Lower Back Pain Anyone?

Not sure if this is the right place..I'm not looking for drug responses necessarily.

I have insanely bad lower back pain. I've gotten x-rays even MRI's. Twice each. First time nothing, 2nd time (maybe a year apart?) both xray+MRI showed minor irritation whatever that means.

I've used it as an excuse to keep on using heroin. Well, I'm off the heroin right now and the back pain is back! I'm already on suboxone. So that in itself as a pain killer is not working..I've tried all the OTC meds, advil, ibprofuen, tylenol etc..I've even tried 3-4 hydrocodone 7.5mg (while off suboxone) and it couldn't kill my pain.

My question is this..when MRIs/X-Rays show nothing what can I do? I can't ask for pain meds. Which honestly I'd rather not be on due to my history with opiate abuse. Should I try a chiropractor ? Stretching? What?

Anyone else here have back pain that just won't go away?

Oh PS I work on my computer all day (internet marketing) and have been doing it for 6 years now. I'm sure its taken a toll on my back. Not to mention the past 4 years I've slept on a couch. I recently got a memory foam mattress at costco. So its not like those super soft ones where you can see your hand print but its supposed to be decent memory foam?

OP you have answered your own question. You need to invest in a quality mattress, number one.
Number two you need to invest in a better ergonomic workspace. Look at a few guides online and try to replicate a spine-friendly working environment.
An optional extra that will certainly help, is visits to a chiropractor who will help treat the underlying spinal alignment problems that are causing the pain.

Good luck and remember - you only have ONE spine. Look after it!

To add to this ^, you can find a lot of basic stretches and exercises to help with general lower back pain. If you are using heroin, you are going to be numbing your pain and are probably doing things to exacerbate the condition without realizing it until after the heroin wears off. You need to be more conscious of your posture, take preventive measures such as stretching/exercises.

Other Drugs and The Dark Side both have chronic pain threads where a lot of people who have had severe pain for years discuss every aspect of their experience and treatment you can imagine.

The most important thing is finding a correct diagnosis so they can properly treat you. Numbing the pain with drugs treats the symptoms, not the cause and different causes require vastly different interventions. There are lots of causes of pain that don't show up at all (or that well) just on imaging studies so keep pushing for a firm diagnosis and treatment plan. You need to be your own advocate and push your medical practitioners to be able to find resolution or at least amelioration.

I started working as a bar-back some 8 months ago, at the age of 25. Before then, I never had any chronic pain, and I felt as fit as an 18 year old. Now, after lifting an ungodly amount of liquor, trash-bags, etc... my body is fucked. I started off with tendinitis in my Achilles, then graduated to what I thought was a herniated disk in my lower back. I had an x-ray last month and it revealed a simple compression of my L5/S1 vertebrae... I was prescribed steroids to reduce healing, and a month of physical therapy.

Here's what I learned in physical therapy: stretch your leg/hip/groin muscles everyday, at least once; and, do exercises that strengthen your ab/core muscles. That's all you need to do (besides quitting the H). All I've done is taken the anti-inflammatory drugs (high-dose ibuprofen could probably do the same thing as the 'roids), and stretched, and my back feels pretty much just like it did before I started this job. I can scan pictures of the stretches that my PT dude gave me, if you want them.

Also, for temporary relief of back pain: lay on your back, on the floor, with your legs elevated on your couch. Literally just lay there, with your arms out at a 45* angle, for 5, 10, 15 minutes, and your pain should be significantly reduced.

^ I agree with everything Changed has said. When we're standing all day, without being able to stretch our back and legs, it shouldn't be a wonder why we all have back pain. I get pain in my left ankle and foot when I'm standing on my feet 40 hours a week.

Stretching and squatting can do wonders for your back when it's painful.

Definitely do some stretching and exercises. A lot of the time, lower back pain boils down to bad posture and/or weak core muscles. Plank exercises (and its variations) do a hell of a lot for your core, and should really help. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/abdominalcorestrength1/qt/plank.htm

Do not use ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin, or Tylenol. They're all toxic and ineffective compared to high dose oral enzyme combos like bromelain, papain, and trypsin. These enzymes break down the enzymes which create the pro-inflammatory hormones that cause systemic pain and inflammation. When you can get bromelain and papain into your liver by clearing the way with more proteolytic enzymes like Trypsin, then they cause a reduction in inflammation that works on a lower level with greater efficacy and safety than the traditional synthetic/semi-synthetic OTC NSAIDs and Tylenol. The enzyme treatment is also more effective for most people than prescription COX-2 inhibitors.