The Depths of Illness - Tailbone Pain

I can't remember when the pain started only that it was excruciating.  My tailbone felt as if a red hot clamp was slowly being tightened around it by some invisible force.  The pain fluctuated throughout the day - usually better in the morning than at night

It did not help that I had a desk job and spent eight plus hours a day sitting.  I tried sitting on a wedge pillow, to no effect.  I got rid of my usual work chair in favor of a large exercise ball, to no effect.  The pain limited my focus, caused anxiety, and by the end of the day I constantly shifted in my chair, sweaty, weary.  I talked work into buying me a stand-up desk.  Standing all day helped a little, but my knees began to ache, then my lower back.  I returned to sitting.

While the days remained difficult, the nights became restless.  As the pain got worse, I lay in bed, awake, unable to sleep due to the pain.  Shifting positions did not help.  Heat did not help.  Ice helped, numbed the nerves, but fixed nothing and did not help with sleep.  I finally figured out that if I laid on a tennis ball in exactly the right spot on my tailbone, the pain would relent to a mildly more tolerable pressure, allowing me to fall asleep before utter exhaustion was required to finish the job.    

During this time, I regularly visited an osteopath for manipulations and advice.  The manipulations did not help.  Eventually, he ordered an MRI of my back, which showed bulging discs.  Could be referred pain from the bulging disc, he said.  He ordered a second MRI of my pelvis for concurrent pain in my right hip.  That MRI was inconclusive.  He suggested stretching and jacuzzi therapy. Stretching and jacuzzi therapy didn't help. He also referred me to a back specialist.   Could be referred pain from the bulging disc, the back specialist said and offered a steroid injection.  But the injection only helps in 50% of cases and is only temporary, he added.  My take away - the pain only comes from the bulging disc in about 50% of the cases.  I refused the injection at the time, preferring to find and fix the actual cause of the pain.