been dealing with lowerback problems my entire life, I have been very active in sports highschool/college football, bjj, mma ect.. well I finally got an MRI after a year of a lot of pain, seeing a physical therapist, doing acupuncture , chiropractor basically everything. Found out I have a severe herniated disc l5-S1 lumbar I ended up getting epidural shot, which helped greatly for past month half, but rewind 3 days ago i was taking trash out and I had the sharpest pain in my hamstring/calf now i cant feel my feet. I have never felt such worse pain in my life. Felt like someone got a knife and cut my hamstring. I went to my spine specialist again and he gave me another rounds of shots, but still having nerve issues. Looks like ill be seeing a surgeon. I am still very active and am in great shape and still somewhat young (35). Have any of you had surgery for herniated disc? The procedure I believe will be done on me is a minimal invasive surgery with a great success rate. Anyways wanted to see if anyone else has been in my position.
First time I had a microdiscectomy, second they wanted to fuse my spine. I'm doing nerve medication and physiotherapy currently.
The second time I was in so much agonizing pain I couldn't walk or even move at one point. Had to have the paramedics take me out of my house. At times I was uncontrollably screaming and would pass out from the pain.
My advice is if you get the microdiscectomy do all the physiotherapy after. I didn't and that's probably why it herniated the second time.
I am a very active person myself, I do judo and catch wrestling. Haven't got back to the mats since my last spell, it's been around a month but they say I will get there again.
I had the exact same and got the microdiscectomy - haven't looked back but having said that I did become a lot more mindful of what physical activities I should and shouldn't be doing.
reverse hyper machines are great for back rehab. I blew a disk squatting and after 6months mild recovery and stretching I started the reverse hyper. no back problems anymore
I had the exact same. Lost all feeling in my left foot and had 50/50 feeling in my left leg while waiting for insurance to approve MRIs and finally surgery. Dr told me the insurance wait was so long that I may not get all the feels back.
Finally got the microdiscectomy. It was a breeze of a surgery. Not even any stitches.
I had all my feels back and NO PAIN in less than 2 weeks. I did feel a lot better almost immediately too.
jake11 - I had the exact same. Lost all feeling in my left foot and had 50/50 feeling in my left leg while waiting for insurance to approve MRIs and finally surgery. Dr told me the insurance wait was so long that I may not get all the feels back.
Finally got the microdiscectomy. It was a breeze of a surgery. Not even any stitches.
I had all my feels back and NO PAIN in less than 2 weeks. I did feel a lot better almost immediately too.
Awesome to hear about micro surgery. I'll be having that done. I am getting my next round of MRI tomorrow then seeing surgeon . I'm lucky to be double covered and pay $0 .I have not tried gabapentin. I also hope to be able to go back to bjj.... but I want to make sure I do physical therapy properly.
jake11 - I had the exact same. Lost all feeling in my left foot and had 50/50 feeling in my left leg while waiting for insurance to approve MRIs and finally surgery. Dr told me the insurance wait was so long that I may not get all the feels back.
Finally got the microdiscectomy. It was a breeze of a surgery. Not even any stitches.
I had all my feels back and NO PAIN in less than 2 weeks. I did feel a lot better almost immediately too.
To add to my experience…
I refused pain meds and shit like Gaba.
The absolute worst of it all was the mri. For whatever reason, the position they needed me in for the mri triggered the most pain of all. It was absolutely horrifying. I don’t know for sure but I think I’d rather be waterboarded and electocuted at the same time.
To make it worse, the 1st mri wasn’t clear enough so I had to go back and do it again…
Its been a few years now. I do a lot of exercises to strengthen my low back, core etc. Like hypers that the dude before me mentioned. I still squat and deadlift pretty heavy too though…
The surgery is so quick and painless it’s like a crime that they make us wait so fn long. My Dr told me on the 1st visit what I needed but also told me that insurance is going to prevent or delay me from what I need and keep me crippled and in pain for several weeks and maybe months. He was right.
I showed up for surgery at 8am, was on the way home at 1130am. I would have been released earlier but some old bastard crashed his car into the main lobby so they had to figure out where to take me out to my wife’s car. It was a long walk so they wheeled me in a chair. I could walk just fine though.
First time I had a microdiscectomy, second they wanted to fuse my spine. I'm doing nerve medication and physiotherapy currently.
The second time I was in so much agonizing pain I couldn't walk or even move at one point. Had to have the paramedics take me out of my house. At times I was uncontrollably screaming and would pass out from the pain.
My advice is if you get the microdiscectomy do all the physiotherapy after. I didn't and that's probably why it herniated the second time.
I am a very active person myself, I do judo and catch wrestling. Haven't got back to the mats since my last spell, it's been around a month but they say I will get there again.
Has the doctor put you on gabapentin?
You and I am the same person. Last surgery done on my l5 disc didn't help me at all. So I'm doing the fusion in December when my wife can handle the house shit while I'm down for a few weeks.
And yes take your gabapentin. Nothing helps me like that stuff
Same age and similar pain but refuse to have surgery or even take any medicine for it. I always just try and tough it out but it's getting more and more unbearable unfortunately. Can't sleep because pain is so intense, have to pick my own leg up with my hands and throw it into the car because it hurts so much to do it normally, coughing or laughing is hell.
Only thing that seems to help is fighting through the pain and forcing myself to walk outside for a half mile or so. Sometimes it’s not an option if it’s gotten severe but if I feel it coming early I can walk it off and keep the symptoms much more mild.
I have a 5-6mm bulge and facet joint arthritis. I did exosome injections which healed all the nerve pain and drop foot. I still have a constant reminder of the arthritis but I continue to stay active and do jiu jitsu. I use Foundation Training and BPC-157 injections to help me maintain. I'm avoiding surgery for as long as I can.
jake11 - I had the exact same. Lost all feeling in my left foot and had 50/50 feeling in my left leg while waiting for insurance to approve MRIs and finally surgery. Dr told me the insurance wait was so long that I may not get all the feels back.
Finally got the microdiscectomy. It was a breeze of a surgery. Not even any stitches.
I had all my feels back and NO PAIN in less than 2 weeks. I did feel a lot better almost immediately too.
Imagine if it was Canada
I am in Canada. Had to wait 3 months for surgery the first time. Second time it was going to be a few days since I was in the ER.
But op, don’t let my post worry you. My job was what caused the second injury. That’s a whole other can of worms I don’t want to open.
You WILL be able to get back to physical activities. As someone else said you end up becoming more mindful of exercises and activities.
First time I had a microdiscectomy, second they wanted to fuse my spine. I'm doing nerve medication and physiotherapy currently.
The second time I was in so much agonizing pain I couldn't walk or even move at one point. Had to have the paramedics take me out of my house. At times I was uncontrollably screaming and would pass out from the pain.
My advice is if you get the microdiscectomy do all the physiotherapy after. I didn't and that's probably why it herniated the second time.
I am a very active person myself, I do judo and catch wrestling. Haven't got back to the mats since my last spell, it's been around a month but they say I will get there again.
Has the doctor put you on gabapentin?
You and I am the same person. Last surgery done on my l5 disc didn't help me at all. So I'm doing the fusion in December when my wife can handle the house shit while I'm down for a few weeks.
And yes take your gabapentin. Nothing helps me like that stuff
My first surgery held up for almost 10 years.
Still did judo and wrestled.
I won't be able to if I get the fusion. I am on the road to recovery. It is just such a piss off that it is such a slow process. I was going to go for my black belt this next year but that's off the table for now.
Speaking from experience, you're going to need to limit your physical hobbies or you'll more than likely injure it later on down the road. Just got through dealing with my third ruptured disc. I'm still not 100%, but I am mindful of all my movements now. I do not want to go through that hell again if I can avoid it.
I think only those of us who have had nerve damage from a disc are the only ones who know how bad the pain is. You can tell people how bad it hurts, but they really can't fully comprehend it.
This last episode I went through, I wanted to take a hatchet and chop off my leg. I seriously contemplated it in order to stop the pain.
I did not do surgery this time. Just time to let it heal and then physical therapy. It's still not where it was before the injury, but it's better than it has been in the last few months.
Had 2 levels in my lumbar spine done, discectomys and laminectomies.
Was skiing at 100% 9 weeks later.
Walk. Then walk more. Then more still. Everyday.
That is the quickest way to recover. Dr. told me the more I walked the better. Went for a mile or two walk 3 times daily after about day 4 post surgery.
Not that big of deal to recover from. Best wishes in your recovery.
edit to add: The only rehab I did at all was to walk my ass off constantly.
I've been waking up with back pain for the past year or so. I thought it might be my bed, got a new one, helped but came back with the vengeance.
Got xray and mri and I have a slight hernia and spinal stanosis apparently, not doing surgery. Trying with excerise and just taking it easy.
It got me fmla from work which is nice, but I've had some days where I just stay home cause my back hurts like crazy. I don't have loss of feeling or tingling which apparently is good at least.
Now recovering from multiple level cervical fusion.
Not nearly the same as my lumbar surgery was. This shit sucks balls. It has been 10 weeks and I can’t do shit except walk…lots.
Couple more weeks I will find out if I can start moving my head more. Still supposed to be not moving it much. Yeah that doesn’t work well at all for me. I minorly injure myself multiple times daily.
Entirely different than my lumbar surgery. Not sure I would have even done this one had I fully understood what I was getting into. May have just learned to live with it.
I've been waking up with back pain for the past year or so. I thought it might be my bed, got a new one, helped but came back with the vengeance.
Got xray and mri and I have a slight hernia and spinal stanosis apparently, not doing surgery. Trying with excerise and just taking it easy.
It got me fmla from work which is nice, but I've had some days where I just stay home cause my back hurts like crazy. I don't have loss of feeling or tingling which apparently is good at least.
Stenosis was the reason for my lumbar surgery. It progressed to the point that my nerve was completely compressed and would kink if I sat to long. Fucking miserable.
Stenosis will not go away and will in fact get worse.
The surgery really isn’t bad at all. When you finally end up there, you will wish you did it long ago.
Stenosis simply means that there is extra bone growth that is closing the opening where your nerve resides, the bone wont un-grow. No way to improve it without surgery.
Posts like this are why I gave up all martial arts training along with grappling. My back is already in pain, I'm focusing on just strengthening and not making it worse.