Shit you want Synthesis to explain scientifically.

[Sokotra]

Once, every several days or so, I wake up with lower back pain in the morning. It seems to primarily originate from just to the right side of my lower spine.

Whenever I push up on a stable surface, such as a table or sink counter - I feel a sort of 'stretching' pain in that area.

Any ideas how I can alleviate it? What might be the cause?

I've done hard lifting, in the past, and pull/strained muscles in my back. I was also in an accident about a year ago. I spend about 9 hours a day standing in roughly the same area. About 3-5 hours sitting and 5-8 hours laying down (sleep).

There's certain stretches and exercises that help, as silly as some of them may seem.  There's some I do that seem to help keep my back "in place" because at time it feels like it gets pulled out of position or jammed up and gets worse and worse.  Being careful how you lift is pretty obvious, that is what usually gets my back hurting again if I lift stuff wrong.  That and sitting with poor posture for too long.  Sometimes laying flat on my back for a while on a somewhat hard surface will help get it back in place. 

I would say to try to stop sitting or standing the wrong way or for too long without stretching and doing whatever little back exercise that helps.  I usually do this one where you kinda put your hands on your hips and push your lower back forward while trying to keep the rest of your body from moving.  It only takes a minute and seems to help.  You should be able to look it up on the internet pretty easy.

[boog]

Only 2 Motrin? Jesus, Synth!

You can take up to 4, which is 800 mg, 3 times a day. If it's worthy of that much ibuprofen.

[Yam]

My thumb has felt sprained for the last month. It's in the second knuckle down, closer tot he palm. It's a 1 on the pain scale, and only when i push it certain ways(flexing backward against the natural bend of the knuckles). But I manage to catch it every so often just enough to let me know it's there. I've never had what felt like a sprain for this long. Why wont it go away, I don't seem to be injuring it any further and i hardly do anything to use it. It's annoying as fuck.

My thumb has felt sprained for the last month too. Same knuckle. It's really, really annoying. I've had them before though and though they last a long time, they go away.

[RogueGunslinger]

 I suppose the repetitive stress it receives from daily random use is enough to keep it sore. It really is a bitch though.

[Dalmeth]

How coem i always have the shits for an entiere morning after downing the tequilas?

Does any other alcohol give you stomach problems?  I might suggest you investigate whether allergies are a cause.  The same thing happens to me whenever I drink anything that isn't from a $20+ bottle.  Most anything under that has a little grain alcohol in it, and I'm allergic to wheat.

[Sephiroto]

Once, every several days or so, I wake up with lower back pain in the morning. It seems to primarily originate from just to the right side of my lower spine.

Whenever I push up on a stable surface, such as a table or sink counter - I feel a sort of 'stretching' pain in that area.

Any ideas how I can alleviate it? What might be the cause?

I've done hard lifting, in the past, and pull/strained muscles in my back. I was also in an accident about a year ago. I spend about 9 hours a day standing in roughly the same area. About 3-5 hours sitting and 5-8 hours laying down (sleep).

I've been having issues with that recently too.  It started with me because I injured my back and then, from then on, favored one side of my body.  The muscles on the other side were less developed and were more prone to injury, so I started having sciatic nerve issues.  As suggested above, routinely doing stretches can help a lot, especially if there is a muscular imbalance.  If you have good healthcare, I also suggest you have a lower back x-ray and scoliosis survey done.

[Gunnerblaster]

Take 2 Motrin and walk it off.   If it doesn't resolve in 4 weeks and you have good insurance, someone might want to scan it...but I'm guessing you're in the military, so I'd be surprised if you got anything more than an X-ray and maybe a muscle relaxant, if the doc is feeling really generous.  The differential for lower back pain is pretty large, yet supposedly 90% of cases resolve without complications.

Sadly, I'm not in the military.

Fortunately, I realized what it was. It's just been such a long time since I've done it that I didn't instantly recognize it for what it was. When I crack my back, I twist my spine from left to right. After the accident, I stopped doing it because 1.) I once accidentally twisted my spine too badly and it became mis-jointed because the spinal plates locked incorrectly when returning to their 'original' posture. I did it last night, right as I was laying down to go to sleep, so I didn't realize I had did it until I woke up this morning.

I tried self-chiropractic on myself (or what I know how to do safely) but it wasn't enough to entirely re-posture my spine, just ease some of the pain. I'm just going to have to swing by a chiropractor and pay out of pocket to have them do a readjustment session on my spine.

There's certain stretches and exercises that help, as silly as some of them may seem. 

I usually do this one where you kinda put your hands on your hips and push your lower back forward while trying to keep the rest of your body from moving.  It only takes a minute and seems to help.

Tried this out for myself and it hurt like a bitch while doing it but it felt a little better. Any other little stretches I can try?

I've been having issues with that recently too.  It started with me because I injured my back and then, from then on, favored one side of my body.  The muscles on the other side were less developed and were more prone to injury, so I started having sciatic nerve issues.  As suggested above, routinely doing stretches can help a lot, especially if there is a muscular imbalance.  If you have good healthcare, I also suggest you have a lower back x-ray and scoliosis survey done.

I am, currently, uninsured so I'm kind've sol as far as healthcare goes - At least for the next few months, until I can register for it with my job.

I know, for a fact, because doctors have already done a few x-rays on me in the past, that I have a minor degree of scoliosis but it's about midway up my spine. The spine protrudes a little ways.

[Sokotra]

There's certain stretches and exercises that help, as silly as some of them may seem. 

I usually do this one where you kinda put your hands on your hips and push your lower back forward while trying to keep the rest of your body from moving.  It only takes a minute and seems to help.

Tried this out for myself and it hurt like a bitch while doing it but it felt a little better. Any other little stretches I can try?

Careful, don't make it worse.  Heh.  I do that one several times in a row whenever I get a chance to stop and stretch or whatever... putting just enough pressure on my back to give it a stretch.  Making the repeated motion of slowly thrusting your hips forward is kinda goofy, but if it helps my back from locking up I really don't care.  There's a bunch of "treat your own back" type of exercises you can probably look up... I guess you'd just have to try them or figure out which ones seem to help.  Find a good website on the subject that can explain them better than I can. 

[Nao]

What does Synth have to say about building up muscle around your back/stomack/sides for support?

I remember getting physical therapy as a child for scoliosis, and they basically made me do the same exercises that coaches got me to do for the next ten years after that. I never had any back pain when I was still working out. That was explained as any torso muscles supporting your spine and keeping things where they should be instead of letting one muscle group do all the work. When you get that cramped, you'll change that posture to avoid the pain, which makes the muscle problems worse etc.

Could be complete bullshit, though.

[RogueGunslinger]

I'm pretty sure good physical fitness has never led to back broblems, aside from obvious strain injuries. And I'm willing to bet that the more fit you are the less likely to have back issues you are.

All assumptions though.

[boog]

When I had excellent core strength, my back problems disappeared.

[Barzalene]

I'd buy that. I also think the inverse is true. When I was obese I had chronic back pain. Now, I don't.

[RogueGunslinger]

I've never had back pain. Always been fit. Practically 3/4 people I've met has had some sort of back trouble. Some of them were in really good shape though so meh.

[Nao]

Gymnastics tend to fuck up your back if you're not careful (I wasn't).

[Synthesis]

[Kismetic]

[Sokotra]

Next day...

"Ow, my neck and upper back are killing me for some weird reason."

[Jingo]

Guys don't break this thread and scare Synth away. We need him.

Mister Synthesis, is this for real or utter bullshit. http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/dangers-of-soy.html

I ask because I can't seem to find these warnings anywhere but questionable health-food websites.

And I fucking love soy milk because I'm lactose intolerant.

[boog]

lol, you can reintroduce yourself to milk slowly, and build up tolerance to milk. I didn't read the link, but soy also has properties that inhibit your thyroid in it, and that's why I don't personally partake in anything, if I can help it, that has soy in it.

Oh. Just read the first little bit. Yeah. I mean, that's why they stick soy into everything cheap that you can get. Burgers, etc. Cheap and bad for you. I don't know about the milk per se, but I know that I stay away from soy purely because I like my thyroid to be uninhibited.

[lordcooper]

Also, it tastes like ass.

[Jingo]

lol, you can reintroduce yourself to milk slowly, and build up tolerance to milk. I didn't read the link, but soy also has properties that inhibit your thyroid in it, and that's why I don't personally partake in anything, if I can help it, that has soy in it.

I'm pretty tolerant to begin with actually. I have yogurt and icecream all the time. But a bowl of cereal and then more in my coffee? That will give me some ugly digestive problems for the rest of the day.

Also, it tastes like ass.

/disagree

[Yam]

Kefir.

[Synthesis]

Guys don't break this thread and scare Synth away. We need him.

Mister Synthesis, is this for real or utter bullshit. http://www.healthy-eating-politics.com/dangers-of-soy.html

I ask because I can't seem to find these warnings anywhere but questionable health-food websites.

And I fucking love soy milk because I'm lactose intolerant.

That's basically a "dangers of dihydrogen monoxide" page.  I'd be willing to bet that eating food you dropped on the floor is statistically much more dangerous than any of the crap they list.  I suppose you could probably find certain folks with JUST the right set of predisposing factors or folks consuming MASSIVE quantities of soy that would start to suffer ill effects, but assuming you're not being a complete moron about your soybean consumption, it doesn't matter.

[Synthesis]

With respect to the lactose intolerance thing, if you're genetically deficient in lactase, either congenitally or developmentally, you can't get suddenly get tolerant.  The enzyme either isn't in your genome, or the gene isn't being expressed anymore, and there's nothing you can do about it but supplement exogenous lactase.  As far as I know, there isn't any feedback system that would cause the gene to be up-regulated by lactose in the diet.

There are, however, varying degrees of lactose intolerance, which would probably contribute to the perception that reintroducing small quantities suddenly made you tolerant, when in fact you merely reduced your intake below the saturation point of your particular level of enzyme expression.

[Drayab]

Dr. Synth,

I was not lactose intolerant as a kid, but around the time I turned twenty I noticed milk was beginning to give me problems. When it got bad enough, I swore off dairy for a while, which was sad because I love it. However, a year or so ago, I discovered lactose free milk, which from reading the label means that they have added lactase enzyme to it.

Here is my question: I think I have noticed that regularly drinking the lactose free milk (liberally added to my morning coffee) also lets me enjoy other dairy products without any problems, so I have speculated that there must be some extra enzyme from the milk that persists in my digestive system. Do you think that's a reasonable guess? Or do you think something else might be going on?