Chronic Back Pain And Its Toll On Mental Health

She also has a lot of fear about the future, since she’s on a biologic drug that’s helping for now but could suddenly stop working one day, something known as treatment failure. “I would need to find another medication, but I’m young, and I might not find another one that works. It’s scary to think you can run out of options,” she says.

Charlotte Bridger, 29, Brighton, England

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In 2021, after three months of extreme back pain, Charlotte Bridger was diagnosed with adenomyosis, a condition where the endometrial tissue, which typically lines the uterus, starts growing into the wall of the organ. “I remember letting my dog out the back door one day, shutting the door, and curling up on the floor because of the back pain,” she says. “I couldn’t even reach up to open it back up.”

While the only cure for adenomyosis is a hysterectomy, a surgery that removes the uterus, Bridger has found a tremendous amount of relief through alternative treatments like herbal medications. “I still have back pain, but now it’s not every day, and it’s for shorter periods of time, usually when I overdo something physically,” she says. But that’s a recent development. For two years prior, she had back pain every single day—an experience she is still processing. “It was really isolating,” she says. “I was physically not really able to move, and people just don’t understand. You end up feeling like a burden because you don’t want to constantly repeat that you aren’t doing great when people ask how you are.”

And because her pain would fluctuate, others didn’t always buy how severe it was. “It’s something people can’t see, so I feel like people don’t believe me,” she says. “If one day I can walk the dogs, but the next day I need to lay down, my partner may not get why I can’t cook dinner that night.” As a result Bridger often ended up keeping things to herself. “It’s like you need to remind people of your back pain so they don’t forget, but you don’t want to remind them because you don’t want to be annoying.”