If one has back surg for back pain, one may be disappointed.
Leg pain, loss of muscle strength, loss of muscle mass, surg probably the only option.
DF
If you need surgery and don't get it soon enough you'll probably end up with all the problems you describe. I had herniated disc about 20 years ago (I've had 3 so far) back when I couldn't see a back doctor without being referred by my GP. My GP sent me for X-rays and pronounced that there was nothing wrong with my back. He told me to take OTC pain meds and prescribed some exercises that I was unable to do because of the pain. After he tortured me for over 4 months I starting losing strength in my left leg and it would actually collapse sometimes. My left thigh muscle was also going numb. I told the GP what was happening and he finally gave me a reference to a back doctor. When the back doctor saw my symptoms he was amazed that my GP had waited so long to give me a referral. I got an MRI the next morning and a cortisone shot directly into the herniated disc the following morning. The pain went away almost immediately and I haven't had a problem with that disc since then. I slowly regained the strength in my left leg but the numbness is still there. The back Doc said if I had waited much longer the loss of strength may have been permanent also. He wrote my GP a nasty letter and I found another GP.
X-Rays for discs are as useless as mammaries on a boar hog...
MRI's look at soft tissue, X-Rays look at bone, not so much soft tissue.
i have been in pain for a few weeks (Piriformis Syndrome) , Doctors don't subscribe pain meds any more.
any one have a do it yourself cure for this ?
P.
Since you live in CA you should be able to get some medical pot. Have you ever tired it? I have 2 friends who are in constant pain. One had a severe back injury that required 2 surgeries and is in constant pain from nerve damage. The other friend has severe arthritis and is disabled. Prescription pain meds don't provide enough pain relief to make them worth taking. What does give them enough pain relief to sleep through the night is pot. Pot brownies or cookies are much better than smoking a joint because the pain relief lasts through the night.
Yeah right. Morphine is a hoax. cannabis is a newly discovered miracle analgesic.
Before I had spinal fusion,doctor gave me 900mg Motrin tablets and that would stop the pain because it makes the swelling of the nerve to go done.At least that is what I was told.I WILL PRAY FOR YOU,I KNOW HOW BAD THE PAIN CAN BE,YOU CANNOT EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT SUFFERED IT.
X-rays are a good, relatively inexpensive screening tool. For me the preliminary X-rays showed pretty much vertebrae on vertebrae. MRI follow up confirmed the damage. I've been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease since my first fusion surgery in 1995. Two years later surgery to remove hardware that was causing excessive scar tissue which recreated the sciatic nerve problem surgery addressed, along with disc replacement. June 2015 another fusion but with advanced technique compared to 20 years previous. In each case the surgery was appropriate. Matter of fact I should have had the first one a year or so earlier.
If you need surgery the best time to do it is as soon as possible. My first was at age 45. My second at 65. Old is not good. Young, you heal better, faster, less complications. And as someone mentioned, neglect will bring on problems that may not be treatable if left unaddressed.
After dogging the PA getting me scheduled for my first surgery with questions about level of relief, recidivism, etc. he finally told me it was "a salvage operation" designed to return as much lost as possible and preserve the rest. All surgeries don't end up bad. I'll never be pain free even with medication but I'm a hell of a lot better than I would have been without surgery. If you need it, get it.
Colossians 3:17 (New King James Version) "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
They fused 2nd,3rd,4th,5th,lumbar about 30 years ago,I have not had any pain at all since the surgery,I did loose about 15% of the flexibility in my back but I can DEFINITELY live with that.I would have done it sooner if the insurance company would have allowed it.I had months of worthless rehab, that made it worse.
I should mention that even though the sciatic nerve is giving me my pain right now, when it first started my hips hurt so bad at night that I could not sleep. I went to my regular MD and told him about it, and said "looks like I might need a hip replacement." After the MRI, and He looked at the results which pointed to my back as the trouble, He said " you have a lot of problems in your back" and referred me to a back Dr. miles
X-Rays for discs are as useless as mammaries on a boar hog...
MRI's look at soft tissue, X-Rays look at bone, not so much soft tissue.
Discs are soft tissue.
DF
THIS!!!
I have read those who get cut and those who do not are in the same place seven years later.
Data I've seen show this to be true, some as early as 3 yrs.
A major railroad company had a lot of exposure with back injuries. RR's are under FELA, which is comp without a cap. Big bucks at stake.
They set up an aggressive conservative protocol for injured employees. The union stewards had under the table relationships with plaintiff attys who had cozy relationships with certain ortho spine surgeons.
Some employees stayed with the company program, some took the atty/surgery path. Most of the conservative treated employees went back to work, very rarely did a surgical case return to work.
All cases aren't the same, some backs do need surgery. It just needs to be a last resort after aggressive conservative treatment fails.
[Since you live in CA you should be able to get some medical pot. Have you ever tired it? I have 2 friends who are in constant pain. One had a severe back injury that required 2 surgeries and is in constant pain from nerve damage. The other friend has severe arthritis and is disabled. Prescription pain meds don't provide enough pain relief to make them worth taking. What does give them enough pain relief to sleep through the night is pot. Pot brownies or cookies are much better than smoking a joint because the pain relief lasts through the night.
No , not my kind of ..
I have an appointment at 10 with a physical therapist , I post the result.
P.
It took me 6 months of PT (1-2x/week) and home exercises for total relief for the piriformis syndrome.
X-Rays for discs are as useless as mammaries on a boar hog...
MRI's look at soft tissue, X-Rays look at bone, not so much soft tissue.
Discs are soft tissue.
DF
THIS!!!
I have read those who get cut and those who do not are in the same place seven years later.
Data I've seen show this to be true, some as early as 3 yrs.
A major railroad company had a lot of exposure with back injuries. RR's are under FELA, which is comp without a cap. Big bucks at stake.
They set up an aggressive conservative protocol for injured employees. The union stewards had under the table relationships with plaintiff attys who had cozy relationships with certain ortho spine surgeons.
Some employees stayed with the company program, some took the atty/surgery path. Most of the conservative treated employees went back to work, very rarely did a surgical case return to work.
All cases aren't the same, some backs do need surgery. It just needs to be a last resort after aggressive conservative treatment fails.
IMO.
DF
Thanks. I still have pain but I have just learned to ignore it. My workouts at the gym have helped a lot.
I just had back surgery right before Christmas. Never felt better!
Had a blown out L4/L5, and spent the most miserable Summer and Fall with Sciatic nerve pain in my right leg. No pain at all in my back, but all in the leg. Pain, numbness,burning and like clockwork, extreme pain starting at 7 pm ,all night. Like a flamethrower on the lower leg pain. I was averaging 1-2 hours sleep a night and working all day. I also had the dragging the leg limp going too.
Had 1st injection in Sept. Helped only slightly with pain. Injection 2 around a month after that. It burned so bad, i started hyper-ventilating and almost passed out. That shot did nothing.
Met with surgeon in November. I asked about inversion and PT. He said, that's fine and dandy, but I'd be back in his office a month later discussing the same thing all over.
Had surgery Dec. 20th. He removed a lot of material and some arthritis while he was rooting around. When I woke up in recovery, I told the nurse I had to take a leak. She told me i have 2 good legs, get up and walk over to the bathroom. Hour after surgery and I'm up and walking. pretty cool.
First thing I noticed was all pain was gone. Limp was gone. Still have some numbness in my toes. Doc says give it 6 months, a year , maybe never. Either way, it's all good.
During recovery, the only pain I had was the incision point. Like I got cracked with a bat kind of hurt. that lasted a couple weeks.
No PT. Doc said start taking short walks after a few days, and slowly increase the distance. No lifting or twisting. Went back to work Jan. 30. As I said, I feel pretty good.
I too had herniated the L4 L5 disc, Physical Therapy which in addition to exercises included traction took care of the disc. However during the PT my sciatic nerve became inflamed, this took a trip to a specialist doctor and an injection into the space around the nerve. I literally crawled into the office for the procedure after which I walked out completely pain free.
A series of traction sessions worked for me and was effective for years to come.
My pain centered on my hip but extended along my beltline and down to my knee.
Beware. Most traction tables are antique pieces of crap and most PTs don't know how to use them correctly. The position of your legs during traction is critical in regard to which segment of the back is being decompressed. Good modern traction machines will have several layers of wide belts that slide independently over one another.
