Herniated disk in lower back

[Snert26]

I have a herniated disk in lower back from an accident 5 years ago it took untill jan this year to get an mri which revealed herniated disk pressing on my siatic nerve ..had physio again and it has stopped the chronic pain mostly in my leg but I'm still in chronic pain with my lower back in currently on pre gabalin which the side effects are horrendous but I didn't get on with amitriptyline or gabipentin either .. i hsve seen 4 different drs and all told me this is it untill hodpital conviders surgery .my gp said itoday it should of fixed itself by now the disk and I'm like I've had this 5 years and scan was in Jan this year showing slipped disk so I'm going to be refured for another mri to see what's happening but im confused if the disk has fixed why am i still in chronic pain? Anyone got any ideas

I am a long time back sufferer. If you search for the Back Sories threads we had a long running thread which has died out recently. There is a heap of advice and experience on those threads.

I will reply in more detail tomorrow if that's any use but yes, sadly these things can go on and on. Any reason why you have never been referred to a spinal surgeon or neurosurgeon for an opinion? Unfortunately, the evidence is that surgery is less successful in treating back pain than leg pain and also surgery is less successful when the disc has been causing pain for a long time. Sorry. However there still could be extra stuff that helps.

Are you taking pregablin for the back pain or leg pain? If it's for back then maybe it's not even helping much since it is a nerve pain drug.

Will reply more tomorrow.

Hello Matilda the cat what a great name ..
Thank you for replying I understand about surgery not being great etc but I was just stunned by the gp yesterday telling me the disc should of fixed itself when the other previous 4 gp a all different told me I have this for life which I understand . but I would of thought if my disc had gone back into place then surely the pain would of gone ?

The pre gabalin I am sure if it's for back now I've been on it for months and gone up in dose 4 months ago to try and increase my quality of life so to speak as I could hardly move,walk let alone so housework it's being used for its nerve blocking capabilities .