'Just Dealing' with the pain
 

Hi all,

First, I would like to thank everyone on the board. I've been lurking for the past couple of months and have learned a lot from the forums. I decided to join and become active in hopes that I can give back to the community and help others with similar situations to mine.

A little about me, I'm 27 and have been dealing with lower back pain since I was 18. I initially started feeling symptoms from weightlifting/football in high school. In 2004 I was involved in a pretty sever motorcycle wreck which caused my pain to worsen. I was able to deal with the day to day pain for years until October of '09. I somehow inflamed it and was pretty much bedridden for a month crawling around the house with shooting pains down my leg. Now, I finally had to face my problem and do something about it.

In November I went to my family doc who prescribed painkillers/anti-inflams/steroids to get me back on my feet again. After the X-ray/MRI I started my rounds of injections and PT. The injections have stopped the shooting pains but I still have chronic lower back pain. After two rounds, the doctor decided to do a discogram to find the culprit. After the discogram (OUCH) it was confirmed I have a grade 5 annular fissure in L5-S1. He suggested that it's time to move on from conservative treatment and into my surgery options.

Tomorrow I have a surgery consult with a neurosurgeon and hopefully move forward soon into a permanent fix.

Again, thanks everyone for the information and I look forward to being part of the community! :beer:

Hey JustDealing,

Nice talking with you -- good luck tomorrow. Let us know how it goes.

;)

Usually they don't screw that one up too much even if they do a fusion and a fusion that low won't be as tough on the rest of your disks.

Have you had traction?

Your situation sounds so much like mine, though I didn't have an accident to blame for additional pain, just years and years of "dealing with it".

I hope your surgical consult goes well and they give you some good options for moving forward so you can get back on your feet and on with your life. We're entirely too young to be unable to live our lives to the fullest. Though, I'm sure if we had to we'd find ways to continue living as happily as possible, somehow. :)

I look forward to hearing how things went!

Thanks all for the support!


Unfortunately I had to reschedule my consult until next Thursday *sigh*. Hopefully I'll have some more information then, I'm so tired of waiting!

Wow, sorry it took so long to update. It's been a crazy two weeks!

After some consults it was decided a 360 fusion was the best option based off my injuries.

So after running around like a mad man trying to get everything arranged while I'm not working and stuff....I'm 12 hrs post op and all went well!

Of course I'm doped up out of my mind but I can't sleep which is a problem, but it's all good :)

Please excuse the possibly crazy thoughts and typing. I'm on the usual handful of narcotics and getting used to my new iPad I purchased for this joyous occasion (the wife didn't even give me any grief on getting one, being sick has it's advantages! :laugh:)

I'll try to give a better update soon.

Again,

Sorry it's been so long since an update. I'm 2.5 weeks post-op and doing fantastic. I will start a new topic today regarding my procedure and recovery from the 360 lumbar fusion for those of us who are not ADR candidates and would like to learn how a healthy 27 year old has recovered.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and help.

PS- to those who have PM'd me, I promise I'll get back to you today! It's just been crazy with family in town 'helping' for the past two weeks.