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  1. #1
    Dinky04 is offline New Member
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    Herniated Discs??

    Hey whats going on.. Few questions for anyone with knowledge about my problem or anyone with any input on what to do next.... For the past 10 months ive been experiencing the worst pains in my calfs, heels, and feet. Ive been to my primary care doc.... he sent me for an MRI of my lower legs... found inflammation and fluid in my bursa sac... ive been to a podiatrist who diagnosed me with plantar fascia, retro calcaneul bursitis, and achilles tendonitis.... he sent me for PT and that got everything loosened up but im still in terrific pain... ive also been to a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with possible psoriatic arthritis and tried pumping me with tons of NSAIDS... which work somewhat but not totally.... and then tried putting me on hevier meds like methotrexate, enbrel..... which i didnt go on... all my bloodwork was normal... RA factor not elevated... neither was my sed rate.... i dont have any signs of psoriasis which makes me think i dont have arthritis at all... anyways after this i went to a neurologist... he did a few tests inside his office and concluded he didnt see anything neurologically wrong with me but decided to send me for an MRI of my lower back just in case... comes to find out i herniated l4-l5 and l5-s1...... he then sent me to an neurosurgeon.... who said i was too young to operate on and didnt really give me another alternative like PT... he said ill prolly never be able to lift again and all this bull**** which pissed me off... i know that without surgery discs never heal 100%...anyways im 20 years old... i have a few cycles under my belt.... im not worried about loosing size cause theirs a bigger problem than that at hand.... anyways im sure i couild get surgery by shopping around for different surgeons but thats the last thing i want to do with all the risks involved.... now the thing that pisses me off the most is the fact that the docs now think that the discs have nothing to do with my legs/feet and send me for en EMG..... i dont have the results back from that yet...hopefully tomorrow... i guess my next step would be an orthapedic or something.... not too sure... this has been a tough 10 months of complete bull****..... well if anyone has anything about this problem or past experience or anything it would be helpful... thanks


    -ABE

  2. #2
    redmeat's Avatar
    redmeat is offline Senior Member
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    Get to a gym that has a reverse hyper machine. Great prevention and rehab for disc problems. You'll probably only find it in a powerlifting gym.

  3. #3
    BDTR's Avatar
    BDTR is offline Retired
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    That it a great piece of equipment.

  4. #4
    dtr98's Avatar
    dtr98 is offline Member
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    don't remember the numbers but my wife had the 2 bottom discs fused and now she has spinal stenosis, on the 2 above, will need another surgery

  5. #5
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    crowmobe is offline Junior Member
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    im only 22 and i had part of my L4 removed when i was 18 and i mean its sore everyday still but it wasnt near as bad as before my surgery. before i couldnt even walk some days. but i still went to the gym about 4 months after surgery and as long as your careful aboiut the excerises and dont over do it its not to bad. the only thing that hurts is if i cheat at dead lifts but if u do them lighter and proper pretty painsless and it help to have really strong abs to take the pain and weight off your back. but its been almost 4 years since and iv only had one or 2 bad weeks in that time were it was to sore to go to work.

  6. #6
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    I had my first herniated disc at 17 and they operated on it....How old are you??/ By the way that was in 1981 and the science was not near what it is today. It was the L-5, S-1 disc. I had a second surgery in 1991 and I finally got fused the beginning of 2002. I spent a full year and a half staying very lean and building my core strength. Now I feel GREAT and am getting ready to compete later in the year in BB'ing. If you have any direct questions or need any help at all feel free to PM me. My surgeons are some of the best in the country but they are here in LA.

  7. #7
    Dude-Man's Avatar
    Dude-Man is offline Anabolic Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by bdtr
    That it a great piece of equipment.
    definitely.

    when i was recovering from my 4-5 hernia, the only thing i found to help was rest. Then once i was going again, oddly enough, deadlifts are the only thing that keep me from reinjuring it. If i take a month off, which typically do every 5th month or so, if i don't at least deadlift it's a guaranteed reinjurce when i'm typing my shoes during the next month.

    I'm not saying it would work for you, but it has worked for me.

  8. #8
    phwSSJ's Avatar
    phwSSJ is offline Banned
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    You Got To Read This

    Whatever you do dont let them do a spinal fusion on you. There are better techniques like laminectomy, endoscopic microsdisectomy, and one where they actually replace your disc with an artificail disc (forgot what its called).

    Doctors piss me off, most of them are dicks. They ignore you when you tell them whats wrong with you, and they talk to you like you are stupid.

    I know where you are comming from bro trust me. My life was completely misrible for like 8 months. I was in huge pain. Fir about five months I didnt know I had a ruptuerd cerviclal disc (c6-c7). One of the main reasons I never found out was because the fking asshole doctors already assumed they knew what was wrong with me and diddnt listen to how I was describing what I felt.
    My advice to you is to find a the BEST surgeon out there!!!!!
    I did every treatment possible before surgery and nothing helped.
    The last thing I did was epidural steroid injections, I dont want to make this long but you have to hear this....
    I had two injections already, both were given to me while I was awake but under heavy anesthetics. The third one, they put me to sleep. I thought that was strange, but I diddnt ask any questions cuz I thought they knew what they were doing (always question those assholes, as far as they are concerned you are a piece of meat)
    Well, to explain the injection inlaymence terms, the stick a huuge needle in into your spine! Well when they were injecting I woke up, no big deal except for anesthesia makes you do fked up things when you wake up. The oxygen mask was like over my eyes, for some reason I felt like I had to adjust it. My arms were tied down so naturally I moved my head to adjust it, "HEY GET YOUR HEAD DOWN, NOW PUT IT DOWN, PUT IT DOWN!!!" They forced my head back down and I was out again. When i woke up I was obviously very disoriented. There was one thing I thought was very strange, something that never happened the other two times I had the procedures done. When the nurse wheeled me to my moms car, after I got in she told me to let them know if there was any numbness in my legs. ???? Ofcourse I didnt think anything of it at the time cuz I was all high on drugs and she was really fine but it hit me the next day. I called the doc to ask him if everything was ok since I woke up while he was sticking my neck, and why he put me to sleep this time and not the first two times.
    HE TOLD ME THAT I NEVER WOKE UP AND THAT I WAS PUT TO SLEEP ON ALL OF THE PROCEDURES. I cussed him and he hung up on me. I am not stupid, and I know what happened to me. Plus you can not have dreams while you are on anesthesia. I tried to pursue legal action but I was told there was nothing I can do.

    Now back to the topic at hand ( I wanted to tell you all this because we all to often put to much trust into doctors and think that they actually care about us. WHen really to them its all just business)
    It took me about a month of hard searching to find a really really good surgion. My doctor was Warren Parker of the Neuro Surgical Group of Texas. Housten has the best medical center in the US and pretty much the best doctors. There is also another doctor who is in the Houston methodist hospital who performs that one surgery I was talking about where they replace your disk with an artificial one. I dont know if that is what you need but dude, listen to me. After the surgery I felt soo fking good I almost cried. It was like night and day.
    Do not wait, you could be causing nerve dammage to yourself. Definitly do not do any more physical activity. The longer you wait the worse it will get. Right now I have no right pec at all and no rt tricep and the rest of my rt arm is pretty much uselless.

    Try to find the best doc there is dude. Warren Parker did an excellent job on me. I have no pain what so ever and my neck feels great, the only thing wrong is my nerves. He said it will take at least a year but he said that I should make a full recovery.

    I did a lot of searching and Houston is the best place, but dont take my word for it do some research yourself. And if you have to travel, do it. Trust me its worth it!!!! I dont know how to say it any different except for its worth it, no matter how much it costs!!!!!!!!

    BTW I am 23 and they operated on me!

    Good luck buddy!

  9. #9
    phwSSJ's Avatar
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    I read about two good docs in LA and sanfransisco

  10. #10
    Zennie is offline Junior Member
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    Dude, try the Epidureal Steroid Injection. I had my first l5-S1 5 years ago. Pain went away completely (had very bad butt,leg, calf pain on left leg). 5 years later, the pain came back. Went for another MRI. Now L4-L5 is fuked up. Went for only 1 Epidureal cos the docs here in (unlike in the US) won't give more than 1 shot per few months cos it is 'harmful'. ****, like my doc, he kept asking me to go for surgery saying steroids are harmful to me and it will cause "scar tissues" to form. ****! Does he think that I am stupid enough to believe that if he cuts 2" on my back and dig through muscles and bones to remove a small section of my disc, and leave no scars behind? Mofo! This docs pisses me off. They just want money. If you really have to, I think you can try the endoscopic microdisectomy. At least if after the op, you can still go for the open surgery if necessary.

    Good luck. I still feel a pain everyday, but it is bearable....I just hope that it'll go away. Now, after 5 years, I am finally doing some ab workouts!

  11. #11
    haskan is offline New Member
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    American doctors are so horny for surgery. Thatīs why the results from surgery are so poor over there. The more restrictive a country is with performing lumbar surgeries the better the outcomes are from the surgeries that do get done.

    First you need to get a proper diagnosis. A diagnosis solely based on EMG and/or MRI etcetera is useless. My suggestion is going to a doctor educated in the system of Orthopaedic Medicine (http://www.cyriax.com/default.html). I myself is a physical therapist with this education and it has made my job a lot easier.

    If it turns out itīs a herniated disc then you have a few options. Do nothing (expectancy for a herniated lumbar disc is 9-12 months untreated), get surgery (should always be the last choice) or an epidural (long term success is about 30% according to the doctor I refer patients to). Do not do physical therapy or anything like it since it will most likely do more harm than help you.

    If doctors would just get proper education and deal with these sort of things more methologically I wouldnīt need to sort out their mess on a regular basis.


    By the way, there is no chance in hell that an epidural would cause scar tissue. That doctor is simply ignorant.

  12. #12
    Dinky04 is offline New Member
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    Thanks alot guys for all your input and experiences with herniated discs... i figured i could def. come here and find a large amount of people who have had this problem and what they did and how to deal with it.... i guess my next step is probably to go see an orthapedic doc who can maybe determine what to do... again i appreciate it


    -ABE

  13. #13
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    Fusion was the best thing to happen to me. I waited to long to have it done. JMO.

    Cedars Sinai Spinal Institute. They do pain management and the whole realm.

    Good luck again!

  14. #14
    the original jason is offline AR-Hall of Famer / Retired
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    have herniated disc right now, 2nd time, its not fun i will look back and read all the info later, bit busy now

    peace

  15. #15
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    cj1capp is offline Anabolic Member
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    Smile

    just read your post quickly but thought you should know the L5 S1 are the most often fused segements in spinal sugery. Herianted disks left alone with no treatment given at all will "fix its self" within two years 50% of the time.As for dreaming while under anesthesia at least 1 % of all pt.s expericen this. See a second and then a third doctor a Neuro sugeron I would want for my self. Nothing against the Ortho side of the street but 75 % of all simple fusion and disk procedures are done by neuro sugerons. Ortho spin Docs usually treat to correct deformity and trauma. Hope this helps. Did you say you were from texas check out Baylor if you can they have a great spinal program.cj

  16. #16
    phwSSJ's Avatar
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    Stay away from spinal fusion, you will still have pain and eventually end up needing more surgeries. I would see about five different doctors. Orthopedics and neurologists. I got nerve dammage because I waited untill the end to see a neurologist, dont make the same mistake!!!!

  17. #17
    Dinky04 is offline New Member
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    Yea man... ive been having this leg/foot pain for over 10 months now.... it started out two years ago my pinky toe was inflamed and killing me so i went to a rheumatologist and he thought that i may have some sort of arthritis...put me on naproxen and it went away.... than a year or so later it came back hard ... not just in my toe but my achilles tendon, bottom of my foot, my heels were killing. and my calves would get so tight that i couldnt even stand... still to this day its hard for me to get up in the morning w/out taking a bextra like an hour before i get up.....def sucks!!!.... anyways these docs keep dickin me around.. not returning my calls.... but look gg riught now....post again later...
    thanks


    abe-

  18. #18
    Dinky04 is offline New Member
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    I got my emg results back today... i called and talked to the nurse and she said i had normal results.... what does this mean... does this mean that my leg/foot pain is caused from another source besides my back... possibly arthritis or something else??

    Thanks
    abe

  19. #19
    LM79's Avatar
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    Hi there,
    My thought is that it sounds like it is not arthritis. Could be what i had/have.
    I am 25 years old now, back in 2001 i was a builder and just like you getting pain down my leg and calf. I went to doctors in early jan 2002 he put me off work straight away. went to back specialist about Feb he put me off for another month. It not get better so back again and this time he sent me in for a epidural steroid injection, i had my 1 awake painful man very painful. After another month i had no improvement so i went in for a MRI scan. That proved that i had a prolapsed disk (hernia?) so 2weeks later i was in for a disconectomy. Where they remove the buldged part of disc. After op you can't sit down for 6weeks only walk or lie down.
    I had to give up building and am now a carsalesman witch is good because i can not stand or sit for to long a time because my back compresses up. No deadlifts or squats.
    And now i get arhritis when ever it is cold. Also am always pulling muscles around my spine and neck.
    My advice would be to research the disc resplacement option. i see alot of people on the yard who have had same operation and have found out that it only lasts about 7 years. at least if you get it replaced it hopefully will be done once and done properly.
    I feel for ya man chin up listen to your body and stay active.
    LM79

  20. #20
    phwSSJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dinky04
    I got my emg results back today... i called and talked to the nurse and she said i had normal results.... what does this mean... does this mean that my leg/foot pain is caused from another source besides my back... possibly arthritis or something else??

    Thanks
    abe
    normal results from what? what kind of test/doctor...be more specific

  21. #21
    creepS is offline Banned
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    i also have l4-l5-s1 hernia. sometimes i just cant bend how much it hurts or tie my shoes. where i live,there is a GREAT doctor which basicly "placed" my discs back.altho its impossible to do so but i go once a month and he fixes my back so im set for another month.
    ive done the whole shazzam of tests: CT,MRI...everything
    im physiotherapist and have lots of friends who just couldnt belive im still lifting weghts after my injury. docs said i need operation or take long time off and wont be able to lift again. i was so pissed i couldnt tell you how much.
    then i went and got my back set.

  22. #22
    woodiechopper is offline Associate Member
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    Most herniations heal themselves. I read a study which said that 5 years out there was no difference in outcomes between patients with spinal fusion and those who were untreated. The body heals itself eventually, although the study didn't say that everyone got back to normal.

    There are a lot of difference treatments for herniation: acupuncture, physical therapy, epidural injections for pain relief, corticosteroids, yoga, chiropractic, etc. Surgery should only be the last resort. If you have nerve damage occuring in the nerves that go to your limbs, then most people generally say to operate.

    Fusions also seem to cause problems because they increase the stresses on the remaining disks.

    Finally, there are many different surgical options. The artificial disk is approved for use in the lumbar region in the US although they have been using it in the lumbar and cervical regions for years now in Europe.

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