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Lucy, UK - Lucy.warne@hotmail.com
Posted 2019-03-30
I fell down the stairs at Clapham Junction train station in July 2015. It was painful and I had a huge bruise, but the pain subsided quickly. One month later, I sat on the edge of my bed, and then when I stood up I suddenly had a shooting pain come from my buttocks. Had no idea what was wrong, as I didn't believe it was related to the fall because of the month in between, so I put up with it for a couple of weeks, tried sitting on cushions etc. until it got too painful, so I went to the doctors. They advised that it was probably a vitamin D deficiency, so to use a vit-d spray to help my bones. Of course this didn't work.
I was then referred to a chiropractor – 6 months of treatment and had absolutely no improvement. I was then referred to a private hospital through my health insurance for an MRI – it showed severe bruising around my tailbone (it was at that point I remembered about the fall as he asked if there'd been any trauma), but the actual bone looked 'fine', so it was advised to have a steroid injection. This gave me about six months relief, but lo and behold, the pain came back with a vengeance. It was at this point that I found the amazing Coccyx Pain Support Facebook Group, where someone recommended that I had an internal manipulation with Stephen Sandler (see Doctors and specialists in the UK, London) – he instantly could tell that my coccyx had been dislocated and was bent to the right (no idea how the MRI didn't show this). This provided great relief – I really did think I was cured. Unfortunately, a fall out of the bath led to the coccyx moving back out of line again. So I had another steroid injection, and then another manipulation, where Mr Sandler said that my coccyx was like a wobbly tooth and would always cause me problems, and would therefore require regular manipulations. At this point I decided enough was enough and I wanted it removed. I wanted a family in the near future, and knew this coccyx would always be a source of pain and problems – I was not just going to put up with it, as Mr Sandler had suggested I should.
A post on the Facebook group led me to Mr Hardy (see Doctors and specialists in the UK, London), and it didn't take long for me to decide that he was the right surgeon to perform my removal. I was about to get married and then have a long honeymoon, so decided to wait until Feb 2019 to have the surgery as I was well aware the recovery could be long and painful. I'm now two months post-op and I can honestly say this was the best decision I ever made. Recovery was a total walk in the park, especially compared to other horror stories I'd read about. Sure, the first week was a bit painful, but painkillers resolved all my pain. Once stitches were removed, I did my exercises as instructed, and then three weeks later I was back at work. It is still early days, but I feel like I have my life back. I can do absolutely everything again – drive, eat out, sit at a desk etc. If I sit for too long I do need a break and it is a bit sore but that's because I'm still healing.
I will report back in a year, but I have high hopes that I will be near enough 100% recovered and pain free.