What do doctors in the U.S. usually prescribe for herniated discs?
I’m in Korea, and I had surgery for a herniated disc 10 years ago.
It started recurring again about a month and a half ago, and the pain has been so severe that I’ve had to stop working.
When I go to the hospital, they usually prescribe medications like painkillers, pregabalin(Gabapentin), and muscle relaxants, and I receive physical therapy such as heating pads, TENS therapy, and traction therapy.
If the pain gets worse than that, there’s also a nerve block injection, a procedure where steroids are injected directly into the lower back to reduce inflammation.
But honestly, aside from surgery, this seems to be the standard treatment at almost every hospital.
Whenever I tell doctors that I don’t want another surgery, they mostly just tell me to exercise, take medication, and wait.
So it feels like, unless the condition is severe enough to absolutely require surgery, the main approach is simply to manage the pain and wait for the body to gradually improve on its own.