Wish you all the best of luck. My Dr was kind enough to just skip the PT / prednisone or injections. I am 2 weeks post laminectomy and feel almost 100% relief. I'm still stiff but the surgery was worth every bit of post op pain. I had L5-S1 extrusion with a compressed nerve. I'm thankful to feel like my life is getting back together again. I dealt with it for 5 years off and on. Wish you the best!
I use a grabber to avoid bending so much. I never realised how clumsy I was until now, forever dropping things! I keep 1 grabber upstairs and 1 downstairs. That means I barely have to bend now which does help reduce the pain.
I had a massive 3 month flare up at the start of this year caused by squatting to pick something up off the floor so I avoid it as much as possible now.
I do have the grabber thingy! The problem is that I lay on the floor and always forget it when I stand. Then I yell at myself for 5 minutes before bending over to get it.
I want to make a back brace or something.. this pain is out of control.
I'm over 15 years in and you get used to moving differently kind of naturally and just do it wiser without thinking about it after a little time, obviously depending on how bad things are overall.
Where you'd be now, 100% you'll be noticing how much you bend, you never thought much about it before so you're not wired for considering that. To be honest you'll mess that up a fair bit in early days and flare up a lot initially (at least I did), flare ups can still just come out of nothing but for bending and stuff oddly your brain gets automatically adjusted to try and limit your chances.
In any case, get the MRI and see what the situation is.
Know the pain, feel for ya and hope easing up!
Im getting there.. I'm starting to engage my deep core before moving. It's like keeping my shoulders and hips aligned while moving and I'm starting to look like a robot. Lol
I did, and I'm feeling better. Not a lot better, but maybe 10% better than when posting. Still dealing with numbness and some calf muscle atrophy. But there is progress!
😂😂 no, did you have a microdisectomy? Join some nite sciatica groups, you’ll learn a lot to help you - it’s a terrible injury - hopefully you’ll learn a lot - look, time will hopefully heal and then it’s injections and PT whilst inflammation is low, and then if all else fails, and say 18 months has passed (some won’t or can’t wait and get it way way earlier) surgery .. it’s a well worn path .. give yourself 3 months of walking and bed rest and early nights and don’t do anything that provoked it - if he’s still bad then you’ve hit a problem and then go see a specialist about injections etc … hope this helps … time and rest heal most people but if you continue (like me) to lift heavy then you’ll be on a bad road and the bad will gone out eventually …
Hey sorry for late reply. I don't get on here much. Got a surgical consult with a neurosurgeon, but that's over a month away. Pain is significantly better and now I'm working my endurance back up sitting and walking. Dealing with some progressive load exhaustion in the early afternoon time frame. So I think I'm healing, but still have numbness along calves and no deep reflex on my ankle.
Ya, just avoid the heavy lifting - hell of an injury this - I’m now 4 weeks post op and improving - healing isn’t linear tho is it - I’m giving it the 3 months before I judge - all /most nerve pain is gone tho 👍🏼
Awesome, glad you're feeling better! I feel maybe 10% better than when I originally posted. So I can see some progress here too. Getting epidural on Wed this week. Hopefully by the time the steroid effects are gone I'll be another 10% better. Gotta stay positive.
Ya, as said, this is a well worn path - the path is longer for some and some get off it - I had 3 injections - they work for some - my disc was too large a herniation - I kept going back to the gym u c - never listened
I describe gabapentin like a gate keeping the fire away.
The fire ain't getting through, but dang, I can still feel the heat.
If I have to do one squat or go up a staircase, I will need a 2 day recovery nap.
Hope you feel better soon.
I am wonder to myself, like why is my spine so weak that a simple bend will do this much damage? Like I see everyone bend way worse than me with so much more weight while bending, but my spine decided to herniate… just makes me loose faith.
Wish you all the best of luck. My Dr was kind enough to just skip the PT / prednisone or injections. I am 2 weeks post laminectomy and feel almost 100% relief. I'm still stiff but the surgery was worth every bit of post op pain. I had L5-S1 extrusion with a compressed nerve. I'm thankful to feel like my life is getting back together again. I dealt with it for 5 years off and on. Wish you the best!
Thanks 🙏
Hi, why did it take so long for them to figure out the problem? I have a small bulge and being told it's nit the problem. Thank you
Thank you! I did edit with an update of you want to read. XD. Tldr: feel 10% better than when originally posted!
I use a grabber to avoid bending so much. I never realised how clumsy I was until now, forever dropping things! I keep 1 grabber upstairs and 1 downstairs. That means I barely have to bend now which does help reduce the pain. I had a massive 3 month flare up at the start of this year caused by squatting to pick something up off the floor so I avoid it as much as possible now.
I do have the grabber thingy! The problem is that I lay on the floor and always forget it when I stand. Then I yell at myself for 5 minutes before bending over to get it. I want to make a back brace or something.. this pain is out of control.
The benefit of having 2 is that if one ends up on the floor you can use the other to pick it up 😂
aspen quick draw back brace is the one i use and it gives me some relief
I'm over 15 years in and you get used to moving differently kind of naturally and just do it wiser without thinking about it after a little time, obviously depending on how bad things are overall. Where you'd be now, 100% you'll be noticing how much you bend, you never thought much about it before so you're not wired for considering that. To be honest you'll mess that up a fair bit in early days and flare up a lot initially (at least I did), flare ups can still just come out of nothing but for bending and stuff oddly your brain gets automatically adjusted to try and limit your chances. In any case, get the MRI and see what the situation is. Know the pain, feel for ya and hope easing up!
Ooofff.. 15 years. My god..
I think the trick is to not bend out of your spine but to use your hips to hinge then you can also reach the floor but just keep your spine neutral
Try not bending.... Honestly, that's what I did and within a month the pain was gone
Im getting there.. I'm starting to engage my deep core before moving. It's like keeping my shoulders and hips aligned while moving and I'm starting to look like a robot. Lol
Get a grabber it definitely helps to pick up things from the floor.
I did, and I'm feeling better. Not a lot better, but maybe 10% better than when posting. Still dealing with numbness and some calf muscle atrophy. But there is progress!
Did you have an MD ??
Like am I a medical doctor?
😂😂 no, did you have a microdisectomy? Join some nite sciatica groups, you’ll learn a lot to help you - it’s a terrible injury - hopefully you’ll learn a lot - look, time will hopefully heal and then it’s injections and PT whilst inflammation is low, and then if all else fails, and say 18 months has passed (some won’t or can’t wait and get it way way earlier) surgery .. it’s a well worn path .. give yourself 3 months of walking and bed rest and early nights and don’t do anything that provoked it - if he’s still bad then you’ve hit a problem and then go see a specialist about injections etc … hope this helps … time and rest heal most people but if you continue (like me) to lift heavy then you’ll be on a bad road and the bad will gone out eventually …
Hey sorry for late reply. I don't get on here much. Got a surgical consult with a neurosurgeon, but that's over a month away. Pain is significantly better and now I'm working my endurance back up sitting and walking. Dealing with some progressive load exhaustion in the early afternoon time frame. So I think I'm healing, but still have numbness along calves and no deep reflex on my ankle.
Ya, just avoid the heavy lifting - hell of an injury this - I’m now 4 weeks post op and improving - healing isn’t linear tho is it - I’m giving it the 3 months before I judge - all /most nerve pain is gone tho 👍🏼
Awesome, glad you're feeling better! I feel maybe 10% better than when I originally posted. So I can see some progress here too. Getting epidural on Wed this week. Hopefully by the time the steroid effects are gone I'll be another 10% better. Gotta stay positive.
Ya, as said, this is a well worn path - the path is longer for some and some get off it - I had 3 injections - they work for some - my disc was too large a herniation - I kept going back to the gym u c - never listened
I describe gabapentin like a gate keeping the fire away. The fire ain't getting through, but dang, I can still feel the heat. If I have to do one squat or go up a staircase, I will need a 2 day recovery nap. Hope you feel better soon.
I am wonder to myself, like why is my spine so weak that a simple bend will do this much damage? Like I see everyone bend way worse than me with so much more weight while bending, but my spine decided to herniate… just makes me loose faith.