Herniated Disc

It does mean the gel is coming out a little, leaving too little cushion between a couple of your vertebrae. I'm sorry -- I don't know about the treatment.

I have a bulging disc and am working out like crazy to keep it in bulging mode, but herniation is inevitable, I guess.

Best of luck to you. I do know that medicine has made a ton of progress lately in the area of backs. Several friends have had amazingly successful surgeries, if it comes to that.

 

McKenzie Exercises. May be able to get the disc back in place if the bulge isn't too bad. Good luck.

 

I have the C5-C6 slipped or whatever they call it (I don't understand doctor or lawyer speak) with leakage that makes the pinky and ring finger of my left hand numb all of the time. I just had a EMG done which was awesome if you're into electronic torture, and the MRI was a joy. Getting t-boned by a stupid driver was so much fun.

 

I went through a herniated disc about 11 years ago. I had a severe L5-S1 disk herniation. Basically my disc ruptured in my lower back and and put severe pressure on my sciatic nerve. The basic symptoms arouse out of just walking around on a hard surface. The pain would start in my lower back then travel down through my butt then down through my right leg down into my foot (specifically my pinky toe) then it would shoot back up my leg into my knee.

These symptoms became progressively worse until I would basically loose the use of my right leg for an hour or two at a time after I set down where ever I was at to alleviate the symptoms.

The problem was finally alleviated after I went to the doctor and was diagnosed and then sent to a neurosurgeon. I was signed up on the spot for day surgery called microdiscectomy surgery that would take place at Methodist Hospital two weeks later.

The surgery was minor and not all that invasive (infact I was left with a scar only about an inch long). It entailed removing the portion of the disk that was impinging on the nerve root.

I went into surgery at 10am and was out three hours later. A couple hours after that I was moved out of recuperation and back into my private room. A nurse came and saw me and gave me the option of staying overnight or the option of going home if I passed the post-operative test which was basically walking up and down the hallway twice under my own power. I choose to take the test which I passed and was home by 8pm.

The instant results of the surgery was almost a complete loss of sciatic pain. I mean it was basically gone overnight. I was still sore but 99% better instantly. After they sent me home I basically was told to take it easy the first two weeks and follow the check list they gave me on what to do and avoid. The only exercise I had to do was walk around ever so often for an allotted amount of time. After those two weeks other exercises were added.

Basically by three and a half weeks I felt back to my old self and had my last checkup at six weeks. The normal recuperation time for this is six to eight weeks.

Now with this said know my situation was an instant surgery situation as I put off going to the doctor for a while until my wife forced me to go. My stubbornness and unwillingness to get it checked out aggravated my situation and diagnosis immensely. There are other treatments and more times than not that treatment is merely exercise.

Best advice is to listen to your doctor and if it comes to surgery have it done as soon as you can. You won't regret it.

 

i dont know what i had a few months ago...... but i was sure it was due to doing too many sit ups.......

i couldnt bend over, i couldnt sit too long, if i started walking after sitting too long, i have to walk very slowly... i couldnt cross my legs when i sat, the pain was coming from my lower back, i went to a chiroprac and he just pushed it back in

not exactly sure what was wrong, and didnt care to ask, i was just relieved it was over

 

I had a heriated disc at the same spot and severe sciatica. So bad that I was told that if it didn't stop, the muscles in the worst leg (had it in both) would atrophy (and other technical terms) and damage would be permanent. All situations regarding backs, of course, are different (as are surgeons), but I ended up getting a couple of titanium screws put in after the disc was removed (a disc fusion). While the sciatica was immediately cured, pain in the area of the surgery is a chronic problem and has been for years. The surgery itself was a nightmare, as was "recovery," the result definitely not a success, and I'm in chronic pain. I know someone else who had a bad result and was operated on again, with a better outcome. So while I hope the OP has a terrific result if surgery is indicated, I'd exhaust any other possibilities before having it. You just never know.

Mine was caused by a fool running a red light. He was in a hurry to get to Target.

 

My friend had the same situation. He had a surgery by a great doctor named, Dr. Bernard Albina.

 

I have a herniated disc, which has now led to almost complete degeneration of my L3/4 and L4/5. The only thing that relieves my pain is epidural injections which I get a couple times a year. I'm doing everything I can to avoid surgery but I know it is inevitable. Unfortunately injections only eliminates the pain for about a month now. I do have a wonderful doctor that I would highly recommend you visiting. He's the only doctor that's been able to help me since being diagnosed almost 10 years ago.

Dr. Kenneth Lee at Modern Spine: http://www.modernspinetx.com

 

Back around 2003 I had the same thing that rcoleman15 and Deckard had. My disc ruptured. We waited to see if it would get any better, but my leg was basically dying since the ruptured material was bumping up against the sciatic nerve and causing ridiculous pain and weakening it as the days went on. When it started getting progressively weaker after 2-3 months and steroid medication, the doctor said I'd probably be dragging it behind me if I didn't have surgery. I got a couple of doctors to look at the x-rays and they said it was a pretty severe herniation and the odds of it fixing itself was remote. I went ahead and had microsdiscectomy surgery where they make about a 1-2 inch incision in your back and remove the ejected material to relieve pressure on the nerve. All I can say is I wish I hadn't waited. Unfortunately, I waited a bit too long and have only about 90-95% of the feeling and strength back in that leg and that may be permanent (nobody can really tell), but compared to the pain and agony I went through for 3 months, I'll take it. Had I waited even longer, it probably would've been worse. I had kidney stones at the same time, which made it even more fun.

 

BTW, with that microdiscectomy surgery, I was out the same day (within about 3-4 hours and that includes recovery time from the anesthesia). I had to walk around gingerly for a few days and couldn't lift anything over 5 pounds for about 1-3 weeks from what I recall.

 

i have one between L4-L5 thats ruptured. i can't drive for more than hour without my back aching.

every so often i get numbness and sharp pain down my left leg.

dont plan on doing the surgery but my friend was telling me about a steroid shot that can help the inflammation.

 

I had one 4-5 years ago from a rear end at a red light (some kid was playing with his radio). Only had chiropractor treatment and pain went away after 5-6 months. Don't remember which disc it was, but it was in the upper neck area.

 

had ruptured disk a few months ago. Rehab, anti inflamatorry meds helped a lot. Mostly, did rehab twice a week for 4 weeks where they helped me strengthen my abs, lower back, message, etc, and had to do light cardio a couple weeks in. Glad to say now, after bout 5 months, i can do mostly everything i was able to before. Havent played ball on it yet, but work out / running (on treadmill only for now), is no problem any more.

I should add that surgery should be done in rare cases, when everything else fails, and sadly, a few on this board have had it done, very sorry to hear. I'd say, if you're young enough, and its not severe, you should hopefully heal with rehab. At the end, its a matter of time though, so be patient.