I have had severe back pain and numbness into my right leg and foot. An MRI showed a bulge at L4-L5 and slightly more at L5-S1. I'm being seen by an orthopedic specialist who sent me through a series of injections (epidurals) to L4-L5 and L5-S1. These injections provided some relief, but only temporarily. Now he recommends a Myelogram and CT scan to pin-point that area causing the pain more precisely. I though the MRI should have been enough.:(

I, too, have a bulge at L5-S1, but the nerve specialist I saw here in Maine doesn't like putting needles anywhere near the area because he saw too many people at the last practice he worked for lose use of a leg because the needle hit at just the wrong place...

You don't mention how long you've had your problem, but I've been fighting my back pain since November 11, 1997, when doing too much bending, lifting and twisting at work caused the issue. What my doctors and I have found works best is a combination of working out with pretty light weights - so that I'm pulling and stretching the muscles, but not building up muscle mass or overworking the "problem zone" - plus 800 mg Naproxen (the prescription version of Aleve) to keep down the swelling and, on the nights that I've overdone it and need a little bit more painkiller to sleep, a 10 mg Flexoril (combination sedative and muscle relaxer). Although my doctors would prefer that I take the Naproxen every day, I usually only do about 3 per week because I also happen to have a weak stomach that gets very upset with the meds.

I won't tell you that the above regimen keeps me 100% pain free, but it keeps me at about an 75% pain free level - and if I take the Naproxen every day like they want, I can get close to an 85% so long as I don't mind heartburn... *grin*

Another thing that I recently was cleared for and that REALLY helps a lot is getting a therapeutic massage once a month. On the day of the treatment, I go home feeling like a limp ragdoll - but I get to about a 95% pain relief situation for the first week or so, depending on how stressed I get at work!

The only other thing I will add here is that the MRI is strictly a diagnostic tool. It tells the doctor exactly where you have the problem and what that problem actually is so they can treat it right. I didn't get my MRI until 2001, when nothing seemed to be working any more and I got a little belligerent about it all. (Because it was a Worker's Comp claim, I was at the mercy of my former employer - who refused to allow it to happen because then they would have had to admit it was DEFINITELY work related damage. When I paid for the MRI out of my own pocket and got the above diagnosis, the Worker's Comp board reopened my case, which allowed me to see the nerve specialist twice now and actually start getting relief from the pain. Prior to that, I was going to weekly physical therapy as well as seeing a bone specialist when the problem was neither the bone nor the muscle, per se - so the company ended up saving money in the long run since I stopped seeing both of the therapists and am now self-regulating.)

Of course, not knowing where you are in the treatments or how much pain you're in daily, these are just suggestions that you may wish to run by your doctors. I sincerely hope that you can reduce your pain to the point I have, as I now am at a constant low ache, as if I have a permanent sprain, and only end up resorting to the heavy-duty pill when I do something stupid - like taking too long a paddle in my kayak or weeding my entire flower garden at one go.

Take care!