19 yr old...already have slipped disc 
Hi everyone, as most people in this forum are a lot older I just want some advice or share my feelings as I m currently feeling all alone and depress...
I have always been a very active person ever since I have decided to lose 30lbs for my school prom when I was 15. Since my success of losing weight through going to the gym it has now become my daily routine and I would feel fish out of water if I cannot go a day without exercising. But a week ago my right thigh and calve were aching and feeling numb, my mum took me to a specialist and after having MRI scan he told me that I have a slipped disc on my L5/S1 region and surgery was the only way to improve my condition as the disc has already compressed my nerve roots causing my right leg to feel pain and numb.
I m now recovering from immediate surgery from few days ago and had some physiotherapy sessions throughout but my right leg still doesn't feel the same or normal back to how it was. I know that it takes time to heal after surgery, but I worry that I might not have enough time. I will be studying nursing in uni this yr for the very first time and freshers week start in 3 weeks time, I just want to enjoy the ultimate 'uni life' that everyone talks about and I want to join as many clubs/societies as possible(i was thinking joining the lacrosse team or badminton) and everyone goes out clubbing together all dressed up and wearing heels... I just don't want to feel left out because of the limits of what I can do and can't do. also I have ver low self-esteem and I was thinking through joining clubs and go out socializing with people can help me make a lot of friends. I feel that I have gained a lot weight already through lying in bed all week in hospital, what makes me mad is that I m told I m unable to exercise until after 6 weeks but with the weight gain and going to uni I feel my self confidence has been knocked. I just want my life back, I m 19 I feel that I should be like everyone else my age enjoying life out there and doing a the crazy things that a 19 yr old should do and not worrying this stuff until some 20-30 yrs later if I m destined to have it.
Is there another way to help me recover quicker or things I can do in uni to not feel left out?? I would feel very aprreciated if anyone has got any advice for me. xxxx
Gillian_c
a warm welcome here.
I see you are going through bit of a patch.A nice bear hug is what you need... so her eit comes:hug:
There are lots of things that can help.
Go easy on your body.
Do the following things and the healing will be much quicker. Breathe into the pain very gently and stay open in mind( free of fear and doubt of negative outcome etc) and open in body means stay relaxed and spread out a bit.
Be your own best friend, there is a lovely life waiting for you at uni. Just don't pander to ideas like low self esteem, decades ago such terms were virtually unknown and people did have less to worry about.
We know too much for our own good these days.
watch you are living as though there is not enough time, there is eternity available if you stop worrying. The more you relax, the more things take care of themselves. everything gets done,
Go find fun things to do, go to movies, comedy shows, go out for a drink anything to keep you from worrying. Get out of your own way. Your body knows what it is doing, if you give it a chance. Stay happy, be silly, be foolish--that is perfect recipe for happy heart. you are too young to worry. Worry when you are 90. Until then do what makes you happy.
You are gonna be just fine!
Ton of blessings
x
i can only echo Jnani's advice. Yeah know its not very medical in its diagnosis but insight is hard won and a treasure to be highly valued. All i will add is; celebrate what is right in your world. See beyond your current state of being, try hard not to dwell on what you view as wrong.
The mindset that you develop now will be far reaching and pivotal in the years to come; do your best to be utterly positive in your outlook
Huggs and smiles
Only posting this to show how times change!
I fell off a horse when I was 18 years old (nearly 40 years ago) - excrutiating back pain and right leg sciatica. I had an X ray (nothing broken) and traction at the local hospital 3 times a week for 30 mins a time. This is where you lay on a wooden bench, strapped across at waist and hips with big leather straps and the bench wound apart to stretch your back.
I was measured for a canvas surgical corset with steel rods sticking up my back, I had to wear this all day and wear flat black plimsoles or wellingtons in the rain and only offered an asprin 'if the pain is really bad'. I stood up to do my A levels using a lectern to write on.
I started teachers training college that year, still wearing corset and plimsoles. Coffee drinking / studying / listening to records on the hall's dansette record player was our evening entertainment. There was no TV in College. Social life was a disco once a month with a free 1/2pint of beer!
Eventually the pain went away after 18 months and I have only just had problems at L4/5 and latterly L5/S1, forty years later.
Yes, what happened to traction for treating back injuries???? A lot cheaper than all these expensive operations! I am tthinking also of weight of the body being used to 'open up' the spine joints by hanging by the arms or laid on a tilting bed and hanging by the feet. it gave much relief to back sufferers.
hi Caroline
They over used it and ended up with people who could not walk following protracted traction, it is still used by physios, though the sessions are short and the recipient has a way of stopping the traction if it gets to uncomfortable.
Traction wasn't too painful, quite a restful really AND it got me off morning assembly, I had to bicycle over to the local hospital and back. The worst of the traction was being tied down while on the next bed to a fairly well known Irish playwrite who had neck problems. He talked the whole time about the wrongs of the English and the Battle of the Boyne.
I have had some minor success for curing bad twinges by tying my leg to my bed post with a crepe bandage and giving it a good yank by pulling up on the bed head end (I've got an old cast iron bed)
Anything that is overused tends to lose its benefits! 
- antibiotics for one!!
I seem to remember traction was very helpful on the whole! Glad to hear it hasn't quite gone out with the bathwater.