My name is Andy and Im 24 years old. I was diagnosed 2 months ago with a central disc herniation at the l4/l5 region that was seriously compressing my theral/dural (whatever the name of it is) Sac. My symptoms started about 3 months ago with leg stiffness and spasms, twitching, and lower back stiffness and inflammation. What worries me is that I dont have much pain, just stiffness and discomfort in my legs that really bother me if I stand for a while which is what I have to do at work. The stiffness/twitching is mainly in my calf muscles and behind my knees. Sometimes is very hard to walk becuase it feels like my legs are just too tired to move and when standing for a while my legs get ridicoulously stiff and start to burn. I had to wait 2 months to see a neurosurgeon and since im an impatient person i went to chiro and started some decompression treatments of my back. My legs and back started to slowly get better and when i was almost done with my treatments the chiro recomended message therapy treatment. BAD IDEA!!!! After a few treatments my back and leg symptoms came back tenfold, worse than before!!! When i finally saw the nuerosurgeon he said to NEVER see a chiro for a herniated disc problem w/out seeing him first. Now i dont know what to do because my symptoms are worse than b4 and he wants to try epidural shots and if that doesnt help consider surgery. My ? is has anybody out there heard of simliar symptoms with a herniated disc. I always worry that I have something a lot worse (ALS or MS) causing my problems then just a disc because i dont have the typical herniated disc symptoms. If anybody could share there input i would GREATLY appreciate it. Thanks for your time!!!

Andy

Andy, sorry you’re having such painful problems. I too have a few herniated discs. I am scheduled to have my 5th surgery on October 6th. Most of my surgeries are to fix what was given to me at birth...Spina Bifida Occulta, Didn't know about it until I was an adult. I was fortunate to have only the bone formations only. Do have problems with my bladder though.


The pain you’re describing sounds like my pain. I have pain that goes into my legs. I have terrible pain in my pelvis. My herniated disc are at the L2-L3 and L3-L4. Some days my legs will be so stiff and hurt so bad. I'm trying not to take pain meds but some days I have to.

Something I do to relieve pain is to lay on an ice pad for 20 and then hot pad for 20. It will help with any swelling that is causing some of the pain.

I did have three epidurals this year. The doc injected the nerves in the areas that he will be doing the surgery. I did get pain relief. It was so great. Yes, your pain will come back but for the pain, relief it gives you it is great. You almost forget you have back problems.

I’m not sure if I have helped…hope you can get some pain relief soon.

Hi Andy, my son has lower back problems also. He is only 15 but we found out recently he has Spina bifida occulta and a grade 2 spondylothesis. He keeps his back pain under control with exercise.

His orthopedist prescribed physical therapy and they taught him exercises to stretch his lower back and legs and also how to lift and how to build up the muscles that help his back.

So far so good, he has his bad days but they don't last. I would try to avoid surgery as long as possible...Sue

HI Andy! I too, suffer from back/spine problems. My L5-S1 virtually have nothing between them, so are bone on bone. I had epidurals in the past, which for me, didn't help. Back pain is awful and I really sympathise w/you being so young and going through so much pain.

I am 53, so can hardly relate to what you are feeling, but I do have many other sx's that yes, belong to other ailments that can also affect the way my back feels. Spasms are awful and trying to find a comfy way to sleep is almost impossible.

I hope you can find something that helps and can forego surgery. By coming here, you'll find that we are all in agreement that back pain is miserable. Keep us posted on how your'e doing, OK? take care....

Andy, I started a thread for you in the New Member Forum...here is the link. Lots of great folks wanting to welcome you to Neuro Talk.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread54678.html

My son is 22 and he has Spina bifida occulta and a grade 2 spondylothesis too
he has Fx his back before we knew about his problem, the key is exercises he is alot better due to exercises he did BMX for a few years and that help alot he found that ride help his back
Rose

Everyone is different..I just want to say this up front.
My husband is going through something similar.
At first he had corisone shots in his back. This would help for a few weeks at a time.
He just had a series of three epidurals. This seems to be a little better.
The first were one week a part and this last one was after two weeks.
The pain is much better.
Now, he is going to go into physical therapy.
If this doesn't work, he will consider surgery.
From what I understand...the epidurals might allow him to do a little more in physical therapy.

p.s. A friend told me that a combination of cortisone shots, knox from the health food store and physical therapy has helped her a lot.

Hi Andy. I am a 24 year old female that has 2 herniated discs (L4,L5) and I also have one disc which they call "floppy." It is genetically "more loose" then my other discs. I first had the back pain in 2007 and I am pretty sure I did it when I was in Nursing school lifting a patient in bed. I had an epidural shot and the pain did not return until about a week ago! I am in such pain right now and I am going for another epidural shot. I just cant believe that this is happening at such a young age. I went and saw an ortho doc who told me I shouldnt be a nurse! Tears came to my eyes. I am now a nurse and I am loving every minute of it, but I am so scared that this back issue is going to hurt what I love to do most. I am just wondering how your back pain is now. I have been thinking about surgery but I am scared to go through that. I hope your pain has gotten better. I am still trying to figure out what's going to work for me....

I have had back problems for many years. (I am twice your age too, lol) any way, I had severe pain down my leg from my back and my neuro sent me to PT for 4 momthe and gave me vioxx. I was great for 2 years. I went bad again when vioxx went off the market. They found a slipped disc was the problem and repaired it, 8 weeks later went in and repaired it again. 2 years later a different doc went in and found another slipped disc and 2 very pinched nerves. Fixed that and now I have all the same pain, just worse. Bottom line.....I don't have an answer for you, I would say maybe see what your doc thinks of PT. So many people who have back surgery do not get relief and you are to young to spend a lifetime in pain. I have since been diagnosed with a disease that attacks the spine and joints so perhaps the surgeries were never going to help anyway. Hind sight I guessGood luck. Merry Christmas. Melody

sorry you're having these difficulties.

having less pain than you think should be associated with disc herniations is a + 4 sure. Maybe your makeup allows you to have a high tolerance for pain... maybe "tolerance" is not the right word because I've tolerated pain, high pain levels -- ...a high hreshold for pain. that's a good thing.

check out some of my other posts regarding discs. might look at those and see if it helps any.