Back Pain Support Group
Back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek medical care. In fact, about 3 in 4 adults will experience back pain during their lifetime! The term back pain includes pain affecting the neck, midback and low back. Acute back pain may begin suddenly with intense pain but typically lasts fewer than three months. Usually, chronic back pain is persistent, steady, and...
Hey Everyone!
Too young. That's such a great phrase. It's what all the doctors were telling me when I'd go to see them. "You can't have a back injury, you're too young." Ha. Really? I didn't know there was an age requirement to receive a back injury. News to me!
Now that the bitterness is out. Hehe. I got in an accident when I was 14 and my pain has only increased over the nine years since it happened. Only recently have I found a doctor that looked at my MRI and went "Well there's the problem right there!" It was nice to finally have someone validate the pain I was in but also frustrating because it was so obvious was was wrong, so why didn't the other doctors think that WASN'T the problem?
I have DDD in L4 and L5, basically the disks are black. I could barely tell the difference between the spine bone and L5, to be honest, that's how dark it was. I was referred to a Pain Management Specialist but I'm still waiting to hear from his office for an appointment. Hard waiting. I also might have herniated a disk but they haven't done any tests as I'm well, waiting for the pain doc to call me. I'm not sure what everyone here thinks about DDD but all the doctors I've talked to and mentioned it to think it's nothing. I'm not sure about others but this is not nothing. I'm on chronic pain, have massive spasms, pain down both legs, aching, it's awful. Maybe there's more than just that wrong with me but they haven't found anything besides that.
I'm going to be trying injections and aqua therapy (once I'm able to leave the house, currently unable to move more than absolutely necessary) and they're going to be doing some tests to figure out if it's just one disk or both that's causing all the pain I'm in. I believe they're going to be sticking needles into my back. Ouch!
If other treatments don't help then I'm going to need surgery to have them fused or a new treatment where they replace them with artificial disks. Well, my doctor said eventually, no matter what, I will have to have surgery but because I'm so young (22) he doesn't want to decrease my mobility, as fusing those disks would make me unable to bend or twist easily, not that I do it much now anyways. Haha.
I know a lot of people with back injuries that have had spinal fusions and they want me to jump in the pool without even testing the water. I've been reading a lot of posts from DS members about surgery, trying to get an idea of what to expect. Right now I'm so crippled from the pain that I just want some kind of relief. I'm not sure if surgery would give me any relief or just cause more pain. My Mom had to have two back surgeries and they didn't help her, in fact, she came out worse than before because they did a poor job. So, I'm very hesitant about even considering the idea of surgery.
I was told by a previous doctor and a physical therapist that everyone has DDD and it's not a problem. Also told to exercise. I'd love to! I keep trying but go down so hard with spasms that even taking a deep breath triggers crippling spasms. Also, since I had an episode that they think was a disk herniating, I can't walk more than a few times a day to go to the bathroom otherwise it feels like my back is on fire and pain going down into my butt and legs.
Anyone have any advice, personal experiences? I'll take anything! Also, does anyone else with DDD have severe pain?
Too young. That's such a great phrase. It's what all the doctors were telling me when I'd go to see them. "You can't have a back injury, you're too young." Ha. Really? I didn't know there was an age requirement to receive a back injury. News to me!
Now that the bitterness is out. Hehe. I got in an accident when I was 14 and my pain has only increased over the nine years since it happened. Only recently have I found a doctor that looked at my MRI and went "Well there's the problem right there!" It was nice to finally have someone validate the pain I was in but also frustrating because it was so obvious was was wrong, so why didn't the other doctors think that WASN'T the problem?
I have DDD in L4 and L5, basically the disks are black. I could barely tell the difference between the spine bone and L5, to be honest, that's how dark it was. I was referred to a Pain Management Specialist but I'm still waiting to hear from his office for an appointment. Hard waiting. I also might have herniated a disk but they haven't done any tests as I'm well, waiting for the pain doc to call me. I'm not sure what everyone here thinks about DDD but all the doctors I've talked to and mentioned it to think it's nothing. I'm not sure about others but this is not nothing. I'm on chronic pain, have massive spasms, pain down both legs, aching, it's awful. Maybe there's more than just that wrong with me but they haven't found anything besides that.
I'm going to be trying injections and aqua therapy (once I'm able to leave the house, currently unable to move more than absolutely necessary) and they're going to be doing some tests to figure out if it's just one disk or both that's causing all the pain I'm in. I believe they're going to be sticking needles into my back. Ouch!
If other treatments don't help then I'm going to need surgery to have them fused or a new treatment where they replace them with artificial disks. Well, my doctor said eventually, no matter what, I will have to have surgery but because I'm so young (22) he doesn't want to decrease my mobility, as fusing those disks would make me unable to bend or twist easily, not that I do it much now anyways. Haha.
I know a lot of people with back injuries that have had spinal fusions and they want me to jump in the pool without even testing the water. I've been reading a lot of posts from DS members about surgery, trying to get an idea of what to expect. Right now I'm so crippled from the pain that I just want some kind of relief. I'm not sure if surgery would give me any relief or just cause more pain. My Mom had to have two back surgeries and they didn't help her, in fact, she came out worse than before because they did a poor job. So, I'm very hesitant about even considering the idea of surgery.
I was told by a previous doctor and a physical therapist that everyone has DDD and it's not a problem. Also told to exercise. I'd love to! I keep trying but go down so hard with spasms that even taking a deep breath triggers crippling spasms. Also, since I had an episode that they think was a disk herniating, I can't walk more than a few times a day to go to the bathroom otherwise it feels like my back is on fire and pain going down into my butt and legs.
Anyone have any advice, personal experiences? I'll take anything! Also, does anyone else with DDD have severe pain?
1.) Muscle stimulator (15-20 min.)
2.) Go to local gym and sit in hot tub for 30 minutes and stretch your hamstrings as best as you can handle. (You gotta just be a soldier, and suck up the pain for this one)
3.) Go home and lay on your bed on your stomach, and put a big EXTREMELY cold icepack on your lower back and let it sit for at least half an hour.
4.) For 1 hour, grab a chair, lay down on your floor on your back, position the chair so that your legs are up, and knees bent over the seat of the chair. Its a sitting position, only you're laying down, with your legs propped up on the chair.
The final step is also a good one that I forgot to mention. Being in this position on the floor, actually puts your spine in a good position for the bulge to re-contract back into the disc.
Again, these steps will not have IMMEDIATE effects, but I promise that if you continue doing these steps every day, you will feel results 100x faster than if you do nothing.
One last thing... Once you feel pain free... don't get confident. If you start returning to normal activities immediately, I guarantee that you will be heading right back to your bed in pain within a very short while. Give it time to completely heal (if its not too far gone like mine), and if it is that bad already, these steps will still help your manage the pain level you deal with on an every day basis. I let mine go for months before I did anything about it, so you should probably start now.
I hope you found my personal experiences, and my advice helpful. You may never be the same again, but its much better this way than when I was in your same position. Could hardly get to the bathroom myself at one point. And trying to sleep was practically impossible. I destroyed my health with this pain. Gained a bit of weight, can't exercise to work it off (besides in water), but I have no pool I have access to whenever I want, so I never get to do that either. I'm still trying to hold onto hope myself. I've met many people who claim to have had the same experience, and that eventually, it did get better. I just feel like after 7-8 months, when IS eventually?
Thanks for such a lengthy and detailed response. I'm sorry to hear about your injury and the fact that you have to live with this kind of pain as well.
I went and saw a Pain Management Specialist yesterday morning (I had to leave by 5:30 am, yikes). They went through all nine years of records and x-rays and MRI images and I finally, FINALLY, have a solid answer to my problems. I'm starting out taking Lyrica and a very heavy anti-inflammatory for the first month and also am going to start Aqua Therapy as soon as possible.
My problems with pain stem from quite a few things but I won't go into detail here but in my journal. I hope things get better for you over time and you find more relief from that constant struggle from day to day.
Amy
1st - I had a spinal fusion at L5-S1 and wish I never had ... it never improved my pain and now the disk above it has herniated. I ABSOLUTELY suggest waiting until the extreme last choice to do anjy kind of surgical intervention, and then I would only do so if you have multiple Drs saying it is urgent to avoid loss of some other function ... ie legs, foot, etc. My Dr told me I was going to lose control of my foot if I didn't have the surgery, so being naive I trusted him and had it done without multiple medical opinions. I ended up in worse condition afterward.
2nd - Always be sure you check out medications your doctors want to put you on. You need to be your own advocate to make sure they do not medicate you with things you do not want to take. Personally, I have never been on Lyrica but suggest you talk to others on here and see what their comments / feedback is about that medication. I have heard it is a fairly controversial medicatioon because of serious side effects, but you need to find out any information you can about it and decide that for yourself. I am certainly not trying to scare you or question any actions your doctor may be taking, but after dealing with chronic pain for nearly 14 years now I have learned that we (the patients) need to take a very active role in our treatment.
One of my doctors put me on a med that was known to have a bad counteraction with another med I was on at the time and I ended up in the hospital. A doctor's assistant increased the medication feed in a pain pump I was on and caused me to overdose because he increased the setting too much. My brother is technically in kidney failure because of one of the meds he was given to control his chronic pain (he suffers from the same lower back problems I do). Again, not meant to scare you ... just want you to be an active and cautious participant in your treatment plan.
Sending you healing hugs and positive thoughts!
Thanks for your input. I'm not looking to get surgery. I went to a pain management specialist this Tuesday and found out there's more wrong with me than just that. A lot more. Now I'm on Lyrica and a strong Anti-inflammatory for starts. I also start my Aqua Therapy on Monday and I'm really hoping that helps. Really pleased with my PMS so far.
With you being young I would not jump into surgery to fast. The sad part is that it sounds like you've just about everything short of having surgery.
Good Luck on whatever your choice is.