🌀 Mood: Frustrated, confused

It started about five months ago — lower back pain and muscle spasms that felt like someone was taking a lightning bolt to my spine. The spasms were excruciating. They would take my breath away, and the scariest part was how unpredictable they were. One second I’d be fine, and the next, I’d move slightly and get hit with pain so intense it would stop me in my tracks.

At first, I thought it was just a tweak — something my back had done before. I’ve had little flare-ups now and then that would calm down after a few days. I expected this to be the same. But it wasn’t.

Daily life started to shift. I avoided sitting down because I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get back up — or worse, if standing would trigger another spasm. I felt stuck in my own body, constantly on edge, wondering what small movement might land me on the floor. It made working really hard. I’d sit in meetings squirming in pain, trying to act normal. My coworkers started to notice something was off, but I didn’t tell them how bad it really was at first. Honestly, I didn’t know how to explain it — and I didn’t think it was that serious.

But the pain wasn’t going away. In fact, it was lasting longer than usual. That’s when I finally decided to go to urgent care.

At the time, I still had no idea this was the beginning of something much bigger.