Hi everyone, I just discovered this forum.
In August 2011 my back went completely on a shopping trip and I couldn't sit down or stand. A&E said they can't do anything about back pain and sent me home. Over a week barely able to walk and my gp just gave me some pain killers. (Naproxin and cocodamol). I went to physio & he was stumped & after about 2 months finally decided to send me to get an MRI. By this time the physio hadn't helped & I had already got my gp to refer me to st barts hospital London. Got my MRI with them in June 2012. I never received a follow up apt after chasing & chasing. Had to get my gp involved & I finally got the results by fax but still no apt. I was told I had a large prolapsed disc L5-S1 & L4-L5 was just bulging. I got these results in October 2012, over a year after my original injury. My GP referred me to the national hospital for neurology & neurosurgery & had my apt in December. I chased and chased for my scan to be on disc or to be able to be seen by NHNN by my apt on Dec 11th. I saw the surgeon straight away & booked me in for a dissectomy on 20th Feb. everything's been great with them. I haven't been able to walk for nearly a year and a half, no pain killers take the pain from walking. I can't sleep or get comfortable and I'm loosing my mind. I'm really scared I will never be pain free. What I wanted to ask is, has anyone gone so long without treatment? How are you now? Do you think the hospitals have been negligent? I'm 28 year old mother of two girls, 2&8 yrs. I'm so scared what the rest of my life may be. Any support or advice would be great. Oh, Barts called me 2 weeks ago to book my follow-up. They're a load of FW's if u ask me. Sorry for such a long 1st post. xx
Hello Nikkijo :wave:
First of all welcome to Healthypages. So sorry to hear you have had such a rotten time with your back problems. Quite frankly it seems if you have back problems you are lucky to get to see the right person unless you go privately 😡 - or badger and prod the medics to do something. Perhaps they think if they use delay tactics that these people will go away ... as if !!
There are lots of posts here on back problems - I suggest you read them all to see what other people's experiences are.- some are good, others not so, but overall I think many problems can be relieved.
I can't advise you specifically because everyone is different. But I wish you all the best on 20th and hope you get sorted. Let us know how you get on.
Disc Prolapse
Hi everyone, I just discovered this forum.
In August 2011 my back went completely on a shopping trip and I couldn't sit down or stand. A&E said they can't do anything about back pain and sent me home. Over a week barely able to walk and my gp just gave me some pain killers. (Naproxin and cocodamol). I went to physio & he was stumped & after about 2 months finally decided to send me to get an MRI. By this time the physio hadn't helped & I had already got my gp to refer me to st barts hospital London. Got my MRI with them in June 2012. I never received a follow up apt after chasing & chasing. Had to get my gp involved & I finally got the results by fax but still no apt. I was told I had a large prolapsed disc L5-S1 & L4-L5 was just bulging. I got these results in October 2012, over a year after my original injury. My GP referred me to the national hospital for neurology & neurosurgery & had my apt in December. I chased and chased for my scan to be on disc or to be able to be seen by NHNN by my apt on Dec 11th. I saw the surgeon straight away & booked me in for a dissectomy on 20th Feb. everything's been great with them. I haven't been able to walk for nearly a year and a half, no pain killers take the pain from walking. I can't sleep or get comfortable and I'm loosing my mind. I'm really scared I will never be pain free. What I wanted to ask is, has anyone gone so long without treatment? How are you now? Do you think the hospitals have been negligent? I'm 28 year old mother of two girls, 2&8 yrs. I'm so scared what the rest of my life may be. Any support or advice would be great. Oh, Barts called me 2 weeks ago to book my follow-up. They're a load of FW's if u ask me. Sorry for such a long 1st post. xx
Hi Nikkijo;
My name is Malek and i am 39 years old male
i had two previous discectomy one in 1998 for L4/L5 disc and again in 2007 for L5/Si disc and i am a firm believer that the reason for the second one is mainly due to my personal negligence and extremely cold weather
to be frank with you once you are operated then things will never be the same again, you may not be able to lift moderate to heavy loads as you did previously but definitely one good advantage is that you go back to normal life specially you kids as they will require special care at this age.
if discectomy is advised by your doc as the last resort and there is no other alternative then i think that you have to listen to him. the discectomy success rate is improving over time and in my country as a third world country where the healthcare is far below of that in UK the docs are making a breakthrough in this kind of operation with a high success rate.
if by any mean you can avoid it then do so otherwise you have to do it, with proper personal care i think you can live a normal life after the operation and immediately afyer being released from the ICU you will feel great comfort as the nerves are released and you may feel the pain of the wound for 2-7 days depending on your body reaction and nature
Hope you get well soon;
Hi Nikijo
No I don't think anyone has been negligent. You may be able to get some help from PALS (Patient Advisory Liaison Service) who specialise in dealing with complaints. They may be able to pin down why it took so long to get the results of your MRI. This was the most avoidable delay.
The pain killers given to you by the GP were totally appropriate.
Back problems are notoriously difficult to diagnose and treat.You are fortunate that the MRI came back with such a clear picture - which is why the delay in getting those results to your GP probably does merit some investigation,
Referral to a physio is standard . Physiotherapy can resolve many back problems. I had back pain for over 12 years and STILL got referred for physio as a first line of treatment. It didn't work for me - and I also ended up having surgery on L4/5 - also from a neurosurgeon (who in my opinion are the best at these sorts of things)
I hope all goes well on the 20th.The surgery does make a huge difference. My then boyfriend met me when I still had back problems. The change he saw in me after my surgery was palpable. He said it was the first time he had ever seen me stand upright.
Good luck!
Sally