Got to have surgery I am devastated

I don't know all I know the pain runs down just under me bum all the way down me leg I have no reflex back me ankle . And sometimes me hip hurts as well , I did have it in me bum but it's gone from there . I was in such a state yesterday 3 months I had this and it stopped me life .

Yes think it is , so today I tided me kitchen put a wash on and just potterd about. Now it feels like I irratated it as the pain there and feel a burning at the back of me leg , question is they said I won't do anymore damage by doing things . Is this right ?

Hi Donna

I think that it oversimplifying things. Certain activities put more pressure on the disc than usual.

Bending

Lifting (especially when leaning forward)

Twisting

Sitting (especially when leaning forward with poor posture)

The extra pressure on the disc can, over time, cause more deterioration in the disc. Indeed you will have heard of people saying they picked up a bag of shipping, "something went" and they ended up making their condition noticeablely worse.

Also more of these activities cause the disc to briefly bulge as you move. That's natural but when you do, that bulging is now into the nerve as it exits your spine. That contact will cause irritation of the nerve. Steroids and anti inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen can help, steroids much more powerfully. But the effect is usually only temporary as the contact between disc and nerve will cause the cycle to repeat later. That does allow you to get on with physio in the weeks of relief that you can get from steroids.

So some activities won't help, but you can't just stop everything either as that will cause your spinal muscles to weaken which destabilises the spine and then you get more unhealthy movement around the disc and things get worse from there.

So it's a balance. Keep to safe movements as much as you can, do physio, core strength exercises and lots of walking.

Hth!

Thanks so much for your advice , think am trying a lot harder then normal because I don't want surgery and in me mind am thinking of I do more. Then it go and when I go see surgeon I won't need surgery ( wishful thinking me thinks lol )

Thank you for your reply , oh am not completely resting I know when I done enough. Am not the type of person to just lay here , I can't sit for long periods and this causes pain. I also tried drive me car the other day , and had to pull over and let me friend drive as got pins and needles down me leg.... I am praying that this goes before surgery and I will do more exercise then I done before . What's the chances of me getting that wish . Also if I do have have injection do you know how long recovery time is . I wanna go back to work

Hi Donna

Re the injection, the recovery time is quick. You could be back to work in a day or two. The prodedure is not nice but it's quick and to be honest, I had worse trips to the dentist!

Re the physio route to recovery, I can't tell your chances of success. It is likely that whatever you do will help a bit, but I don't think anybody would tell you for sure if it will work or not. 

Unless you have a really bad herniation most doctors will want you to try that route first. I could not as by the time my herniation was diagnosed, it had ruptured badly after falling off my bike and the disc fluid was all around the nerve causing massive inflammation to the point that I was losing motor function in my calf. Surgery was my only option.

If you are not already, get yourself the best physio you can find who has lots of experience of herniated discs, and then get ready for a programme of exercises and physio to build up your back and abs muscles. Bear I mind, most people start this process with very weak muscles. That is often why they end up with disc problems. I was a very fit and strong cyclist before this hit me, but I had a rubbish weak core and spent much too much time at my desk without breaks. My disc could take the pressure and went wrong.

You will surprised at how much strength you can build by daily doing the right exercises. Start slow but aim to make it a part of your daily routine day and night. Its an investment and it will pay dividends. Even if you do end up having surgery, having your core in good shape will make your recovery faster and reduce the risk of reherniation.

 

I have found that really simple yoga stretches are good but only the beginners kind of thing and only a few at a time.

Thank you for replying , have wait for letter to see surgeon said be about 2 weeks . Think am gonna try and push me self a bit more in the way of exercise. ..... I know am more lucky then most that suffer with this , it's awful how restricted you are

Hope your a lot better now

Can I just add a slight note of caution here, just for balance.

Surgery has it's downsides and risks. The op is routine but it's far from trivial when it comes to recovery. The success rates generally quoted are 90%. However certain post op things can mean you have a "non perfect" recovery shall we say. These include re-herniation (where the disc just herniated again causing the original symptoms again), or you can get trouble with scar tissue. The latter is tricky. Scar tissue is inevitable from surgery. Usually it does not cause any trouble but if there is a lot of it (usually due to big herniation being fixed, or sometimes due personal disposition, sometimes just bad luck) then it can stick to the nerve and hold the nerve fixed when the nerve wants to move around as you move around. This causes stiffness, inflammation and pain, sometimes this can't be fixed. This has happened to me a bit. I am getting through it but slowly.

Aaaanyway, just saying. Surgery is usually fine but it's not a sure thing.

@Brian, that sounds brutally unfair that you can't get surgery until you have bowel problems. That would literally be the end stage of spinal problems. If are a good case for surgery, uou deserve to get it to relieve pain and help you work etc. Can you shop around doctors or hospitals to see if you can get a second opinion?

thanks micheal for your kind words .... im pretty unhappy with my own gp ... basically because ive never been a "arghh this is hurting so bad" person and appear ok to most people they assume ( inc my doctor ) that my symptoms are not too bad and i can live with them 

          however as a ex soldier and physically fit person im finding it harder and harder to cope with the symptoms that slipped discs give you ....may i add i also had a methadone addiction which im free off now but the post addiction symptoms on top of the slipped discs have made life completely different ... basically ive gone from a good place to a different place ( i wont use the word "bad" as its not that bad ) 

           essentially there are two types of patients ... people like me who have allways had the thinking "just get on with it " and then theres the patients who want all the treatement and attention even with minor conditions ....

           i also dont want to lay it on too bad to the doctor as i may get labbeled a hyprocondriac .... 

          in regards to shopping around doctors well in the uk once your in a surgery then you cant really go to another 

Thank you for replying , that's really good that you didn't have to have surgery. I also Google exercises for slipped disc I have and I been doing them. As I really don't want surgery , I had a mri scan so they know it's a slipped disc. I see physio Friday and still don't have no reflex at back me ankle and be coz it hasn't gone in 3 months . She said next option surgery so am just waiting for letter to see surgeon which take 2 weeks . So am trying more harder then I was to see if I can get completely better and not have surgery

Well I really hope the exercises help you and hopefully you dont have to have the surgery, I still have part numbness down the back of my leg, around my ankle, side of foot and baby toe but can live with that. I saw a doctor just before Christmas who said about having surgery even though I'm not in pain? which I don't understand as another doctor said surgery would be the very last option and that was when I was in alot of pain? Lol So Just dont feel pressured into having an op as I don't think 3 months is really that long, and you say your not in that much pain so try everything else first, course I haven't seen your MRI results so I guess it depends what that says, just don't rush into anything unless you really have to, hope everything goes well with you, keep us updated 😊

3 months to me has been a nightmare , haven't been able to drive me car or go a work . And house work a nightmare , but I understand what your saying to me it's made me house bound. Which has been dredfull , have rested a lot today as yesterday think I over done it . Sometimes I think it's gone then it reminds me it's still there , seemed to have bit of burning and pins and needles a lot last few days so don't know what that is . But thank you for advice it's been nice to chat to ppl that had this

Oh sorry I didn't mean it like that lol I know 3 months is a very long time especially when your in pain. My symptoms would change every week, I would get the burning, pins and needles, numbness, really bad aching pain in the bottom of my foot. I think the burning is where it's inflamed? and the pins and needles is where the nerves are being pressed on I think? Maybe your doing too much? You just need to do gentle stretches. Are you taking medication to try and help get the inflammation down

Yea they gave me so many tablets at first didn't know we're I was but I got a antidepressant which is meant be good . My concern of that is iam already on one anti depressed . Am taking ibrophen cocodams and if am really bad they gave me tramadol. Sorry for bothering ya , but I started getting pain in the front of me shin now is that a good sign as all me pain been at back of me leg me lower back bum etc . So this pain in me shin new and am not sure why ?

Hi Donna

Pain at the front or side of the leg will likely not be directly related to the nerve problem in the back, unless you have problems with your quad as well. However I did go through a phase of this when my leg was weak. I think it as due to the muscles at the side having to compensate for the weakness of the calf muscles at the back.

Those are quite a few meds. If you have not already, I would definitely ask your doctor about combining two antidepressants, especially as Tramadol has a mild antidepressant affect as well, so that kinda makes 3!. Also I found coming of Tramadol very tough mentally. Withdrawal caused me lots of depression and anxiety attacks for several weeks so if you do reduce your dose, I think you might want to do it slowly, and if you start feeling bad mentally, then that might be the reason. Cocodamol can also cause dependency so watch out for that.

Ibuprofen is good. It is not addictive or psychoactive but it will blitz your stomach if you take a lot. I was on 2400mg a day at my highest! I took something called Pantoprazol with it. That reduces your stomach acid production to avoid stomach problems when taking Ibuprofen.

It does strike me that the combination of your months of life limiting pain as well as reliance on meds with their own side effects, you might actually find yourself better after surgery. But I AM NOT A DOCTOR and have a tiny handful of facts so that is just a half blind hunch. But as Anglosaxon says, surgery can work really well.

I think the exercises are still important to you as your back will need that fitness and stability with or without surgery but I would not see having surgery as "losing the battle". It may be your most effective way to recovery.

Re the flare ups from overdoing exercises, I have learned the hard way about this, over and over! But what I have learned is

- if it hurts, stop

- if you are going to start doing a new exercise, do it once in the day and only a few reps, then wait and see how you feel the rest of the day and the next day. If all is well, then build up gradually over time

- keep a checklist of your exercises to complete each day and pin it on the fridge, then tick off each exercise each day. Pat yourself on the back when the next week, you can write a new checklist with a few more reps for one or more of the exercises 

HTH!

 

Such great advice Michael , this pain in me shin as just come on today . Never had before I also have tablets to go with ibrophen coz know of the stomach prob's that go with them pills. Also I try not take tramadol as I know how bad it is , and yes your right I should listen to when I done enough . I didn't yesterday was in a pin and still carried on coz I thought be best to do . AND no it wasn't coz I paid all nite for it and today not been able to do much . Am still trying to understand what's this is all about and taken me a while , I wake up and it feels it's not there and then it let's me know it is . Now this shin pain has me concerned coz I don't know of its connected and me hip been hurting a bit . I am very grateful for everyone that's commented on me post it really is helping me . As apart from everyone on here no one seems to understand , got to go into me work tomorrow for a meeting I guess it's just see what's happening and when I be back . Which that I don't know yet

I agree very good advice from Michael, I would have said the same thing about the pain in your shin and hip and that your other muscles are probably compensating for the ones that are not doing their job properly. I was even getting pins and needles and numbness in the back of my shoulder blade at one point that lasted for at least 2 months which I think now I think about it was because I was walking and sitting differently. Also good advice with the exercises, and if it hurts stop doing it.  

Also I got one of them coccyx seat cushions for my car which I wouldn't be without now and also have a cushion for my back which makes a big difference, in fact I have cushions everywhere now even in bed lol they help so much with support 😊