Herniated discs

Smoker's Lounge Medical Club
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Hey all.

Seems like this is the community for me to reach out too for discussion

Ive had a back injury since the middle of July 2024 . < lifted something heavy and awkward is what brought it on- followed by physical work >
Have been getting registered massage therapy almost weekly - the only thing thats been helping me.

Family doctor was just guessing …arthritis < im 37> , told me it was in my head and then Coccydyna / coccyx. Had to beg for help / imaging and got a xray. All good on the x-ray.

Did physio in october - stretches helped me get through a couple months.
Then in december i got excersises from physio - did these until february and it made my back pain worse , everything flared up and drove me insane .
Didnt return to physio.

They did a horrible assessment .
My provinces doctors cannot request an mri.

Chiropractor suggested a torn ligament in sacrum.

Id been resting since november / no physicallly demanding work .

Fast forward to end of march.

I went to ANOTHER province that has private medical clinics .
Paid out of pocket for specialist who ordered an MRI and his reason for request matched the results.
Herniated disc broad base L4-L5 slight impingement on L5 root nerve
And small herniation at L5-S1

Ive found a new physiotherapist who gave a good assessment & now knows what my injury is.

Over the winter I was having maybe 1 good day every 2 weeks.
Started having a good 3-4 days.

After flying out of province and travelling / sitting alot in taxis…it seems ive gotten worse.

My original pain i described to doctors was as my tail bone , with radiating leg pain after physical work .
However my description of pain location as tailbone was wrong as ive learned its much lower. The sacrum area is where sharp pain returns after lifting. And inflammation in sacrum and lower back .

The doctor I saw out of proviince recommended injections in the two herniated sites.

I would have to return to that province to get the back facet injections.

My job / business is very physically demanding and pretty much being bent forward.

My province has a 2 year wait list for chronic pain injections and my doctor hasnt even put me on the list.

Wondering if anyone else has experience with the cortisone epidural injections

At my witts end here !

I go back to work at end of the month and dont plan on doing any physically demanding work. But my confidence is all time low .

Even with the injections - i would restrict my self from physical work but hoping i would regain confidence.

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I’ll ask Mrs P if she has any experience with what you’re talking aboot. She’s an RMT with lots of friends throuout the medical field.

:+1:

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as far as back issues you’re not alone. i know i don’t have room to complain especially when others have it worse but i was recently diagnosed with arthritis in my back and neck, i don’t remember the full diagnosis. i was supposed to do mri’s earl;ier this month but i freaked out in the machine and had a pretty bad panic attack. i lasted like 30 seconds, lol. plenty of xrays as well. i can feel my back getting worse. it’s a struggle to bend and pick things up and whatnot. i did physical therapy for a month or two and that helped, but when i completed it i got lazy and didnt do the workouts they printed out for me. best of luck with your issues.

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I’ve done both the steroid injections and had the nerves burned by radio waves. The steroids for me weren’t worth it as they never lasted more than 3 or 4 weeks. The nerve burning lasted a bit longer but again it just wasn’t worth the time, pain and risk to continue. I had disc surgery in 09 that made things worse so surgery is on hold until I just can’t function without it. Finding a good strong indica like Motorbreath 15 was what kept me going and tincture seems to give me the most relief.

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See if you’re doctor can get you an open MRI machine. You’re not stuck in the tube like in the traditional MRI and it’s less anxiety inducing for me.

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@FirstCavApache64

thanks for the suggestion. i had a different dr recommend it but didn’t know if i would have any luck finding one. i’ll be calling my doctor tomorrow.

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Thos could have been lifted from my own medical history. I haven’t tried injections so sadly can’t offer any advice around them. My back had slowly gotten worse over a decade before I blew it out and finally got sent for an MRi to confirm it was a herniated disk at L4-L5, pinched nerve and degenerative disk disease. A good physiotherapist and consistently staying on top of the exercises is what made the biggest difference for managing my pain, that and accepting my new physical limits as putting in a even 6 hours of physical work has me laid up for a day and limping around. Hopefully the docs find a solution as it seems like far too many of us can relate to the misery of living in chronic pain and being limited by it.

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Thanks Somatek - this is probably as real of a experience that I need to hear .

Sorry to hear youve been dealing with this pain.

Coming to terms with the diagnosis is going to be the hardest thing. In my mind , I had to find out what was going on and couldnt let my provincial health care professionals keep guessing and putting me at risk of blowing my back out further while at work - at heights.

I had to know what the extent of my injury was so I could move forward on to healing. I was not going to return to physio without knowing what my injury was. The first time i went - they threw me in the deep end and it really left a sour taste in my mouth.

My doctor was essentially leaving it to physiotherapist to assess and diagnose me… I have nothing against physio and I am on that path now…
I didnt present as a disc issue to them , even though I had the radiating pain…

The only one in my province who assumed disc was massage therapist but its not theyr place to diagnose me @Pigeonman - props to your partner - they are amazing people in that industry. Its the only thing thats gotten me through this period. They are extremely knowledgeable and work very hard .

@anonymous4289
Thank you for sharing , I hope you can get to the MRI again.

@FirstCavApache64
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the injections. Ive really only had 1 person who suggested it thats been through the ringer with back surgeries. Alot of Nays for health care providers. Very few yays… .

I figured I would try the physiotherapy again and take it slow . I was honestly on the phone all day with radiology places in private clinics in montreal who offer the injections. The language barrier doesnt help , therapeutic infiltrations is what they call it. no one in my province even understand that term. The requisition doesnt mention any detail other than therapeutic infiltration at the two sites l4/l5 l5/s1.

Thanks again everyone

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The hospitals attached to Universities often have them as athletes at schools often are too big to fit traditional mri machines. Im 6’2 and 325 pounds so traditional machines don’t fit me.

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I injured my back about 25 years ago in my 20’s. At first it would kind of warm up as the day went on and the pain would subside to tolerable levels. Everyone I spoke to at the time said surgery didn’t help them so I never did anything about it.
Fast forward 15 years and my pain was so bad I was drinking a ton after work, That turned into drinking at work. Eventually between my back and my drinking I had to stop working in the building trades altogether.
I sat on my ass a couple of years and that only made things worse. I’ve since been working out, cardio, core the whole nine (strength training was to much so I stopped lifting) it helps but the pain never goes away.
The only advice I can give is don’t sit around unless the pain is unbearable it will get worse being idle

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Same, L4/L5 ruptured/herniated. Since 2003.

Strengthen your other muscles. Listen to your body, you won’t be able to perform like you used to, don’t try.

There’s a clinical trial of a hydrogel injection running right now by a company called regeltec, the product is called hydrafil. It’s a permanent solution & has a very high efficacy rate.

Hopefully it should be available in the next few years.

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A simple but effective solution is a hot tub every day. Since I got my calspa with the jets and the heat it allows the discs to stop bulging and slip back in place. I’ve had numerous bulging disc and a fractured L5 . Once you get in you practically feel good immediately

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Dealing with the mental side of a back injury is an important as dealing with the physical side. Especially when the medical system is more of an obstacle then useful support which is what I dealt with and it sounds like you’re also struggling with. I was seeing the doc about my back for a decade with no clear diagnosis. My symptoms weren’t typical as I didnt experience sharp or radiating pain but my left leg would be exhausted half way through the day. When I started seeing my physiotherapist she explained right off the bat that my leg was getting tired because the pinched nerve affected the blood flow, so my muscles weren’t getting enough circulation causing fatigue. Docs didn’t catch it for years and just focused on the typical symptoms until the MRi showed how screwed up my back was. Accepting the fact that our healthcare system is underfunded and over burdened, making it reactive instead of proactive was hard as I struggled with a lot of rage about how the system failed me, how inept or unprofessional so many people seemed and disenfranchised that after working and paying taxes all my life the social supports were so inadequate when I needed them. Learning to see it from the perspective of over burdened, under paid and under appreciated health care workers and focusing the blame on our elected officials was a long process but worth it in the end. Sadly learning to be an advocate for your needs is essential in our system. Goood luck with the phsysio and I hope this time is better but if not keep looking until you find someone you can work with.

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fiy: Chymopapain - Wikipedia

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yeah, i’m not 325 but i’m still up there. it was a too tight of a fit for comfort, that’s for sure. anxiety, panic attacks and claustrophobia. i couldn’t stand a chance.

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I had herniated disk L5-S1. Tried everything, inversion tables, cortisone injections by epidural. They helped for a few days then the pain was back, i dealt with it for 8 months and eventually had surgery. Best decision I made. After a few months recovery I got back to light exercise and after 2 years got into crossfit. This was 10 years ago and the only problems i have is sometimes i will irritate the scar tissue around the nerve and it makes me think i messed it uo again but then it goes away.

Sorry to hear about your injury, no one understands the nagging pain going down your leg, you can’t describe it either. It will drive you crazy.

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Ive been dealing with pain and issues with a herniated l5-s1 since i was 20 and im now 38. Dont even want to get into the whole story about how bad it got and what a dark place back pain puts you in. Long story short, get surgery if possible, and get it as quickly as possible. I dont care what anyone says. You cannot rehab a herniated disc. Ive done it all!!! Injections, steroids, physical therapy, chiropractor, pain killers. I went through 10 years of absolute hell because they refused to do the surgery until it got so bad, that was the only option. I had a microdiscetomy done and it literally gave me my life back to some degree. You’ll never be 100% again unfortunately, but after the pain i was in for 10 years straight, i dont regret surgery one bit!!!

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Mrs P:

Hello! Massage therapist here, I am so sorry about the doc, chiro and first physio really fffffing things up for you. Would you be ok with me private msging you with some questions and once I have a few more answers, I can give some thoughts/suggestions?

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Sounds like we had the same thing. I just waited 8 months and not years.

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Not that i didnt read rest of your story - thats a terrible 10 years .

I think the steps will be… try physio for a nother 4 weeks… then injections at private clinic. Then …pay for surgery at private clinic. And honestly. Id rather pay professional specialist than take free health care from a system that is failing. Over worked doctors with huge patient loads and lack of equipment and resources.

Everyone says im too young for surgery , obviosuly my fam doctor isnt going to elect it because the system is messed up . She said after getting surgery you can develop arthitis in between the vertebrae or smt. She is not a orthopedic back specialist and not a gokd doctor from my experience.
She literally denied my scans in the first months it happend to not subject me to radiation… thenn i returned still in pain and worse after physio and she orders an XRAy for my Coccyx

So glad I came to you lot :heart:
Im not jumping into it yet.
Ive been doing recon for the past few weeks since my MRI.
Ive got consults and opinions from my chiropractor-3 physiotherapists, family doctor - and massage therapists.

I will most likely try the injections . That injection doctor will decide what cocktail to give me.

So.

I am in the roofing industry. Owned and operated by myself since 2012…
Great reputation. Not big enough to sell -
Im not transitioned yet to run the business from home .

This season is going to be my ice breaker for being off the tools.
I was slowly wworking towards it but this streamlines it.
Its going to be different. I cant drive more than 15-20 minutes without flaring up for the day.

Been getting stuck driving. .

The best thing for me is being active / light activity. And im not the one to sit back and watch others work.

So i need to adapt or…
Need to develop my business skille and hone them. I can do the learning curve again like when i first started my company. But with the constant pain - its like a reminder / nagging thought that ill never be able to do this.

Ive already have all my work lined up for this season with 2 full time employees dependant on me. And now in the process of hiring…
Without me as an installer - output will change. Profits / re structuring will be the best thing for my business in the end

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