Ok I dont know if the two are related and before i go and further I have had atleast one x-ray done at the hospital done and am going to see my primary. I have been suffering from severe back pain and muscle spasms. Dont know if its just my back or related to my condtions. Anyone else out there with MM had this same problem I would like to hear about it ????

Wow!...This is exactly the post I was looking for.  I just called Standford with this question and they are supposed to get back to me.  I don't know what your symptoms are but this is what is going on with me...

I had lower back pain around Christmas...I had just got back from a road trip so I didn't think it was unusual.  I was still in pain and finally saw a doctor on January 5th.  He did an x-ray didn't see anything broken but saw that my muscle in my lower back was rock hard and swollen.  It was literally sticking out of my back so he gave me a cortezon shot and told me to come back in a week.  I think I had a bad reaction or he hit a nerve because my whole right leg went numb, I couldn't walk and I was dizzy.  I freaked out because I thought I was having a stroke but he reassured me I wasn't and had me lay down.

A week later I came back, still in lots of pain.  He did an MRI and didn't see anything.  I decided to get a second opinion and  I took the MRI to a specialist and he immediately diagnosed me with Degenerative Disc Disease (aka Black Disc Disease).  The discs just deterierate and move around which also presses on the spinal collumn, where my nearves are.  Also my bones rub against each other causing additional pain.  As for the muscle he said that he believes a joint went over another one and went back into place, which causes the muscle to react and turn rock hard.  He explained that muscles will react like that when they are trying to protect the spine. 

I accepted all this and didn't think it was related to MM, except that now I have been going to physical therapy twice a week and the muscle hasn't gotten any better.  Both my doctor (who's an orthopedic specialist) and my physical therapist are stunned.  They don't know what to do because they said that my muscle should have gotten better and they've never seen a case where it doesn't even relax a little...not to mention that I'm also on IB Profin 600mg twice a day, plus muscle relaxers, plus my daily aspirin. 

I let you know what Stanford says.  I'm also going back to the orthopedic specialist on Friday.

Is this similar to you?

-Monica