to stand straight after sitting for only ten minutes. I had to hobble for a few seconds, bent over like an old lady, before I could straighten up. After a while, even this became my norm...until an old man told me that he could sit in front of a computer for hours before his back started to ache. 

The pain finally became unbearable after Isaac was born almost a year ago. I remember having to get an MRI of my spinal column about a week after he was born, and crying towards the end of it because I couldn't stand the pain anymore. The MRI itself was, of course, painless...but laying on my back for half an hour was awful, even with pillows under my legs. After all this, I still might have pushed forward like before...but the pain had started to make me angry. I was easily irritated and found myself yelling at my kids way too often. 

So I talked to that old man again, the one who bragged about his awesomely robust back, and complained to him about my crummy one. He, being a retired naturopathic physician - and a wonderful and trusted friend of the family - recommended "Prolo." He told me to read up on it, look for a doctor who specializes in it, and to "make sure those medical doctors don't touch [my] back!" I did exactly as he said, but when I read that prolotherapy usually wasn't covered by insurance, I completely turned my back on his advice. 

"You know darned well we'd have to sell our house and live in our car if I did prolotherapy," I told him. 

"Maybe you need a bigger car?" he said. "But pain management is a dead end." 

I decided to take my chances on a new team of chiropractors, a physical therapist, and a massage therapist instead (because they were covered by insurance). Low and behold, I plateaued after about two months and with very little improvement...spent a bit of money on the out-of-pocket expenses and babysitters who had to come over every day for a week, then three days a week for a month, and then twice a week before I finally stopped going. 

I started to feel hopeless about my options. So, I prayed. Honestly, I don't know why I always pray last, but after I did, my perspective cleared. I realized that perhaps our family friend felt inspired to recommend prolotherapy, and, like an idiot, I ignored him. I realized I had spent as much money on a futile treatment plan as I was afraid to spend on a plan not covered by insurance. I realized that the importance of the material things in our lives pale in comparison to our health, even if that material thing is our house. So Tim and I talked again and reconsidered prolotherapy. I did weeks of research and consulted with three different doctors. And then I dove in.

I'm two months into my prolo treatments and I've experienced an incredible improvement. For someone who's had chronic pain for years, it wasn't just incredible - it was more of a miracle. When I started, the doctor had asked me to rate my pain. I gave it an 8. Today, my pain is a 3, max. My first two treatments were a week apart, then two weeks, then three. I've had a total of five so far, my next one scheduled for six weeks from now. Yes, it hurts. The needles aren't so bad, but once the solution (a mixture of sugar water/dextrose, B12, and procaine) start to affect your ligaments, you start to feel your back - and sometimes your glutes and legs - cramp up, like a Charlie Horse. Compared to chronic pain, though, this is nothing. It lasts about 20 seconds! 

Prolotherapy is a nonsurgical treatment which stimulates healing. Short for "proliferation therapy," Prolotherapy is also known as nonsurgical ligament and tendon reconstruction, or regenerative injection therapy. Prolotherapy works by stimulating the body's own natural healing mechanisms to repair injured musculoskeletal tissue. www.prolotherapy.com

Also, yes, it's expensive. My MD was right - the problem was in my Sacroiliac joints, as well as my right Iliolumbar ligament. They were sprained :( So to inject those areas, I pay $150 per treatment. Now let's do the math: for the five treatments so far, I've paid $750. I have two more to go, so I will have spent $1,050 in the span of five months. That's close to what I would have paid in out-of-pocket expenses had I continued with the chiropractic/physical therapy/massage therapy team, and that's nothing compared to the cost of surgery (had I needed it). 

I'm not saying the other forms of treatment aren't valuable, but for me, they weren't effective because my ligaments were compromised. The chiropractor kept making the same adjustments, the physical therapist kept popping my pelvis back in place...all because my ligaments weren't strong enough to keep them all from going out. So, for me, prolo has not only made my body strong enough to sit longer than ten minutes, to stand up straight, and to walk properly...it has taken away a pain that was more debilitating than I had ever given it credit for. Now I can sit at the table and help my kids with their homework. I can read to them while laying on the floor on my tummy. I can play. I can clean. I can sleep. 

Don't get me wrong, I haven't been injected with some mutant strain that makes me ultra powerful. I've learned to rest when I need to rest because, no matter what form of treatment I commit to, overdoing it is still overdoing it. I've learned to let go of what used to be a busy schedule. If something's on the calendar but I'm running on fumes, then we erase it. If we're out of grocery staples, we break out the canned foods and Ramen. If our house is a mess, then it's a mess. 

I know that there's no "one size fits all" when it comes to what each person's health requires. What has worked for others may not have worked for me, and what I've found to work for me may not work for others! I simply want to bear my testimony of this one thing that has worked for me. This small miracle. I'm grateful for prolotherapy and what it has given back to me and to my family. I'm grateful to my husband for truly loving me and seeing me through this process. I'm grateful to the old man for looking out for me. And I'm grateful to our Heavenly Father for always answering my prayers by giving me a clarity that I can never seem to pull off without Him.