Hello, very sorry to hear about your sister and unfortunately I know her pain all too well. I have MS and muscle spasms from that actually broke the a vertebra in my lower back and caused a both bulging and herniated disk, since then spasms have also caused additional bulging disks in my thoracic spine level and my neck. And like your sister surgery wasn’t/isn’t a corrective action any doctor will take with me. I “lived” with pain killers for almost 10 years the entire time I was often driven to thoughts of suicide from the pain alone at least twice a week and over the years even made a few attempts. I did physical therapy which I won’t say it didn’t help, because it sort of did at least until the muscles built up enough to begin tearing apart my body again at which point I was dismissed from PT.

Eventually through numerous medications, 8 different pills taken at all different times of the day, my pain was finally under control enough for me to function “some” and my suicidal thoughts became far less frequent though I still suffered from a huge amount of bad days. The end of last year beginning of this year I got a baclofen pump put in, suffered quite a bit and questioned my sanity in opting for it for the next couple of months but I have to say it’s been the best decision of my life so far. I can move, my bad days are far and few between and I’m no longer waiting for my husband to leave for work so I can break down and sob.

Whether or not that will be a possibility for your sister is difficult to say, but it truly isn’t that unusual from my experience for doctors to not want to mess with the disks too much when one has MS especially over pain. My case was a risk/reward that had doctors fleeing from the thought of surgery despite a broken back and smooshed disk. I could still walk with assistance and there was a risk as always that they could remove my ability to walk, and since it was caused by spasms there was an increased chance of causing greater harm to my back and mobility by compromising the area from surgery.

Now I’m not sure exactly what caused the bulging and herniated disks in your sister’s case or exactly where they are located (mine is L3 L4 T2 and C1) but first and foremost posture is a good starting point, don’t curl up from the pain it will make it worse, throughout the day and before bed make sure you lie flat on your back with your knees raised or get a zero gravity chair, it is no lie to say that my own zero gravity chair sometimes kept me from crossing the line and saying goodbye to the pain permanently.

The more stress you can allievate from your back the better you will feel at least while it’s being relieved. And get in touch with a pain management doctor! A reputable one, someone who will listen and try to arrange a medication schedule that will at least provide some assistance with the pain. A good pain management doctor will generally start off a bit slow on the meds, and you might find yourself changing them all around many times over till you find a combo you’re satisfied with, and they also might recommend going for a pain pump like mine, but first they’ll work with oral medications, possibly some injections, and can even recommend PT and things like TENS units (love mine still).

I’ll keep your sister in my thoughts and prayers and please let her know she’s not alone in her pain. But truly pain management is where she really needs to be right now to at least gain a little bit of comfort. It’ll still be a long journey, realistically, I wish there was a magic bullet but there simply isn’t. Though with the MS diagnosis already I would definitely make sure the pain management doctor skips the narcotics and goes for gabapentin it seems to work the best for us.