RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Yes, Peter - it is completely non-invasive. No surgical incision or needles are required - only the light invades the tissues, and nothing else. The home lasers are Class I or Class IM devices. Class I requires no precautions for eye safety. Class IM must not be viewed (direct or reflected beam) through optical magnification devices such as a magnifying glass. All lasers requiring such protection should be and are normally supplied with protective eyewear.
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Have you tried it, please let me know how you get on.
Peter.
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
I am now awaiting delivery of the TerraQuant laser. Whether the outcome is positive, negative or neutral, I will report back to this forum.
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hello Max!
I'm pain free because I've healed. Finally! Can't take glucosamine because I'm diabetic. Makes BG go up and up... Steroids do the same unfortunately. So I guess diabetics should never have prolapsed discs...? eekkk...
*********************
Hello Baxter!
I'm just like you : when it comes to scalpels... I'm the biggest wuss in the world!
I really don't know what it's like in Québec because I've suffered from a prolapsed disc over here, in England. I've heard that a French Canadian champion skier suffered from 2 prolapsed discs last winter... but I'm not sure if she had surgery or not. But I know she recovered!
If you go for the op, keep me posted will you Baxter? They say 50% of recovery happens in between your ears... so stay positive!!!!
*******
Hello Peter!
I live in the fear of having yet another prolapsed disc. If you say they tend to be less painful, that makes me relax a bit.
****************
In a hurry... ciao guys! Take good care!
Marie
🙂
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
hi all ,just joined the forum,i as youve all proberley guessed also suffer with a prolapsed disc ,i recently under went a discetomy but have felt no real improvement.this is an on going battle which seems to drag on and on im hoping in the next couple of weeks to start having steroid injections in the lowe back,( hope i dont come across as a bit of whimp but having felt the agony of back pain the thought of sticking needles into it is scary 🙁 ) has any one had these injections ?i would love to know how you got on ,does it help with pain,can you stand straight ,are there side affects?should i do it?????????.any way ive rambled enough i look forward to hearing from you many thanks and good luck every one;)
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hi jo,
Just seen your posting. I have to have op in may and wondered what the outcome was of yours?
Be great to hear your views as i am very anxious!
thanks
Baxter
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hi Aldo,
I had steroid injections, although not the discectomy, and they did bring a lot of pain relief very quickly but the injections themselves were quite painful. Mine were done without any kind of pre-med, I think they can do preliminary anaesthetic injections first. I could not walk before I had the injections - had to crawl upstairs, but managed to walk afterwards, came home and into a hot bath and felt much better.
Hello Marie
Glad you are healed.
Best wishes.
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
:(hi all, couldnt believe my luck when i came across this forum. after a fall in mid nov i had bad back pain for a few weeks which seemed to settle down to a dull ache , then about 4wks ago i woke up in bed and couldnt move for the excruciating pains running down both my legs after a home visit from my gp i was prescribed tramadol and baclofen to take and told to try to get up and about as soon as possible.
a few days later i noticed that my foot was starting to drag and the inside of my right foot and outside of my lower leg were numb.it became increasingly difficult for me to walk just a few steps after a visit to my gp on thefriday morning he told me to go down to my local spinal assessment unit and he would phone ahead. when i arrived there , after a lengthy examination they booked me in for an MRI scan 3days later on the monday ( I KNOW!! how quick is that) but it gets better . After my MRI scan showed a prolapsed disc they then booked me in the next day for an injection of steroids and anti-inflam. I couldnt believe how quickly things just happened and i realise how lucky i have been after reading some of your postings. the only downside being that it has now been 15 days since this injection and apart from the initial numbness caused by the epidural i have noticed no real improvement in my pain and still cant walk more than a few feet without pain and tripping over my foot (which seems to have a mind of its own) am i being to impatient waiting for the results ? or does this injection sometimes not work? ah well i am back for my follow up on the 15th of april so fingers crossed ..
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
My understanding of these steroid injections is that they reduce the inflammation around the nerve endings that the protruding disc material has caused, but I don't think they reduce the actual disc protrusion itself. I had two injections about a week apart and I found these very beneficial, they reduced the intense spasms of pain I was getting, but I still had to rest in order to reduce the protrusion and make a recovery.
Best wishes
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hello Kar!
When I first started this thread, I was sure I was the only one suffering like this. I remember the sheer pain I was in, just sitting at the comp. I'm glad this thread has helped people.
Indeed you had medical attention and fast. Good for you! Count your blessings.
I've heard that steroids injections don't always work. Depends on the individual. Same goes for the operation. We all react in diff ways.
I know you're in pain but keep moving! My biggest mistake was to stay flat on my back for weeks. My right leg became very thin, lost much muscle in it. That's a bit hard to recover from, on top of everything else!
When I started to hobble around the house again (I was in excruciating pain), right there I started to notice progress. And it kind of lifted the depression too. Because I was sooooo down... couldn't see the end of the suffering. Just don't over do it! Baby steps my dear.
Yoga has helped too. Glucosamine. Hot baths in Epsom salts! (1/2 cup to 3/4 cups in your bath). -W-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-... to rid you of much pain, especially if you want a somewhat good night sleep. Your whole attitude is important too. When I heard my youngest ask his dad if mum was dying... that was a huge turning point for me.
The thing is... it takes time to heal. And when in pain, patience goes out the window. I was certainly not a patient patient... 😀
8 months later, I feel just fine. I haven't fully recovered reflexes in my right leg (will probably stay that way unfortunately) and I do have a little numbness... well not exactly numbness as such... hard to explain! But the skin doesn't feel the same anymore, around the knee and a bit at the ankle. But it gets better very slowly.
And although I've healed I do take time to rest my back. I always try to find time to lay flat on my back on the floor for about 20 minutes or so, especially at the end of the day.
Good luck!
Marie
🙂
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hi Baxter
As you may have read in my first post I have had an operation on my back, I have had a relatively new procedure called a Wallis, that is when a spacer thingy is placed in the spine and I have had a disectomy at L4/5. I suupose the operation was successful as my body is again functioning. I was also in danger of nerve damage to the bladder and the bowel, before the operation my bladder and bowel had stopped working at all.
Keep me posted on your progress.
Good luck my thoughts are with you.
DD from Australia.
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Hi Dd
Wow Australia,didnt think we were that far afield!
The Dr did look into the spacers for me but didnt think i would benefit enough.
Did i understand correctly that you had lost control of bladder and bowel before your op?
Baxter
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
3 DAYS,WOW can only say its nice to hear storys like that ,i had to go private or wait 10 months!just for the mri,any way the injections are meant to be pretty much instant,i have recently had the op to have the disc shaved(disceptomy)but didnt get much releif dr has said i need injections to try and alleveiate some of the pain.BUT!!!!!as you would have noticed reading this forum everybody is different,so every body reacts to treament diffrently,if like me the pain is so great you`ll try anything .dont give up:) all the best aldo
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
Here is a thought about glucosamine/chrondroitin supplements.
As I understand it, there are three kinds of pain coming from collapsed disks:
(1) ACUTE HERNIA
Herniated nucleosus pulp squeezed out of disk, and tangled up around spinal cord (burning pain/inflammation).
(2) BULGING DISK
Stabbing, knife-like pain from bulging disk pressing on spinal cord, with or without (1) above.
(1) and (2) produce muscle spasms, making it impossible to stand erect or walk.
(3) COMPRESSED DISK (LUMBAGO)
Compressed disk pinching nerve roots passing thru disk, but not pressing on spinal cord (nasty, but nowhere near as bad as (1) or (2) above).
Now - suddenly, an error of "approach" occurs to me. Many of us, including me, have been taking such things as Chicken Collagen II or glucosamine supplements to build up more disk material. But - I now believe that this step should be reserved until later. The herniated nucleus and bulging disk material often disappears over a period of months or years on its own. This can only be due to the action of proteolytic enzymes in the spinal fluid which bathes the disks. My point is this - these enzymes work very slowly, and we are not helping this process by taking masses of glucosamine which would keep the enzymes busy and unable to resorb the hernia. For example, the goal of spinal surgery is to provide immediate relief by first removing the extruded nucleus, and/or that part of the nucleus bulging onto the spinal cord. We who wish to avoid surgery, must therefore let these enzymes do their work by NOT using glucosamine supplementation - unless your problem is only (3) above (compressed disk). We might also do well to take pancreatic enzyme supplements of trypsin and chymotrypsin which - hardly surprisingly - have been shown to relieve low back pain in double blind trials. I have ordered a vegetable analog of pancreatin, although it may not work so well. We might also add papain and bromelain tablets to our diet. The clinical relief of back pain in the trials was obtained in as little as 10 days. So I am planning to take these enzyme supplements for around 2 weeks - 1 month. After that, I will go back to the glucosamine/chrondroitin/collagen regimen to try to repair what is left of the disk. And we need to look at something which will strengthen the disk, not only glucosamine. Many of us have got a genetic weakness which incorrectly uses the aminoacid tryptophan instead of glutamine and arginine to build new disk material which deforms (prolapses) easily under load - hence our back problem. But normally, we will have two copies of the same gene - one from Mum and one from Dad. It is unlikely that both copies will be corrupt. I suggest feeding the "good" copy by taking glutamine and arginine together with the glucosamine, when we return to using glucosamine supplements to try and build up the disk.
I would think the use of the low level laser may be continued thruout. However, if like me, you also use blood thinning/circulation aiding herbs such as Prickly Ash, the use of these herbs should be postponed until after the enzyme treatment has finished, because the enzymes themselves cause some thinning of the blood and too much thinning would cause hemorrhaging. Also, such herbs cannot be taken if you are taking blood-thinning medications such as Warfarin, for the same reason. Other herbs which have been indicated for our condition are Sarsaparilla, Black Cohosh, Red Clover, Burdock Root, Oregon Grape, Ginger and Lobelia. Black Cohosh has assisted metastasis in cancer, and in my opinion should not be included. Lobelia has caused poisoning in some people, and should be not be included. In my opinion, the rest are OK.
A final point here - it would seem very wise to drink a few cups of tea every day to supply manganese (not a problem in the UK!). Disks L5/S1 and L4/L5 often prolapse because the sacroiliac joint under the disks falls on the left or right sides, leaving the disks to support the body weight or forward shear stresses which should be h
RE: Prolapsed disc... and in a lot of painnnnnn
I have only just come across this site and have found it interesting reading. I have just been diagnosed with a prolapsed disc after living with the pain since 2002 when a car pulled out in front of me on my motorcycle. I suffered multiple trauma and was on the critical list for a week or so.
As a result of the accident I have been left with amongst other things, a constant numbness / pins & needles of the right side, emanating from the head, all the way down to the toes. I assumed this was caused by damage to the brain which I suffered as a result of the accident. The numbness gets worse with any form of exercise. Is this common?
I have set myself a target of completing a half marathon later this month in order to raise money for the Air Ambulance as they were the first guys from a long list to save my life. I'm still on Tramadol / Voltarol and a TENS machine and the pain is numbed by these but I still struggle whilst (trying) to run as after a while the right foot goes totally numb and then I get a lot of pain in the right leg. Does anyone else suffer similar?
I am due to get steroid injections in August & September so hopefully these will help but it's a long wait. Once I have done the half marathon, I will switch to cycling / swimming instead as the impact of running is too much.