For years no-one noticed my tailbone was at a 90-degree angle
Melissa, USA - melissa.southard@gmail.com
Posted 2021-03-07
My journey started about 5 years ago when it was feeling as though my butt was falling asleep half way through the day. I work a desk job and make a 45 minute drive to work and then home. I kept feeling a numbing/pins and needles in my buttocks. I figured it was just from the prolonged sitting and after a while it turned into a dull ache that was constant. By the end of the day I was done, it took a lot out of me. The rides home became almost unbearable.
I went to my family physician about it, and he started pushing in different areas around my coccyx until he pushed on the exact spot that was painful. He told me it was my tailbone that seemed to be the issue. That was the start of it all. It went from taking pain meds at night when I got home to be able to sleep for a year and a half, to eventually taking half a pill throughout the day. I was not tolerating the pain meds so well at 1st to be pain free all day.
2 years later I was having an insane amount of pain in my entire abdomen area, after finding out I had adenomyosis I decided to have a hysterectomy to stop the pain. I put a lot of eggs into that basket, believing that the pain was connected and that having this surgery would fix everything. After my hysterectomy it was my start on my pain med journey to live a normal life. It worked for a year and I was able to live a normal(ish) life as long as I was taking my meds regularly. My life was based around when I had to take pain meds. I started to get severely depressed at the fact this was my life and had no light at the end of the tunnel. I was now seeing a pain management doctor and he did not truly believe it was my tailbone since all the MRI and x-rays to this point came back normal. So I was getting injections for SI joints and it took away some pain. After the 2nd round of injections, I realized it was not working fully and decided to try a different doctor.
By this time I had already seen a chiropractor, did PT, and changed to a stand up desk at work plus several massages. I also took up Yoga and tried many herbal inflammation remedies, anything I found while researching tailbones for so many hours. I have read so many of the stories on here and related to them all some way or another. My new pain management doctor was more sympathetic to my issue and believed my pain was coming from the tailbone. I received injections that went through a ligament to reach the other side of the tailbone, this is a common way they do it. It caused a severe pain reaction and I even ended up at the ER in fear something went terribly wrong. They took x-rays of my tailbone and told me everything looks fine so there was basically nothing they could do for me. I decided to try physiotherapy and drove almost 2 hours to see this therapist; I was desperate. She was able to pinpoint my area of severe pain to the exact place that the injections went through the ligament. After getting no relief what so ever from that session I never went back since I was in more pain from the drive.
After a few weeks the pain subsided and went back to the normal dull aching. I was basically back to where we started except now I was feeling a weird popping in that bone when I would be walking or move a certain way. This meant nothing to anyone I told. Unfortunately, my doctors were uneducated in the coccyx area and would tell me so. Luckily they would work with me to figure it out or at least try. So my options were given to me as pain management the rest of my life or surgery that was too risky and basically I was told the surgeon was not comfortable doing it. With the depression and pain, I was getting to a really low point in life. I've worked for the same company for 21 years now and my work family is very supportive. Work was basically the only life I had left, after work I would be in so much pain that I just wanted to sleep and start again.
Fast forward to 2 years ago: Finally during my second round of tailbone injections, my doctor agreed to try to go around the bone and not through it, my pain management doctor noticed my tailbone was at an odd angle and pointed it out to me on the screen he used to see where he was putting the injections. I still did not know what to even do with this information. BUT finally there was something! All this time being told everything was normal and there was no breaks or fractures, etc. Now I have something that may be a reason at least. I have had to do all this research myself since neither of my doctors knew much about tailbones. After finding out my tailbone was at a 90-degree angle pointing toward my front, I went on a mission to find out why this was never mentioned for the past 3 years. I mean how could this get missed?
My family physician, now armed with this information, brought up my very 1st x-rays when this all started and sure enough it was at a 90-degree angle. This to me was important information that would have changed my whole perspective on the surgery. I could understand that the surgery was risky and if it was less than a 50/50 chance of helping then I was not sure I wanted it. After having the previous surgery thinking it would help and being let down I could not go through those emotions again easily. I forgot to mention I also ended up having a breast reduction right before the hysterectomy because of middle back pain. Again I hoped that would help the tailbone pain as well but of course it did not. I now had some type of issue to blame the pain on. I could not believe it. I revisited all of my previous MRIs to see for myself and when I brought up all the images from my past, I noticed that a majority of them did not even include the tip of my coccyx. Even the x-rays from the time I went to the ER for tailbone pain! You could not even see the coccyx completely. Appalled, I learned very quickly that my future was in my own hands and that I needed to keep searching for answers. I am so glad I never gave up and will never give up.
I have come back to this forum so many times over the years reading everyone else's stories. I kept seeing a few stories about Dr. Katzman and successful surgeries he was doing (see Doctors and specialists in the USA, Florida and New Jersey). My pain management doctor was not very supportive on the surgery idea, but my family physician was. The surgery was going to cost me a lot since Dr. Katzman was not in my insurance network but I was not going to have just anyone do this. Then covid happened. The good thing about the pandemic was that I was able to work from home and not do that drive anymore. I thought it would help my situation but quickly learned it was the opposite. Working from home somehow caused my pain levels to fly through the roof. I even bought a stand up desk for home in hopes that was why. It wasn't. Things just kept getting worse, the pain meds did not give me relief for longer than 2 hours. I forgot to mention also that every time they tried to up my pain meds I would have a bad reaction to the new stuff so gradually my pain meds worked less and less.
By the end of 2020 I was back to researching again and read a recent story on this sight about a successful surgery by Dr. Katzman and this person flew in from PR to have the surgery. I decided 2021 is the year. I noticed Dr. Katzman had an office right here in my town! I never saw that before so sometime within the past 5 years this development happened and I wish I had known sooner. I reached out and had my 1st appointment with Dr. Lewjack that assists Dr. Katzman in these surgeries. The appointment went better than expected. After looking at all the images I brought, there was no need for any more. He pointed out the portion of the tailbone that was fused together and the portion that was mobile. It was obvious the tailbone was causing my pain. We set up surgery for a month later in February.
Now: February 18th I had surgery in Boca Raton with Dr. Katzman. Surgery went well and when I woke up I was in severe pain! It was the same pain I had the day I went to the ER. My tolerance to pain meds caused the Percocet they had given me to NOT work. They had to give me a shot of tramadol and that started to work. Finally the pain subsided and I was ready to go home. The surgery was done as an outpatient procedure. My mom drove me and took me home. I laid down in the back of the SUV for the 1.5 hour drive home. That day and the next 3 days were not so bad. Just really sore and limited on motion. Then day 5, 6 and 7 were increased pain, it actually scared me to a point I called the doctor's office to ask if it was normal or not. After hearing all the stories I am paranoid of infection that supposed to be common. I also sneezed and thought a stitch came open but the pictures I took showed my stitches were still good. I was told it was normal for this surgery and that my follow up visit was 4 days away so they would take a look at my stitches then. I did not have any fever nor did my stitches look bad so I felt better about it.
It is February 28, 2021 and the pain has went down to minimal, it's very deceiving and makes me want to do so many things. I cannot fully sit and will not be pushing myself after the slight setback. There are basic residual issues from the widespread areas this has affected. My middle back pain seems to have gotten better, no more sharp pains when I bend or get up or yawn. My hamstrings feel a lot looser and my morning foot pain is getting better. Regardless of the pain so far I am 100% sure this surgery helped me and I am looking forward to a pain free life in my future! I just have to hold myself back until then. I do not do well laying around daily etc. I just need to be patient and happy with the fact there IS light at the end of the tunnel now. I will try to keep updating as I recover. My follow up is next Tuesday and I am just hoping everything looks good with the stitches. I am attaching pictures for reference since it was another person's posted pics that helped me realize mine is normal.
This forum has helped me so much. I normally will not share this story but after seeing how much other people's stories helped me I just want to do the same for someone else. I really hope it helps; this was a horrible way to live. Especially the helpless feeling. The best advice I ever got was from the 1st chiropractor I went to, she told me not to give up no matter what they told me and to just keep searching for an answer. So I did. Thank you for letting me share.
Update, 2021-03-14
I had my stitches removed on 10th March 2021 and they told me it healed exceptionally well. I am very relieved at that. I was nervous I would feel the stitches come out and surprisingly I felt nothing. I even asked if it was done in disbelief. I have nothing but residual pain left. No sharp pains whatsoever. The residual pain is my sits bone area in which I am sitting on and aggravating now since I cannot lean back on my tailbone area, which is not really new anyways and the reason it hurts already.
I had gotten rid of all the sitting cushions I bought over the years since it never helped me and now I wish I had not, I have a new cushion coming today so I hope to be able to drive more. Sitting on the tailbone now is fine for about 20-30 minutes before it feels like a lot of pressure in the area where the stitches were and aches. I slept until 11:30 am yesterday and that was huge for me. I normally cannot sleep past 7 am because pain will wake me up. I must have needed it and feel great!
I know this was 100% successful and I am looking forward to a totally new life that does not revolve around my pain! I will try to keep you updated but at this point I have no reservations of recommending this surgery for anyone that has the same type of pain I did. I forgot to add pictures of my x-rays on the first story so I am including them now for those that want to compare. I also have a new picture of the area after stitches were removed. I know pictures were key for me to relate to when I was in this search for relief.
Update, 2022-04-08
I don't even think about it much anymore! I am 100 % healed and can sit for long periods of time now. I am very thankful for this forum and references so that I was able to have this surgery. There was/is so much stigma about having this particular type of surgery and I was able to hear the good stories to make an educated choice. Also to find a qualified surgeon to perform it. Dr. Katzman is the best!
