James Morris - jmorr@optushome.com.au
My experience of coccyx pain occurred 6 years ago when I went to sit on a couch chair arm and instead hit the couch leg. Needless to say it hurt and bought howls of laughter from my family at the time. I have put up with the pain on and off for the last 5 years until I did a Pilates class.
The class actually aggravated the coccyx injury to an extent that I finally went to the GP for treatment ideas. I had come across this site a while ago and was a lurker until I got the pain on a constant basis after the class. The first treatment was Physio therapy - this had some success with me finding a physio who had done a course on manipulation. This did provide relief over the Christmas period just gone (2002).
When this no longer worked, I was on Voltaren Rapid 50 mg which at first worked then lost the effectiveness. Finally I got a referral to an Orthopaedic surgeon in Brisbane. I was refereed to Dr Paul Licina of Brisbane Orthopedic Services based at the Holy Spirit Hospital in Wickham Tce, Brisbane. I had to wait until February 2003 to see him - a wait of 5 months......
Once he saw me he explained that the pain could come back and the procedure could not be guaranteed. There is only one way to see if it works - handed over the money and was on the surgery list in 3 weeks time.
The procedure was done at Holy Spirit North, Chermside Brisbane. I was admitted as a day case (private) and out by 1 pm - time to get over the sleeping drugs.
I was put into a light general anaesthetic under my own breathing - the anaesthetist was very good and explained what would happen during the operation from his side of the procedure. About 20 minutes late I woke up in recovery feeling quite drowsy and had a nice sleep.
In the evening when writing this, I have had little pain from the coccyx but was told it would take up to 7 weeks to feel the full benefit from the procedure. So far - all is well.
James Morris
Updated 2003-03-16