Disc Herniation, How bad is It?

[Mehnaz]

Re: Disc Herniation, How bad is It?

@Bint_e_Naeem

My physician just called. She wants me to see a spine specialist. It turns out some people have it worse than others & I most likely happen to be one of them.

She was giving me “tassallee” by saying its not terminal illness like cancer. Yeah sure. She said since I don’t do good with heavy meds last resort is surgery or injections. That doesn’t sound comforting either. She did say I should be able to tackle it eventually & reading above posts also makes me hopeful. I just have this weird inner feeling that is not going to be pretty. I hope I am wrong.

The best thing you can do is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.

Continue using the ice packs. Personally, I avoided all medications cause I know my body is very sensitive and I didn’t want to become dependent on them. It made my recovery a lot tougher and more painful.

Ice packs got me through the worst of it last summer. My son was 2 years old at the time (and extremely tall like his ammi) so he still wanted gaudi and cuddles. It was really hard given his weight and height. I also had to drop him to the daycare everyday. Just sitting in the car would cause my discs to slip and I would often lose sensation in my left leg altogether. I still get tingling in my left leg, but alhamdullilah, for the most part I am ok now.

I did see a chiropractor for several months, then physical therapy and then when I was ready, hot yoga. Like I already said before, I only started yoga about 6 months after my injury. I couldn’t do it right away.

I will tell you one thing which should give you hope. My doctor said I could never exercise again. I love doing intense workouts like bootcamp and running outdoors … and I am now able to do all the things I loved. I just have to be careful and conscious in what I do.

So yes, I run, do stairmaster, do lunges and crunches … recovery is LONG and PAINFUL but you need to listen to your body.

Is there anybody who can help you??? I depended a lot on my mother and sister to help me with even giving my son a bath. I just couldn’t bend or do anything. It was an extremely depressing and demoralizing period of my life. Inshallah you will get through it.

Gia, my Sonu was sitting on my sciatic nerve for most of my pregnancy. I also had the same back issues when I was pregnant but didn’t pay attention to it. You will be ok. Just be careful and don’t put pressure on your lower back. Get a back support for your chair and even your car if you can.

I did try Spinal Decompression therapy and it actually made it worse. This was long after I recovered … so my advice to all of you is do not try this.

I also looked into buying a traction board for my home. Basically, this allows you to hang upside down and puts space back in between the vertebraes in your spine. Disc hernations often occur due to the vertebraes sitting directly on top of each other. The disc in between the vertebrae bulges out due to lack of space. So the traction board allows you to hang at an angle, stretching the spine and creating more space in between the vertebraes. A lot of people think this tool is a life saver and use it daily for a few minutes in the morning and in the evenings.

I did not get it. By this time, I decided to try hot yoga and those stretches I mentioned above basically do the same thing as the traction board.