Perhaps a little hope

[zpesauqoisnipvekh]

I thought I'd give you my story, which I hope is helpful to those of you with terrible pain caused my disc problems and looking at surgery.

For my entire life I have had back problems, mostly lower back pain but sometimes neck too. It would last for weeks at a time and often the onset was sudden and debilitating, with pain that would stop me in my tracks as I walked down the street (and once as I was crossing a busy road!)

In February/March of 2004 my back problems escalated. I woke one morning and the pain was no longer in my lower back, but instead was down me left leg. It was constant and unbearable and if there was still pain in my back, it was drowned out by the severity of the leg pain.

At this point it's worth noting that I had moved to the US from England back in 1998 and my health insurance coverage at the time was through an HMO, which to me felt quite similar to the NHS, but I'm sure you'll notice differences.

I saw my GP ("internist") after living with the pain for a few days while calling in sick to work. I had a series of treatments prescribed by her, starting off with the conservative muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory (naproxen) tablets, followed by oral steroids (prednisolone) and opiates (vicodin) when that didn't help. After more than a month and a visit to the emergency room (demerol intravenously and percocet prescribed) I was referred to a neurologist.

The neurologist did four things, he performed a painful nerve conductivity study, had me scheduled for an MRI, referred me to a pain management clinic for cortisone injections into my spine and referred me to a neurosurgeon for a consultation. He also prescribed me a lot more opiates, which my GP had been reluctant to do (no doubt scared of being investigated by the DEA.)

The MRI showed a massive L5/S1 herniation, bad enough that the technician came up to me after and insisted I go at once to see my GP. The MRI also indicated the start of some L4/L5 issues. The nerve study showed irritation and some damage, but to this day I can't see what the point of that study was. The cortisone injections helped only very slightly, while the surgeon gave me a date for surgery that was 8 weeks out to let me try other things at my request. He told me he wouldn't be offended if I didn't turn up, though was sure I would.

I paid out of pocket (over a thousand dollars) to see a chiropractor daily for most of a month until it became just too painful and I lost feeling in the little toes on my left foot. I also had some physical therapy, though by then I was so immobile all they could do was give me electrical stimulation to numb the nerve with alternating heat and cold on my lower back. None of it really did much good, any benefit wore off within an hour.

As the date for surgery approached I had to stop the anti-inflammatory, but a few days after I did that I woke up with no feeling in either of my big toes and even more pain in the front of my leg. The opiates no longer worked at any dose and I seriously considered taking the rest of the bottle for a quick exit, but I held on as surgery was only a week or so away.

I turned up for the surgery on July 1st 2004. I stood, mostly on one leg, for 30 minutes in the waiting room; sitting was far too painful and the waiting room was too crowded to lie down in. When I was finally called though someone had to help me get undressed, into the surgical paper towel and onto the gurney. A nurse then started a saline IV and gave me demerol, but even that didn't really help with the pain, it just made me not care quite so much.

Surgery took no time at all from my perspective, I was told by the anesthesiologist that I was being given something to help me relax, then I woke up in the recovery room! I'd been unconscious for more than five hours, but I was oblivious to that and ever so very happy, I had absolutely no pain in my leg and I could feel my toes again! Well, all except the big toe on my left foot. The first thing I said to the nurse, with a big smile on my face, was that my back felt a little sore and that I really needed to pee.

I was moved to a room that was shared with someone else who was behind a curtain and whom I never saw. I spent the first hour throwing up from the anesthesia and not being able to pee despite being desperate to! But all I can say is that it was worth it, the discomfort was temporary and the pain was gone. I was wheeled to the hospital entrance the next day and then took great pleasure in walking (slowly but without a limp) out of there and into a waiting car. I didn't fill the percocet prescription I was given and I didn't take anything but paracetamol (more for a headache caused by withdrawal from the vicodin than for any silly little back pain!) and only that for a few days.

Since then I've had no back pain at all, though unfortunately a few months ago my right leg started hurting and that pain is getting worse. I now have an L5/S1 herniation again, but this time on the other (right) side. I've had the same treatment and tests as before, including the painful and pointless nerve study. At the moment it looks like I'll be having surgery some time in August, but it can't come soon enough!

I wish every one of you with disc problems the very best of luck, I hope the conservative treatments work and that you get out of pain without resorting to surgery, but please don't be scared of it. My last surgery was a "laminoforamenotomy and partial discectomy" or something along those lines and was a complete success and still is. This is probably what will happen on my right side in August, I'll let you know how it goes!