Gaz6002 Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Anyone on here ever had a prolapsed disc in their back? How long did it take to heal and were there any lasting side-effects? Is there anything you can't do now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter richards Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 yep ruptured L4 five years ago , put me in hospital for a month in absolute agony ,wouldnt wish that pain on my werst enemy . didnt operate as i was able to wee and poo . took 10 monyh of physio to get better or well enough to have a normal life . on a busy day i know im in for some aching with the next day or two after , but no pain as such . put on lots of weight as i cant run anymore , play football or golf which i used to do before , so i feel a bit lethargic due to not being used to being a fatty , cant go at the misses like i used to got to think now before i do anything that might cause it to come out again , but the physio did say the longer it is before it comes out the better and less chance of it hapening again why you asking ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 why you asking ? I was diagnosed with it yesterday. The consultant told me if I work hard on the physio exercises then it should be OK, but all I keep hearing are horror stories like yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter richards Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 well mine started with a slip going down my street which is steep , and was in hospital within 24 hours and got werse after 48 , then settled but paralised my left leg , it hit the syatic nerve . so the physio was to ease it off that , and strengthen the core muscles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopite Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 My L4 went, had a couple of ops fiddling about but nothing which treated the actual disc itself as it was deemed too risky. It's constant pain but you get used to it, it hurts lying on my back or front for too long but other than that i'm ok. Still play football, go the gym and had no problems other than that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronttuk Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 ive got L11 L12 L13 prolasped sometimes the pain is unbearable but i have good days and bad days ive sufferd for 8 yrs and there seems to be nothing they can do other than offer me an op 50/50 chance of it working but if it dont work theres a 40% chance ill end up in a wheel chair for the rest of my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter richards Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 the only thing that really pisses me off now is i cant do my sports anymore , joined a gym , but stuck it for about a year totally bored as i couldnt do anything rigorous , always have the specialists voice in my head saying if it comes out again you could be in a wheelchair WTF, so i tend to be on the causious side of everything now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter richards Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Alfi L only has 5 ,probably the next section up , as its split into 3 sections lumber 1-5 thoracic 21-1 cervical 7-1 fuck look at me Dr richards lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronttuk Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Alfi L only has 5 ,probably the next section up , as its split into 3 sections lumber 1-5 thoracic 21-1 cervical 7-1 fuck look at me Dr richards lol lol ill dig the paper work out i know its 11 12 13 thinking about it it might be t11 etc i thought i had only 1 prolasped untill a medical last yr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angarak Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 My brother suffered a prolapsed disc on new years eve last year, he spent the first month living on the floor as it was the only place he could get comfortable. It took him about 6 months of physio to sort it, he's now back playing basketball which is quite hard on the back with all the changing direction and jumping involved. He still does the exercises the physio gave him as a preventative measure before he does any form of exercise. Apparently if the disc has prolapsed xxx far they just operate on you, but there is no guarantee it will cure it 100%, even if it does you may still have some soreness due to scar tissue (basically do everything you can to avoid the op!). I know the above sounds gloomy but thats the situation my brother faced, however having followed his physios advice to the letter he is more or less 100% fine now, hopefully you'll make a full and speedy recovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdistc Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Anyone on here ever had a prolapsed disc in their back? How long did it take to heal and were there any lasting side-effects? Is there anything you can't do now? Most of the comments have been pretty bang on - depending on the precise pathology, you'll have different treatment methods and outcomes. Severity of disc damage increases from a discal bulge, to prolapse, herniation and finally sequestration; and the impact of disc damage depends on how it physically affects the surrounding area - it's much more likely to be serious if it touches or compresses a nerve root, or indents the spinal (thecal) sac. Treatment is primarily physiotherapy, core muscle strengthening, and activity modification - but can also mean spinal surgery if no conservative measures resolve your pain / dysfunction. I believe Geo recently had a discectomy or spinal fusion or disc replacement (can't recall which), so he will be able to give you a pretty decent insight into the hows and whys of this injury. I'm also more than happy to try to explain and help with the rehabilitation process Alfi L only has 5 ,probably the next section up , as its split into 3 sections lumber 1-5 thoracic 21-1 cervical 7-1 fuck look at me Dr richards lol Almost right - you had a bit of a dyslexic attack with the Thoracic spine (12 vertebrae). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPRALOOPY Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Oh yes had this last year.. two day in hospital and then two weeks off work, Oh and trhe rest of your life being paranoid about your back. I came down the loft ladders yesterday and for no reason my back started hurting, so \i dosed up on prescription drugs and hoped for the best. I'm ok at the moment but you never know. I do believe its gonna stop me working but when is the big question. Sorry to say this but I only just gone through this and its shit!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPRALOOPY Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Oh L3 for me after reading the thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter richards Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Most of the comments have been pretty bang on - depending on the precise pathology, you'll have different treatment methods and outcomes. Severity of disc damage increases from a discal bulge, to prolapse, herniation and finally sequestration; and the impact of disc damage depends on how it physically affects the surrounding area - it's much more likely to be serious if it touches or compresses a nerve root, or indents the spinal (thecal) sac. Treatment is primarily physiotherapy, core muscle strengthening, and activity modification - but can also mean spinal surgery if no conservative measures resolve your pain / dysfunction. I believe Geo recently had a discectomy or spinal fusion or disc replacement (can't recall which), so he will be able to give you a pretty decent insight into the hows and whys of this injury. I'm also more than happy to try to explain and help with the rehabilitation process Almost right - you had a bit of a dyslexic attack with the Thoracic spine (12 vertebrae).lol 12 i meant unless your a dinosaur, just trying to be cleaver , , but when something life changing happens which it did in my case , research to see where , why and what was something that interested me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loks Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 I had a prolapsed disc a number of years ago. I was basically in varying levels of discomfort for a couple of years - gradually getting worse. I can not work out a specific time or reason for the disc to breakdown. Before the operation I was in horrendous pain and the only comfortable position was laying down flat - sitting was in 5 minutes sessions and when I walked I had sciatica and my right foot flopped around. As I spent most of my time at work on the computer, it meant that I had to give up work too. Spent 10 weeks in hospital when I eventually bit the bullet and rocked up there. What with being out of work for some time I was down to the last of my savings here in Hong Kong and was worried about the cost of any operation. I was living in a country park and had a long walk up a ruddy steep hill to get to the house - hence the long incarseration before the operation. After the tests, which included a bloody great needle injecting some dye into the spinal nerve column , I was diagnosed as having a prolapsed disc - which basically meant that the disc was split and the spongy fluid inside had stretched itself out and had worked itself into the spinal nervous column - therefore the continual pain and sciatica. Had the operation in 1999 in a local government hospital here which meant having key hole surgery to remove the disc between L4&L5, trim it up and replace it. Note: they did not recommend weld the joints together due to my age and they try to avoid this as it puts larger stress on the connecting joints due to less flexibility over the now longer lumber piece. I was out of the hospital around 2 weeks after the operation and had about 6 weeks of follow up physio before I was signed off fully fit. Now the good news - that was over 10 years ago now and I have not had any recurrence of the symptons or pain since. I was really glad I got the operation done in the end - changed my life. I was even able to complete the MacLehose Trailwalk, a year after the operation, which is basically a 100km walk over some serious mofo mountains here in HK. Good luck and I hope you do not have to go through what I had too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supra Size Me Posted February 5, 2010 Share Posted February 5, 2010 Currently suffering and with emphasis on suffering from my L5 going in october last year and have been pretty much immobile from it for the past few months ( no supra for me except to have the mrs ferry me to and from the docs/hospital ) had a nerve root block injection last week but it's not helped much Trying to avoid surgery here if I can too as the loss of disc tissue apparently can have long term implications. Out of curiosity my surgeon said that you can do all the exercise in the world to correct it and can end up making things worse for yourself not better ! as he put it : "It'll go back into place when it bloody welll chooses to !" My G.P. gave me back exercises etc to do and if anything i'm in agreement with the surgeon on this one as finally after doing nothing but get bored out of my mind watching useless T.V. shows for the past few months I can now sit down at the computer again for more than 5 minutes (managed a few hours yesterday) and can now walk down to my local shops and back (250 metres round trip) whereas at the start I genuinely considered having the mrs get me one of those "man potty" things as it was too painful to even crawl..... Anyway to the OP I think I speak for all of us in wishing you a speedy recovery, and try to avoid a discectomy unless it's necessary. as a sidenote anyone wanna swap their how it occured stories on how it happened ? I'll start off with what may be one of the daftest and most unexpected .... Raking some soil flat for a shed foundation after successfully digging out at least a tonne of top soil without a dicky bird going wrong ! upper body twisting FTL Edit: Broad L5 disc prolapse compressing the roots in the lateral recesses with neural compromise ( don't you just love doctor speak ! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted February 5, 2010 Author Share Posted February 5, 2010 Right well thanks for the replies guys. I'm hoping it's not going to get any worse. I've been doing the exercises religiously and I've stiffened up loads, which I think is a good thing... Fingers crossed it's not as bad as some of your experiences. The consultant told me that because of my age (26) I have a good chance of nipping it in the bud without having to have surgery. I'll find out more on my second visit, Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.