Bulging disc

[Tink8607]

I have suspected bulging disc and piriformis syndrome. From previous posts I'm seeing alot of people say to walk walk walk, I cant walk with out my crutches. I'm so anxious that I will never get better I've been off work now for 8 weeks but in pain for 11. I don't know how I've done it. Please tell me it gets better, I really don't want injections or surgery I suffer with anxiety and this is just absolutely freaking me out. How long did it take you to recover? And is it possible to do without medical intervention?

Glad to hear he's doing well, I think it will put anyone on edge of it happening again the pain is ridiculous, ive dislocated l and fractured my knee cap and waited 6 hours for an ambulance while my knee cap was round the side of my leg and the pain of that doesn't come close to this. I will ask osteopath about the tens machine and also the acupuncture, I believe he does this. I've got more trust in the osteopath than my nhs physio.

I'm on 300 mg of gabapentin daily and ibuprofen. Been two years now, getting worse and worse. I use a walking stick because my right leg gives way all the time with a sharp groin pain.

I've had the spinal infiltration injection, didn't help much and lasted a few weeks.

Saw a physio privately weekly for three months. I do the exercises she gave me, not sure if they're helping or not.

I've had MRI privately, L1,2,5,6. are the issue. The MRI showed that I have scoliosis.

GP says lose weight, which I am doing. Otherwise I'm on my own.

It's so depressing to be in pain unless I lie flat. Even then I still get pain from time to time

A good osteopath or chiropractor is life saving. I had a herniated disc in 2017 omg I was on morphine in hospital. 6 weeks till could walk again.
It flared up last year and exercise, yoga, painkillers, swimming, heat packs, all help.
I'm 54 and core strength is really jmportant.
I feel for you it is horrendous!

I have a hip issue that has created bulging discs and knee and other issues because of the way I walk. I have had hip surgery and around 6 hip and other injections for the surgeons to work out whether the pain is hip ,back or knee etc.

I know you said you did not want injections but if they do eventually offer them they should not create anxiety - I find going to the dentist worse than a quick hospital injection - problem is that they don't last long but for some people they do.

Also, if u are wary of pain tablets, I have been put on pain patches to help me get regular pain relief - they have also helped with the crutch walking

Hopefully things will improve for you - just try not to do all the suggestions at once !

I slipped a disc almost three years ago, and have recently had surgery. I was taking the maximum dose of codeine, naproxen, and paracetamol for much of the three years, but the two things that made the most impact with my pain were wearing a TENS machine, and acupuncture. If you find a good acupuncturist they can make a world of difference.

You have my sympathy... I have had sciatica as a result of L5 S1 disc protusion since May. I managed to work the first 3 weeks.. then was completely immobile for about 3 or 4 weeks, with horrible pain for which I had all sorts of combinations of meds.

Getting the pain relief right meant i could start moving very small amounts around the house, so worth discussing other options with gp. I have ulcerative colitis so tried ibuprofen gels, deep hear and freeze sprays as well as lots of oral meds. Gabapentin and notryptiline with paracetamol were tge best i could be on for any time... now coming off those.

Chiropractor and acupuncture helped gradually improve...and when things got better I've also had some reflexology.

The best thing I found for relief was heat... a microwave lavender bag or hot water bottle., I got one of those jelly honeycomb cushions from amazon which was amazing for the bum pain.

Improvement really started on holiday...,in the sun and walking/stretching in a warm pool and has been gradual since. I have lost a lot of use in my leg, still using a walking stick... or crutches for a longer walk but managing 5 to 6k steps a day, physio exercises and plates.

I have been offered the nerve block injections but am holding off for now. It does get better, but it is slow and some days are better or worse than others., but don't suffer, speak to gp or pharmacy as there are lots of options for pain management .

Hope you feel better soon

DP has two bulging discs, he has a sports massage, it was originally 3 times a week, its moved down to once every 8 weeks about.

He really didnt get on well with osteopathy at all.

Only posting so you know other options are available

The dr picked up that my hips are hypermobile so maybe that's linked and I've also been walking wrong. I will ask about pain patches, I literally have panic attacks when I need to take new medications. Thankyou for your advice.

Thankyou, osteopath is doing massage on me at the moment, wonder if that's different to a sports massage? I'm only going once a week though, maybe having more frequent appointments would help.

No idea sorry, I do know it's the only thing keeping DP working, without the sports massage, he would be bedbound. I don't actually know how he got the injury in the first place.

My hip subluxates so yes my hip hyper mobility has created gait issues, malalignment and the bulging discs.

The physios have recommended staying on 2 crutches as that improves the gait and that in turn means the back is a bit more flexible as I am not trying to walk with all my weight on my better leg.

If you have not already had them it sounds as if you need MRI and CT scans of your hip and back plus seeing the right physio - mine has told me to stop a lot of the hip exercises I was doing ( standard ones for arthritis ) as they were actually making the hyper mobility worse and that was aggravating the back issues.

Try not to sit. Always lie down if it can.
Try ice on your lower back and heat at night

It can definitely improve but can take quite a while. Personally I found resting and TENS the best but I know others find the opposite.

I've been sitting up right, very aware of how I'm sitting and posture now. I'll look into the foam things. Thankyou

Sorry to hear your having such a rotten time. That's a super long time to be in such pain.

4 bulging discs here. They are often fine for ages then I trip / twist /bend wrongly, and it flares up.

best things for pain:

do keep mobile but don’t overdo it. Alternate walking and lying down.
a portable Tens machine can really help with the pain, and allow you to be more mobile.

i have had all kinds of pain medication including steroid injections, but few of them did much. Prednisone (oral steroids) worked almost instantly the last two times that it flared up so this is my go to now.

I know Just111 from our other thread.

I've been in pain for 2 years now and couldn't walk at all, couldn't get out of a chair for weeks. Now I can walk for 10 steps maximum. 15, 000 steps? I can't do 15.
I've tried most things, rest, ice, hot baths and hot patches, tens, 8 different pain medications from doctor including gabapentin and morphine. Nothing helped. I've seen physios, osteo, chiropractor. All privately. I finally got an mri and water physio from nhs. Didn't help. I haven't tried acupuncture yet. NHS has failed me.

I had a herniated disc a few years ago. It was beyond awful so my sympathies!
Things I did that helped were constantly standing, never sitting. Yes work thought I was mental as I stood all the time, meetings, desk etc but just minimising any sitting time, I ate all meals standing up etc. Sitting is basically the worst you can do. I did experiment with some high stools which were slightly better than sitting and when I was tired of standing.
I found an excellent physio who specialised in spinal problems, that was key because he really knew what worked and what didn't rather than the generic advice I'd had from the first physio. I saw him at least twice a week sometimes more for a good few weeks. He gave me an exercise regime and I stuck to it religiously. Every day I had to do sets of small movements to release and strengthen. Massage also helped which I'd get done separately because we focused the physio sessions on the exercises. The massage therapist was attached to the physio clinic so she understood the problem and also could get advice from the physio. The massage in honestly was helping me deal with my "fake" pain, in that my symptoms traveled down my gluten and thigh and it felt like I had constant muscle cramps. I didn't of course it was nerves bring pinched but I could have just sworn it was true. So in a way she would massage out the fake muscle pain to give some temporary relief and also helped as I was overcompensating elsewhere due to pain (shoulders for example).
It took about 3 months to get relief from the worst pain and then I rehabed from there probsbly about a year all told of working on my back and haven't had a back issue since then, 8/9 years on now

Your physio is NHS? I would go private. I've been told by 4 ortho consultants now that NHS physio is a waste of time. I went private and it has been so much better. the NHS ones would open a folder and give me exercises from a loat for bad back people. They refused to look at scans or listen about my experience of what makes it worse. One insisted I do a certain stretch which herniated another disc! Private one actually assesses me and how my.body is moving each week and listened when I said I can't do certain movements.

@Tink8607 so sorry you are suffering it’s just the most horrible debilitating pain. I went to full disc extrusion and it was beyond horrific. However, you definitely can recover and the body can heal itself. There’s lots of advice on this thread https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/chronic_pain/5075875-recovery-from-herniated-disc-your-success-stories-tips-and-advice-would-be-wonderful?reply=138971125 the advice is always to walk but I found the best thing to be lots of lying down in the acute stage with heat etc but doing frequent bouts of very gentle movement eg pottering in the house. It was actually icy after mine went so I was too scared to leave the house on my crutches for a while.

Absolutely echo @Crazyeight its like night and day

I agree with private physio over NHS. I have had a bulging disc since July. Incredibly painful and multiple flair ups over that time. I felt the exercises given by NHS were making it worse- lie on back, knees to chest, etc. Private physio listened and we now focus on extension. Am finding the pain now more manageable and the exercises really help. She said not to stand or sit for more than 40 mins at a time. The discs need the blood flow.
The book 'The Back Mechanic' has also been useful for me.
Am finding this thread really useful for a newbie sufferer.

I'm so sorry! That's so scary to read, I cant imagine how you must be feeling, its not just physical pain is it, the mental amd emotional side of it too. Have you been offered surgery? That can't leave you like that for two years. That's devastating, im so sorry.

Are you taking any pain medication? Medication is a huge anxiety trigger for me, but also I know taking it is wither going to upset my acid problems or make my suspected crohns worse. I've had 2 hours sleep last night and tempted to go to a&e but I know they won't do an mri just give me strong meds. The physio exercises sound like the ones I've been given. Did nhs send you for an mri, im having to go private, my nhs physio said she needed to see me again before she could send me for an x ray.. I dont need an xray, what a waste of time, ive had to wait 2 weeks to see her which is tomorrow.

My physio said scans mri, xray were not that helpful. You treat the symptoms not the scan. Depending on how the disc bulges it may be causing incredible pain or no pain. Most people will have some degree of disc bulges somewhere but may not even realise it.
The point is you are in pain and that is the thing that needs addressing. I'd agree with private physio if you can afford it. Find specialist spinal one though

I ruptured a disc and the 2 beneath herniated
This was 5 years ago and my pain has improved a lot as the rupture was the most agonising pain but I'll always have back problems I kept on moving on crutches at the time and I still take painkillers daily