Hi,
I had been diagnosed with a bulging disc back in June of 2009. I woke up one Saturday morning in March of 09 and had SEVERE back and leg pain. I was in such severe pain for 2 weeks (could not walk, sit, sleep, etc. and was in tears all the time) I had done nothing to injure myself. I saw a couple of doctors between March and June and I have been on prednisone, muscle relaxers, vicodin, valium, and ultram. Not all at the same time, each doctor tried something different. My back pain seem to be going away but towarRAB the end of May it came back with severe sciatica pain. None of the meRAB above relieved this sciatica pain for me. My regular doctor ordered me to have an MRI in June which showed I had a very small left foraminal disc protusion minimally contacting the exiting left L4 nerve root and a broad based central disc protusion with minimal migration over the posterior superior aspect of the S1 vertebral body and that the disc material was in position to contact and displace the right transiting S1 nerve root (this is the wording straight from MRI report). My doctor referred my to an orthopedic surgeon who told me that my situation would either correct itself within six months from when my symptoms started or that I may need surgery to relieve the nerve pain. He suggested cortisone shots in my back. This was in June. Although my back pain seemed to be getting much better it was still annoying so I saved my money to have this done and in the middle of July I went in for the procedure. I had two shots at the same time straight into spot where the pain was occuring and they did absolutely nothing for me and in my experience were quite painful. One week after the shots I developed extreme severe sciatic pain in my leg (but strangely enough not much back pain). My surgeon assured me this had nothing to do with the shots, that sometimes these situations just get worse. My surgeon has recommended that we go ahead with the surgery (discetomy) to relieve the nerve pain and sent me for an updated MRI that I had done two weeks ago. It now shows mild disc space narrowing at the L5-S1 level, right paracentral disc extrusion which extenRAB inferiorly to the lower third of the S1 vertebral body level. This created mild central stenois and moderate to severe right lateral stenosis. This significantly displaces the right S1 traversing nerve root. Although I really had no idea what all this meant, my surgeon told me basically I started with a bulging disc which has now herniated, leaked and is sitting on my sciatic nerve. He said that I can basically sit and deal with the pain or have the surgerical procedure done which he says should take 20 minutes and that he will go in and remove the fragments sitting on my nerve. He said that if i wanted he would refer me to a PT but this would not fix the problem just help with the pain. He assures me that it is in the easiest spot that it could possibly be for him to reach and he did not think he would have to cut into any bone to reach. He claims I can go back to work within 2 days if I want (i sit at a computer all day). I have the surgery schedule for Septeraber 3rd. My plan is to take off the day of the surgery (Thursday) and return to work the following Wednesday. After speaking to both my grandfather and my best friend who both had this same surgery done about 5-7 years ago, they have both told me they had immediate relief with the sciatic pain the instant they woke up from surgery, they both felt completely fine 2 days after surgery and my friend returned to work within 5 days after having both a discetomy and laminectomy. In fact my grandfather went shopping at Sams Club the same day after his surgery, although he did say he was sore the next day. Both have been pain free since. I am afraid if i do not have the procedure done that i may end up with permanent nerve damage not to mention the fact i am off work every other day because i am in severe pain. If you like I will post how the surgery goes and how the recovery process goes.
