I have now been diagnosed with flat back syndrome. Has anyone had this happen due to there condition or had any other back problems diagnosed because of dysautonomia. I will have to go see a orthopedic in abnormalities in back. To see if I will have to have surgery to fix it. They said this is why I am having so much back pain and why it is hard for me to walk. Also why my shoulders and neck are always hurting because of the flat back I lean forward to try and compansate to stand up straight but I am not still standing straight and my spine is all messed up.
Anyone else with these problems?

Dear Misty,

Again, I am sorry you are having so many problems. I have not heard of "flat back syndrome" and don't know if dysautonomnia can cause back problems.

Have you looked up this problem on the internet?

I have trouble with pain in the center of my back, and the only thing that helps is yoga to build a strong back and abdomen. Yoga also helps to correct my posture and help me to stand straighter.

Don't know if yoga could help you or not, but it does build strength and flexibililty. But your condition should probably be evaluated by a specialist first. Wouldn't want you to get hurt.

Hope the doc has some good answers.

Misty and Rosie,

I didn't know that MVP is assosciated with Flat Back and Scoliosis. I have MVP.

Now that I have insurance, I want to have my back looked at to determine the cause of the pain. And I agree, sometimes back surgery makes things worse.

I have DJD, DDD, scoliosis, and kyphosis. The kyphosis in my neck is suspicious to me as it can cause vagus nerve issues in some people when it's at the C2-C3 area like mine is, but my MRI's don't show anything bad there nerve wise.

The NCS (or whatever I have) didn't cause the spine problems, that's unfortunately something that I got from my mother and a past history of accidents. It can however make my back and other joints hurt worse if I fall more often.

As morningglory said, you really need those muscles fit. Light stretches, that you can do while on the floor, helps a lot.

I have not been told yet that I have MVP. I will go see the EP cardiologist on wed so maybe then I can get some more answers. I dont know if the back problem is from a car accident in 97 when I got t-boned. I know I had two slipped disks then. I went to chriomed and they said that one hip sits higher than the other and the vertibras in my neck are pushed outward and that I had the two slipped disks in my spin. So I dont know if over time not having that fixed is what lead to the flat back syndrome or not. All I know is my back stays in pain, I have been on muscle relaxers and pain killers for over 3 months for this problem. It just seems to be getting worse and now I have a name to go with all the pain. I just dont know what lead to this syndrome and what I should do about it. I am sure the orthopedic can tell me what things I can do and if surgery is really needed or just physical therapy or whatnot. I have very limited movement with my back. It kills me to stand up straight and it hurts even more if I bend over. Once I bend over to give the dog a bath or whatever it feels like I cant breath and I have pressure in my chest from it. So it is def something I need to have checked out and find out what my options are.

P.S I work out everynight for the most part by helping my husband with his job. We pick up trash at apartment complexes doors and take it to the trash compactors for them. Its a service they pay for. So I get walking and lifting excersise every day of the week but friday's and saturday's.

What muscle relaxer do you take?
I was taking one last fall because I had a lot of spasms in my back but had to stop taking them - due to the very way they relax those muscles.

It was my regular cardiologist that said I have it. As far as what muscle relaxer I take it is flexeril 10mg 3x's a day. Or as needed for pain. And then for pain killer I take percocets. The combination of the two seems to make it so I can stand up for alittle bit of time without hurting.

I suspected it might be flexeril. Look how it's suspected to work - by increasing norepinephrine release. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexeril

I can't take it anymore without my blood pressure diving too low - 70s/40s standing, if I'm lucky. I literally stumble like a drunk from them when last fall they barely affected me other then causing some sleepiness. I wonder if they may have made my issues a bit worse. It's too bad though, they work very well and sometimes do help when taken with something else for a migraine - I still have a bottle left if I ever really really need them.
Be careful using them daily.

Oh I will I generally only take them at night when I go to bed given that way I am not in pain from laying down. And I dont wake up hurting in really bad pain then. Very seldem do I take them during the day. I will just take a tylenol or something instead. I am not a big pain killer person or muscle relaxer for I dont want to get addicted to them. So I generally take them just to go to bed at night, and even then I dont take them everynight only when I am really hurting.

I doubt you'd get addicted to them. People who take medication as prescribed and for real medical problems aren't addicts - it's sad that society has attached that stigma to anyone taking those sorts of meds. I've even heard of pharmacists giving customers hards times over what medications they're on.
Your luck, like mine, would probably be that your tolerance would build up to the medications first.

Again - check into physical therapy. Make sure you have a good bed and pillow, too. Do your best to correct your posture - make sure your computer chair, desk, and monitor are all at proper levels, etc. That's really all you can do besides surgery and medication.

I have tried all of those things. I got the posture pedic bed and the foamy like pillow that has the high ark where your neck goes to keep your spine aligned, but it still dont matter. Same with the computer my car is an expensive one and I still find I wont lean back in the chair and most of the time like right now my legs are folded up indian style while on here, and I still lean forward. It is just the way my body has adapted and its hard to change. I have gone through physical therapy once for when my arm kept going limp, I would just drop my fork or cup it would just give out. So they tried to use the tape method to pull my shoulders back and that didnt work all that well, it caused more back pain then when I started out. I did the electric shock and massage and everything nothing worked. I went to chiromed for a few months until the doctor one day went to pop my back and broke my rib. I never went back after that. He should have known how small I was. All I could do is lay there and grasp for air because the rib was pushing into my lung. He poped it back in place to get it off my lung but talk about pain. Never again...lol. Its not that I get addicted to the medication for say, is more of I build an ammunity to medication pretty quickly. That is the problem I have now with my beta blockers, they dont really work anymore. They work some but not like they should and my cardiologist has noted that. So maybe on wed they will figure something else out when I go see the EP cardiologist.

I sorry that nothing seems to have helped at all. Hopefully the doctor you will be going to will be knowledgeable enough to help or direct you to a doctor who can. Just dealing with all the pain from your back doesn't help anything else either. It definitely affects heart rate.

Very disturbing that the chiro broke a rib! Did you do anything about that? He shouldn't have been left practicing without at least being reported and investigated for that...

I've had the electrodes too - it completely puzzled the physical therapist because I could not feel the leads in some areas. Massage is nice, but never lasts long enough to be worth the trouble.

I sit wrong often too... it's so very difficult to correct, because like you, I sit with my feet up - usually indian style. I believe someone made a thread here or on another forum about that, asking how many people sit with their feet up or under them.

No I never did anything about it other than not pay him his bill. I refused told them they are lucky I didnt sue them or something. I never keep my feet down like I should. They are always either folded up and I am sitting sideways or they are up under me or something never down. That is just to uncomfy for me.lol. Which in return I suffer from the back problems but at the same time sitting like that is the only way I feel better. I am always crossing my feet and legs which I know is not good either but it is a bad habit that I just cant break.

Dear Misty,

I'm so sorry that you have so much difficulty with your back. My heart goes out to you.

HUGS