Hi, never posted on Reddit before but today’s the day.
I am a 25M with an L5S1 herniated disc and pretty serious scoliosis that I had major fusion surgery on in 2017. For the past 5 years, starting in 2021, I’ve been living in pain from my L5S1 being herniated. Most likely, this is because of lack of PT and bad posture after my fusion, but that’s a moot point.
I’ve done the rounds - MRIs, injections, PT, meds, acupuncture, therapy, even stem cells and nothing seems to really take away the pain. I have good days and bad days, but the prospect of spending the rest of my life battling pain is quite frankly, scary and depressing.
Additional disc surgery seems unlikely considering my preexisting fusion, which means I’m in the “just deal with it” camp for the foreseeable future.
Does anyone here have any words of wisdom? Maybe in the same boat? After 5 years it’s been exhausting trying to continually find relief, and my disc isn’t going to magically heal itself so I feel stuck.