Anyone else have a vertebral compression fracture?

[lauren94]

Hi, I'm aged 19 and had a compression fracture of my L4 vertebra following a car accident when I was 16. Its lost 47% of its height (my x-ray looks like a jigsaw puzzle piece) and has also caused a disk bulge below the vertebra. I was treated conservatively with a back brace and painkillers. Because of my age, I am apparently not a candidate for any surgical procedures.

I'm having chronic pain daily, taking painkillers like panadeine forte daily (paracetamol and codiene) and it causes a fair few side effects. I act pretty loopy, disorientated, drowsy, I have poor concentration and it just means I am not myself.

Its been about 2 years since my car accident and the pain is still present and really hard to deal with. Has anyone else had ongoing pain following a fracture like this? Has anyone felt the pain reduce after a number of years?

[mmglobal]

Do your doctors think the pain is related to the fracture? I would think that the fracture would have stabilized and that ongoing pain would be from another source. I would hope your doctors would be taking you through the same diagnostic process that someone without a prior fracture would go through. Discogram? Is your pain back or leg or both?

Mark

[Maria]

I've not had one tho my father did at age 87 and he had pain for about 3 months at least. He did get better tho even tho he had really bad degenerative disc disease, osteoporosis and arthritis at least the fracture healed and didn't bother him nor did the other things seem to cause him any excessive or ongoing pain.

I have to ask this because when I was younger it was very difficult for me to sit still no matter how much pain I was in and I was kind of always setting myself back (hurt my back in my 20's). I wonder how active you might be? I know you said you're taking pain meds which weren't even prescribed at all back when I hurt my back tho non steroidal antiinflammatory meds were prescribed (not helpful).

Do the meds help the pain even tho they make you feel all the other stuff (loopy etc)? Are you able to be somewhat active because you do take meds? Do you have the same pain everyday or do you sometimes have "flare ups" or episodes where your back is much worse? What type of pain do you experience/where?

I'm wondering if the disc below vertebrae (do you mean L5) is what is causing the chronicity of your pain or is L4 disc causing this pain? If you've had an MRI how big is the disc bulge?

Also from what you said it sounds like you were told you're not a candidate for surgery. Does that mean that you were not given more diagnostic testing (MRI, discogram) to determine which disc is the problem and how much of a problem it might be?

Has your doctor said your fracture has healed?

I think if your age were not of concern that even if you had a compression fracture that if that healed that doesn't mean that the disc bulge couldn't be a problem or other things so I think it's good to continue to keep your doctor informed about your ongoing pain and any increase in pain esp severe and unrelenting, and any other signs you may have been told to watch for like loss of bowel and bladder tone (incontinence), extreme weakness or numbness of the lower extremities and if your foot is starting to drop or drag.

Good luck. I know it's awful to be young and limited by pain tho it's just awful to be limited by pain period.

[jsewell]

Lauren i have had 2 chronic compression fractures, one at L2 and the other at L4. I just had a ct that showed they are still there not healed. Do you have any imaging to show their condition? I just have a lousy spine and not sure what causes what pain. All i know is i am completely comfortable sitting down in a comfortable chair. WAlking is a challenge as is standing up having a conversation in one place.
What tests has your doctor ordered, or what does he or she think?
Sorry you are dealing with all of this at such a young age.
judy

[lauren94]

I've had CTs, MRIs, Xrays and a bone scan. The fracture is in a period of "remodelling", not quite sure what that means. The disk bulge is significant according to the radiologist report. The pain is in the central part of my lower back, radiating out into the sides and causing numbness into the groin and hips.

All the specialist has said is that it is stable and I have to take painkillers to deal with the pain and try to move on with my life. Which is a difficult thing to hear when I'm only 19 and shouldn't have to deal with this, especially because I was a passenger in the car when it was hit by a drunk driver.

Maria, the pain meds help moderately. It takes the sharpness out of the pain but it is still always there I try to live a normal life as a uni student but its so hard when all i want to do is lay in bed and rest it! This whole thing is just a nightmare to be honest I'm hoping the pain will calm down as i get older, I just wonder if anyone else has had any experience with long term fractures.

[Maria]

Lauren,
I think that means the fracture is trying to heal. I would imagine that you might be going thru a very difficult and painful stage and that this is slowing down your lifestyle quite a bit.

Most likely the disc bulge is giving you the greatest amount of problems/pain I'd imagine tho I could be wrong. I think that if it's still exising and causing you so much pain perhaps when you're a bit older you'd be a surgical candidate or if the disc bulge is creating problems that necessitate immediate surgical intervention such as incontinence of bowel or bladder, loss of use of an extremity due to extreme numbness and or tone.

Make sure you know when your symptoms are considered to be emergent so that you would not lose any time being seen and treated if this should happen. I"m not saying it will ~ just best to know.

I hurt my back when I was 27-28 and didn't have my first surgery until I was in my 30's so it's possible that disc bulges can just be a super big pain without becoming an emergency situation.

I know it stinks to have this much pain when you're so young. I do hope that you can get thru your University studies and that things will work out for you with regard to your back/life.

take care ~ Maria