Herniated Disk - Need your help!

C

cherylnb

Cathlete
Hi, educated crowd! I just got off the phone with a new doctor a little while ago (a physiatrist) who informed me that my MRI showed a "moderately herniated disk."

This ailment has caused chronic discomfort for - dare I admit it? - at least three years, maybe more. But mostly in the hamstring area, comparatively little in my lower back. I went to a doctor 1 1/2 years ago who had me in PT for a hamstring injury (no help there), then a chiropractor who said it was sciatica (no help from her, either), then a sports doctor who said I needed to strengthen my hamstring.

Is it any wonder I'd kind of given up for a while? I've just been doing a LOT of stretching on my own, to no avail. The physiatrist says she was actually amazed that I'm not in significantly more pain.

Anyway, here's my question: have any of you had experience with a herniated disk? Did it finally get better? What did you do to help along the healing process?

I have a PT eval. Wednesday and then therapy starts next week. The doctor says if there's no improvement in 4 weeks she'll consider a steroid injection. Oh, and she's putting me on Celebrex.

Anxious to hear from you! I would like to look forward to getting better.
 
my wife had a bad herniated disk about 10 years ago.
I am not sure how bad "chronic discomfort" is, but
it is bad when all you can do is lie in bed
and cry with pain.

A good physical therapist will give you some
exercises that will help get the disk back in
place. My wife really liked something called
traction--which I won't describe here
(would freak you out ;-)

in short a good physical therapist should
help quite a bit...

good luck.
 
Hi there,
I havent had a herniated disk, but my best friend has had 3. I had to watch as she went thru horrible pain, three major back surgeries, until she finally had to have her spine fused. DO NOT MESS AROUND with this !! I dont want to sound like Im trying to scare you, but this could be just the beginning of really serious problem. Run to your doctor, and follow his advise, if you dont feel better, run to another until you get it fixed.
Good luck to you.
Jayne
 
I have personal experience with the problem. I have been having lower back discomfort on/off for about 4 yrs. I recently started having tingling down my right leg (big problem right?) so I had xrays of my lower back and a CT of my lumbar spine and not only did I have a herniated disc I have a slipped disc. I saw a neurosurgeon who did not recommend physical therapy as that may worsen the slipped disc. The end result is no more high impact aerobics(bummer for me). I only get the back pain when I do too much with back extension(carrying my 5 1/2 or 2 yr old) other than that it isn't bad. I would do everything your specialist has said to do because sometimes surgery is worse. Good luck!!
 
Thanks for your information!

I feel fortunate that I don't have the pain some people have described, and no one has mentioned surgery yet. I have high hopes for the PT, and if that doesn't work they may recommend an epidural cortisone injection to "calm" the nerve.

I'm glad to hear that this is something that can subside and not cause further problems unless re-injured.

Thank you again for your kind advice.
 
Dear Cherylnb:

Two years ago I wrenched my back and subsequently had chronic pain with occasional referred symptoms down one or both legs. I had no insurance, so couldn't get much help until nearly 14 months later when workers comp finally admitted that this was work related and authorized treatment. By the time I started treatments my left hamstring was extremely tight.

I had an MRI which showed a "moderate herniation". My sciatic nerve was being compressed and damaged. After my first treatment, my PT said he had felt something pop when he was doing something over my bad disk. Two days later I could no longer walk or even function much. Gradually over the next six weeks my left leg started to atrophy from the bottom up; I lost feeling in my foot, then ankle, then calf, and by the time I went for surgery I couldn't even flex my calf muscles at all. The pain made childbirth seem like a picnic.

At my first interview with the neurosurgeon he informed me that 60-80% of these cases improve "somewhat" on their own, but that it didn't look like I was in that category. After having said my whole life that no one would ever cut my back, I couldn't get into surgery fast enough. The offending piece of disk was removed and I woke up afterwards essentially out of pain. Only about half of the disk remains, and now that I am nearly six months out of surgery I'm starting to get some idea of what I can and can't do.

My suggestion for what it's worth is that you track your symptoms very closely and try to determine what makes them better or worse. Get a book called "Treat Your Own Back" by a Dr. McKenzie and see if those exercises bring relief. If not, you could be over the same line I went over that landed me in surgery. It's amazing to me that your body has kept you in that moderate holding pattern for so long. Does the pain ever travel further down your leg or does it just stay in the hamstring? What about your hip?

My neurosurgeon has been very forthright about the fact that nothing is predictable with these cases. For me that has been the most frustrating thing because I am a control freak. I have a 5-10% chance of reccurence, and I am told that staying in shape will help prevent that. My surgeon hasn't said don't do impact, but he has said that it will hurt. Since I am a "no pain-no gain" person, I welcome the soreness after impact because I know that it's not damaging. However, I can only do it a couple times a week, as opposed to 5 times a week before my injury.

Watch out for the steroid injections. I have a sister-in-law who's a nurse and she has become dependent on them which is not good. I'm not pushing surgery, but discectomy is one of the simplest out there, and if you begin to experience loss of strength or feeling you may want to consider it.

Sorry this is so long. You can email me privately if you like. I'd be happy to tell you even more. I'm bitter because I never should have been iunjured in the first place, but if it had to happen I had a pretty good outcome. I still love Cathe, and do her workouts somewhat modified, and now I feel even more proud of doing so.

--Ann
 
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