I have had severe back pain for 20 years, since the traumatic birth of my son. History: My baby was large, over 9lbs the doctor thought he was going to be 15lbs. During labor (with no epidural ) I had a very hard time pushing him out, the nurse put a vacuum on his head (brand new at the time) and then hit the release button on accident and whoop there he went back inside... I pushed him out again... and OMG... the same thing happened... AGAIN! I had to push him out a 3rd time and the Dr finally used old fashioned forceps to get him out... he was born with a fractured collar bone and severe cone head. I noticed my back hurting shortly after delivery... I seen a Dr and went and got an xray around 6months post pardum... they told me they didn t see anything??? Then I gained ALOT of weight... and no Dr would take me seriously, they just chalked my low back pain up to my weight. Current situation: I have just coped and sucked it up... begging my husband to rub my back. 9 years ago I had the gastric bypass , lost weight and realized just how severely my rib cage has become disfigured, left side rib sticks out, right side con-caves in, I have tremendous constant shooting pains down my left hip, down my leg to my ankle , and extreme lower left sided back pain. I had an MRI 3 years ago... and Dr told me he didn t see anything... AGAIN! How can they not find what s wrong with me? I have been noticing everything getting worse, I also now have pain shooting down right hip and leg and my hands will fall asleep on occasion like when sitting at dining table level. My pain is so severe... I am to my end... I don t know what to do... I refuse to take pain meds other than ibuprofen... don t know what do... wish I at least knew WHAT is wrong!!! Nonetheless... here I am 20 years later... having been scared to death of back surgery ruining my life and career in nursing ... I can t cope any longer!!!