Herniated disc

[sarahs]

Hi Everyone,

I have been a Cathe fan for 5 years and I used to post here. I haven't in a while now. I was just wondering if anyone knows anyone who has had a herniated disc. Mine is at L4-L5. If so, I am curious to know what they did about it and if they can still workout.

I have been dealing with this for 5 months and I still have another 2 weeks until I see a neurosurgeon. I know this might not be the appropriate site to ask but I haven't been able to workout to a Cathe video in 5 months and I figured someone could understand how that feels.

Well, if anyone has advice (like to have surgery or not)or any kind of prognosis I would appreciate it.
Thank you

 

[tboman]

Hi Sarah,
I had a big bulge on my disk. I think it was L4? I was in pain for 3 years before I got a referal to see a neurosurgeon. He said I needed surgery. I did it. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I had pretty good results. I recovered really slow. Some people can get up and walk the same night. I unfortunately thought I was going to die of pain. I was hurting really bad for about 2 weeks. Some people don't hurt that bad. I had the surgery in April and I think I was doing aerobics by August. I was walking a lot in the meantime. I am pretty much pain free. I have had a few episodes where my back has hurt and I did get another MRI. Nothing but a little scar tissue. One episode lasted 3 moinths and others are a couple of days. I do Cathe tapes all the time. I am doing great except for the scar. I hope this helps some. I had a bulge on my disk not a herniated one. I will keep checking this post to see if you have anymore questions. If you are in pain everyday I would go for the surgery.

Take Care,
Tracy

 

[tryin2bfit]

I can't offer any advice on a herniated disc, but just wanted to extend my best wishes to you.

I have a very bad back myself (no injury, just "natural" bad back where I have to see a chiropractor weekly just to maintain "minimal" pain) and can really sympathize with back pain. It's debilitating physically and emotionally. My only advice is to see the doctor and go with your gut feeling. At one point, several doctors just wanted to fill me with cortisone shots rather than try to find the root of the extreme pain I was having in my tailbone at the time (one doctor even wanted to remove my tailbone!). I didn't do the shots because I felt that would only mask a problem that needed addressing. I have since found an excellent chiropractor that can alleviate the most severe pain.

Again, I don't know anything about herniated discs, but go with your instincts about the doctor. If he is a specialist in this field, and you feel good about him and his diagnosis, go with it. Good luck.

Sandi