Ongoing back pain
by stuart
(uk)
This is more a question, wondering if anyone has suffered the same.
At the age of 30 I slipped a disc L4/L5 which kept me on my back for a while. Ever since then regularly 1 to 2 times each year for the past 20 years (I am now 50) I suffer the same back problem, nearly always caused by, as an example,a bumpy bus/car journey, riding a motorbike, driving a tractor etc anything that gives a shudder up through the spine when going over a bump.
I know when it happens but at the time it is not painful, after about 3 days the right leg gets a lot more numb above the knee than usual and a visible swelling appears on the spine lower back. Then the lower back pain gets so immense that lying down is the only way to stop the pain which it does, the moment you try and stand putting weight back on the lower back the pain returns to such a degree that you cannot move.
My usual routine is to stay lying down and take diclofenac sodium inflammation tablets for approx 5 days easing the pain considerably and enabling me to walk again, and after a further 2-3 weeks of being careful almost getting back to normal until the next bump in the road takes me by surprise.
Apart from going to the local doctor i have not seeked anymore advise, just lived with it, until last year the doctor sent me to see a specialist that stated amongst other things after seeing the MRI that,the L4/L5 intervertobral disc is degenerate with evidence of an annulus tear and annular bulge.
This does not appear to be causing nerve root compromise although it does give the canal a triangular configuration. There is also an annular disc bulge at L5/S1 with a lett paracentral preponderance. This abuts the left S1 nerve root as it exits the thecal sac but does not obviously displace or compress it. The specialist did advise I try injections into the spine (can't think of the name) which I did but with no significant improvement.
I am back to see the specialist in a few weeks, so just doing a bit of research.
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