question: June 24, 2014 7.40 pm DEAR DR: I have a long history of back problems, including two lamendectomies (S1) in 1986 and the same disk in 1991. Went years without serious problems but then my entire back began acting up in mid 2000 s. in 2011 i had MRI s of Lumbar, thoracic and cervical spine; as you can imagine Severe Disk disease was shown to exist up and down my spine with 11 different disks showing one problem or another. For the past three years or so, the overt symptom is accelerating, acute compression with me nearly all the time with relief coming only after bed rest. While i can bend without much difficulty, walking is getting increasingly more painful and the slight bending to brush one s teeth, look in the mirror, wash dishes and the like sets off the discomfort immediately! Additionally, three months ago (and for the first time after regular yearly blood workups), a blood test revealed some kidney, per my doctor s brief letter, Slightly impaired kidney function . I have surely been urinating more frequently, sometimes, very often, especially after bed rest ad sleeping, my diet has not been the best but improving that recently. THE AREA(s) OF MY KIDNEYS ARE HURTING IN RECENT MONTHS - BOTH SIDES! I WOULD DESCRIBE THE PAIN AS DISCOMFORT , SOMETIMES SEVERE, AKIN TO BACK COMPRESSION AND IT TOO FEELS FINE WHEN I AWAKE AND WORSENS AS THE DAY GOES ALONG to acute levels!! I WILL BE SEEING MY GP IN TWO WEEKS AS I TOOK A FOLLOW UP BLOOD TEST TODAY. I HAVE OFTEN BEEN ACCUSED (AD MISDIAGNOSED) FOR NOT SHOWING MY PAIN - TO ME, PAIN WAS WHEN DISK RUPTURED AD PARTICLES WERE SITTING ON MY SCIATIC NERVE AND WHEN NERVE OF A TOOTH IS EXPOSED ALA ROOT CANAL... I AM IN NEAR CONSTANT , ACUTE DISCOMFORT FROM BOTH MY BACK COMPRESSION AND MY KIDNEYS! I have NO HISTORY OF DIABETES; LIFELONG NORMAL, EXC BLOOD PRESSURE! I AM A SMOKER (40 yrs , pack a day) I HAVE BEEN TAKING NON STEROIDAL ANTI INFLAMMATORIES FOR YEARS (ALSO HAVE OSTEOARTHRITIS THROUGHOUT MY BODY INCLUDING BACK) AND WONDER IF THESE COULD HAVE /BE ADVERSELY AFFECTING MY KIDNEYS? I AM 63 YEARS OLD THANK YOU IN ADVANCE jeff sadowsky