<s>[INST] 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!!! [/INST] Hello. Thanks for writing to us. Your symptoms are suggestive of a nerve compression at the level of lumbar spine most likely due to a disc disease. For your symptoms, in addition to ibuprofen, medicines for neural pain like gabapentin and pregabalin will be helpful. Please do not worry. All such cases do not need surgery. I hope this information has been both informative and helpful for you. Regards, Dr. Praveen Tayal drtayal72@gmail.com </s>