wmcgowin

Hi all. I have been here a couple of months, and want to tell everyone the good thing that (I hope) is happening.

I have an L4/L5 herniation with sciatica. Pretty common problem for a guy (or girl) with a desk job). I have been battling it for 8 months with little success. Had a series of epidurals, been on Mobic regularly, and Soma and pain pills as needed. Also had PT.

I would wake up tilted sideways, pretty much unable to walk more than a few feet. After a couple of hours I could get around (usually), but it always came back. The pain was awful (I can only imagine what you guys with worse damage must go through!). The big problem to me was that it just wasn't seeming to get better, until yesterday. Yesterday I woke up, and I could stand up! The same thing today! I am astonished-it's like a switch was flipped and all of a sudden I am on the mend. I had heard that recovery with this might seem sudden, and they were right. I am so glad, because I was going to call my neurosurgeon in a couple of weeks if this kept up.

I still have a ways to go, but I am so happy to see progress. This thing was really starting to affect me mentally-it can cause depression, as you all know. I wanted to share this, so that you can see that you can get better-so much of what is on this board is about the bad outcomes (which is understandable), and I thought it would be good to share a hopeful story. I'll still have pain, and probably never be back to my old self (running, which I loved to do, is gone for good), but I can live with the way I am now.

I hope this helps someone.