r/HerniatedDisc

Has anyone had a full 100% recovery with an L5 S1 bulging disc that went on for over 12 months? I’m currently at 9 months and about to start physical therapy. Just wondering as a lot of people have said if you get to 12 months and not fully recovered should consider surgery or is more likely permanent damage.

They usually consider should heal within 6 months but partly has been my fault as I have made it flare a few times and caused a set back. Is there anyone out there who’s actually got back to 100% full recovery and can do all normal things like running, lifting weights at the gym but has taken over 12 months to deal with?

plz help me i m suffering from back injury more then 1 year last year i joined gym where i got injury disc bulges
si joint inflammation even cervical disc bulges and right now my age is 25 only i live in pain even my life stuck at one place m in so much depression went to many doctors but nothing works took injections sometimes i just start thinking to end my life
plz anyone there help me

Can i fix it without surgery?

35M, I run a non-profit animal rescue and have had back pain for several years from frequently lifting heavy things and not really having the strength for it - last Tuesday felt the POP putting on a sock and spent an hour on the floor as I couldn’t move without excruciating pain.

Took a bunch of pain meds and got an appt with the Doc the next morning - started me on 500mg Aleve 2x/day, gabapentin, and muscle relaxers. MRI on Friday confirmed herniated disc and L4-L5 bulge.

The meds take away 90% of the pain in the morning so I actually went to work on Sat/Sun and just avoided lifting anything, but by evening I’ve been in too much pain to do much.

I know I’m supposed to avoid bed rest, not lift anything, do short walks….but like, standing hurts after a few minutes like standing and doing dishes, sitting at my desk is instantly uncomfortable, sitting on the couch is uncomfortable…So if the only position that isn’t painful is laying down but I’m supposed to avoid bed rest??? I’m just not sure what to do with my entire day.

My doc wants me to do meds for 2 weeks and then if I can’t wean off of them we will start PT. I can offload the majority of my manual animal care labor, but I’m unsure if I’m supposed to be walking around work / sitting at my desk doing admin or if I should just take off work for a couple weeks - but if I do that I’ll have even less of an idea of how I’m supposed to be spending my time.

I have other health problems and a shit immune system with other conditions that cause long term inflammation so I’m terrified of this becoming a chronic thing and don’t want to mess up these early stages of recovery.

Is anyone willing to share a timeline of how much bed rest / house chores / work they did in the first month or two of recovery?

Hey guys I (27M) have a question for you. Has anyone encountered the pain getting better, but numbness getting worse?
My physical therapy thing told me I shouldn’t walk so long that I feel numbness, but I’m practically numb in my foot all the time now.
Bonus info: I started symptoms 1,5 years ago and got an MRI in march/april. It’s a herniated disc L5/S1 with some protrusion in other places. It’s absolute recess stenosis with extra on the right. I understood it so that numbness and the pain doesn’t come from the same place? Just sounds weird. The numbness started in January, pain January last year. And numbness has been increasing ever since, while the pain started getting better in march/april. I started exercising April aswell.
I feel really stuck and my entire life revolves around my back. Especially now that I can’t even walk longer than 2 minutes.
The surgeon dismissed me and sent me to a back clinic last week. Idk what to do.

Any tips or suggestions? Would be very appreciated, thank you for reading.

had an L5/S1 disc herniation that was compressing my S1 nerve, and from what I was told, it was considered a pretty bad herniation. I went to 3 different surgeons and every single one of them recommended surgery.

I decided not to go that route.
I was determined to find a physical therapist that actually understood the body beyond just treating symptoms. After about a month of searching, I found Dr. Tony, and honestly, he has helped me tremendously.

My treatment started about a year ago. In the beginning, I was seeing him around twice a month, and now I usually go about once a month for maintenance and progression.

For me, the biggest focus has been core strengthening and correcting years of imbalance in my body. I realized over time how much damage I had done from poor posture, not standing correctly, bad lifting habits, not stretching, not exercising consistently, and just lacking overall strength and structure.

A lot of my pain and pressure came from instability and compensation patterns throughout my body. Strengthening my core and learning proper movement mechanics made a huge difference in relieving pressure on my spine and nerve.
Not saying surgery is wrong for everyone, but I wanted to share my experience because I know how hopeless things can feel when multiple surgeons tell you surgery is your only option. A year later, I’m in a much better place physically than I was before.

If you read all of this I will VERY much appreciate it. I feel absolutely hopeless and like i have aged 30 years in just four weeks, It feels as though my entire life is over. The career that i am working towards may not be an optin for me if this is actually my new normal. Debating dropping out of school and figuring out a new life plan. I would greatly appreciate the harsh truth if you have any insight. MRI findings at end, story of injury first.

STORY...

Hello, had a fall over a year ago and never got any help due to not having health insurance and everyone telling me that daily back pain and tingling is normal at my age. I am now 32. I regret listening to that advice lol. And now that I do have health insurance, it didnt cover one dollar of my full spinal MRI that i got this week, anyways. Anyways, here I am starting my recovery journey a year and three months after my first initial traumatic fall from about a foot and a half off the ground, fully suspended in the air, landing on my hips and forearms. Immediate neck and lower back pain, followed by a very rough 3 ish months of pain and high blood pressure. I work on heavy machinery on uneven ground 10 hours a day for the last year, i fell off a machine is how th initial injury happened. I have had daily tingling in my mid/upper back since this fall as well as the sudden inability to arch my back (cow pose, not cat, not sure if that is "arching") fully as i have for 30 years easily. I have stopped lots of my daily stretches because of this injury.

Because the injury seemed to get better with time, I ignored getting further help. I assumed the tingling and inability to fully move my back freely was just a new normal for the rest of my life. I started going to the gym and joined a sport team (logger sports- chopping and saw, lots of bending at the hips, swinging axes, some twisting- although not nearly as much twisting or bending as my job). My back seemed to get suddenly so much better. The tingling became much less, i felt more confident in my back, and only had noticeable back pain from one practice and it lasted just an hour or two after pushing past my comfortable limit. I have not had any issues sitting for long periods of time. Standing for long periods of time has caused some pain, but I also have done 16 mile day hikes after this injury with zero back pain. I went ona backpacking trips carrying a 50 pound backpack 8 miles a day and had no issues. I am a skier, i go to the gym, i am an avid hiker in the summer, i have slept on the ground and in cars since this injury and nothing has made it "flare up" until now.

This brings me to now. About a month ago we had a logger sports competition. I went through a breakup and unfortunately suddenly stopped going to the gym about 3 weeks before this competition. I couldn't really list all of the physical activities i did this week, because it would be very long. The events themselves are not long, my longest event was about 2 minutes, and I only had 6 events total. These events I had been doing twice weekly, some of them multiple times a day, for about 10 months leading up to this. Like i said above, back pain lessened and tingling lessened drastically after joining this team and going to the gym, as well as confidence in my back strength went up. It was a very active and inactive week, ending with two 16 hours car rides. It did not feel like an especially active week for me, just my normal, and there were no "moments" of perceived injury or worry that something had "happened". Instead, I had a feeling i pulled something on the inside of my left leg as it had pain and felt like muscle pain. I assumed it would go away with stretching.

it got gradually worse over the course of 7 days until I could almost not be able to walk for three days. Then that pain went down and the tingling in all arms, hands, legs, and feet started. Then severe hip pain, that I have never experienced before. I barely stubbed my toe at work and that almost brought me to the ground with how much pain i felt in my hipe from tapping my big toe. As well as a painless cracking sound coming from my lumbar area. I am on heavy machinery all day long, so this cracking noise was happening basically constantly for the duration of my shifts. I also need to twist a full 180 degrees to see the feed that comes out of the trailer, and i estimated that i am in a full twist about 50 times a day, on just one side, for about 3 minutes each.

The pain now is less but it is not fully constant, where there are no moments without pain, although it is much less. The pain is now in my neck, lumbar, mid left back between shoulder blade and spine, and sometimes in my left hip depending on position. I have fully lost trust in my back and feel as though it is not functional, it feels like it could just break into two different pieces.

I am starting PT next week. I had 7 appointments with a chiropractor who did 4 adjustments on my lumbar area before i got the MRI, and she also "cracked" my mid spine. I very much regret seeing her now. I have never cracked my back in my life unless accidentally and i have never had pain in my mid back until after one of the appointments with her. I have completely stopped logger sports and going to the gym. I am going to yoga once a week, and continue to work full time on the farm. I am planning on having a new job by the autumn.

is this too late? Am i permanently damaged and ruined at age 32 from a fall that only took 2 seconds to happen?

thanks for anyone who is reading this or has any insight :'(

MRI RESULTS:

L SPINE:

1. There is T1 hypointense line through the left sacral ala with pronounced edema type signal intensity. There is no displacement. Surrounding tissues appear within normal limits. There is associated enhancement. 

2. L3/L4: Mild disc protrusion with annular fissure. No significant canal or neural foraminal narrowing. 

3. L4/L5: Small central disc protrusion with annular fissure. Mild facet arthropathy. Mild neural foraminal and canal narrowing. 

4. L5/S1: Shallow central protrusion with annular fissure. No significant canal or neural foraminal narrowing.

 

T SPINE

DISCS: Disc spaces are relatively well preserved. Shallow disc protrusions. T9-T10, T8-9, T7-8, asymmetric to the right. 

C SPINE

5. C3/C4: Mild right sided facet arthropathy with mild right neural foraminal narrowing. No canal stenosis. 

6. C5/C6: Minimal disc bulging. No neural foraminal or canal stenosis. 

7. C6/C7: Minimal disc bulging. No neural foraminal or canal stenosis.

 

June 25 herniated c6 quite badly. lost feeling to thumb and 2 fingers constant pain down my left arm. Worse is I’m a HGV mechanic, so been battling though work and pain. I’m now 10 months in the pain has gone from my arm around January time. I have took a month of work as having troubles with tingling/numbness down my spine. I have slowly reintroduced PT (light weights) doing back exercises, rear rows etc. For me it been horrible and a mental game but I don’t want to give up. I’m on a waiting list for steroid injection with nhs. Im just starting private physio session next week aswell. I really don’t want surgery. Has anyone tried running with a cervical disc herniation? I desperate to get back out but don’t want to go back to square one again. Has anyone recovered fully after a year with a cervical herniation?

Hi everyone,

I have L4-L5 and L5-S1 herniated discs and for a little over 6 months now I've been struggling a lot. Sitting triggers severe pain, and I often need to lie down to get relief.

I’m very active and have played soccer for years. I’ve had lower back pain from soccer in the past that never fully went away and came back in flare-ups, but this time it’s much worse and constant (I'm not sure what was the trigger of this last flare-up).

Some details:

• Sitting is the main trigger

• Lying down helps the most

• showering (direct jet on the painful area) helps for about 30 minutes

• I walk a lot everyday (I have a dog)

• Pain is currently at its worst

• I’m taking pain medication

• I recently had an injection, but it doesn’t seem to have helped

I'm at a point where the pain is too overwhelming where i can't live normally anymore.

I’ve seen multiple professionals (Doctor, physio, chiro) and tried many approaches without lasting improvement.

If anyone has had a similar situation (disc herniation, severe sitting pain) and found something that helped, I’d appreciate hearing your experience.

Thanks.

Just wanted to query if anyone has ever been able to return to running after having a large L5 S1 bulging disc or rehabbed successfully with this. I’m currently 9 months with this injury about to start rehab. I’ve been told by multiple doctors and physios so completely forget running again as this the worst thing to put pressure on a disc is running

Has anyone with this injury ever returned back to long distance running with no flare ups or hasn’t aggravated the disc?

Hey everyone, I’m feeling pretty frustrated and overwhelmed with my current pain levels due to my cervical herniated disc so I’d really appreciate any insight.

This all started back in December after I slept weird, I woke up with neck pain. Over time it progressed into numbness and tingling down my arm. I did 6 weeks of PT with little to no improvement so I was referred to a specialist and got an MRI, which showed a C5/6 disc extrusion.

Treatment so far includes:

- PT (discontinued, but do some at-home exercises)

- OTC meds (PRN), gabapentin

- epidural steroid injection about 6 weeks ago, which actually helped a lot at first and reduced numbness, tingling, and pain. Have a 2nd translaminar injection scheduled.

- scheduled for acupuncture

I’m 31 years old and very active (climbing, lifting, running, cycling) and I have started exercising again (especially climbing + bike rides), and my symptoms came back and are now pretty severe again. My doctor is suggesting I back off which is a huge bummer for me.

I currently have a constant deep, dull neck pain that spreads into my shoulder and upper back. My neck muscles from neck, shoulder and near my scapula are all super sore and tight. In certain movements I feel sharp nerve pain down my arm, into the top of my forearm.

Pain is triggered by turning my head (especially left), looking up, and bending forward.

I’ve also noticed huge weakness / decreased strength in that arm, which is very concerning. I used to be able to do 4 pull ups without training, and now I can’t even do one. My arms get “stuck” when I hit 90 degrees, I feel like I have no strength.

At this point it’s honestly pretty debilitating and I can’t do most of the activities I love.

My questions:

- Did I just trigger a flare, or did I actually make the disc issue/nerve pinching worse?

- Is it normal for symptoms to come back like this after an injection helped?

- At what point do you consider surgery with something like this?

- Has anyone had this pattern (improvement after injection and flare with activity) and come out of it without surgery?

I feel like I did everything “right” (PT, injection, easing back into activity), and now I’m back to square one or worse. Any advice would really mean a lot right now.

My husband has always had back issues but they came to a head this summer after a combination of too much travel, caring for a baby, and running again (we think)

Things improved for a bit but deteriorated again around Christmas following too much travel and sleeping in too sort of a bed (of all things!) and they have been bad ever since. A MRI showed L5-S1 and L4-L5 damage

He’s trying everything - PT, acupuncture, supplements, Advil, swimming, meloxicam, a new sleep number bed that can recline, a cortisone shot, etc and nothing has really helped.

This has been a very hard time for our family because not only is he in pain but he also feels guilt for not being the husband and dad he wants to be. He can barely hold or play with our one year old. He can’t sit down to give her a bottle or put her in her crib or stroller and we have paused all plans for months after travel caused such disruptions in the past

I really try to be understanding and empathetic but it’s hard when I’ve never experienced this before and I am also assuming more responsibilities at home due to limitations from his pain.

Does anyone have any tips for me to be more understanding of this injury? Can anyone tell me that one day life will get more normal? We want more children but I can’t imagine that right now with how limited he currently is which makes me very sad. Does anyone have any suggestions of other things he can try?

Hello, first time using Reddit! I really need some opinions while I wait to get a new MRI in 4 days….33y/o female..

This whole week has been increasing back and leg pain. This morning after waking up and taking all prescribed pain meds as usual to get to a functional baseline while back in bed, I went to log roll out of bed and noticed that “catch” in the lower back that radiated into hips.
Upon standing, I felt as if gravity were shifting my spine to the floor, same exact symptom I had for months before MD. Now, all day I have been in 10/10 pain and this evening was 13/10 pain. When taking steps I get a nerve jolt that sends pain to everywhere below my waist and causes a body wide spasm during those jolts.

I am stuck in bed again and have had 10mgx/3 oxycodone, 300mgx3 gabapentin and flexiril 10mgx3 today. Amitriptyline at night……
I am really thinking I reherniated considering the return of this level of incapacitation…I am having difficulty with peeing, I really have to focus and my stream stops a couple of times before I finish emptying my bladder.

If I so much as shift my weight or reach for anything in front or beside me my body goes into shock and has to calm down from the excrutiating nerve jolting pain and the lingering leg pain that hurts enough to wail. This evening I almost fainted because the pain was so bad. Yes I have had full meals and lots of hydration.
Anybody have a similar issue or thoughts?
This seems like more than irritation to me, more like constant compression like before the surgery.

Hi everyone, first-time poster here.

I’m a 52M living in Berlin, and I’ve been battling an L5/S1 disc herniation for 2 years now. My latest MRI shows a paramedian/cranial herniation at L5/S1 and a protrusion at L4/L5. On top of that, I have a 19-degree lumbar scoliosis.

My symptoms:

• Constant tightness and pain in my calves (mostly left, sometimes both).
• Sciatica down the left leg.
• Numbness on the outer edge of my left foot (from heel to pinky toe).
• Fluctuating leg strength. Some days I can hit 10k steps and go to the gym; other days, I can barely do half of that.

The good news: I can still stand on my toes and heels, so doctors are recommending the conservative route for now. I don’t smoke or drink, I eat healthy, and I’ve found that Magnesium Glycinate helps a bit with muscle tension. I also do "Starkemitte" (core stability) classes once a week.

The hard part: The mental toll. After 2 years, the anxiety and "anguish" about the future are becoming harder to manage than the physical pain. The unpredictability of "good days vs. bad days" is exhausting.

I’m not necessarily looking for medical advice, but rather moral support.

• Has anyone else dealt with this for years and eventually seen significant improvement without surgery?
• How do you deal with the mental "ups and downs"?
• For those with scoliosis + herniation, any specific tips?

Thanks for reading. It feels good to finally share this.

Hello all,

I had had two laminectomy surgeries for lumbar disc hernias. I also suffer from now worsening disc degeneration.

I am looking into PRP injections but there isn’t enough research to help me decide if I should get PRP injections.

Has anyone tried them for herniated disc, bulge discs or disc degenerative disease?

Or have you tried any other treatments that I can look into?

I have done spinal decompression but that scares me by back is really sensitive right now. I have had complications post both surgeries.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated in advance.

Thank you. ♥️