Hi,

I am 19 and I have a really bad back. My problems are in the L-4, L-5 region. I have seen an orthopedic specialist dealing with backs, and he sent me to a pain specialist after telling me that I have the back of someone who is 45. I have since had 4 facet injections, 2 epidurals, and a double rhizotomy. None of them helped me for as long as they were supposed to. All of this was before the end of the school year last year. Right now, my back is worse than it has ever been before. It hurts me standing and sitting. I can lay down, but any movement once I've settled hurts terribly. I don't know what to do. My mom doesn't want me going to see a different specialist if all they are going to say is that they don't know what to do. I can't accept that I will have to spend the rest of my life in this pain. Please, I would appreciate any responses and advice.

Thank you so much.

Have you had an MRI? What does it say on the MRI? Is the pain because of disks or a narrow spinal canal, or something else? Do you have incontinence problems? What kind of pain is it, describe it please?

Frankie

Well, I have had MRIs on my lower spine (sorry I forgot to mention this). The Dr. said I had disc dejeneration of my lower lumbar and herniated discs. This was all done last school year. I have had some incontinence and I have also now not had a cylce in over two and a half months (I don't know if it is related). Now, my pain has at least doubled since last year. I get shooting pains that radiate from my lumbar region into my upper back and down my legs. It hurts enough it has me squirming and wanting to cry. It is just getting incredibly hard to do the things I have to do as a college student--walking to class and sitting in hard seats for an hour to an hour and a half at a time. Thanks for the prompt response!

The reason I asked is I have CES (Cauda Equina Syndrome) this is a rare condition. The incontinence is a sign. The Acute version is an emergency situation. It is also something that many Doctors miss because it is rare. Caudaequina.org is a website that has information for you to look at, if it is this condition left untreated it can result in paralysis. Degenerative translated usually means arthritis. Sitting in the seats pain but no pain when sitting on a toilet can indicate involvement with the pudendal nerve. The herniation of the disk can cause compression in the spine which effects the nerve bundle called the cauda equina (a part of the spinal cord), if this is what is happening that pressure is pressing on nerves it needs to be decompressed.
In my situation the emergency room Doctor did an MRI, and diagonised it. You said you are in college, mine had a campus hospital go there with your MRI information and what you read on the website. Or take the information to your Doctor, if this is your condition time is important because what you lose is seldom regained, the longer it is untreated the worse it will get.

I am not a Doctor. Frankie

I have the same problem. I'm not 19 though, 29, but I have a herniated disc and a bulging disc. L4-L5 and L5-S1. I'm still working on it but here's what I've done to get a it a bit better.

Physical therapy with someone who knows about herniated discs. Make sure you go to someone who has worked one on one and not just strap you to a machine and leave you there. The physical therapist I had moved me around a lot. TAPPED me! Like they tape football players to help support my back. That worked very well. I was doing lots of press ups. Like a push up but with hips on the floor.

I also went to a Chiropractor that didn't help. They just adjusted me and I left there with pain. Now I go to another Chiropractor that does manual spine decompression and acupuncture. That seems to work pretty well, I've actually had days with NO PAIN! But then I have days with pain, soooo it's very tricky.

I also have at home an upside down table. I've used it a few times and it helps temporarily but not long term. I've used it once a day for 5 min at a time but then I started the 2nd Chiropractor and stopped cause I didn't want it to interfere with what he was doing.

Now I've decided to go see my orthopedic again to get a prescription for more physical therapy. I'm hoping that a combination of chiropractor work, acupuncture, and physical therapy will get it under control. Probably need to work out and get my back in better shape for better support.

I also take Glucosamine and MSM every day but I'm not sure if it helps. I drink a lot of coffee which I've been told is bad for back problems also. I tried stopping coffee cold turkey for one month, saw no results, I've been drinking it again and everything is still the same.

Hmmm, what else...

Doctors offered to do shots but I don't want those. The way I see it is it just covers the pain. Pain is there to let your body know there is something wrong "so watch what you do". If you just mask it you could seriously make your back much worse. That's just what I think and I'm not a doctor.

I'm a very active person and these back problems can get very depressing. I'm a dance instructor and I teach about 25 hours a week besides doing all of the every day stuff. I teach ballroom dancing that many times includes bending forward, which I can not do anymore, and lifting girls, which I do sometimes but very, very carefully!! I hope that one day I'll get this completely under control.

I'm writing all of this in case there is someone out there looking for pain relief like me and hopefully my experience will help. Everyone is different and with back pain it seems that what fixes one may not fix another. Surgery though seems to just make things worse for everyone, from what I've read.

Please share your experiences so that anyone researching back problems can get ideas on what they can try to relieve this horrible pain.

PS- I noticed that the original posting was about a year ago. mdh111688, did you get your back fixed?