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Back pain caused by buffalo hump

Posted: May 12, 2007

QUESTION:

I discovered I had AIDS in Dec. '89 and started with med in Jan. '90. I have a slight buffalo hump and it is causing my back to ache on the upper left side. My doctor is sending me to a plastic surgeon to see if he can help me and also maybe get my insurance company to help pay for it. I get a massage every other week and afterwards the pain goes away for a couple of days. I am on a limited budget and can not afford to get one every week. I use a heating pad on the area for 20 minutes a few times during the day. Also I am taking an antiflamatory daily. I use a back chair massage pad as well. Are there any other suggestions (for example certain types of excercises, massagers) that you know of to help relief the pain? Any advise you can give me will be deeply appreciated. Thank you, Mark


  

RESPONSE FROM:   

    I am not aware of anything more you can do. Surgery does seem to be the best hope. If the pain is severe, I would consider narcotic pain relievers. You do not want to become addicted but these medications were made to treat major pain. It could well be that a small dose of a prescription narcotic will keep you out of agony until your surgery.

    In the US, there is a study looking at growth hormone releasing factor for increases in abdominal girth during HIV therapy. If you also have that problem, you should see if there is a center near you doing this study as the agent may have some effect in on buffalo hump as well. The study is being conducted by Teratechnologies in the US and Canada.

    DW




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