Ruptured disc

[snturner]

I have recently been diagnosed with a ruptured disc in my lower back. L4/L5 for you medical folks. I have a vacation with my son, planned for Jun 5th in Curacao. Doc has prescribed (2) epidural over a 2 week period with surgery planned if they don't shrink the disc. I have done the first and got some relief. I am hopping the second epidural completely shrinks the disc back in place. With that in mind should I dive in a month and a half? I will be asking the surgeon this question in a week. Anyone else had a similarly problem. If so how did your work out. What kinds of action did you take to repair the disc? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[hodgson]

I have recently been diagnosed with a ruptured disc in my lower back. L4/L5 for you medical folks. I have a vacation with my son, planned for Jun 5th in Curacao. Doc has prescribed (2) epidural over a 2 week period with surgery planned if they don't shrink the disc. I have done the first and got some relief. I am hopping the second epidural completely shrinks the disc back in place. With that in mind should I dive in a month and a half? I will be asking the surgeon this question in a week. Anyone else had a similarly problem. If so how did your work out. What kinds of action did you take to repair the disc? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV..... but I had a herniated disk 10 years ago, and could barely walk, let alone think of diving. Just the thought of lugging around all my gear when I hurt that bad would discourage me. And I would have needed a crane to get me in and out of the water.

[HammerNoMore]

Anyone else had a similarly problem. If so how did your work out. What kinds of action did you take to repair the disc? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I have an L5/S1 herniated disc. The S1 means the disk is putting pressure on the sciatic nerve which causes pain in the leg. I get the occational minor inflamation that simply results in some discomfort and 3 times I've had a major inflamation. The major ones result in my being unable to sit for about 3 weeks followed by about 2-3 more weeks of back soreness. After this I'm pretty good to go so if your disc behaves similarly to mine you will probably be ok for June. Unfortuatly I don't think you can really count on any two back injuries to act the same. If you wind up under the knife forget about your dive trip.

Epidurals have never really helped me but traction seems to. I've consulted with two surgons and that will probably be down the road for me. I have never been back to where I was before the injury and there is always some dull pain that just becomes part of the way you feel. However as long as I partially recover without it I will put off the surgery.

Do yourself a favor and stay far away from orthopods on this one. Go see a neurologist for your treatment/epidurals and if you go under the knife use a neurosurgeon. I can recomend a good one in St. Louis if you are interested.

James

[Maya]

I had an L4-L5 herniated disc that I managed for several years until I finally ended up with shingles up the back of my leg and up my spine, after a weekend dive trip. 4 days later and I could not walk.

I went to a neurosurgeon after an MRI and he scheduled me for surgery the next morning! The surgery (lamminectomy sp?) was a complete success and after 5 weeks or so I was back to all normal activities, except diving. I started diving again after 3 months, single tank only. After 6 months I started diving with doubles again.

The surgery was a year ago in March and I have now resumed carrying my own double tanks and diving normally. I am SO HAPPY with the results of the surgery - the very first morning after the operation I could stand straight and had no pain except surgical site pain.

Of course, every back injury is different - but my surgery is definitely a success story and I wish I had done it a couple of years ago. Good luck to you and I will second J. Goddard's advice - see a neurologist and/or neurosurgeon.

[HammerNoMore]

Of course, every back injury is different - but my surgery is definitely a success story and I wish I had done it a couple of years ago.

I know several people who've come out of surgury and said "why didn't I do this before?" As I said you learn to live with some dull pain and only when it's gone do you realize how much it was . I'd still rather not take a chance on making things worse at this point.

I've been about 3 years since a big one and no surgeon will touch me unless I'm in active severe pain anyway...

[snturner]

James you hit the nail on the head. I have had several people tell me they could not even walk when they where injured. The worst thing I can do is sit on a tolite. My butt hurts like hell after about 10 secs. Makes it real hard to walk. I will avoid surgury as long as possiable. The first epidural seemed to work a little. I am going to see a neurosurgeon next Wednesday to ask him if I could injure the disk more from diving. I hope I have the success Maya had.

[MsParamedic]

I was diagnosised with a herniated disc L5/S1 4 years ago, and had surgery. All I can say is "WHAT A RELIEF!" Unfortunately, I didn't have the surgery upon reccommendations of my physican, hopeing it "would just get better". Now I have permanent numbness of the lateral (side) aspect of my foot and numbing of the upper leg/thigh. There is noticable difference in muscle tone to the affected side/leg also. (Not only in strength but in appearance). Fortunately, I am able to carry my own gear and dive with no problems.

Do yourself a favor, consult with a Doc on the best pathway to take. If you're not comfortable--get a second a opinion--just don't put it off til tomorrow!

[pipedope]

I blasted my L4/L5 and L5/S1 when I was working in Antarctica. Major pain and mobility limitations.
I did a very good pain school in Long Beach CA. and was able to function for a few years but I would have bad days (and weeks) without rhyme or reason so I went for surgery.

My recovery was long but the results were very good. I can do most anything I want but I am well aware that I did not get a new back and I am much more careful than before.

Getting the very best doctor available is important. Might be a neuro but could be an orthopod. Anybody in Long Beach CA should go see Curtis Spencer III, he is the BEST!

[DrMike]

I had a very bad burst disc a few years ago. I wasnt able to walk or even stand for more than a 20 secs without terrible pain. I spent 3 months with total bed rest during which time I scoured the net for medical papers and publications on treatment. I found a lot of recent research that suggested that total rest then strengthening execises would likely benefit many of the people that opted (too fast in the opinionof he researchers) for surgery and they further recommended that surgery should be considered only after a extended period of bed rest and physio had failed to resolve the pain. Like all surgery there is a risk. I choose to wait for 3 months (the recommended period in many of the academic papers I found) I made a full recovery. Based on the extent of the rupture my doctor was surprised at the result as he had been kean (from day one!) to operate.

Shortly after this a local guy had the surgery for mild to moderate pain. It didnt go well and due to the surgery he is now paralised and in a wheel chair. Its rare - But there have been complications to this procedure.


I would suggest anyone contemplating this surgery to first try extended rest and physio, followed by abb and back muscle strengthening exrcises - then if you symptoms are still too painful to live with seak surgery. Give your body a chance to fix itself first. Remember having the operation does nothing to strengthen or fix the back - it just removes the pressure on the nerves, the disc is still weak and you will need to strengthen the support muscles. Another insult on the disc, even and operated one, can result in further rupture or prolapse and a repeat of the symptoms.

(For me total bed rest meant laying on m back and not moving for 3 months)

[Kat]

In late March I had some type of spinal injury. Not sure exactly how it happened. It involved my L4 rotating to the right & my L5 rotating to the left. My spine was frozen in this position & my disks & nerves were being pinched. I also have some problem w/ the Sacrum.
It started out w/ a stiff back & became so bad that in 4 days I was bedridden. I was unable to stand up & was only able to get around by very slowly crawling on all fours.
A friend recommended her Chiropractor. The day I went to see him it took me 30 min. to get into my car & 45 min. to get out of my car. At first I was very unhappy w/ him. He gave me 2 bottles of meds f/ my pain & when I got home and looked at the bottles I discovered they were vitamins. The next day I saw him & told him I needed something f/ the PAIN, as these were not helping. Surprise...another bottle of vitamins. I made an appointment w/ my GP & got a muscle relaxer & some Vicodin. I just needed something to take the excruciating pain away - immediatly!
I have been seeing him f/ 2 months now & he has helped me tremendously! I have not taken any Vicodin in over a month, and there is only minor discomfort, occasionally. I went from seeing him 6 days a week to just once a week. Unfortunatly, my insurance does not cover this. So I have to pay 100% myself and my bill is heading towards $3000. I do feel that he is worth every penny. I was in such agony & despair my first couple of weeks & now I feel almost like new.
I want to go camping (hard ground) and diving next weekend. I am going to discuss this with him on Friday. I am hoping that I get the A-OK from the Doc.