Chixe

Ugh, I'm sorry about that. I assume this is a standard case of disc slip (I'm not sure if it's standard, not that savvy on the issue). In that case, if I remember correctly surgery isn't always necessary. That's backed up by this page, too (Googled it), where they say bed rest and painkillers are a treatment — but physical therapy is probably something you should ask your doctor about to help things along (your doctor didn't tell you anything when you got the MRIs?).

Btw. I find it interesting to look at MRIs of myself. I've even made a 3D applet to visualize my brain MRIs online :)

Yah I'm doing a ton of research. I have to say the MRI is pretty interesting, actually.

I'm a long-time cyclist, so this is pretty frustrating. The doctor referred to it as a ruptured disc.

Thanks for the info. I will do almost anything to avoid surgery.

I'm no expert but, for what I understand, the rupture should disappear over time. That is as long as you don't aggravate it further. Surgery should be a course of action only if nerve damage is possible. From the size of the rupture, it doesn't look like that's a concern.

My suggestion is to take up yoga. :) (seriously)

Also, resist the temptation for massage therapy. A massage feels good but the muscles can end up cramping a few hours later. And that can aggravate the problem further. JMHO

I agree about the dangers of looking at the MRI. I don't have a medical background at all to make sense of mine and due to a disease I have one every 6 months. I must ask you, though, would or could you consider a chiropractor and physical therapy rather than painkillers?

Definitely, yes.

My post was, in part, me trying to squeeze some humor out of the situation.

I'm not a fan of painkillers at all. My current plan is to get 2 more opinions, try physical therapy for at least a few months, and see how it goes.

I've already walked around like this for over 10 weeks, so I doubt there's much risk, and the doctor I saw today doesn't seem to feel there's any immediate danger either.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I appreciate it.

Sounds like a few years ago when I had "sciatica" that would never get any better no matter how many painkillers I threw at it.

Well, I finally had an MRI and it showed I had a disc slipped in my spine and it was pushing against my sciatic nerve causing the pain.

I had surgery and within the week I could resume walking more than a city block without having to sit down to relieve the pain in the leg/back.

Ye, I agree with you about looking at them! I have mine on CD somewhere.. it's like see this nice open canal? And see this disc that's PRACTICALLY BLOCKING IT? Yeah, that's your slipped disc. Notice how the other two above it are also slightly out of whack, yeah that's bad too.

So I know how you feel. Get the surgery. It sounds very similar to what I had and it was an outpatient procedure. I was back home within the day. :)

Good luck!

Went to the doctor - after 2 weeks of rest and ice, the slipped disc is slipping a bit back into place.

Doctor says to continue and try some very mild exercise. While surgery can remove the cartilage that's pressing on the nerve, it can't fix the torn ligaments that let the cartilage out in the first place. So, we're going to wait a bit on surgery.

I had a horrific experience with knee surgery 12 years ago. A simple arthroscopy that ended with an emergency room trip 4 weeks later, after I lost 2 units of blood into my leg. So avoiding surgery is really a plus.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'll keep you posted.

Ouch. As a long-time back pain sufferer, you have my sympathy, because I know how shitty it can make you feel over and above the pain. My advice is always trust your doctor's opinion over stuff gleaned from the internet.

That being said, I shall now put in my two-penneth-worth:

Without knowing the particulars, I can also say with a degree of confidence having both a neuro-surgeon and a musculo-skeletal specialist in the family, that surgery is rarely the only (or best) option. What is recommended is structured physio and gentle exercise. Bed-rest really isn't a good idea unless you're in serious risk of severing your spinal cord. Nerves especially require constant movement/use or else they start to die (which is as painful as it sounds!)

Ouch. I know how it is. I've it myself. Such things turn out very differently for different persons, so one can't really tell how it's going to turn out in your case.

Though I have read several times, that they're not at all sure about surgery any longer for this kind of problems. They have done researches where the persons without surgery ends up in the same condition as the ones that have had surgery's - within time.

The difficulty with surgery is, and especially going into the spine, that there always is a small risk that something goes wrong. That makes me very cautious about these kind of things.

Are your problems in proportion to the risk you'll take? Only you can decide.

I've heard enough of surgery's that didn't go well and quite frankly - I don't want to be that person...

In my case though, surgery wasn't really an option, since I've other pains too which won't be helped with other than maybe a fusion of several disks and I say no thanks. I'll wait until my back gets even worse in that case. I have a friend who had a bad surgery and it's not a pretty story...

The only thing that I found that actually helped, was McKenzie exercises and the best thing was that I could do them myself!

It's a method invented by Robin McKenzie from New Zeeland, try to find a book about it. (I only have a Swedish translation of it)

Read how you do them here:
http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/eppsg/page8.phtml

It almost sounds too easy, but it really have saved me from going crazy ;-)

Anyway: I do hope you get better soon!!!!

Feel free to email me with any questions at lifecruiserteam at gmail dot com.

damn, sorry to hear that, I'm 23 y/o and last year I had the exact same thing at the exact same spot.

I've passed the complete winter doing a type of yoga (Very frustrating for someone who used to play soccer and chop wood during the winter,and be a waiter during the summer)
Anyway after allot of punctures(32 1st session & 24 2nd+3th session, 12 4th session) and frustrating sleepless nights of pain, I'm not completely over it, but the pain is gone and can do some normal soccer without overdoing it,lift weight without overloading my back.. My advice don't fight it, let the docters decide but whatever you do, what I've heard an operation is the last thing to do... ask muscle relaxers (Bentalan - Muscoril.. make you feel funny too)

I wish I could show you my MRI scan but my local doctor has those files.