Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site. I had a discorgam two days ago (Not Fun!!).
The doctor told me I have a problem with my L5/S1.
Does anyone know what this means?

Thank you

It means you may have degeneration or bulging or herniation of the disc in that location of the spine. Each vertibrea is numbered. L5 is the last lumbar vertibrea. S1 is the first sacral vertibrea. L5-S1 is the disc location between these two vertibrea. You will want to ask specifically what problems he is referring to in order to understand what may need to happen next. I hope this helps!

Hello Jahindy. Welcome to the board. I hope you find all the answers you're looking for here. You'll find out soon enough but people here are wonderful, not only have we all "been there, done that" so we have a ton of info but we also know how you feel, so if you have a question or just need to vent, we're here.

The dr. who told you there was a problem w/L5-S1, was that just the dr. performing the discogram or the dr. who is treating you? Do you have a f/u appt w/your dr. to discuss the test results?

This is my understanding of discograms:
Dr's perform discograms when other treatments (like spinal fusions) fail to relieve your pain after dr's fix discs that clearly have shown up damaged on an mri. Have you heard that saying - "looks are deceiving"? Apparently, that can apply with discs - discs that look heavily damaged may not cause extreme pain but discs that don't appear to be very damaged at all can actually be causing all of your pain. So, I would say your dr. meant your L5-S1 disc is the 1 causing your pain. That's the way I understand discograms but I'm not an expert and could be mistaken so please confirm this with your dr.

Good Luck to you.

Don't forget to ask about the sacroiliac joint. A lot of doctors won't even mention this, but it is absolutely key.

I had a disc herniation at L5/S1 but it is secondary to the fact my sacroiliac joint was unstable and out. Correct the SI problem and often the disc will sort itself (unless it's ruptured as in my case)