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L4-L5 and other stuff

Posted , 4 users are following.

fatal_1986
fatal_1986

Had my second MRI done first one was 3 years ago! Anyways i went to see my GP and he said basically slipped disc, Its lost height since last scan and he mentioned something about something being out of line i cant exactly remember exactly what was out of line or misaligned but hes booked me in to see a neuro surgeon on the 15th jan 2017. What can i expect at my first ever appointment with him ? What will he do e.c.t ?

1 like, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • fatal_1986
    fatal_1986

    Posted

    I need to state that i did make an account on this forum a while back describing all my symptoms but since formatted my PC and lost all my stuff as im quite bad at remembering things lately. I did try to search for my discussion with no luck sad i wanted to keep the nice people on here updated! All i know was my name was fatal something so im sorry about that !!!

  • jessica_78456
    jessica_78456 fatal_1986

    Posted

    He will take some information and most likely do a physical examination . He may offer spinal block depending on the MRI results. Most nhs will try to fob u of with a few spinal block s and physo. Y must highlight how yr quality of life is affected by this.
    • fatal_1986
      fatal_1986 jessica_78456

      Posted

      Ok thanks for the reply. Basically it started off with me being stabbed about 9-10 years ago i was around 21 at the time. My back has just been getting worse n worse since. I mean the wound healed nicely and it started being a problem 1 year after the initial injury. I was stabbed in the l4 l5 region but still not sure its even whats caused this TBH. First MRI showed disc bulge, Doc said ibuprofen and physical therapy. So i went a few times then was just too busy with work to make any more visits so i stopped going and did the excersises i was shown at home after work but at the same time my job was very physically demanding which i am pretty sure made my back worse up until this point now. As of right now last 12 months i stay in doors i gave my job up simply couldnt take the pain any longer even at home doing nothing it still gets very painful and very annoying as anything i do now seems to set it off. Standing too long ill feel the aching start getting worse and i lay down it helps. But then on the other hand if i lay down that can set it off aswell sometimes and trying to sleep becomes very hard to do. Just gone cold turkey off the pain meds ( cocodamol ) and damn after taking these for so long my insides feel ruined constantly running to the bathroom but i think its letting up slowly been like this for 4 days now diarrhoea with acid reflux .... horrid! Put myself on 400mg ibuprofen instead now but they hardly touch my pain. Been on Naproxen before could only manage 3 weeks as side effects gave me mouth ulcers and i couldnt eat so i stopped taking them. my back has pretty much taken over my life along with quite bad depression that my GP thinks may be caused by my back itself but wont treat me for it until my backs being/been treated like UH??? My left leg does sometimes feel quite weak/clumsy not all the time but it does alot. I had numbness in left side of left shin and top of foot which is what made me go back to my GP after 3 years of ignoring it.Last couple of months when my back pain gets quite high im also feeling it in both knees which never happened before they will ache just as much. I have had sciatic pain in left leg a few time and even in both but not all the time its mainly my back that gets extremely painful !!! I know what you mean about the NHS and my first GP was pretty useless and was the reason i gave up asking for help he seemed to think it was age related " People your age get this back pain it will pass, Here take some ibuprofen and go away" pretty much. Wasnt until i seen my new GP he got the ball rolling. FINALLY. I do sometimes feel like my lower back can shift around un intentionally i wouldnt say too much but still. I can even put my hands on a table or something simular and bear my weight on my arms and let my legs dangle and i feel my l4 l5 seperate quite considerably and none of my other sections do this. This sometimes gives me brief relief but will only last a few seconds and will even do nothing at all sometimes maybe even aggrevates it more. Hot water/Baths are affective and i could lay in it for hours if i could thats where i get the most relief i dread getting out sad I can always tell my left leg feels weird just cant explain what that weird is sometimes it just doesnt feel the same. I honestly would like surgery even fusion if possible. Im done with this pain and ill be making sure the neuro doc knows it aswell. my last MRI i was lying down so if something was out of line in my back im guessing he will give me xrays with my back in different postions ? Just going by what i have been researching for the last 2 years. If he trys to fob me off i will flip out big time.

    • fatal_1986
      fatal_1986

      Posted

      Forgot to mention left side of my lower back feels larger than my right side.Think its the muscle. so maybe some scar tissue or my other side is wasting away i cant be certain at this point.
    • fatal_1986
      fatal_1986

      Posted

      Sorry in advanced about the spammy replies and my spelling for anyone reading all this<3 Also like to mention why my activity level now is ten fold lower than it used to be. At my worst point with my back it will lock up completely the muscles will be extremely tight and lots of inflammation which causes my lower back to give off alot of heat! Every movement is extremely painful and doesnt go away for about 4-7 days making even simple tasks very hard or even impossible and this is the main thing im trying to avoid. I do have a constant ache that does not go away thats always there and has been for the last 6-7 years i learned to live with that before and was able to ignore it. But now that ache is more pronounced and in it self requires some kind of pain killer before i aggrevate it even more. Nothing like feeling trapped hey guys. No social life what so ever at the moment and lack of sunlight im sure isnt doing me any good. I never want to take cocodamol again thats for sure!

  • Enna1
    Enna1 fatal_1986

    Posted

    Agree with your,comment Jessica, I had my bad back since before 2004. I seem to remember years ago they have to try 3 things (hoops to go over)  before they sent you to a neurosurgeon so it must have all changed. Spinal blocks didn't work for me and I am in Spain. I got a spanish message one day on the phone and couldn't figure out what it was as my appt was at 12 noon and apparently I had had to go at 7.30 in the morning to authorise the spinal block. I went for my appoitment which had been made a while past,  for the same day at 12.00 and they told me what I should have done. I was flipping glad I saw two women coming away from the theatre crying.  Although I have had 2 blocks  neither worked, it was a waste of time.  So eventually I got another appointment with the pain clinic dr and I seem to hit it off.  He injects my thigh 3 times a year and I am now trying to lose weight, just a stone made one hell of a difference. Yes they will fob you off, but if you are actually going to a neuro surgeon maybe not.   When I was in the UK you had to go through all the hoops before you got to a surgeon so must have changed.  I really hope that you can get satisfaction but you dont say much about the level of the discs. The other thing was that at the beginning i was thick, I knew nowt about backs and discs etc. my partner said perhaps you know too much so keep quiet.  So I kept quiet and the dr in the UK I saw said to me that the PCT where I lived was going bankrupt and that we should try other things.  From which I paid £7,000 for a decompression which didn't work, I was in worse pain than before.  So I think things have changed in the UK but how I don't know.  I could have an op in Valencia but I have quizzed such a lot of people and S1/L5 seems to be the problem with dropped foot although I was reading about someone famous and he said nerves grow. Oh yes????? Yes they do but some don't.  I don't often come onto the site as I don't have time but need a bit of a rest so I hope you get on with the neurosurgeon - you do know that there are specialists for backs so i hope its just not an ordinary neurosurgeon.   Sorry if I frighten you but it is a very serious op an situation.  Hope also you live in the right place in England as some don't have neurosurgeons, but as I said maybe things have changed........

    • jessica_78456
      jessica_78456 Enna1

      Posted

      He's a top neurosurgeon. My l4/l5/s1 is the main issue. But I also have a disc bulge and bone spur on c4/c5 . We are focusing on the lower back for now. As that is what's affecting my quality of life the most. I also have fibromyalgia and inflammatory joint diease and hyper mobility. Am a complicated case. Yes it's a big operation and it . May come with complications. I had an emergency discectomy in 2013 on the lower disc . It's took away the siatica and gave me some relief . But the last 6 month s iam back to square 1 . Neurosurgeon said he would of and will fuse were the original op was.

    • fatal_1986
      fatal_1986 Enna1

      Posted

      The thing is my GP told me the report from my MRI (radioligist it think ?) Im not sure but it clearly said something was out of alignment in my spine which is L4-L5 vertabrae and i seen it for myself on the MRI and i was lying down when i had this done so makes me wonder what this is like when im standing up neuro surgeon didnt even comment on the slip of the vertabrae which is why i left angry n confused. Since the MRI was done lying down and i get very bad pain when im walking around to long or standing up or bending forward ect which now would make sense why i get some much pain in my lower back.Also the ruptured disc is obviously causing my numbness n sciatica to come and go and well as a feeling of weakness in my left leg. Its the back pain that has taken control of me not my leg at this point. I have had sciatica in boths legs a few times but mainly my left. I think i will just have to suck it up and Go to the pain clinic and see whats what but i really dont ever want to be taken pain pills like co-codamol again as they drain me of all my left over energy, tie that in with depression its not a good mix. Ill ask my GP what he suggests cus that guy is awesome!
    • jessica_78456
      jessica_78456 fatal_1986

      Posted

      Defo be asked to be referred to a private hospital via nhs Brmest thing I ever did
    • fatal_1986
      fatal_1986 jessica_78456

      Posted

      got an appointment with my GP wednesday. My good GP has apparently now left the practice so hope my new one doesnt struggle to much and get up to date on things. Ill keep you guys posted. thanks alot <3

    • jessica_78456
      jessica_78456 fatal_1986

      Posted

      Just don't let him fob u off explain what uve been through, where u are now and what u as a tax paying patient would Like to see happen nxt

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