L4-L5 herniated disc - Back Pain Update #6
Hey, well last few days have been hellish. I’ve been more on the decline rather than the up.
Previously I’ve had CT scans and an MRI, but on Tuesday I had an x-ray of my spine from front on, and from side on. The guy reckons he sees about 10 cases of my back in a year, and he estimates he sees around 300 - 400 new patients a year, which is an inverted lower lumbar. The small of my back is arching the wrong way.. don’t know why.
What makes my case even shitter than normal is that I also have the herniated disc pinching the nerve. As all the specialists have said the herniation is very small and shouldn’t be causing as much pain as it is, but this guy seems to think the combination of the small bulge and herniation with the inverted lower lumbar is giving me all this grief.
The x-rays looked pretty bad, the side on view showed how the arch was inverted, and the front on view showed how my spine skewed to the left. It skews to the left because the left side of the disc has collapsed and squirted out the disc material into the spinal cavity.
Anyhow, a combination of the drugs and the fact I’m not walking, not sitting and not sleeping very well is really starting to get to me and I’m starting to think screw it just have the surgery and be done with it.
I’m actually typing this sitting up and I’m trying to sit in a chair with a lumbar support (rolled up towel) and although I’ve got some pain in my calf generally I’d have to say it’s going okay, not sure if I’m ready for a full day at work yet, and there’s no way I could do it in a normal office chair.
Work is organising an occupational health and safety officer to visit me on Monday morning in the office to measure me up, buy me a chair, new desk if needed and get everything aligned at the right heights…. She’ll have to do it all very fast cause I can’t stand for more than 2 minutes, and I can’t sit for more than 2 minutes if I don’t have a chunk lumbar support…. basically I have to lie down on my side (either side works) and get into a huddled position knees to my chest, with a pillow in between… and wait until all the cramping stops. The shitty thing is that the cramping is coming from the nerve being compressed not from strenuous muscle activity, so no amount of rubbing or pushing in creams is effective (which seriously blows).
Anyhow, that’s pretty much it.
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