L4/5 Disc prolapse

Hi,

I am really hoping someone can help as i am slowly coming to the end of my tether!

18 months ago i woke up one morning with a nagging pain in my back. Kinda felt like a back splinter and i remember thinking "this is annoying, i can't wait for it to be gone' 18 months later, i still have it...but worse. I was training to be an air hostess at the time and subject to common belief it's not an easy job! I had about 3 weeks of training left, i was determined to get through it so just dosed up on pain killers.

having completed my training i was very much aware that the pain was getting worse so i went to the doctors. He prescribed me some anti inflammotries and told me to go back in a couple of weeks. 2 weeks later i was aware the pain was radiating through my legs and affecting my walking. The doctor prescribed me a hight dosage of anti inflammotries.

One month later i was in hospital after having walked down the stairs and collapsed at the bottom and been unable to find the strength in my legs to stand. I had an MRI scan and the doctor told me i had a 'significant prolapse of L4/5 and needed physio.

I tried physio and more than anything it dehabilitated me. The day after my session I would have a lot of trouble walking-very unsteady on my feet.

I then (after another visit with my doctor) was referred to the nerve clinic at Coventry Hospital. They did another MRI scan and told me that i needed to have my disc removed immediately as there was a danger it would cause permanent damage to my legs. I was in the hospital bed, and about to be wheeled up to the theatre when another Doctor came along and told me to get out the bed and go home. As you can imagine i had several questions but this Doctor just walked off and noone else seemed able to help.

That was November 2007, it is now January 2009 and i seem to be no further forward. I went back to my doctor after this incident and was told i had to give it another 6 months before he could do anything else. He also wanted me to come off my painkillers (which were now Tramadol Hydrochloride) as he was fearful i would become addicted. I was quite adamant that either he did something or let me stay on painkillers (or gave me different ones) as i couldn't tolerate the pain without anything. he let me stay on the pain killers.

I have now been referred to the pain department of Coventry Hospital and a few weeks ago had an epidural injection into my spine which has made absolutely no difference at all-if anything, has made it worse.

I had to give up my job as Cabin Crew as i had an episode on board of my legs going and subsequently failed a medical.

I am really hoping someone can advise me of the best way forward from here as i don't really seem to be making any positive progress and i'm still in a lot of pain!!!!

Sounds like crap management. You can get ride of the pain killers now as any acute injury would be long gone! Of course coming off them causes a reflexive increase in pain so you need a good back physio to work with you at the same time.

Not sure what your doctor's problem was but it seems a tad unethical. Basically you need to be in pain to get a proactive approach to the actual problem. The epidural should have help if it was placed in the correct place, even for a few days.

That said a mechanical cause to the pain might mean the epidural was less effective and warrants more of a specific spinal exercise approach to the issue. Suggest looking around for someone in your local area who promotes that they run a back exercise program. Perhaps your local NHS physio dept has one.

Dear Munchy

The best course of action I think is to get a referall to a new service run in conjunction with physios and GP s. This is called Back Pain Access (BPA).

Basically the service aims to deal with all type of LOWER back pain ( not neck pain). The physio s which run this service ( of which I am one) will examine you and look at all thats happened to you up to now ( all results of scans etc and clinic visits will be available) .

They can refer to Orthopaedic Consultants and for consideration of surgery amongst other options such as Physio etc. The route taken will depend on your symptoms and progression.

To get referred to this service go to GP and ask him to refer to Back Pain Access he should give you an 0800 number and you ring that and get appointment. These happen at Cov and Warwick NOT Walsgrave and waiting time is maybe 10 days.

The clincs run most days.

Hope this helps


PJP

Just READ out what your MRI says, what surgery have you undergone ?

do you have pain only in your back localized or does it radiate down your legs ?

On A Scale of 1-10 how much do you think your pain is ?

Let me know I might be able to help you with few Exercises...

Blesss :)

Hi There my name is Hasan Ali and im 23.
i have been suffering from back pain for almost 2 years now last from 3 or 4 weeks i have pain in my right leg i went to the doc he said to me to have a MRI.
what MRI says is.'' there are multilevel areas of disc is a region of disc herniation at L45 and L5S1 region with the disc at L45 having a central and bilateral para central component with bilateral neural tissue compression.
the disc at L5S1 is having central and right sided component with right sided compression to nerve root.
now doc suggest me to go down for a surgery but i don't wanna do that i just want to have your opinion what should i do in this situation plz guide me further
thanksssss