discogenic pain and sciatica? first post
 

Has anyone been diagnosed with discogenic pain as the source of their referred leg and foot pain, and/or back pain? I have some small bulges and a herniation at l4 l5, but the surgeon was not very impressed with the mri on his brief look at it. He thinks based on bilateral symptoms it's pain from the discs themselves, which doesn't seem real well understood. All he can suggest is discography to try to confirm that, then fusion with a 70% success rate.

I paid to have my mri read by a chiropractor and spine researcher I found online, and he is seeing a few other potential causes, the one that makes the most sense to me based on how this has felt over the past 5 years progressively is the narrowed opening at the l4 nerve root exit on both sides which was visible in one of the cross section cuts, worse compared to last year's. I want to pursue that with some diagnostic lidocaine nerve blocks. My l4 l5 herniation is also worse, so that could certainly be contributing, though the surgeon did not think so.

Been dealing with butt pain, leg and foot pain with numbness and cramping to varying degrees for 5 years, with just occasional back pain, but now the back pain is mostly burning that runs down my legs and makes my feet cramp, its relieved only by lying down, and it takes awhile to settle.

any input would be welcomw.

47 yo female with a 20 year history of long hours working at a computer. Inhuman amounts of sitting.