WHAT is the deal with the tailbone?

This is ridiculous.  It never hurt me to sit down before I was obese, so why does it hurt now?

I just had a hysterectomy so am sitting / lying down more than usual, and honestly my tailbone is causing me more grief than my incision.  Last night I reached back there to feel it and it feels like this protrusion out of my rear end. 

My assumption is that, to handle my obesity, my frame changed a little and this protruding tailbone is the result.  My question is: is it permanent?  Will the darn thing ever settle down?

I sit on a donut now at my desk, but the donut's not comfortable on the couch.  I've tried a gel pad but that doesn't work.  I have a sleep number bed but there's no number that allows me to lie on my back and not be uncomfortable from my tailbone (and right now I have to lie on my back due to my surgery recovery).  UGH!  Who would have thought this would be a complication of great weight loss?

I know!!!! I've only lost a little over 60lbs and man oh man, my butt starts to hurt immediately on solid surfaces, and in bed my tailbone sticks out too!!! I usually turn on either side to get comfortable. Well what else can we do? I think we'll have to learn to live with it, and try to come up with an idea to make it less painful! Take care and good luck!



HW274/SW254/CW210/GW180

My suggestion is to purchase a ****yx pillow (cut out at the back, donut pillows won't help). Use that for a while and likely it will get better.

The reason for this pain in the rear is that there are muscles that lift your tail off the surface upon which you sit...when you have a big butt, those muscles get lazy....when you lose the weight, you need to strengthen those muscles, but in the meantime you get a sore rear,a nd possibly even get inflammation.

If the pillow and a few months of using it don't help, then you should see an orthopedic pain specialist. They can set you up with some physical therapy (be warned, this is done by a very specific type of specialist, pelvic floor specialist, and usually done via anus).... or they can schedule you for one, two, or even three cortisone shots to teh ****yx (very painful)..... usually one, two, or three shots will succeed in bringing the swelling and inflammation down, and the strengthening tailbone muscles will help also, and you won't really care about your tailbone any more.

On very VERY rare occasions these things do not help. Then you can opt to live with it, or try to find a surgeon willing to remove it (they are very scarce, and the surgery is VERY painful, VERY risky, and 10% do not get any pain relief even AFTERWARDS)

I'm currently recuperating from having my tailbone removed. This is after two and a half years of trying to solve the issue with pain medicines and injections. My surgery was three weeks ago today, and I had hoped to go back towork Monday, but I've had to tell my job to give me another week off, and even then, I'm starting to think I will only be able to go back to work half time in the week following that.

So.... tailbone pillow, icce and heat to try to alleviate the inflammation, if you can take NSAIDS (I didn't note what surgery you had), they can help a LOT, and time usually cure this problem. Perhaps 90% of people who have tailbone pain postop find it is transitory, of the remaining 10%, 9 out of 10 get relief with a cortisone shot.

PM me if you have any other questions about it.... I feel like a bit of an expert! 

These are $10.50 at Amazon HERE

Mine stopped hurting and a lot of people find it stops hurting.

My PCP said I probably bruised it falling down and just didn't notice until I lost weight. She said it can take 2 years for a bruised tailbone to heal.

That said, it might be broken. If it's broken, when you sit down, it won't tuck under. If that's what's going on with you, you may have to get it lopped off.

I have had endless tailbone issues since weight loss. I eventually developed a pilonidal cyst from the endless irritation, and that has been flaring up off and on for the last 2 years. My PCP finally sent me to a surgeon. She said the reason the tailbone bothers so much after a large weight loss is because you sit different with so much less tissue on the buttocks. Has to do with the tilt of the pelvis. My problem also was that the skin over my tailbone was so thin she could see the bone through it-no padding at all. So she did surgery and removed the cyst as well as the thin skin over the tailbone area, and pulled the buttock skin together hoping that would give me more padding. I did not have the tailbone removed, pretty much just had a buttcrackectomy! That was only 2 weeks ago, and still has all the stitches, so don't know if it will hel*****t at this point. Get a neck pillow to sit on and put it backwards so the opening is to the back. Works good, better than a donut.
-Wanda

Wow Ladies, thanks for all of the information. I'm glad I stumbled across this post. Gadgetlady I'm glad you posted the question!

Be Blessed, Stay Blessed!!!

*Lorie*

My husband calls my tailbone my "butt knuckle." When I had lost about 60lbs is when I first started becoming aware of my tailbone. Sit wrong - feel the tailbone. Hit a bump in the road - feel the tailbone. Sit in a plastic chair - feel the tailbone...etc...

For me, it's only gotten more annoying, because not only is my tailbone protruding, now when I sit down, I feel as if I'm sitting on a tripod: tailbone and the base of my pelvic bones.

I'm learning to accomodate my bony ass, as I don't plan to fatten it up any time soon. :)

Sorry I can't give any words of advice, but I can certainly commiserate with you.

 Exercise can help - pilates, yoga, anything that works the abdominal and butt muscles.  If your butt muscles are strong, they lift your tailbone higher off the chair.   At least that has been helpful for me. 

So far no problems with my tailbone, but I have been doing a total body workout with weights  days a week since I was cleared to by my doctor. So I must have gotten those muscles andthat area in Shape.