Lumbar disc herniations

millimetres

Hey guys,

Just looking for some other people’s experiences.

I’m a 28 year old female. In March of this year (when I was 27) I woke up with a twinge in my lower back. At the time I had been regularly exercising and was at a decent level of fitness, which also included regular Pilates to work on my core.
I just assumed that I had overdone it slightly so took some time off the exercise to recover, did some stretches and tried to allow myself to heal. I kept up with some low level Pilates.
After a few weeks, I started to attend physio who believed it to be a muscular issue. After some time and realising we were making no improvement, I was referred for an MRI.
My MRI (in May) showed two disc herniations at L3-L4 and L4-L5 along with degenerative disc disease at L3-L4 to the point where it almost looks as if there is no longer a disc there.
By this point, my pain had significantly increased to severely impacting my quality of life, from lower back pain to referred pain down both my legs and into my feet.
I eventually met with a consultant spinal surgeon in Cork (in August) having continuously gotten worse despite my best efforts. By this point, the pain had become excruciating and my life had been put on hold. My consultant seemed to think that with conservative treatments such as physio and Pilates, along with epidural steroid injections, my condition could be dealt with.
So off I go for my first epidural in September. Stupidly enough, while changing into my hospital gown, I tripped and hurt my back and ended up going in for the epidural in my worst pain yet.
I felt no relief from the epidural, but gave it a few weeks and decided to go in for epidural number 2.
I was due for my second epidural in October, but it was scheduled the day of Ophelia and couldn’t make it to the hospital (a two hour drive away).
The next available appointment was for mid November, so I booked in for that and impatiently waited.
Sometime in late October, I noticed my symptoms worsening yet again. I began to lose sensation below my knees in both sides of my body and on one day entirely lost sensation in the whole of my left leg. It did return, but it scared the life out of me.
I met with the consultant again after another MRI earlier this month (November) to discuss the new symptoms. My L4-L5 has significantly worsened and he believes this to be the cause of my new symptoms. Again said that I can be treated conservatively. And off I go for epidural number 2.
So here I am, a week later and patiently waiting for this epidural to kick in but I have admittedly lost all hope.
I have very limited sensation in my feet but no loss of power. I have a significant amount of pain and can no longer sit for longer than a few minutes at a time. The nerve pain is searing and relentless, and I still suffer from bad lower back pain.
I now have developed new symptoms in the shape of mid and upper back pain. I am now incredibly worried about the upper back pain - it feels all too similar to my lower back pain - it is close to unbearable and is causing pain to radiate down my left arm and I have slight numbness and tingling in my left hand.
I am awaiting a call back from my consultant to discuss the effectiveness of the epidural. He seemed insistent that it would work for me, but did suggest a discectomy if all else fails.
I do not have health insurance. I have issues with two discs, and now am nervous that I have damaged a disc in my upper back also. I have paid for everything so far out of pocket and I am incredibly nervous about medical fees as I am fearful that this condition will cause me to have to quit my job. As things stand, going to work is an exercise in both physical and mental endurance as I am in so much pain.
My mental health has suffered immensely. I go to work and come home and try to sleep as much as possible as I now have no interest in being awake anymore. I am constantly sad, stressed and scared.
Has anybody else been in a similar situation?
Any insights into exercises I could be trying? What should I be doing to help myself?
Is it possible to go from being treated privately to going onto a public list without having to wait too long to be seen?
Am I at risk for permanent nerve damage?
Have people had positive/negative experiences with discectomies?
Can I hope to ever regain a decent quality of life?
It’d be lovely to hear some other people’s experiences. This has been such a lonely experience.

cloneslad

While not as bad as yours, I had 'degenerative change / wear and tear to the L3/4 and L4/5 discs and a disc protrusion to the right of L4/5 which was pressing into the nerve at that level'. (I just copied that from the email I got from the results of the MRI.

This was in Feb 2016 (and I was 31) after having pain from November, continuing to play rugby and really messing it up. Like you my pain appeared overnight, it was a Tuesday and I remember it because I had a match that night and had to wait in my car for an hour before kick off when I really noticed it but figured I was just a bit stiff.

Needless to say it didn't and my girlfriend had to help me get dressed quite often. I had physio for a while and got my epidural. I was lucky that it worked for me and released the pain from the disc into my nerve. Although I still had some stiffness and tiredness in my back it was much better.....for the summer.

Around august the pain came back, I stopped playing rugby and decided that I'd retire. All last year it was uncomfortable to stand for more than 10 minutes or so at one stage the pain flared up again and I called to get the epidural again but it calmed down after a few days and I cancelled the epidural.

I did no exercise at all for the first half of this year and I bought a new firm mattress in July. I also keep a sliotar in my car and use it to press against my lower back and to work my glutes while driving. I've been back playing rugby since September and have been training and playing matches without many issues, I just take a few ibuprofen to keep the inflammation down before a match and the following morning.

I was told by the spinal consultant in the mater private to only take notice when I lost sensation in my legs because this meant the disc was punching too far into the nerve. The same happened one of the lads in the club and he ended up electing to have surgery and getting his disc shaved down (discectomy). He has had to retire from rugby but is fine for tag rugby and the gym, it took him about 6-12 months for full recovery after surgery.

I got my treatment privately as I have health insurance so I don't know how going public would work but I'd assume you'll have a hell of a waiting list ahead of you.

I have no idea about your situation and I have no medical experience whatsoever so I can't comment on anything you have but I will say that you might not think things are going to get better but you need to keep your head up, you're young and I'm sure the doctors will guide you in the right direction to what you need.

flash84962

Hi.

I had an L5/S1 disc bulge approximately 3 years ago. I had significant back and leg pain, and a buzzing/numb foot. All and all it took 15-18 months to resolve. Fortunately I am now pain free and back to normal. Professional I am a chartered physiotherapy.

I will tell you what worked for me.

I realised that this type of condition is very up and down, good and bad days. You could see an improvement over a few days and then wake up and feel terrible all over again. I told myself that each bad day I got through was one less bad day until I was better. No situation is impossible or permanent.

I had a series of exercises that I did once or twice a day. I would spend up to 90 mins a day on this. Exercise include mainly flexibility, back range of movement and nerve flossing exercises. Not strenuous, just movement.

I walked every day. About an hour. More to clear my head.

I was fortunate enough to me able to have hands on treatment whenever I needed. Generally 1-2 sessions a week. A good physio can offer as much emotional support as physical support. Any experienced chartered physiotherapy will have worked with lots of people with similar pain. And should be able to guide you through it.

I found anti-inflammatories worked best for me. It is worthwhile discussing this with your GP.

I found sitting extremely aggravating. So I use to set am alarm every 30 minutes to get up.

Your waiting time through the public system will depend on what the waiting time is in the local service. Generally the GPs will have a good idea of what this is.

Sorry about rambling on.....but I am to offer an advise that may help.

BellaLu

Hi, I completely understand what you have posted, I'm mid 40s and Im struggling with chronic back pain for years and have similar MRI results as you. Ive have two round of the steroid injections this year to no avail. Supposed to go for a third round but won't be going as they are doing nothing to eliminate the pain. Sitting and standing for periods of time is terrible. I alternate from sitting to standing at work to cope. I'm experiencing numbness in my legs and feet and sometimes burning sensations. It's shocking! I know someone in a similar situation who just got so fed up in chronic pain and needing pain killers that they ended up going directly to the A&E department and got the help she needed. In her case she ended up getting an operation. Me, I'm heading to a neurologist in the next few weeks to see why I'm experiencing tingling and numbness in my legs.

I've been advised by my gp to keep walking to stay flexible as most other exercise are too painful. I am doing certain yoga and Pilate exercises that I'm able to do but they are few but are good for strengthening the core muscles. Walking helps clear my head. High heels are sadly discarded as these kill my back even if I only wear them for a short time. I too take anti inflammatory meds when required but I generally try to do without but there are days when I just need som pain relief. Hot packs and lying on the floor help! I have a battery operated mini tens machine that send pulse waves into my back which is nice for the 30mins it's working but as soon as I take it off the pain returns. I got these in the USA but u would need to check with your gp if they could help you.

I have private health insurance so don't know much about waiting lists for back issues although there is some initiative in the HSE to tackle waiting list in the treatment abroad scheme but you have to be on a waiting list to avail of this. You could check out their website. It is a lonely experience and I feel that I'm miserable to be around as I'm always in some sort of pain/discomfort. I know how you feel. Take care.

millimetres

Thank you for your replies.

I never want to hear of other people in pain, but at the same time it's nice to know that I'm not suffering alone.

My GP has referred me through the public system now, more as a formality as the wait to be seen is currently in and around two years. I'll continue to pay out of pocket as I have been because living like this is no real option.

There was a point where my GP referred me to A&E because I was having a lot of numbness in my lower back - she was worried about cauda equina syndrome but the hospital quickly established that that wasn't the case and discharged me with an "it's annoying, but at least you're not paralysed". Sure things could be worse, but that does little to encourage me right now. I think that once they had established that I had been seeing a consultant privately they were all too happy to wash their hands of me.

I have started to make a point of walking as much as possible now, and I've been doing core strengthening exercises everyday.

As things stand, I am once again off work for the week. I didn't sleep at all on Sunday night, and when I left the house to go to work on Monday I threw up with the pain. My GP has upped the strength of my medications (Lyrica for nerve pain and Difene as an anti-inflammatory). I'm seeing no difference as of yet, but it's early days.

Cloneslad - thanks for your quick response. Am I right in saying that from start to finish, it took about ten months for your issues to resolve? Also thanks for the positive story, sometimes it feels as though this is the kind of thing that will never end.

Flash - could you recommend any specific exercises that you would have done yourself? I'm finding that I'm getting conflicting advice on the best exercises and movements that I should be doing. It'd be nice to hear what worked for somebody else.

BellaLu - I do hope that the neurologist has some insight into your condition. I know that for me, my same symptoms are caused directly by the disk impinging on the nerves in my spine and is not a separate issue. I genuinely wish for you that you get some relief as this is no easy condition to have to endure. For you, has surgery ever been suggested as an option?

cloneslad

millimetres wrote: »

Cloneslad - thanks for your quick response. Am I right in saying that from start to finish, it took about ten months for your issues to resolve? Also thanks for the positive story, sometimes it feels as though this is the kind of thing that will never end.

I think I really started to notice that it had significantly improved after about 16-18 months. I'm not sure if it was rest / new firm mattress / using a foam roller more / useing the sliotar when I drive / the swelling just naturally subsided.

It's still not entirely comfortable but I think if I worked on my core more (at all) that it would get back to a more normal level.

Don't use my experience as a benchmark of when you will be better, if it doesn't work for you after that time you will only feel much more negative.

Best of luck with the recovery and keep your head up. It won't last forever.

flash84962

I'll agree here on a couple of points cloneslad made.

It took me 15-18 months to get back to normally. A disc bulge with nerve root pain is not something that generally resolves quickly.

Secondly, as cloneslad mentioned dont bench mark yourself against other. I have treated (as a physio) loads of people in similar situations and sometimes people get better in a few months and sometimes longer.

Personally from an exercise point of view I would have started with foam rolling the upper back, hamstring, calf. Tennis ball into the glut. That would take about 10/15 minutes. Followed by 20 minutes of lower back range of movement and stretching. And then ten minutes of 'nerve flossing', YouTube it. Search for 'nerve flossing- spinal cord and sciatic nerve'. I didn't do any core or pilates as I didn't feel it was effective for me.

You will get conflicting advice from all sorts of people so it is worthwhile getting a chartered physiotherapy who you trust and who knows what their at and can help you find what exercises work best for you.

Currently NUIG are running an online pain management research project which may be beneficial if you have had pain for longer then 6 months.

Keep the head up.