Bad Back Blog - Herniated Disc

How I got a herniated disc (bulging disc, buldging disc), and what I’ve done so far to treat it, and the results I’ve got.

G’day (Hi),

I’ve written this ‘about me’ page after I’d already written a number of blog posts, so if some of what I say here seems out of synch with my earlier writings, you know why.

Firstly, my name is Matt, I’m 28, and live in Melbourne, Australia. I suffered my back injury when I was 26 and initially we couldn’t pin point what caused my pain/injury… however we think we’ve managed to narrow it down to a furniture move which was a few weeks prior to me getting any pain down my leg. I lifted a number of large office desks, I was very cautious of lifting from the knees etc, but we think that at the end of the day it was just too heavy.

It probably cracked the annulus (outside casing of your disc) and pushed some of the inner materials out… Hence a bulge, ruptured disc, herniated disc, whatever you want to call it.

It probably didn’t give me any pain at the time because only a small amount of disc material was ejected, but over the next week or 2 as I did more movement etc it pushed more out until I had serious left leg issues.

It started out like a sore muscle, but it would ache if I had to stand. But simply putting my foot on a chair (ie bending my left knee) would stop it.

I then went on a rather large car trip, and that’s where the everything went down hill. I had to sleep in the car, and being asleep, bumping along, sitting up, in an awkward position probably pushed more material out.

I saw the GP, took some time off work, and did the usual initial treatment of anti-inflammatories, and valium (I say ‘usual’, and it is, but I wouldn’t recommend it).

I had a CT scan after the first week, it saw a small defect/bulge. I went back to work for a few more days, and it wasn’t any better… then it went seriously bad, I couldn’t stand, sit, walk, crawl, or lay in bed. I took every drug I could get, I had the GP (family doctor) come in and give me an injection (pain killer). The next day I saw an orthopedic surgeon, had an MRI, and then had an epidural injection (in Hospital).

That’s pretty much the start of the story. I’ve kept reasonable notes as I’ve gone through all the different treatments, and you can go through each step by step here:

My herniated disc summary - a logical grouping

Also, this is probably the best single post I’ve written on what I’ve learnt along the way:
l4-l5-herniated-disc-back-pain-update-7

I’ve written this blog because there was seriously nobody else writing one, and all the information I had was people who were ’selling’ something. For instance they are selling their medical opinion, their medical skills etc etc… the internet and blogs are free advice, that I’m not being paid to write, so you know you’re at least getting what I believe to be the truth which isn’t swayed by dollar signs…. what I’ve had to say might not be right for you, but it should definitely arm you to ask the right questions and see what else is out there.

As always, I encourage every sufferer to let me know what has worked for them. I’m prepared to try it, and give feedback. If you’ve got interesting reading material let me know, and I’ll link to it.

I know if you’ve found this page, chances are you or someone close to you is suffering, but I hope you can find something from this blog that helps you out.

Good luck.

Cheers
Matt

Lastly, I know a lot of people feel disconnected when they’ve got serious back pain, usually stuck at home, or struggling through at work, and nobody can really relate to what you’re going through (especially family). So here’s my email address: wolff@mylifemytravel.com

I’m happy to chew the fat, and just discuss what has/hasn’t worked, where you’re at with it, discuss your thoughts on surgery, talk about the roller coaster ride of emotions you go through… whatever.

Matt