My L-5 is screwed.  What do you do for yours?

I have been going to therapy off and on for about a year now.  it does work, but it is costly and time consuming.

mine started hurting bad (again) after i got back from my useless gambling spree in Louisiana; we traveled in a small mini-van from san antonio.

any suggestions?

I've got a bad disc in the lower part of my neck.  What helps on an ongoing basis is a lot of stretching.  For bad periods of pain and spasm, I recommend an accupunturist.

Wish I had some earth shattering revalations but I don't. I just Ice, Use soma at night and stop doing things once I hit the "Zone" (That spot where you know it is going to hurt that night when you try to sleep.) and relax for awhile. I have used a "Tens"
unit in the past. (Much the same as acupunture in that it uses up the supplys of the chemical the nerves use to transmit the pain impulse.)
(L-5,6 problems here) I have found that the more active I am the less I notice the pain,pressure there. good luck.

One well-regarded study showed that after 5 years, the results were the same regardless of whether the person had surgery or not.  With surgery, you just get better sooner, if you get better at all.  Back pain is not a reason to get surgery, only pain and weakness in your leg.

Another study showed that 40% of asymptomatic people who had never had any back pain showed a "bulging disc" on an MRI.  Thus back pain only plus a "bulging disc" on MRI means nothing more than you have strained your back.

FYI

I've got a couple of bad sites - L5/S1 being the worst of them. I've tried a lot, but have found that a combination of Chiropractor visits, yoga (don't care for the chanting...), and some doctor-recommended stretching keeps things under control. I let things go for a while and ended up with pain and weakness all the way down my left leg. I now only have localised pain right at my injury site. Remember that in many cases it is not pressure on the nerves themselves that causes the worst pain - it is what your body is doing to "guard" the injury site. This usually involves the nearby muscles going into spasm. Eventually they give out, and the next muscle group takes over, and so on... If you can get the muscles out of spasm and working again, you will probably get a lot of relief. It also helps them to provide support to the injury site, which they have lost the ability to do (because of the prolonged spasm). There is some promising experimental work going on with BOTOX injections directly into the affected muscles in the back. It loosens them up for 4-6 months, and has restored near full mobility in people who were unable to do much of anything due to severe pain. It eventually wears off, but the procedure can be repeated over and over. Again, it works by stopping the spasms in the muscles that are guarding the injury site. It's still experimanetal, but you might want to ask your physician about it.

My overall advice is to experiment with a few things (accumpuncture, yoga, stretching, whatever) until you find a few things that work for you, then develop a routine and stick with it. I only get into trouble now when I break the routine.

Good luck!

I am 3 months post surgery, L3-4. Had to have the surgery when left leg became so weak I could hardly walk.  Better than 70% strenght loss.  Constantly walked with a limp and always in some pain, left foot always numb or tingling, lost all reflex response in left knee and heel.  Did the heat/ice/p.t. route first. Had the Physical rehab afterwards.  Had to have pieces of disc removed from where they had lodged and were pressing on nevre root.
Still have periods of intense pain, if I move/twist wrong way. I wonder if I will be in that 10 - 15% who never become pain free after the surgery?

Find a good Chiropractor who also practices Acupuncture.
Don't let them cut unless you have tried all other options!

I've had 3 surgeries on L4 and L5, and one on my neck.  I've lost some muscle strength in my right leg and limp all the time, but I have no pain unless I strain myself with heavy lifting or work, so I try not to do a lot of lifting if I can help it.  First surgery was back in 1961 and the last was about 1987 or so. They have definitely helped me.  I tried the chiropractor route at first, but I think he screwed my back up worse, hence the surgery.

Pain paralysis right leg... started taking MSM compound (aka Sulferzyme from a company called Young Living Oils) and a product high in zeronine called Morinda Tahitian Noni Juice.. (the Doc that came up with this worked for Dole Pinneapple doing research on the compound and arthritis) the noni fruit has the higest amounts and the Tahitian variety especially ....it has worked to reduce pain and swelling..not completley ..but from numerous friends in medicine and those having opted for surgery who warned me off...put me onto this stuff...and it has worked for me and others...today its snowing and cold..the dog and I are off on an 8 mile bike ride on our local trail...Im able to do that since taking this stuff...a year ago this not only would have been impossible but I would have laughed at anyone even suggesting it...just my 2 centabos...but I would look towards nutrition rather than suregery if possible

hey guys, thanks for the info and advice.

My father is a retired firefighter. In 1982 a large part of a structure fell on him and ruptured two discs (don't remember exactly which ones) in his lower back.

He basically took pain killers to sleep at night and went to a chiropractor occasionally when it was really bad and lived with the pain and continued to work for the next 19 years.

He's now retired and last year, (while vacationing in Florida) he learned about a laser procedure that was discovered that actually shrinks the discs and worked wonders for his problem. After he finally did something about it and had x-rays taken before the surgery, they discovered the pain he suffered from all these years was due to those two discs actually cutting into his spine. He is now very close to being pain-free. He does have days where if he is very active he will suffer at night, but for the most part he is doing 95% better than he was a year ago.

They are out of town right now or I would post the info on it. I looked up the website for him but that's been over a year. I know the facility and the doctor is located in Sarasota Florida.

I forgot to add.

The day he had surgery, he walked out 45 minutes after the procedure was over and was up doing anything he wanted that evening.

The only limitations he had was no lifting over 30 pounds for 6 weeks.

Wrecked mine 32 years ago.
Just learn what not to do to irritate it and move on.

Ruptured at L-4, L-5 here. I've had surgery twice, a discectomy and a laminectomy. I'm a lot better now, but the pain still comes back for a week or so at a time. Often the pain is bad enough to drop me to my knees.

 I blew L5-S1 eleven years ago.  Not ony was it painful, my left leg and foot were almost numb.  Surgery did relieve the pins & needles, but it took about 2 or 3 years for the rest of my back to recover.  It is NOT 'back to normal in 3 months' at least not for me.
 I go into the hospital on tuesday to have my C5-C6 disc repaired, after it herniated in an auto accident.  This is causing referred pain into my left shoulder, so it will be  a laminectomy with a titanium plate to support things.  I also have herniations at C6-7 and at C4-5, but they seem to be asymtomatic at the moment.  I suspect I will be among the 20% who only get limited relief, but for me anything would be an improvement.
 Don't do the surgery unless you have to, go for it if you do.

Mine is at L5/S1.  hurts the most when I first get out of bed. Can't stay in bed longer than 6 hours.  After I stretch out the sciatic nerve it feels better. For me, walking is the best exercise to relieve the pain.
Anti-inflammitories are the drug of choice if it is really bothering me.  Laser surgey sounds interesting but there is no way I would have a laminectomy.  Seen to many where it didnt help or actually got worse.

We need to schedule the "AR15.com Disc Convention" !  

Herniated discs really suck.  

The funny thing is that most people around you have NO CLUE how painful and debilitating that this ailment can be !

I've been lying in bed for the past month wondering why modern science cannot replicate the human disc.

I have 4 herniated discs:

* C7/T1 Herniated and calcified -- Never had surgery on this.
(I rolled over a Bronco II about 16 years ago -- when I was a daring young teenager)  
Didn't bother me much until recently. (I have been placing way too much stress on my neck to compensate for the lower back problems)

*T5/T6 herniated along with L4/L5 AND L5/S1 during a vehicle extrication.
It happened about 5 years ago --> I got stuck being partnered up with a scrawny girl who dropped her end of a Hurst tool. ("Jaws of Life")

(Notes to self:  
1. Women should NEVER be permitted to become volunteer firefighters [;)]
AND ...   2. Make sure to purchase disability insurance BEFORE you get injured [:D])



I had severe lower back, butt, leg and foot pain with radiculopathy and almost complete numbness in my right leg and foot.

I tried the usual non-invasive crap before succumbing to surgery. (chiro / pt / massage / etc...)

Had a laminectomy/micro-discectomy on the lower lumbar discs, but the neuro surgeons wouldn't even consider touching my mid-back due to the risk(s) involved.

Recovery was painful as hell but I tried to remain positive about the whole situation.


Well.... about 3 months later, I couldn't walk again !  (which really sucked since I was in total "Y2K" mode and couldn't carry gas cans and water barrels home [:D] )  
The remaining portion of the L5-S1 disc blew out and I was struck down with the same symptoms.

After seeing 4 of the top neurosurgeons in NYC,
I have come to conclusing that I am totally fucked.
The next option is to do a multi-level fusion, and my pain mgt. doctor said that it would probably fail or cause a "domino effect" and cause stresses on the upper discs.

I am just trying to make it day-by-day now and hoping for a medical breakthrough.  I'd love to make it a full day without Oxcontin and Percoset in my bloodstream !


I've learned something though..  
There are a hell of alot of people that are in worse shape than I am and I have to stop and remember this when the pain gets bad.


BTW:   Here is a GREAT site for further medical info:
(I find it VERY depressing.  I get really "down in the dumps" when I visit....)

Bottom line:  there is really no "fix" and we are all screwed   [:(]

[url]neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=212&forum=Spinal+Disorder[/url]

I listened to an MD on the same subject.  Similar findings.   They selected accident vitims & found that (thought it was even higher than 40%) many have one or more bulges but not have syptoms unitl later, if at all.

Well, after reading this thread I see that I am on the "front end" of things and may be pushing too hard for a rapid return to full strenght and use.  A recent wrong turn put me down for 3 days with severe pain for an additional week after that.  Kind of depressing.
As an aside, I wonder how many of us who are back pain sufferers share some other common background?  I.e.- Public safety/public service?  Me, law enforcement for years, then security management.  Plus, EMT I & II to work way through college in early 80's.  Looking back I see that a lot of the things I did probably stressed my back for years and set up the situation to blow it out in my 40's.
Hate hearing about all you other guys and your pain, but I now have a better understanding of it.  As RBAD said, most people don't know how painful and dibilitating it can be.  Careful with that Oxicotin, bro'