I sincerely appreciate the help, Steph. Thanks so much.

You're very welcome! I hope it helps.

I just downed the first four. Fingers and tendons crossed.

Aims, the house looks great! And a bike path! Hoping this works out for you guys. You deserve a break.

bonny, adding my voice to the Advil brigade. When my back is acting up, I eat 'em like Skittles. It's been my experience (and my sister's) that ligament or tendon injuries can take a long time to heal. You can't just stop using them, you know? I injured my hip in 2006 climbing a cliff in Monterey (that sounds much cooler than it was) and it still hurts sometimes. Not meaning to discourage you, actually just want to say, don't get discouraged if it doesn't heal fast. Oh, and not sound woo-woo, but a glucosamine/MSM/hyaluronic acid supplement makes a noticeable difference for me in how my joints feel. IANAD.

May there be relief for you, bonny.

Omnis, I hope you figure out your back trouble quickly.

Seriously, only one time did a friend freak *me* out when she told me about taking meds -- she took 5 Benadryl at a time. "Well, clearly you're still alive," I said, "but that is FUCKED UP."

You talking 25 mg tabs or caps or the 50mg ones. Apparently 100mg is the standard dose in Europe for insomnia. That was working for me for a while in combo with catnip but I have had to bump it up to 125 when I ran out of catnip capsules.

And best cute little house ~ma to you, Aims.

Seriously, only one time did a friend freak *me* out when she told me about taking meds -- she took 5 Benadryl at a time. "Well, clearly you're still alive," I said, "but that is FUCKED UP."

You talking 25 mg tabs or caps or the 50mg ones.

I didn't think to ask.

Not meaning to discourage you, actually just want to say, don't get discouraged if it doesn't heal fast. Oh, and not sound woo-woo, but a glucosamine/MSM/hyaluronic acid supplement makes a noticeable difference for me in how my joints feel. IANAD.

I've been warned that this kind of injury takes a long time.

Having zero relief with the aleve...for 3 weeks...did discourage me somewhat.

I'll give the glucosamine a try as well. I give Cagney such a supplement every day, after all.

Any suggestions for how to keep the advil from burning up my stomach? That's my only concern at the moment.

Glucosamine was recommended by the surgeon who did my shoulder.

back update. Got on the total gym gizmo again, trying to do some kind of "alignment", get the back to snap/crackle/pop out of pain. The pain really does feel like when your knuckles need cracking... but on a large scale. So I get on the gizmo, and realized, whoa! Thighs are super tight. Like Ow tight. Then I remembered, what prompted me to write first post, was when I tried to put my feet up at my desk, and the pain triggered, as if I stood up. So I spent about an hour stretching front and back of thighs. And the pain is about 80% less (no meds!). Clearly, I need to spend the rest of the week doing stretches. Lordy, I hope I don't slip/fall with my muscles this tight. I could do some serious damge.

All this reminds me of "backbone connected to the hip bone. Hip bone connected to the...". It's not the back that is at fault. It's what's connected.

Hot damn! Had the theory, typed it in to the internet, and found something. Granted, can't believe everything you find on the internet, but, it sounds about right. [link]

Another key structure in low back pain is the hamstring muscles, the large muscles in the back of the thighs. Patients with tight hamstrings tend to develop low back pain, and those with lower back pain tend to develop tight hamstrings.

The theory is that tight hamstrings limit motion in the pelvis, so the motion gets transferred to the bottom lumbar motion segments and increases the stress in the low back. Rehabilitation focuses on strengthening the muscles and stretching the hamstring muscles.