ozzybug

Hello Everyone-
As usual, I am hoping everyone is having a pain free (as pain free as possible) day. I'm burting really bad today, but I'll post about that in a different post.

We got the unofficial verbal diagnosis from our doctor by phone the other day. It is as follows:

"Central protrusion at L-4 & L-5 and a smaller central protrussion at L-5"

I'm not sure, but this sounds like disc herniations? I hope we will get more information during a real visit with the doctor. In the mean time, my husband's doctor wanted to refer him to pain management & occupational therapy. He wants the pain management because this has been a 2 year process of pain for my husband and he's been through several rounds of intensive physical therapy with no improvement.

My husband for the time being has refused referral to pain management and is opting with occupational therapy alone. This is his choice to make, so I won't force him or try and pressure him to reconsider pain management, but I really think he would benefit from seeing a pain management doctor- not one who will immediately prescribe medications, but one who can offer occupational therapy and other forms of modalities as well. He just feels that because his pain isn't a "constant, 24 hour 7 day a week" thing that he doesn't need pain management.

Although I respect his choice because this IS his choice to make, I hope that if he does not get any kind of results from occupational therapy, that he will reconsider the referral to pm. He knows what he can deal with and I have to respect that.

In the mean time, I let him use my TENS, he is doing the stretches and strengthening exercises he learned in previous PT and has made a conscious effort to watch his posture and expecially when bending or lifting. I can't convince him to wear the back brace/support, but again, his choice.

Any suggestions as to how he can manage his pain during the mean time? He already also uses otc anti-inflamatories and has some mild muscle relaxers which he takes only during the really bad, bad flare ups and also uses ice/heat combo as well.

Take Care All!

On a side note, Shoreline- Know of any pm doctors in the Hampton Roads area that specialize in back problems? I know about Spineworks (which sounds like a great option for him), but if I am going to help hubby dearest at all, I'd like to assure him that a referral to pm doesn't mean pills alone! I've also looked at APM's web page and they offer a ton of modalities that don't involve medications too.

Lezlee