[QueenMary]

Hello Everyone,
I am new here and have been diagnosed with one bad back. I have a tear in L4/L5, bulging discs, severe arthritis and spinal stenosis. I suffer from severe back pain daily, nightly, and every breathing moment. I really need some advice. If and when I get my insurance back I will more then likely need surgery, but I am not so sure if I want to get it. Right now, my main goal is to get more movement, less stiffness, and pain. I take Norco for pain, and muscle relaxer for spasms. But neither really do the trick. I just really need some good advice on what to do. I have tried everything, ice, heat, muscle rubs, pain patches, multiple back procedures, and now all that is left is surgery. Unless there are some other ideas out there. Thanks for your time. Peace and hugs, Mary

[inchronicpain]

Originally Posted by QueenMary

Hello Everyone,
I am new here and have been diagnosed with one bad back. I have a tear in L4/L5, bulging discs, severe arthritis and spinal stenosis. I suffer from severe back pain daily, nightly, and every breathing moment. I really need some advice. If and when I get my insurance back I will more then likely need surgery, but I am not so sure if I want to get it. Right now, my main goal is to get more movement, less stiffness, and pain. I take Norco for pain, and muscle relaxer for spasms. But neither really do the trick. I just really need some good advice on what to do. I have tried everything, ice, heat, muscle rubs, pain patches, multiple back procedures, and now all that is left is surgery. Unless there are some other ideas out there. Thanks for your time. Peace and hugs, Mary

i have a small bulgeing disc at L5 and its very painful i know right now I am doing water pt I love it but cant tell if its helping me yet still in a lot of pain with my back I know what your going through .

I been told if nothing we are trying helps I will have to have surgery to fix it .

have they tried everything to see if it helped?

my pain management doctor just changed my pain med to something stronger he did had me on tramadol that was not touching my pain he put me on vicodin now and says if I am having a good day with pain to take the tramadol so I can take both.

I am also on Cymbalta 30mg for fibro he upped it to 60mg .

the vicodin is working for me maybe see if your doctor will change to something stronger that will help with the pain.

[Jomar]

TENS? or another kind of e stim?

If no ins you can get most of the Electronic stims online - I've bought an EMS stim & recently an IF stim from Amazon, under 100$ each.

You can also get an ultrasound , but you would need someone to do your back as it would be hard to reach for good results..

But it might be good to go to a PT or chiro that can try it a few times to see if either one is helpful for you before buying anything..

My chiro also had a low level laser (also called soft laser or cold laser)

You might call around to find out if any places have those for therapy- for my specific pain spots it was great..

I don't know if it any of those will help if your nerves are being pinched, but if mostly soft tissue pains or spasms then they should help.

Maybe acupunture??