My Story...

[losingmymind2day]

HI!!

I am going to explain my story (I hope thats ok) I do have a couple questions that I hope someone might be able to help me with.

Last Saturday 29th March, I was at work and I lifted/moved a box when all of a sudden I got this "popping" kind of pain in my low back with immediate pain down my right leg (a little bit on my left hip area). Instantly I screamed, I couldn't believe the feeling I had and how much it hurt. The next thing I knew to even walk was a challange from the pain. My manager wasn't comfortable with the pain I was in and I guess he said I looked like I was going to pass out, so he called an Ambulance. The ambulance took me to the hospital, they did xrays, gave me pain meds, admitted me overnight for observation, put the order in for me to get an MIR (?????like and xray??) and they told me to follow up with my doctor in a couple days, they think I have herniated a disk in my back. When I left the hospital I still had the pain in my right leg as well as the pain in my left hip area has moved to my left thigh.

I went for a follow-up with my doctor on Tuesday. That was the most difficult appointment in my life. I can HARDLY WALK!! I can't believe the PAIN I AM IN!!

My doctor asked me a whole bunch of questions which I really have no idea what they all mean, but he came to the conclucion that he as well believes I have a herniated disk as well he said at my 5 and 1 (??????). Told me to go home and rest in bed until the pain subsides and take it easy, I have to go back to him on wednesday and he said he will check me more thoroughly, cuz I was in too much pain for him to do anything to in depth.

SO, the questions I have are:

1)What is a herniated disc really mean?

2)What is causing the pain down both my legs, it is now down both my legs to my calf and ankle.

3) I have also noticed that it feels like the outside of my feet and pinky toe, toe next to pinky and middle toe are feeling like they are numb (??) both feet, also the outside of my calf near my ankle is numb. My heels go all tingly. Is ANY of this making any sense?

I guess I am just really FREAKED out by all of this stuff happening and I don't really know why and how, or if I should be concerned etc. If I might be able to get some sort of information from some of you on this forum that will be able to help me out, I would REALLY appreciate it!!

I hope I didn't write too much, and didn't screw up what I was told, I tried to make as much sense of it as I could but got nowhere.

Thank you for your help!!
Aimee

[Maria]

Aimee,
Your injury sounds like a disc is involved and I believe it's the L5S1 level the doctor was talking about, esp. because of your symptoms.

A great website that explains so very much is www.chirogeek.com

go to herniated discs/disc bulge, or whatever you should choose to investigate so you can get some detailed explanations to your questions. I don't know if you will find it too overwhelming to read from this website as one friend I referred told me it was "over his head" but there is a wealth of information there.

Very simply put~ between your vertebrae there are these cushions so to speak, discs that are gelatinous in material and when there has been a severe insult to the fibrous material around the discs the material can leak out and irritate the involved nerves at that level (L5S1 in your case according to your doc or to be revealed with MRI).

The material that is noxious to the nerves creates the symptoms that you feel, which could be burning, numbness and so forth.

Now that is a super simplified explanation and what you will read at chirogeeks website is the educational answers to your questions (not to mention the correct answers).

Once you've familiarized yourself with the spine and the components and your symptoms, dermatomes affected and such, you can go back to your doctor on your appt. day and ask all the questions but have an idea of the answers you might receive altho I must admit that most of the information I've ever gotten about my back in 20 plus years has come from other sources than my doctor's visits as they gave much more simplified answers than I even replied above to my questions!

Also, don't get fixated on any one thing until you have your MRI which is a magnetic resonance imagining ~ just google MRI and read about that and I think chirogeek has some info on that too. Actually he does have an MRI page that you can check out for explanation. Check under Disc Bulge for info on discs~

Good luck, rest up and don't do anything right now to upset the disc further, just try to relax and allow for muscles spasms to stop, ice the area intermittantly and/or use heat if that helps you more.

I'm very sorry you had this injury occur however I do hope that because you are young and otherwise healthy that however it's treated, you'll recover well. Lifting boxes and heavy stuff is probably out tho so you must be careful there.

[mmglobal]

Aimee.... please go read my wife's story on the GPN website linked in my sig file below. That will go a long way towards explaining your leg pain... pictures of her MRI, etc...

With such serious leg pain, I've VERY surprised that no MRI was ordered. If you have any bowel or bladder symptoms, you'll want to take this... and get your doctors to take this much more seriously. Disc protrusions can resolve on thier own... deciding what to do will be difficult.

While my wife's discectomy was successful last year in resolving the disc protrusion and leg pain, her disc was too severely compromised and she graduated very quickly... she had artificial disc replacement last week. Hopefully, your disc is in better shape... hopefully, you'll get away without surgery. I have to run... can't write more now... WELCOME to the forum... sorry you need it.

All the best,

Mark

[Cheryl]

HI Aimee,

Just wanted to say hello, welcome, sorry about your pain. Mine pain was not injury related but I wanted to let you know that I and most of us here understand how you are feeling. I'm sure you will get some answers here and ideas for discussion with your doctors. Keep us posted on your progress.

Cheryl

[dshobbies]

Aimee,

OK, so your injury is a little more involved than you first reported. Again, this may be minor or it could be major. Doctors have their own way and many believe their's is the only way which is why educating yourself is so important.

The vertabrae all have names. The discs are named for the vertabrae surrounding them. S1/L5 means the disc that is between the sacral 1 and lumbar 5 vertabrae. This is the lowest disc. L4/5 would indicate the next one up between the lumbar 5 and lumbar 4 vertabrae. Above the lumbars is thorasic, cervical and (I think) cranial.

The disc, for various reasons, can bulge out of it's normal space, called a herniation. Try to imagine a car tire that has a weakened sidewall and the weight of the car causes an air bubble. If this bulge is on the inside it narrows the spinal canal space and the spinal cord which occupies this space is irritated, causing pain and numbness down your legs (or arms) or other weakness. My doctors always advised ice in this situation to reduce swelling. Heat may make your overworked protective muscles relax a little but also may increase the swelling.

The herniation may resolve itself with rest or physical therapy or eventually may need surgical intervention. However, breathe and don't panic. If you find that your symptoms don't diminish and or disappear and your doctor does recommend surgery, please get a second opinion before making that decision. Sometimes even a third opinion is necessary. Again, as Maria wrote, let me stress the importance of educating yourself. You need to understand what your doctor is telling you and ask the appropriate questions.

This forum is here to help you. Ask us questions or vent and so on. Some of us have had surgery(s), some have artificial discs and some haven't decided what they want to do yet. Don't be afraid to let medications help you during this time of pain. You really can't decide anything when you're hurting too bad.

Aimiee, I do hope your situation resolves itself and I wish you good luck. Please post as often as you want to. You don't have to go through this without help.

Dale

[losingmymind2day]

Hi everyone!!

I just want to thank you all for the awesome advice that you have given me.

It is unbelieveable how confused, scared, sore and every other emotion you can think of I am going through, and it is a relief to know that I have a place like this to go to that will help me with the MILLION of questions I am probably going to drive you all crazy with.

Mark-if I said I lived in Canada would that explain to you further the reason WHY I haven't ha an MRI yet?? When I was in the hospital they put the referral in for me to have the MRI, but from what I have been told it could take 3 to 4 months before I can get the appointment, hopefully by them I will be all better and won't need it.


Ok, I have another question, when Mark mentioned to me "If I have any bowel or bladder symptoms", what exactly did he mean by that? I am sorry for all the questions, but I am COMPLETELY CLUELESS....

I was also wondering if there is anything else that I should be watching out for, that could mean my situation has changed...I mean like can I loose complete feeling in my legs (become paralyzed) with this sort of injury?? Or do I just need to RELAX?? Am I crazy for asking that? I am really freaked out about all this, I am SO glad I found this place.

Thanks again for all your help and advice!!

Take care,
Aimee

[Maria]

But now I've had probs too long but here's the thing~

Ok, what you need to know in terms of EMERGENT care or when to be seen in an emergency room should your symptoms progress is that should you have the following symptoms you must be seen ASAP:

Loss of bowel or bladder tone~ you are urinating on yourself without control or having bowel movements without control. Incontinent of bowel or bladder tone.

Loss of feeling in your extremities or one involved extremity (your legs) such as complete numbness. Leg numbness so much that you cannot feel anything or very decreased sensation of extremities.

Loss of functioning of your involved extremity/extremities (your legs). You try to walk and cannot because your legs are so very weak they don't support you or give out.

Severe, unrelenting progressive horrendous increasing pain that isn't relieved with any kind of rest or positioning.

Any bodily symptoms that make you think you are much worse than you were when beginning with this condition as I don't want to limit everything to just your low back although probably if you've the L5S1 disc bulge/herniation that's where your probs will be...

Keep asking questions. It's not uncommon to be freaking out. It's quite normal. If you weren't freaking out that'd be uncommon and not normal!

We are here, someone will reply~ hang in there in the meantime and yes, since you're living in Canada that explains the no MRI right away but what about emergency situations? I hope emergencies are handled in an emergent fashion...