New Member: Madeline, 20

[Madeline]

Hi all!

I am a 20 year old college student. Over the past year, I have coughed myself into severe back spasms twice, and finally this past New Year's I had a back spasm while snowboarding and somehow I herniated my L5-S1 disc causing sciatica down the left leg. The pain became excruciating but over the 2 months since then it has subsided for the most part with drugs, bed rest, etc. I have started PT and I had a steroid epidural this last week. Although the pain is no longer constant, one misstep and my nerve gets aggravated again. Turns out I have DDD in all my Lumbar discs, and the doctor said this is likely to cause issues in the future. I am not sure what I am going to do, but if I am unable to live my normal life (exercising, going out with friends, being able to write a paper while sitting for 8 hours) then I am probably going to consider surgery after this semester... I am interested in the pro's and con's of the different types of surgery, what recovery is like, etc...

The other thing is that because of my back pain during the beginning of the semester and my inability to attend classes for sometime, I am doing one of my required projects (in cultural anthropology) on back pain. If any of you are willing to help me with my project by discussing your experiences, please shoot me a message!

Madeline

[Harrison]

Hi Madeline.

Sorry you are here, but I hope we can help you. Your situation sounds much like a few other (young) members here, like Too Young For This et al. At some point, you may want to send a PM to these other members. Also, take a look through their posts, as they may help you identify ideas or other tidbits of good information.

In the the meantime, can you tell us a bit more about the imaging studies you've had? Do these reports say anything about facet arthritis (or arthrosis)? Do you attribute your situation to snowboarding injuries?

PS: Please add a signature, using the "User CP" in the upper left corner. You can set up your profile and communication preferences too.

[Madeline]

Hi,

I am feeling somewhat better now that the epidural has kicked in. I had two types of imaging: xray and MRI.

X-ray - showed decreased disc space in lower lumber area

MRI - abnormalities noted in L2-L3, L3-L4, L4-L5, L5-S1
Basically with each of those discs, there was noted desiccation of the disc, degenerative Schmorl nodes, degenerative endplate osteophyte, bilateral degenerative (bilateral) facet hypertrophy, degenerative endplate osteophytes. L3-L4 - probable annular tear; L4-L5 - probable annular tear (bulging); L5-S1 - large left paracentral disc herniation that severely narrows the left lateral recess, impinging S1 nerve root, bilateral mild neural foraminal narrowing.
Overall impressions - multilevel degenerative spondylosis of the lumber spine with left paracentral herniation at L5-S1 pinching the S1 nerve root.

So after spending sometime looking up definitions on the internet, all of those seem to be either caused by or indicative of DDD or arthritis... Though I am not sure, all the terminology is confusing.

I do not attribute it to snowboarding at all. I had a back spasm while snowboarding and then I had to get down the mountain (also involving clipping in and out of bindings, getting up/down), which I think caused the herniation. I think snowboarding was sort of just another excuse for my back to misbehave. I could feel my back becoming cranky after working out during late December (the herniation was on Jan 1st), and over the past year the back spasms were getting progressively more painful and lengthy. I am hoping that this incident was just the last straw in what was about a year of periodic muscle spams, but given my MRI report, I feel like this will not be the last time this happens or if this is the worst.

Thanks for the help!
Madeline

[Madeline]

So I just had to get my second epidural this month since the first one wore off. My condition seems to have plateaued with good days and bad days of (manageable) pain, but I am still unable to do much of anything.

I am kind of stuck, and I need to make a decision on how to proceed relatively soon. The two spinal surgeons I have seen (one while at school and one at home) have said that it is at the point where there is a small chance of it getting better on its own and they have said that I will probably need to get a microdiscectomy (at L5 S1). My PT people, however, say they think it will get better if I continue to do the exercises, etc. I am not really sure how to take this - of course PT would suggest PT and the surgeon would suggest surgery...

Does anyone have any suggestions how to mediate this? I am not sure what to think - I am fed up and want to get on with life, but I'm not really sure if it is a good idea to get back surgery at 20...

Please let me know if you have any suggestions, etc!

Madeline

[annapurna]

Pin the PT people down on a specific amount of time or number of visits that they think you'd need to start seeing results. If they refuse to give a number, don't put a lot of faith in them. Try the PT for whatever time you settle on while you work with the surgeon, picking one, settling on where the surgery would be, can you afford it, etc. If the PT does work you can unwind your surgery plans, if it doesn't you haven't lost much by the time you took.

[Cirobi]

Madeline,

I'd have to agree with annapurna on this. Talk to both sides and get as many details as possible including time frames. If you feel like the PT is helping, keep doing it with plenty of rest. It may not be something that can be healed naturally in only a couple months, which is likely not the best news for you but realistic. If PT is not helping, then keep discussions open and options open with your surgeon. Find out what kind of surgeries are options for you from your surgeon. He may be suggesting a microdiscectomy but do you know exactly why he makes that assessment? Some surgeons have different reasons for trying different things and I found it helpful to ask where their reasoning came from when talking to the surgeons I worked with pre-op.

It's always best to try and let your body heal itself, but sometimes that's not possible or can't be done without majorly impacting your normal lifestyle. I can definitely sympathize with your position as I spent a good 10 yrs dealing with back pain, shying away from various physical activities because of it and basically getting fatter than I wanted from the lack of exercise due to pain. If my back hadn't given me the final "eff you" when it did, I'd probably still be gimping around miserable.

I had my disc replacement just after my 27th birthday and it was probably one of the best birthday presents I could have ever given myself. I am one of the lucky ones who was able to find a successful means of resolving my back pain. Hopefully it'll continue to be successful. Now, that isn't to say I never feel any discomfort, because I do, but it's relatively easy to deal with. i.e. avoid certain folding chairs, don't do anything stupid, listen to my body, etc.

At these earlier stages I think patience and education are going to be your two strengths. Dig through these forums as there's a wealth of information and personalize experiences that you can draw questions and answers from. Feel free to present as many questions as you have to the group here as there's almost always someone who can provide some kind of answer or guidance. But most of all, keep asking your doctors questions and make sure they give you answers you understand. If they say something that confuses you, keep asking more questions until you have a good understanding of what's going on, where you can go with it and what the potential outcomes are. If something a doctor says about your current situation makes you feel uncomfortable or unsure, get another physician's opinion.

Here's to hoping you find a solution that fits your situation best.

~Sara