Well hello everybody, first of all I'm new here and I hope this site helps me with my recovery and I thank you in advance..

Well about 6 months ago [15 at the time] I herniated my L4-L5 disc. The doctor said it happened over time through bodybuilding, but the major pain suddenly happened one day when I was outside just picking up a basketball.

Anyways, I went through about 5 sessions of chiropracting at the beginning, i've had a couple sessions of physical therapy, i've gotten 2 spot epidural/chortizone injections, gone through exercises, and i've been taking meloxicam in the morning, some abo-g... stuff at night, and codeine regularily... Nothing has helped and after all this time, I am still in lots of pain.

Obviously because I was working out a lot [bodybuilding] this has been very emotionally damaging watching myself lose lots of muscle and gain a good amount of bodyfat.

Guys can anyone help me get cured [better] so I can get back in the gym, and even get back to living a pain-free life.????

I am sorry you are going through this at such a young age. My daughter was 16 as well, when she was Dx. with DDD of her lumbar spine. I don't have any cure all for you, but I can tell you that aquatic excercise has helped a lot and avoid doing what is causing the most irritation. (Which means having to journal your activities and your pain level each day for awhile, so you knbow exactly what activities cause the most flare ups.) If you start with aquatics, make sure to do more walking types of excercises and if you swim...back stroke and breast stroke are less strain on you back than the regular front stroke.

You will find this website to be a great place for support and ideas. I hope you will be able to get the help you need.

Lorie:angel:

hey there. i can relate to your problem, i also herniated a disk (L5-S1) when i was about 16. i hurt it in the weight room for football and then again playing basketball, and the 2nd time the pain never went away. tried everything - pain meds, P/T, chiropractor, etc. i was 19 by the time the dr. decided conservative treatment wasn't doing the trick and and i had a microdiscectomy.
surgery should always be the last option, but if nothing else is working i would recomend pushing for it. by the time my dr. sent me to a neurosurgeon, i had spent 3 years in pain and not being able to play sports. i also was no longer covered by my parents' insurance and had to file bankruptcy bucause of the surgery bills. you also have to consider the possibility that you could develope nerve damage - the longer the nerve is compressed by the herniation the more likely damage can occur.
the operation worked great for me, i made a full recovery and only wish i had it done sooner. so anyway, my advice would be to have an MRI and take the results to a neurosurgeon and get their opinion. good luck

thanks for the replys.. Well my doctor is a neurosurgeon, and he once offered surgery, but my mom, him and I all agreed that this isn't the best option for someone at a young age, because still with the recovery, I will still be limited in life. I think the whole sitting at school chairs, and carrying around books/bags is doing a lot of harm towards my back.

You think after all this time I can still take a sick leave from the school or something?

I don't know your state laws about time off of school, but in Va my daughter missed the last month of sophmore year. Then for 3 mo. of her junior year and all of senior year, she had a reduced schedule. Where we live, a child can be out of high school, due to sickness, for 2 wks. If you still need to be out of school, the school system is required to send a tutor to your home to home school you. Also, if there is a illness, you can go to school and just take your senior core classes that you need to graduate and go home early or go in late to take them. She was able to go in at lunch time and take 2 classes a day.

I would suggest that your parents talk with the counselor and I am sure they will be able to work something out. Also, my daughter couldn't carry a back pack anymore, it hurt her back too bad. So she kept all her books in her locker and the couselor made arrangements with her teachers to leave class 10 mis. early so that she could get to her locker in between classes. She was also allowed to arrive 10 mins. late to her 1st class andleave the last class 10 mins. early. (This was to allow her to walk through the halls without the rush of kids, due to her leg weakness from the back issues).

Talk to your counselor and see how they can help. Also, I just wanted to mention that your Neurosurgeon should be a spine specialist. If he is not, you may want to see one. You can read many posts here that talk about the great differences between a general Orth./Neuro. surgeon and one who only works on spines.

Good luck,
Lorie:angel:

it has been said that surgery should be the last thing to do, when I have found out that it should be the first thing that should have been done. The longer you put this off, it will not fix it's self, a nd you will suffer nerve damage. And at your young age, you will bounce right back after surgery and you will not even notice any limitations. I would loook into a doctors second opinion. Your mother and first Doctor has left you in pain, you need to get a second opnion from another surgeon for conditions this severe. Getting soft and chubby is not a bad thing. Being buff and crippled is a bad thing. Please go and find a second opnion.

i would agree with coast guard dad - it would be a good idea to get a 2nd opinion from another neurosurgeon. before i had my operation, my neurosurgeon told me that at my age (19) i would have a 95-98% chance of making a full recovery, which i did. at your young age you probably will heal very quickly also.
surgery is a scary thing to consider, but depending on the severity of your herniation, you may be facing the possibility of irreversible nerve damage. you definately don't want pain and/or discomfort for the rest of your life.

great answers. thanks a lot.

i might take my courses down to like 4 and 2 external classes, so I have half days like an earlier poster mentioned. I'm trying one last method [that worked on my mom's friend] with another doctor [no idea what it is] and if this doesn't work, it's surgery.

thanks a lot, this forum and it's people are great.