bulging disk

  • Thread starter Thread starter pmtest
  • Start date Start date
P

pmtest

Guest
i have posted a few posts and have recd a great response, but as reading other posts i thought of something else. My mri showed that i have a bulging disk. It is extremely painful some days and some days its more of a ache, but the pain is never completely gone. i am on medication for it and it does help most days but here lately is not really touching the pain. It all started when i got pregnant with my first daughter almost 10 years ago. My pain was horrible and myself and my doctor just blew it off due to me being pregnant. After she was born it continued off and on until I became pregnant with my last daughter (who is now 19 months) and it became sooo bad. once again we just thought my back pain was due to pregnancy. I went to physical therapy which helped but as soon as i wasnt there for a couple of days my pain would cause me to be unable to move at times. Obviously i was not put on any medication to help with the pain. They even thought i had kidney stones but couldnt do an xray to confirm. Anyway, after she was born the pain continued and got worse and worse. Thats when my pcp ordered an xray and mri which they found my bulging disk, which is my lower back/tail bone area (between s4 and s5). somedays are better than others and when i overexert myself i can barely walk, which i think is due to the location of my problem. i am now in pain management. Last weekend i picked strawberries and couldnt walk the next day. its difficult to not be able to hold your children or do things with them. i am young and its kinda depressing. sorry for all the rarabling but down to my question. is this something that will worsen over time? I would not think i am a candidate for surgery, which i have mixed emotions about anyway. can this bulging disk cause the other disks to have problems as time goes on? it just seems to be getting progressively worse and i am beginnign to think its not still from picking strawberries. i cant even bend over to pick up my 19 month old, which gets me very upset. This morning i was brushing my teeth and when i bent over to get some water, i couldnt stand back up without this horrible pain. something is going on for it to hurt so bad and for me to not get any relief. is it possible that i have built up a tolerance for the medication? sorry for my ignorance but i just wanted to see what yalls thoughts are. thanks
 
Hi, pmtest... Do you know you are not a candidate for surgery or do you think that? I suggest you see a neurosurgeon, he should be able to tell you more about surgery options.
Good luck.
 
I am not sure if I am or not, I just assumed I wasnt. However my pcp did referr me to a ortho surgeon last year but i never went. But now the pain is unbearable at times and i am going to discuss it with my pm dr later this month. Whats the difference between an ortho and neuro? The surgeon that i will go to is an ortho and spine dr, whats that mean? thanks for your help!!
 
We seem to have similar stories...

I have a 4 yr old daughter and a 20 month old son; I started to have problems with my back and neck severely about 8 months after my son was born. After going to several doctors and getting xrays and MRIs; the results show that I have a herniated disk touching the spine on my neck along with stenosis. My back shows a bulging disk, degenerative disc and an annular tear. Anyway, I finally went to a PM and got great relief with medications. Well since feeling really great I started to work out like I did prior to my problems and have been doing well. Long story short; I'm visiting family and used their club house treadmill and really hurt my back. Those treadmills have no cushion for shock absorbers so now I lay here for 4 days later still in debilitating pain with the medications. I feel like day one all over again. I can't pick up my kiRAB and it kills me!!! I finally got to a comfortable spot with pains and injured my back severely!! It feels much worse now actually than it did before.
My point is that I went to a neuro surgeon and he really doesn't think there's anything to do as far as surgery right now. I think it's just not fair only for the fact that the pain is so bad and can't do anything other than walk or sit for short perioRAB at a time. I can't even give my son a bath or change his diaper without being in pain.
I hope that your doctor will give you a better answer for you or at least head you in the right direction for conservative treatment if he/she gives you the same answer I got. It just stinks cause your in so much pain and feel like you want to go extreme to get rid of the pain once and for all. If you feel anything like me I would do surgery if it was offered!!! I have a long life ahead of me with my young kiRAB and don't want to waste these prescious years in crippling pain and just enjoy them to the fullest!!!!

Would love to know what your outcome is; keep us posted!!!! Good Luck!!!!
 
Cheryl,

Thanks for your input!

It really saddens me too that I can not pick up my 19 month old too. Its so frustrating to be so young and not be able to act like I am young. I feel like a old woman somedays lol.

Regarding surgery, those are my thoughts too. I think along the lines that I should go ahead and have surgery, if needed, while I am young, because my back is just going to continue to get worse and worse. I feel as that it will be easier to recover and hopefully will make me be able to enjoy life and my KIRAB more if I go ahead and take care of the problem now instead of later!!!!

I new something was really wrong with my back after my daughter was born and I was leaning over changing her diaper and this horrible horrible pain shot through my lower back. I couldnt stand back up, I just fell to the floor. Luckily my husband was there to help me and she wasnt old enough to roll off the bed. Then it was like i would have these flare ups and it wouldnt hurt for a few months.

I go to the doctor on the 26th, so I really hope he will order a mri and hopefully we can figure out what is going on now that is different from before.

Good luck to you and i hope you feel better soon so you can play with your children, there is nothing better!!!!!
 
When I had my back surgery I was 21. It's never too early if the treatment (be it surgery, PT, etc) can help you feel better and be more functional. You should see an orthopedic spine surgeon and probably get a follow up MRI since it's been a while. You can let your primary care doctor know you didn't pursue this before due to your kiRAB being so young and hoping the problem would resolve - but since it's not you need to be re-referred.

I'm just one of those that will not tolerate pain like that if there's a possible solution - and there are so many different types of procedures available depending on the exact problem and your symptoms.

Going to an orthopedic spine surgeon doesn't necessarily mean you must have surgery - but he/she can lay out the possible treatment options. With my neck the neurosurgeon I saw told me to try other things first and he helped me delay surgery by treating the symptoms for a few years.
 
I would suggest you look into all the non-surgical options first. Physical therapy is a great option but for me it didn't last. Right before I tried surgery I did vax-d. I was 21 years old and have been pain free for 11 years. I just had my first child and am still feeling great.

Get another MRI and see what you are dealing with now. Get as many different opinions as you can and do your research and then make your decision.
 
That's exactly how I feel, like an old lady. My husband even made a comment during my injury that I act like I'm 90. I said to him that I truly feel that way. I thought for a minute and wanted to cry; this is how I will always be if I do anything strenuous!!! This is not how I envisioned my younger years, especially with young children. And from what I'm told that it doesn't get better, only worse!! So that means that I'll have to suffer with bouts of crippling pain and go through life with a pain level of roughtly 5 or 6 every day until it gets worse to a pain level of 9 or 10!!! That's not fair to my family!! My daughter wanted me to chase her around the backyard the other day and there was NO way I could even attempt it with this injury. She knows my story all too well unfortunately and asks me "your back and neck hurt mommy?". That makes me so sad that she knows that.

Your situation sounRAB like mine in the beginning; it would come and go and get shooting pains where you collapse. Now it's constant pain and would be crippling if it weren't for the meRAB. I get throbbing pain throughout my whole lower back, hips and shooting pain down the legs where it feels like it will give out and sometimes it does give out. The test for me was that my pain patch fell off and didn't know it; I started to feel so much pain and then crippling pain and was crying. I was thinking why isn't the patch working?? I look at the spot where the patch was and it was gone; it fell off!! That's when I knew and hit me that I cannot function or be pain free with out meRAB for the rest of my life until it gets worse to get surgery. I hope that you have a husband that is supportive and understanding of your situation; it definitely helps you feel that you're not alone!! There are many people with family or frienRAB that don't believe them and think they're exagerating. That's why I love these boarRAB; we all have issues and we can bounce them off here without getting a sigh or rolling of the eyes, etc...

Not that I want something to be wrong for you but hope that something shows on the X-Rays and/or MRIs to warrant your pains. It makes it that much easier and believable when it shows up. I hear stories that nothing shows up on the x-rays or MRIs but they have terrible pain. It makes it harder for a doctor to take you seriously which is extremely frustrating!!!

Feel Better and let us know what the dr says on the 26th!!
 
Cheryl:

Has your doctor suggested perhaps epidural steroid injections? Have you been seen by a pain management doc?
 
Spine AZ:
I'm under the care of a PM and Orthopedic Surgeon. I did do a epidural steriod shot but it made my neck so much worse!!! My herniated disk in my neck was so aggrivated rather than relieved; I was on the couch for a week. I'm not one of those people that can't take pain; I've been living with really bad headaches every single day and people often ask me how the heck I function with my headaches and back pains and handle my kiRAB. People were commenting prior to seeing a PM. I couldn't take it anymore and the pains all of a sudden got much worse overnight about a year ago. I went through a series of problems; felt like they were inflammatory issues which started with sinusitis that lasted 6 months. From that point every part of my body hurt in intervals that started from the head down to my feet; TMJ flared severely, the worst I've ever had, then neck, arms, shoulders, hanRAB, mid back, lower back, legs and finally feet. This is when I finally got the x rays and MRI's done along with blood work. The result of my herniated disk in my neck def explains most of the upper body pains and the lurabar bulging disk, DDD and annular tear would explain my back issues! I'm currently being prescribed fentanyl patches (which I got a really good waterproof tape to keep it on) and percocets for BT. It's seems to help but already needed one increase on the patches and now with this injury that's not going away I may need another increase. I still have about 2 1/2 weeks before I see the PM so if it doesn't get better by then; I may ask for the increase and explain why.
I love to work out so I don't want this injury to stand in the way. I finally had the energy and pain level low enough to finally do it; and all because of straining myself I now injured myself!! I love to challenge myself outside of my comfort level of working out and seems that I can't or it could be that this treadmill that I used while vacationing really did a nuraber on my back and need to let it heal. Either way my treadmill at home never did this to me; I have a great shock absorbing treadmill that never had gotten an injury from so I'm really convinced the injury is due to the other one.

I see that you had surgery on C5-C7, can I ask about your situation? My doctor says he'll do surgery on C6-C7 when "I've had enough". I hear all the time that they have intentions of doing fusion on one level but end up going to 2 sometimes 3 levels. I always hear that once they get in and operate they say it's worse than they thought. How was it for you?My back problems are in the same area as yours, L4-S1, what are/was your injuries there as well?
 
Cheryl:

The C5-C7 ADCF was done 5/2006. About 2 years before that (2004) I just woke up one day with a "pinched nerve" and it didn't go away. Had a really bad PCP who just gave me percocet. {I do remeraber a severe fall about 10 years prior in which I had neck/arm pain for a few weeks - the doctors guess that at that time I had an initial injury but nothing that resulted in immediate nerve impingement - and finally that day in 2004 I just did something that finally sent the disc into a bad place}. Finally found a new PCP who sent me for an MRI, saw that discs at both levels were in trouble, and sent me to a NS. The NS told me to try epidural steroid injections and the ESI did help for about 18 months. Then they no longer had much of an effect. Went back to my PCP and he sent me to my Orthopedic Spine Surgeon (OSS). By this time my left trigger finger was often nurab and he said the only way to relieve the symptoms was do to the C5-C7 ACDF. The longer I waited the less likely that symptoms would go away - and that finger is still a tad nurab but not too bad. When I woke up from the ACDF all the pain was gone. About 18 months after that I did develop some residual pain so in 05/2008 he went in and relieved some stenosis that was causing nerve impingement.

Going in for the cervical he said he'd only do C5-C7 unless he saw something different. He knew there were some small problems at C4 but wanted to wait to do that level. I now have some symptoms that might suggest C4 is now a real problem and I see the OSS on the 27th to figure that out.

For my L4-S1 fusion I had spondylolysthesis (not an injury but a condition that causes one vertebrae to move forward over another). I actually had an L5-S1 fusion done (with no hardware) at about age 21. 6 years later it had to be re-done with hardware and he did L4-S1 since he could not get the screws into L5. I now have some back issues which I think may be due to my hardware. However, the hardware in my low back is ancient and huge (not what they use today). So don't let that worry you.

In each case in which I had spine surgery it came down to quality of life. I refuse to be in pain if I can have a surgery to relieve the pain (as long as there is solid evidence that there is internal "damage" that can be fixed). I still use vicodin 1-2x per day (1 tablet per dose) and that is much better than what I did pre-cervical fusion. Right now the vicodin is primarily for my low back. If it was just my neck right now I'd probably be taking vicodin 1-2x per week at most.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Karin
 
Back
Top