Suspected herniated disc..any experience or advice?

[ukgot2pot]

Saw sports therapist the other day. He told me to go straight to A&E as suspected herniated disc. I thought they would give me an MRI at the hospital and would have at least been seen by a doctor...I give the NHS far too much credit sometimes! Three hours later and a prescription for painkillers and off I go.

My GP will need to refer for an MRI apparently..that will most likely take months (weeks if lucky). I'm in a lot of pain. It's my leg/calf which is the most painful. The pain is unbearable when I stand up or start walking. I have been advised to keep active, so I've been going on short walks for 20 minutes. This has helped and the pain does ease off.

I don't know what the best route/course of action is. I have a busy job and I'm self-employed so taking time off isn't an option.

Would anyone be kind to share their experience? - I'm hearing conflicting things. My sports therapist said " keep active and give it time'. I'm not convinced. I feel this is going to be a long road to recovery, but want to get there in the shortest possible time, whether that is injections, surgery, physio, or drinking lots of wine!

Yes, I've had several since and the piece of disc is still in the same place

I ultimately had surgery for a herniated disc. The advice you have received is correct, as frustrating as it seems the best thing to do is give it time. Keep active (walking) but nothing high impact. Gentle yoga will help. It is time though that will heal it.

It was explained to me by my surgeon that the disk bulges (or bursts entirely) and the contents lay against the nerves in your spinal cord. This generates the nerve pain in your leg. Awful pain. As the contents of the disc are slowly absorbed into your body the pain will resolve. It really will (in my case I went from excruciating pain for around 6 weeks to the pain pretty much going).

I only had surgery as a last resort several years later but really try and avoid surgery it at all possible. The surgery doesn't have a great success rate and can cause more problems years down the road.

@butterfly0404 can they not remove the disc

Unfortunately not, they need to go through the front bypassing my heart and lungs, operation is far too risky with no guarantee of success. I'm tolerating it but if it moves and Cauda Equina happens, then it becomes an emergency and it would have to be removed, or attempted anyway.

@BaoLi so it gets better after 6 week

I’m just catching up! Hope you’re all ok. Thanks for your contributions. I am nearly out of the woods! Thirteen months post injury and having much better days. Every week a milestone. In fact, I’ve just booked a holiday abroad. I’m ready. I might have some pain whilst I’m away, but it’ll be minimal. Life must go on. I suspect another three to six months and I’ll be recovered.

Had my first HD almost 40 years ago. The advice then was to rest, which turned out to be the worst possible thing.

I tried osteopaths and physio. No lasting results. What has transformed things for me is yoga. Improving my core stability and flexibility has transformed me. Where I used to get excruciating sciatic episodes almost every month, now I often go more than a year with no pain at all. Swimming and walking helped too.

If you have a Swiss ball, that can be helpful of you need to sit for work. You can keep a bit of movement going. It's also nice to lie face down over it.

When you are healed and allowed to exercise, Pilates will sort it out. It will give you a strong core, improve prioperception and mobilise your spine. I had foot drop and sciatic pain right onto my ankle when I did mine.

@Deedoo in my own experience the acute pain lasted for approximately 4 - 6 weeks. It was horrendous and at the time I had no confidence at all that it would get better. My surgeon said it would, and often almost overnight the acute pain eases and that was my experience. From being barely able to walk for around 4 - 6 weeks (it was a long time ago so I can't remember exactly how long) to feel relatively normal within a few days.

I did have flare ups - but typically when I wasn't looking after myself.

After a couple of years (due to my own stupidity) I had another really acute episode when I had surgery as I was at risk of permanent nerve damage. The surgery was successful (but I have heard a lot of times that it is not successful).

Many years on my surgery is failing and I will probably have to have other surgery in a few years time (adjacent segment disease).

This is why I would hold off having surgery if possible - even if successful it can cause problems years down the line (especially spinal fusion) as it adds pressure to the surrounding spine.

I agree with others, when you feel well enough do yoga, barre or pilates and build your core strength and flexibility, it really will help. Avoid impact sports.

@BaoLi what did you have l5/s1 disc Protusion? I have mild degeneration too