Getting antsy down here but back may not want to cooperate

Tired of the heat and humidity. Ready to fire up them stihls if my back don't keep me from it. Dang L4 and 5 disc issues. Mri on Tuesday. Ones with experience Are the injections worth fooling with?

 

No experience with injections here. But hope the best for you so you can get out there and do what you want rebelduckman.

 

Sucks having back issues when you want to run the saws. I hope you can find a remedy to ease the pain.

 

I can speak into that. MRI beginning of April, same area as you, herniated disc and 2 other areas with narrowing space on the spine. Pain down my right leg and into my groin so bad I couldn't walk, sleep or anything it hurt so bad. Traction for a month 6 days a week helped, 2 rounds of pain shots (second one helped the most). BUT what has helped the most is this book. The pushup type exercise several times a day has worked wonders. I had been doing it at the direction of my chiro but only once a day and also the knee lifts but I think the knee lifts were keeping it aggravated, now just the pushup exercise.
Treat Your Own Back Robin A McKenzie

 

Good tips LP. I hope u feel better too.

 

I don't know anything about MRI's, but I'm with you on the heat and humidity. Enough already. Hope everything shows up good. Heel quick, but as others have said don't push it.

 

Hope everything with the MRI goes well and the back pain issue can be resolved easily. Feel better.

LP, great tip on the back pain. Hope you feel better too.

 

Herniated L4-5 operated on in 1996. I could not walk and the pain down my left leg was unbearable. Could not feel my left foot so with all this I jumped at the first date I could get for the operation. 6 inch scar on my back but got out of bed two days later and been great since.

 

Herniated L3-L4 and L4-L5 back in 2004. Had both discs repaired and I was on my feet by the end of the day of surgery. I had terrible pain down my left leg. Pain meds did nothing to deal with the pain. After surgery the pain was gone. I was sorry I waited so long to go in and get it taken care of.

 

I herniated my l5-s1, had a microdiscectomy in July 2011 and haven't looked back. I never bothered with shots, I fought the pain for a long time(PT etc) but dr told me shots were only gonna be temporary so I opted to just get it done and start healing. Immediate relief from the nerve pain that was down my left leg and into my foot.

I also have sspondylolisthesis on the same level so will likely need a fusion someday but as of now things are a ok.

 

Lots of encouraging words there guys. I feel better about the situation now. Thanks for all the info

 

One word of advice, stay off the spine forums. Most of those people seem to be the ones that didn't have great success. I was scared as hell after reading that stuff, good thing my wife was able to talk me off the ledge. Since I had my work done the laser option is getting used more and seems to really speed up healing times. A coworker went that route and a few days out he was like I was at the two week mark.

 

I started getting symptoms this March, laid off the heavy work in early April, but by the end of the month I started down the path that led to a mid-June L5-S1 microdiscectomy for both sides. While waiting for a surgery date I did a round of steroid pills, and that helped quite a bit. Post-surgery has been very good so far, but still in a 20-lb limitation on lifting, with no twisting or bending, so I haven't tested it in any real way. I still have numbness in both feet, but no pain at all.

Friends at work report a range of benefits from the injections; they say sometimes it helps them a lot, and other times very little. I was lucky enough to skip straight past all that in-between stuff.

 

I've had some back issues in the past but never had anything done so I'm of little help there. I'm down at the moment as I was working on a barn and had an overhead crossbeam shear it tenon and got me on the head and shoulders. Problem was there was at least 12 more beams (4x4's) on top of it. c5, c6, c6 T1 and L1 fractured with some hematomas. 3 days in with 2 CT scans, 2 MRI's and xrays. Amazingly no lingering pain just waiting for stuff to heal so I know how the cabin fever is. They were not used to someone refusing all pain meds as it wasn't needed. VERY lucky to be okay from this.

I wish you the best and hope they can get you some relief.

 

Kevin in Ohio Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery.

 

Well MRI shows a bulging disc and degenerative disc disease down there in the bottom 3 discs. I guess it could be much worse.

 

Hang in there, bud. Hoping you can get this resolved.

 

Agreed,,, even with a good back , long hard hours at work combined with the heat are keeping me away from the wood pile. Luckily early spring I moved most of a heaphausen from down back up to the house wood shed/pass through with the loader when the ground was still froze. It's sitting there patiently for cooler weather and free time. Only need to stack in about 2 1/2 cord.

 

I think this is what I need. Im 20 years post op but regular back and core exercise is something I have to work better on. Thanks eh.