Back Pain is the Pits

Back in 1999 I had to have arthroscopic surgery on my lower back. The L3-L4 disc had ruptured and the fluid leaking out was pressing my right sciatic nerve making…well, everything painful. The bulge was removed and after a short period of rehab I was back to 100%

In 2001 the pain returned but this time on both the right and left. An MRI showed “something” on the anterior (inside) of the spine just 1 disc down at L2-L3. Surgery was scheduled but it would be more invasive. A partial laminectomy had to be done so the doctor could access the bulge, which turned out to be a cyst. Three days in the hospital, a few weeks at home and then weeks of physical therapy and I was again 100%.

In 2003 my left sciatic nerve began to act up so it was back to the doctor. A slight bulge at a herniated disc in the L4-L5 area was pressing against an irritated nerve. This in turn caused it to become more irritated and so on. No operation was necessary but there was also no “corrective cure” for the situation. I was given a steroid block, which allowed the nerve to stop being irritated. I needed no physical therapy for this. The bulge would remain and I might have a flare-up at any time. I was living with a time bomb.

It went off in September of 2005. At first I tried self-medicating with Aleve and it worked—for a while. Eventually it got to the point where the Aleve didn’t cut it any more, so I went back to the doctor who prescribed a Medrol pac. That, too, provided temporary relief. Today I went in to have a lumbar block. If it works as well as it did in 2003 I’ll be back to 100% soon.

So far I have three different disc problems in the lumbar area. Three out of four damaged discs. Not good.