madamheather

Had the worst pain in my life down my right leg. Almost crawled on the furniture to get to the BR in the morning. Went for the injections with some relief, but it returned. Went to the neurosurgeon and they have improved their techniques in amazing strides. Had what they called minimally invasive laminectomy on 2 levels. They went in a 1" incision and placed probes in the right place and then increased the lumen of the probes by slipping new ones over them, just pushing the muscles and tissues aside. when they were in the right place, they used their trimmer and just trimmed away the bulging part of the disk like a PAC MAN. The surgery took 90 minutes and I walked out of the hospital as soon as I could pee. That afternoon I walked my little dog around the yard and the next day I walked down and back from the mail box--about 1/4 mile each way. No pain!! Minimal incisional pain. No lifting of greater than 10 lbs for 6 weeks and no extreme bending. After the 6 weeks can go back to heavy lifting and normal life. Was a breeze compared to the pain. Would do it as 1st line pain relief any day. The risk for infection and complications was around 1%. Any questions, you can PM me. Good luck.

Rachel

My husband has a herniated disk. Not ruptured, but bulging. It was a workers comp case and they wanted to do surgery. I was TOTALLY against surgery. did you know there are so many back surgeries that go wrong, there is now a Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (or something like that). Crazy. Heard about that on Oprah. anyway, he tried decompression therapy. Basically you lay on a table, and they do small stretches of the two vertibre around the disc. Workers comp decided to allow him to be the guinney pig for them since this was going to be so much cheaper than surgery. IT WORKED!!! he does do some very simple exercises at home once in a while if his back gets sore, but he's pretty much back to normal now. It's definately worth checking into. Please try all options before surgery. If it goes bad, there is no coming back from it.

milikaa1

I have four in my lower back, for years now, I sometimes have a hard time walking as pain seems to wrap around the front when it is at it's worse. I had one in my neck, and after falling at work and slamming my head into the ground (head broke my fall in Feb) I now have two in my neck and horrible neck/shoulder pain. I altered my life style to accomodate the degenerative disc problems but you can only alter it to a point.

I am sorry to hear about your pain and problems, try as hard as you can to keep going on with it.

Wendy54

Welome to the club. I have already had a nine hour back surgery and still have great pain. I have found that the shots that pain clinics use, very, very, helpful. You are probably down for about half a day. The last one I had in Dec. 2010. I did not need another one until Jan. of this year. This one wore off early and I go for another on June 30th. Something to look into anyways. Hope you get comfortable soon.

Prayers on the Wind

Wendy54

Welome to the club. I have already had a nine hour back surgery and still have great pain. I have found that the shots that pain clinics use, very, very, helpful. You are probably down for about half a day. The last one I had in Dec. 2009. I did not need another one until Jan. of this year. This one wore off early and I go for another on June 30th. Something to look into anyways. Hope you get comfortable soon.

Prayers on the Wind

Momsmurf

As a retired RN, I always question a diagnosis such as yours being made without the benefit of imaging. At the most it would be considered an "educated guess".
It's like diagnosing a rash over the phone.

Wasteful of time and money and results in potential permanent damage in the worse case scenerio.

jaciqltznok

thank you all so much for sharing your own stories! I have gone from being well ticked off at Dr #1- to accepting that this is the answer I knew I needed..I no longer have to wonder WHAT is causing me so much pain..now I know and I will adjust to whatever the Neurologist suggests when I see him.
Like I stated before, I am looking to doing everything I can to avoid another surgery, but if that is not an option, I know I can count on the wisdom of you wonderful people to help ask the right questions and seek the best procedure!
You are all the BEST!

grannypat7925

I am so sorry to hear this. Boo on the Drs. that don't order the proper tests to see what is truly wrong. I suffered for over 2 years treating pinched nerve when I needed a new hip!

GABBYABBY

I have the same thing!!!
Only lots of rest helps until it goes back in place.

Wendy54

My body is my temple in which I live. I have an MRI have 3 months. I would not ignore anything as dangerous as a spine problem. Because I have a very low immune system, it is agreed that I should put off surgery as long as I can. I have been working on this problem for the last 8 years. I am sorry if I did not explain myself correctly