It's been about 3 years since I was diagnosed with two herniated discs in my lower back.
I still deal with daily back pain and far too often sciatica.
I will be planning another appointment with the doctor who diagnosed my back injury in the spring.
The treatment of my back pain has been a confusing process. I did receive a cortisone injection a couple years ago and was told to pretty much just "wait it out".
From what I have read and been told not everyone who has a herniated disc injury will recover 100% pain free. Some recover with minimal pain, to moderate pain to severe pain.
I do take pain medicine once in a while but it is only when I am going to be very active that day. I try to use heat packs and ice packs and a back brace to help deal with the pain. It doesn't always work though- especially if I am experiencing sciatic pain.
The best way to describe sciatic pain is the feeling of both a numbness and a burning down my hip to usually my right leg to the foot. It is very hard to find a comfortable position to sit, lay or sleep when my sciatica is acting up.
It would be a lie to say that the back pain doesn't rule my life at this point. Sitting up in a chair for more than an hour at a time is excruciating. I often have to lay on my side to relieve the pain in my back and my right leg. If I am experiencing sciatica there is no relief. I do try stretches which sometimes help but not always.
I am planning this spring to pursue a better treatment plan for my back and sciatic pain. I was disappointed with the attitude of "wait it out". I want to be able to sit up right in a chair and talk with friends for more than an hour, or go for walks without agonizing pain in my leg and back. I want to be able to go to bed without the futile attempts to be comfortable amid the pain.
I'm very worried that there is no solution to my back pain and that this is the rest of my life. It happened to my mom after a car accident caused her own chronic back injury. She has pursued so many different forms of treatment in the past 22 years since the accident and she still has debilitating pain. If modern medicine can not help and heal my mother why should I expect any different for myself?
Love, Rebecca
