Over 90% of all disc herniations will eventually reabsorb on their own. It can take several months, and you need to cease all lifting. Gentle prudent PT may also help. Warm baths followed by ice, muscle relaxers and anti-inflamitories can also be helpful. Walking on flat surfaces as tolerated is good to keep muscles in shape.
If you loose bowel or bladder control, see increasing numbness or weakness in your legs, you may want to see a neurosurgeon.
How long have you been in pain? where is your pain?
Joanne<p>[This message has been edited by Joanne from San Jose (edited 08-26-2002).]
Joanne,its been about 5 weeks now i just got out of bed with this ,i dont know how it happend.The pain is in the lowest part of my back,somtimes my feet hurt or my toes tingle a bit,is this a bad sighn??I am in very good shape and very active,so im not taking this very well
I know five weeks seems like eternity, but it may take several months for pain to subside. This sort of sudden onset of back pain suggests this is muscular, although tingling in the toes may mean some disc involvment. When a disc, which resides as a circular shape inbetween each vertebrae experiences excessive load, squeezes out onto nearby nerves which go into legs, you may feel some leg pain, tingling, numbness.. Tingleing suggests you may have a disc which is slightly compressing nearby nerves. Even so, most discs, with proper rest, no lifting, will reabsorb on their own.
Again, best you can do for yourself is to stop all lifting, maybe see your PCP for PT (make sure it is gentle), aquatherapy would be the best PT. If things get unbearable, possibly some steriod shots to shrink disc and keep you more comfortable during the healing phase.
Do you have a very firm mattress? If not, please get one asap.
One thing to keep in mind, people with profound disc herniations, constant leg pain (meaning large disc herniation and compression of leg nerves) and muscle weakness in legs recover naturally. You may want to get an MRI to verify what is going on, but even if you have a disc herniation, you certainly would not want to have surgery - as this should be the last resort, and rarely removes 100% of the pain anyway.
Hi There and WELCOME <IMG SRC="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/bang.gif">
Like you said it hurts no matter what you do so.... as my Neuro says to me "do as your body tells you to do."
I think the best thing to do is to keep walking and some little types of exercises. Don't over do it. Have you gone for any PT?
What is compressing the disc? What type of recovery are you asking about? Surgery? Bulging disc that the doctor is hoping will heal it's self? What type of doctor are you seeing for this?
What kind of compression do you have? I damaged L1 due to a motor accident in Dec 2000. I am still having trouble with my back, but am able to do everyday things fine (expect bending). I still get weakness and stiffness in my legs but this seems to be happening less often. I get flare up roughly every two weeks but they usually only last for 1/2 day to a day.
My advice to you would be do as much as you are able, and try to get back to doing things that you used to do. Your body will adjust by itself to cope with the compression.
