Here is my situation:

1. 7 years ago I had back surgery to repair a herniated disc at the (L4-L5). The surgery helped tremendously to relieve the pain.

2. Now I have a major (7mm) herniated disc at the S-1 level. I have another herniated disc at the T11-T12 only (3mm).

3. Apparently the herniation is on the right side however all of my pain is radiating down the left leg. I can't explain as to why I have pain in my left leg when the herniation is on the right side.

4. I have had 2 epidural shots, and 1 Nerve Block injection. The epidural shots are not painfull at all but the nerve block was extremely painfull. Unfortunately none of this is helping I am still in extreme pain and it is really affecting my everyday life.

5. Currently surgery is not an option because my wife is due to deliver our first baby on September 19th, but could go into labor anyday.

6. The worst part is I really cant take pain medication because it makes me feel very ill. Which is a good thing because the doctors here in Dallas refuse to give pain medication.

So here I am in major pain and no relief in sight. Like I mentioned I don't like taking pain meds because they make me sick, however they do help me function throughout the day without being in extreme pain. The problem is if I ask for something the doctors here think you are a drug seeker.

What are my options and what choices do I have? This is starting to affect my home life because I am not much help around the house because I can't hardly walk and with my wife now in her 9th month is getting upset with me because she thinks I am just not helping although she knows it takes everything I got to go to work everyday.

Again, what are my options does anybody have any ideas what I can do to help eliminate some of my pain so I can function again?

Man that sucks...hmm. Only things I can think of you probably already thought of a million times. Chiropractor and Masseuse not do anything to help? I've seen tons of infomercials with back remedies. But those seem more suited for seniors with natural wear and tear. Plus there infomercials so there probably all a load of crock. I would suggest going to Yahoo Answers and posting your question. They have some very informative people over there along with some trolls and idiots but you can tell who's telling useful info and who's full of it. Hope you can find some help soon. Oh and congrats on a Virgo My Bday is on the 20th.

Thanks!

I can't wait until he is here!!! I have already bought several little browns onsies so until he is old enough to make his own decision about a football team I will cram the browns down his throat.

I will check out the yahoo suggestion and see what I come up with.

quote:

Originally posted by cj_dawgsfan:
Here is my situation:

1. 7 years ago I had back surgery to repair a herniated disc at the (L4-L5). The surgery helped tremendously to relieve the pain.

2. Now I have a major (7mm) herniated disc at the S-1 level. I have another herniated disc at the T11-T12 only (3mm).

3. Apparently the herniation is on the right side however all of my pain is radiating down the left leg. I can't explain as to why I have pain in my left leg when the herniation is on the right side.

4. I have had 2 epidural shots, and 1 Nerve Block injection. The epidural shots are not painfull at all but the nerve block was extremely painfull. Unfortunately none of this is helping I am still in extreme pain and it is really affecting my everyday life.

5. Currently surgery is not an option because my wife is due to deliver our first baby on September 19th, but could go into labor anyday.

6. The worst part is I really cant take pain medication because it makes me feel very ill. Which is a good thing because the doctors here in Dallas refuse to give pain medication.

So here I am in major pain and no relief in sight. Like I mentioned I don't like taking pain meds because they make me sick, however they do help me function throughout the day without being in extreme pain. The problem is if I ask for something the doctors here think you are a drug seeker.

What are my options and what choices do I have? This is starting to affect my home life because I am not much help around the house because I can't hardly walk and with my wife now in her 9th month is getting upset with me because she thinks I am just not helping although she knows it takes everything I got to go to work everyday.

Again, what are my options does anybody have any ideas what I can do to help eliminate some of my pain so I can function again?

Your Sacral vertebra S-1 would indicate that at some point you've had trauma to that area. First of all can you expand on what was the cause of your original surgery? Was it due to trauma or was it Genetic in origin?

I just read a article about posture exercises helping to alliviate some back pain. You have real problems, so it probably wouldn't help, but it couldn't hurt to try. Anything is worth a shot. It could be a load of bull, but if it works, it could help keep you from deteriorating more till you can do more.

I have the same herniated disk. I've managed mine by exercise and stretching. Whenever it flairs up I put on ice and sit still til the swelling goes down. If I don't work out my stomach and back muscles on a regular basis I get more frequent pain.
The doctor gave me an option of surgery or exercise. Everyone I know who did the surgery was dissatisfied.

quote:

Originally posted by weinerdog:
I have the same herniated disk. I've managed mine by exercise and stretching. Whenever it flairs up I put on ice and sit still til the swelling goes down. If I don't work out my stomach and back muscles on a regular basis I get more frequent pain.
The doctor gave me an option of surgery or exercise. Everyone I know who did the surgery was dissatisfied.

Anytime you can avoid surgery on your back (Disc Problem) the better off you are. As long as you can tolerate the pain and keep it under control with stretching and exercise it's the best option. When your forced to take pain medication of a narcotic variety then Surgery may become an option to consider. There have been many advances in Disc surgery but it's still risky in the sense you could end up worse off than when you started. BTW always get a second or third opinion before you elect to have surgery.

My cousin is a chiropractor, I go see him everytime I have a back problem. Im not a doctor and Im not saying that this method will help in any way for a herniated disc, but the chiropractor will be able to tell you why u have numbness on the other side, and what the best aproach is to take care of your problem without making you feel like you are an addict just trying to score some pills. They arent pretend doctors, and they wont try to hurt you. In fact sometimes when I go it is just for threapy that involves no cracking or bending in weird directions at all. I hope this helps, it sounds excruciating.

You had the l4-l5 surgery already so you know what surgery can do. Here is my experience for what it is worth.

I woke up one day with a sore lower back. Thought I slept wrong and it would go away. It did kind of but the next day it was more sore. I continued the process until I knew I needed help.

I then went to a chiropractor. The pain had gotten to the point that I could not stay sat or supright for more than 15 minutes. Had to sit, then stand, then sit etc. After the first day at the chiropractor it felt better for a few hours but tightened back up. He had me come regularly like 3 times a week at first and each time it stayed feeling better longer and longer. He went to 2 times a week then once and then every other week.

I thought I had found the solution but one day I bent over to pick up a piece of paper and on the way down I heard a pop sound and felt the most horific pain of my life. Shot right up my spine and down my right hip and leg (siotic nerve I beleive).

I could not walk at all, I could not sit at all, I could not lay at all. No matter how I was I was in major pain. I went to the chiropracter and he was coming in from lunch. He saw me in the parking lot trying to walk. He saw the pain I was in and ordered an MRI. My mother said if you are getting an MRI get it done through a doctor so I did. Doctor checked reflex in my leg and I had none. She immidoately had me go to a specialist who diagnosed the herniated disk. Scheduled the surgery on the spot. Bright news was it was the same surgery Troy Aikman had before winning the Super Bowl. Browns still have yet to contact me .

I to this day do not know for sure what I did to herniate it. Must not have been anything recent to the injury but historically I thought it was fun to run up on my roof at home when playing tag and wait for the "it" person to get close and jump off the roof. No one ever followed me and they all have perfectly fine backs to prove it.

My wife had just given birth to our second child and had to deal with a 2 year old, an infant, and an immobile worthless husband on the floor (bed too soft to lay on). My 2 year old used to love to play jump on dads back during this time as well.

I took a pain killer but it made my nose bleed so I had to stop. Once I had the surgery I was instantly better. I played basketball one week later. The nurses wanted me to take morphein after the surgery but I never needed it as I felt no pain.

With you having the surgery once and having other discs give you problems I would be concerned that you may have a degenerative disk problem. If your surgery includes fusing disks together I would try to put it off as long as you can as that often starts a chain reaction on other disks going bad.

As mentioned exercises can help in some situations. A local sports medicine place would be a great place to get help with those excersises if you can afford it.

by the way the pop sound I heard was the sound of my disk bursting. The surgeon got in there and said it was worse than he expected. He found what he described as shrapnal(sp?) from my disk...little pieces of bone that lodged themselves into my siotic nerve. He had to remove these pieces of bone as well as the regular cleaning out of the disk. When I came to my arm was all bloody and they said they had to fight with me during the surgery. I do not remember that at all.

stretching and strengthening the area will help some. also try inversion or something else to manipulate the disk back into proper place. if the disk is just slipped and not overgrown or damaged, then anything else but surgery will help. since you have had multiple surgeries, certain exercises and yoga could help. my friend terry had the same prob and was miserable for months. he had the same disk pushing on his nerves causing his left leg to go numb. after surgery he was got better and regained the feeling in his left leg and foot. you will hear many ideas on how to treat this but only stretching regularly, strengthening the area, or certain yoga disciplines will help. good luck man, i hope this helps!

quote:

by the way the pop sound I heard was the sound of my disk bursting. The surgeon got in there and said it was worse than he expected. He found what he described as shrapnal(sp?) from my disk...little pieces of bone that lodged themselves into my siotic nerve. He had to remove these pieces of bone as well as the regular cleaning out of the disk. When I came to my arm was all bloody and they said they had to fight with me during the surgery. I do not remember that at all.

DAANNGG!!!! revkev, that's the scariest story I've ever heard. I hope you stay well man.

quote:

Your Sacral vertebra S-1 would indicate that at some point you've had trauma to that area. First of all can you expand on what was the cause of your original surgery? Was it due to trauma or was it Genetic in origin?

I have been told by every doctor that it is early degenerative disc disease. After my first surgery I actually felt pretty good for several years. I feel the same way most of you do, surgery is not the best option. My surgeon even said that, (go figure).

I would much rather be able to fix this by exercise but right now I can barely walk. I think the biggest problem is that I am in IT so unfortunately I am sitting most of the day which causes it to be very painfull to stand after just 30 minutes.

I go back to the doctor on Friday and I am really hoping that we start moving in a direction that will start giving me some relief.

dare i say.. smoke some marijauna, it will really help.

quote:

Originally posted by d_ellig:
dare i say.. smoke some marijauna, it will really help.

I wish!!!

About to have a baby in 3 weeks probably not a good time for that.

Well my wife is about to have a baby.

CJ, may I please recommend some type of LSO, Lumbar Sacral Orthosis. I am currently an Orthotist out of California and have been using the "BACK JACK" Spinal Bracing System on my patients. This brace is made by a company called Bioskin, www.bioskin.com.
All of my patients have noticed a remarkable pain reduction since issue. It's light enough that you can wear it without any real movement restrictions. It also has cold and heat pads that can be used at anytime. My patients have used them for anything from post operative lumbar fusion to DDD, degenerative disc disease.

I'm pretty sure this brace is by prescription only but I'm not quite sure. My pricing is much lower than I'm sure you'll pay but if you have a good medical insurance plan that it shouldn't be a big deal.

CJ, I hope this helps and I know there are more bracing options available. I'm just letting you know what has worked for my patients here in California.

GO BROWNS!!!