My update

Willow

As some of you may know I've been off work for going on 2mths now due to a herniated disk in my lower back. This is not the first time. I had in total last year 3 flare-ups, this one being the worst so far. I had surgery for the same thing back in 2004, everything was good for 2yrs. My days are spent mostly lying down and taking meds. Which would explain my recent purchases. I'm upgrading most of my cables. I have an app in mid Feb with my surgeon...once again. Today I went for my first physio app. where I had accupuncture, but due to the high tension in my lower back he couldn't get the needles in deep enough. In the mean time I'm going nuts, home alone all day and can't do much. I can only stay in a position for a couple mins before it starts to hurt. Lots of movies and TV and books. I don't sleep full nights as they are spent tossing and turning. I can't wait for this to end, I'm going crazy................................

Sorry for the rant/update

Face

I feel your pain. I've been home for four months due to two herniated disks and a pinched nerve in my neck. Just had a MRI done of my upper back and right shoulder yesterday to find out what else is wrong since my upper back is locked up and my shoulder/arm goes numb. If it wasn't for books and the internet, I would have gone insane already.

daboyz

Good luck guys, I hope all works out for both of you. I can only sympathize with the back troubles but I fully know what it's like not to sleep well.

Willow

Face, are you able to do stuff around the house? or do for walks? or are you mostly lying down?

Heck my laptop is sitting on my chest I write this lying down on my back.:mad:

BaggedLancer

Face is a lazy bum. He has his birds do everything for him.

cfrizz

I hope you both feel better soon.

dragon1952

Sorry to hear of your pain and suffering. I certainly don't have that degree of problem but I do have chronic back problems.....spasms, the beginnings of arthristis, lower back pain and stiffness, etc. You guys can come and use my new hot tub any time you want. Maybe that will help. Actually they call them 'spas' now days :rolleyes:

Ricardo

Hope you both get well, soon. I can only imagine how I'd feel without being able to move freely.

wingnut4772

Fell better Willow. When you are all healed up and you are able, consider taking Yoga. It helped me out years ago with a tricky back.

Fireman32

I feel your pain man. I have a blown disk between L4 and L5 and have been putting off surgury for a long time. Im in pain 24x7 but its dull 90% of the time. I could be fine lifting 100 pounds but if i bend over to pick up something off the floor I can throw my back out and be laid up for 2 days. I hope it all works out well and you feel better.

hearingimpared

I hope you get to feeling better real soon Brother!

schwarcw

Good luck and get well soon. Back injuries are very complex and difficult to get the right treatment. Sorry for your problem young man!

Face

Willow wrote: »

Face, are you able to do stuff around the house? or do for walks? or are you mostly lying down?

Heck my laptop is sitting on my chest I write this lying down on my back.:mad:

Lying down or in my lounge(listening) chair mostly. Sitting or standing up aggravate my back and cause numbness at most at the moment. I went from being able to bench 225 to having a hard time with 60lbs on a universal/pulley machine. Thank goodness for physical therapy and Flexeril! Buy some new music every week, it'll help you keep your sanity.

Face

Woot! Nothing wrong with my upper spine! But, I still may have a tear in my upper back. I also have a impingement in my right shoulder. At least I don't have to worry about disk replacement as long as my neck heals.

Any updates for you?

steveinaz

There's nothing worse than chronic back pain--best of luch to you Willow.

cubdog

Good luck guys. I have two herniated discs as well. My back usually goes out two or three times a year. Then it's another round of bed rest for a couple of days and p.t. I will avoid surgery at all costs.

cubdog

tonyb

Try a naked chinese girl walking up and down your back,works wonders.:)

shawn474

Guys,
I had an L5-S1 disc herniation that just would not stop giving me problems (lasted for about 10 years). It got to a point where I was picking up things with my toes just so I didn't have to bend over. I have an hour and 15 minute commute each way to work which was absolute torture. PT, epidural injections, etc. stopped helping and were only delaying the inevitable. I had a discectomy Thanksgiving of 2006 and then needed fusion last May. Surgery was the best option for me and I couldn't be happier. Not one flare up in the last year and have been doing things I had avoided for years.

If you want any advice at all, get as many opinions as possible. I went to two neurosurgeons and two orthopedic spine specialists just to make sure that I NEEDED the surgery. All were in agreement so I went with the guy I thought was best. (Word to the wise - It's amazing how many people come out of the wood work to tell you "This guy is the best on the East Coast" or "He works with __________ professional team") I CAN'T SAY THIS ANY CLEARER - GO TO THE PERSON WHO HAS DONE THE MOST OF THE PROCEDURES (successfully of course) THAT YOU ARE BEING RECOMMENDED. There is no substitute for experience in these cases.

If you guys are local to the Baltimore/ DC area and/or want to discuss some things, PM me. I work in sports medicine and have pretty extensive experience and a fairly large consultant base to draw from.

Willow

I have been to physio 2x so far. I have had accupunture 2x as well. Seems to be helping. I was able to sit long enough to have my hairdresser come over and cut my hair, had not been done since 3 Dec 2007. I think I lost 5lbs of hair. I had the microdisectomy 5yrs ago..(I think about that). Not sure what he will say this time, but I can't keep going on like this it's no way to live. We don't have kids yet, I don't want to have to worry that..what if the kid falls or needs my help and I can't pick it up. ( I use "it" in place of him/her)
So I'm not sure if fusion is the best idea or try another disectomy. My pills are not doing much anymore the pain ones that is. I am fortunate that I have one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. I'm looking forward to my app. I just wa nt this cleared up for summer so I can enjoy it.

shawn474

Willow,
It sounds like you have had this going on for some time. From my work and personal experience, another microdisectomy is probably out of the question. If they have to go in a second time, there is likely not going to be much disc left to remove. I had the same procedure and my herniation was so large that it produced an unstable joint and caused severe pain with motion of the spine. If you are not a candidate for another discectomy you are likely to be presented with two options (the third being do nothing at all and live with the pain):
1. Disc replacement - this is where they put a "fake" disc in the space that the previous one occupied. It is still a relatively new procedure and depending on the location of your herniation may or may not be an option. Research is mixed on whether this is a long term solution.
2. Disc fusion w/ instrumentation - this is where they would remove the disc entirely and fuse the two levels of vertabrae above and below the herniation. This is the procedure that I had and it worked amazingly well - gave me instant relief. There are a couple of different ways to achieve the fusion:
Option A- they would use plates and screws and a piece of bone grafted from your hip to fuse the levels.
Option B- (my procedure) they place a threaded hollow titanium spacer between the two levels and fill the area with a synthetic protien that stimulates bone growth and fuses the two levels.

*The thing that you have to be aware of with the fusion is that the areas above and below the fusion will absorb more stress as a result of the loss of range of motion and such. I am probably going to need multi-level fusion in the future due to the amount of degeneration that had occurred over the past ten or twelve years. If you have a multi level herniation, there may be only one procedure available to you. Keep in mind that even after surgery, daily stretching and strengthening (especially the core) is essential to your success). I am fortunate to have my mother-in-law (who's a Physical Therapist) remind me of this every day.:)

I hope it all works out for you and that you never need another surgery. Just thought I'd give you a little info. in case you were not aware of some options. Hope this helps.

Take care,
Shawn

engtaz

Good suggestions shawn474. Need to do something because you need to get past the pain. Good luck on your decisions to be made.

God Bless and prayer sent.
engtaz

Willow

I met with my neurosurgeon today, waited 2hrs to see him sitting in the damn office, not the best place for some one with my condition. So I need to get a recent MRI and some weird test regarding the status of the muscles in my lower back. They said they are almost hard like bone they are so tense. So it's some type of test to find out how tense they are and what condition they are in. Once this is done, we will look into treatment options he said. I'm also to start massage therapy to help lossen those muscles. He had two students in the room and when they touched my lower back muscles you should have seen the looks on their faces. Yup they are that tight.

Face

You would think they'd have more consideration in those kind of offices, I go through the same thing.

Best of luck bud! If the massage therapy doesn't work, be prepared to have some large needles shoved in your back, that's my next step.

SKsolutions

Your muscles are overworking to either straighten your back, or to keep you from pinching nerves/moving the wrong way. This is what I was told by my doc. Stretching is the best thing. I hope you are able to get some relief.

Willow

Face wrote: »

be prepared to have some large needles shoved in your back, that's my next step.

:eek::eek::eek:

for what, what do they do? is that what my muscle testing is about? It hurt to have just the accupuncture needles in there as they are so tight.

Face

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/paindrugs/a/cortisone.htm

I've been getting massage therapy and physical therapy for 3-4 months and it hasn't helped as much as I had hoped. I still don't have a full range of motion in my neck or right shoulder, plus I still have nerve damage.

Hopefully the shots loosen things up so everything else can heal.

dorokusai

Just concentrate on getting better for Polkfest '08.

If you want to send me nasty, hate filled emails in your spare time, just to kill time....feel free to do so. I get them alot so it's ok.

dorokusai@verizon.net

Willow

Face wrote: »

http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/paindrugs/a/cortisone.htm

I've been getting massage therapy and physical therapy for 3-4 months and it hasn't helped as much as I had hoped. I still don't have a full range of motion in my neck or right shoulder, plus I still have nerve damage.

Hopefully the shots loosen things up so everything else can heal.

Ohh I've already had 5 epidurals of cortisone in the past 7mths..

shadowofnight

Willow wrote: »

Ohh I've already had 5 epidurals of cortisone in the past 7mths..

Watch out...it weakens the bone structure local to the shot if done too often ...or too many times. Had 3 in the last month and a half....so I was researching them.

shadowofnight

dorokusai wrote: »

If you want to send me nasty, hate filled emails in your spare time, just to kill time....feel free to do so. I get them alot so it's ok.

dorokusai@verizon.net

You SOB ****...when I get down there....oh ****...you said emails...my bad....:eek:

shawn474

Willow,
Most likely the testing that they are considering is to test the functions of the nerves and / or muscles (an EMG). This will tell if it is a nerve related issue causing the pain. Or it could be a disc-o-gram (the "large needles in the back" scenario), in which case they place needles in the actual disc space while moving you through the ranges of motion to determine if it is truly a disc related problem (in which case if it is positive, a surgery is almost certain). This is by far the most definitive test (though highly controversial), but also most painful. The most recent MRI wil be able to tell you if the herniation has gotten worse or stayed the same and if the degeneration has progressed. Hopefully, none of these are the case and you find relief really soon.