Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I've just gone through a huge problem with back pain.

First felt it in Nov after playing golf and just thought I strained a muscle. 3 weeks later, the pain was still there so I saw my GP who said it would just go away with time. Bugger that, another 2 weeks later I spoke to a family friend who is an orthopaedic surgeon and sent me for a MRI. Turned out I had a herniated disc between my L5/S1 which pinched on my sciatic nerve causing a numbing pain down my left leg. He put me on Mobic (anti inflammatory), Valium and Endone. Also sent me to a physio who I did about 6 sessions with but that didn't work so I then got sent to a neurosurgeon to find out what I could do. He said to continue on the Mobic/Valium for another few weeks and see if the disc would slip back in. To no avail, I took the advice of MattLowth and visited a osteopath in Prahran who managed to manoeuvre the pain but couldn't make it go away.

I finally bit the bullet on Friday though and had an epidural nerve end blocking injection made up of cortisone. Was told it'll take up to 48 hours for me to feel a real difference so I'm still kind of waiting. I do feel better so I hope in the end this works. According to stats, 75% of people get better, 25% feel no difference and <1% get worse. Apparently the epidural will last various periods of time depending on the person. Some last a couple months but others go 5 years without a problem. It was a hell of a lot less painful than I expected but I also expected the "high" to be better which I was a bit disappointed with.

If you've tried nearly everything for a herniated disc, do the epidural. It should help and if that fails, unfortunately, the microdiscectomy will be the last resort which I hope I get to avoid.

  • Replies 55
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

has anyone who has been advised to "strengthen" their back, actually done any proper lifting?

a friend of mine has a "bulging" disc... not sure if that's the same as what's been mentioned already... going to get her to try and strengthen it properly

anyways, if you've been told to "strengthen" your back then i suggest just doing it properly and cease the donations to your physio.

Markos @ PTC Frankston – 0404 453 542

[email protected]

for the ns.com people, i'm sure they know him - m&m username. Use to post a bit on SAU as well.

Im telling ya, the only way to strengthen ya back is to get out the big guns! Some high tensile bolts, somthing to fuse bone...and a bottle of Johnny before i throw you on the kitchen table for the op. Never have to worry about back pain again

gallery_462_50_12636.jpg

You can hit me with a car man and i am good :D Just dont believe anyone that tells you chicks dig scars :devil:

Go and see your GP and ask for a CT scan to be done, it will show you if there is a problem. Then get a referrel to one of the Surgeons mentioned near the top of the thread. A disc prolapse or Bulge is the same thing.

Leewah - I had the same probs, but L4-L5 and L5-S1, pushing on the sciatic nerve, pins and needles in my toes from it and numbness, the micro discectomy worked for me but I had also been through an 8 week rehab program before, i.e strengthening and learning how to manage pain and lift properly.

I have since done more work on strengthening but still get occasional back pain. I have also had the supplements, Vitamin C is one of the best for disc regeneration, also had glucosamine. Tramadol will F you up if you take it for too long, Valium doesn't work after a while, Voltaren is good but can give you ulcers. I am now on no pain killers but do take the occasional Voltaren. My injury was in 2004 and I was 24 when I did it.

Im telling ya, the only way to strengthen ya back is to get out the big guns! Some high tensile bolts, somthing to fuse bone...and a bottle of Johnny before i throw you on the kitchen table for the op. Never have to worry about back pain again

Lol, or you could start deadlifting, once you reach 200kg you should be right for lower back strength :blink:

Good luck with it, I've had to go through something chronic as well over the past 14months and the medical bills kill you, most of it is medicare covered but out of pocket is adding up, make sure your level of private health cover is appropriate, and be warned that different health insurance companies pay very different amounts on the same claims.

  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update for everyone. I just came out of the Epworth today after having a L5/S1 microdiscectomy. I tried the epidural back in Feb but it didn't fix the problem so I bit the bullet yesterday and was discharged today. All done within 24 hours and I feel 100% better. I'm currently on Endone to control the pain and have been told it will be a 4-6 week recovery time if I do the correct exercises and look after myself so I hope this is the last time I have to worry about my back. Biggest problem for me now is that I'm not allowed to sit down for more than 20 mins at any time. I'm allowed to be lying flat or standing/walking but sitting really isn't an option for long periods of time because of the spinal compression which occurs when you sit.

My suggestion to everyone though would be to exhaust all your resources before taking surgery though as even though surgery has a 80% success rate, I still really think it is a last resort.

Quick update for everyone. I just came out of the Epworth today after having a L5/S1 microdiscectomy. I tried the epidural back in Feb but it didn't fix the problem so I bit the bullet yesterday and was discharged today. All done within 24 hours and I feel 100% better. I'm currently on Endone to control the pain and have been told it will be a 4-6 week recovery time if I do the correct exercises and look after myself so I hope this is the last time I have to worry about my back. Biggest problem for me now is that I'm not allowed to sit down for more than 20 mins at any time. I'm allowed to be lying flat or standing/walking but sitting really isn't an option for long periods of time because of the spinal compression which occurs when you sit.

My suggestion to everyone though would be to exhaust all your resources before taking surgery though as even though surgery has a 80% success rate, I still really think it is a last resort.

Hope you have a speedy recovery!

markos knows his shit, might be worth lookking at furthur down the recover path... he posts on here as pepe-lopez or something...

Bit OT: how fkn good is endone with valium :D some how made the combination after accidentally taking a few extra endone(fractured wrist, was so bad i had forgotten i had had any), ended up quite trashed hehe

has anyone who has been advised to "strengthen" their back, actually done any proper lifting?

Yes.

I used to move piano's and damaged 2 discs on one particular lift.

Saw my Physio (Clinton @ Langwarrin Sports Medicine)

Rehabbed (my routine) & got a different job.

Last year I blew a disc on preacher curl

Saw physio again, had a lot of manipulation & some dry needling.

Again rehabbed with my own weight routine.

All good... as long as I keep lifting weights.

I find that if I do not lift a weight for 2weeks, my back starts "tweaking" every now and then.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Yeah I suspect even if you hold airmass per cycle/cylinder constant if you get too far away from stock you're still going to have problems running the factory tune within the bounds of the factory load scale. Cams, different displacement/rod ratio, etc. I'm just lucky that the GTIII-SS with wastegate boost + CA compliance cats is pretty much equivalent to stock turbos. When I have actual space I can finally get it tuned and modify the fuel system for flex fuel to 100% handle any detonation concerns when cranking the boost to whatever those dinky turbos can put out.
    • I would say no, why, because my daughter, who also lives in Goulburn, hasn't recommended us going there Pity, as we miss all the German joints around in Sydney, actually, the restaurants are the only thing I really miss about Sydney, and a special mention to Ishibanboshi at Bondi Junction, their Kara-age Don is heart cloggingly deliciousness (always added a special boiled egg...or 2) 😋 
    • Does that German restaurant still exist in the old place out the NW end of Goulburn? When I say "out the NW end of"...I am really being vague. It was 1997 when I was last there, and the only point of reference I can recall is that it was on the opposite side of the main drag from the big merino. And when I say "opposite side of the main drag", I don't mean "on the main drag". It was either a couple of streets back from there, or might have even been out in the sticks a bit further. Was an old farm building or mill or somesuch. And when I say "the big merino" I might actually be thinking of a completely different part of town, because I just looked on maps and the big bugger is not where I remembered him to be! The food was good, consisting largely of various German mystery-meat sausage/loaf things and kartofflen.
    • So while the second sentence is completely correct and the whole point of the conversation, the first sentence bears consideration. If this bloke is just hoping to throw big turbos on and drive it around, because there are no helpful facilities at all in his tropical paradise** then he likely has zero chance of even knowing what the TP is on the last column in the stock maps, let alone know whether the ECU is operating anywhere near it or past it. So the point is very very moot. And, per what I said before, at stock boost on those turbos, you may well be off the end of the map. **I'm just back from Vanuatu, so I know exactly what small Pacific nations can be like wrt paradise without requisite facilities. But it's not even that simple. I put a high flow on my car and had to drive it around without a proper tune because of the lack of opportunity*** to put the bigger AFM and injectors into it to allow it to be tuned. I had to turn the boost down to less than I had before, and back off the boost controller's ramp, because it was exploring parts of the map that it didn't drive in before, and really couldn't access for tuning on the dyno either, and so was pinging. It was still well within the last column, because when I first**** set up the Nistune on the Neo I rescaled all axes of the maps to give some more space to explore. ***Family dyno was broken ****This was 13 years ago, and the TIM thing wasn't a thing then and so TP would definitely grow when pushing past the stock tune's limits.
    • Yep, this bit another local owner. I caught it before putting the transmission back into the car, what I noticed was the pressure plate fingers weren't flat and even. It's more obvious with the pull style clutch because the throwout bearing ring was visibly not flat once everything is put together. Nismo should really update their instructions to call out this specific detail. I'm not even sure the clutch as-shipped orients everything properly.
×
×
  • Create New...