Update-I had the rhizotomy two and a half weeks ago. I am out of severe pain and off pain meds. However, I have residual pain quite low in my sacrum area. It hurts when I bend forward. I have started back riding, but can’t manage both horses, and can ride for max 30 minutes. Canter and walk is better than trot. My Dr. Said we could try the epidural to address the bulging disks that we haven’t addressed yet, or do a sacrum injection. I have to say I am so tired of injections, weight gain, and pain in general. But, I feel so close to having my life back, and if I could just get this last little pain in order I would be ecstatic! Well, I have until Wed. To decide what to do. Please weigh in if anyone has any advice.
I don’t really have any advice since everyone’s case is different but I have had all that done except the sacrum. SI hurt like a bitch and didn’t help me. Epidural was a piece of cake and worked miracles the first time. Was like they didn’t even do anything the second and third time. If you aren’t in PT already I would really suggest you give it a try. That was the only thing that really helped long term.
I had a fusion between S1-L5 about 6 years ago and I rehabbed myself with Pilates. I had been doing Pilates before my surgery so after surgery I started up slowly and I never even had to do rehab. I also used an inversion table when my sciatic nerve was a problem. Sometimes I get L4 slamming down on my fusion and I have to lay across the bed to get it to let go or get on the inversion table. Finding the right stretches/exercises to do on a daily basis is important.
Laurierace, how was your hip surgery? I hope you are feeling better. I have done PT with two different practices with minimal results. The last PT told my Dr. That I needed injections as I was declining. After my ride today I now know I really can’t ride yet. The trot aggravates whatever is still mad. The rhizotomy took away about 60% of my pain. At least I can walk comfortably now.
Due’s Mom, are you able to ride after your fusion? I have wondered about an inversion table. I have done Pilates before and could try it again. It is good that you did your own PT with Pilates.
The surgery went well. I am apparently having a flare up which they tell me is to be expected but it scares me. I was hoping never to feel that particular back pain again.
I am sorry to hear PT didn’t help. There are good ones and not so good ones so if you aren’t sure you had a good one you might want to try again.
I have low back and sciatic pain. I was given a prescription for Gabapentin/Neurontin by my doctor to try before going to injections in my back. It has worked like a charm. I have had no side effects and have felt that my leg and back pain has gone almost entirely away. The best part is that it isn’t a narcotic so there is no loopy or dull feeling. I will take the majority right before bed time as it can make me a little sleepy and two pills during the day.
Good luck. I hope that this is something that you could try. There is also another medication that is similar to Gabapentin but goes by another name.
GABApentin can help the nerve pain thing immensely for lots of folks, but DO pay attention to the warnings about depression/suicidal thoughts. Especially if you have any history with neurotransmitter-affecting meds. DO monitor yourself and make sure your docS (plural, not just the ortho/neurosurgeon types) all know you are taking it.
Best of luck. Lower back pain sucks.
I was given Robaxin for my back pain. Do you have endometriosis? Although, I had a compression fracture of L5 when I was a kid, my back pain was caused by endometriosis. Since starting birthcontrol I haven’t had any pain 
Interesting about the Gabapentin. I know someone taking that who as had multiple neck surgeries. I will ask about it when I see my physio on Wed. Yes, I agree on the PT. The first one I had wasn’t very good. My Dr Referred me to he 2nd to see if we could fix things that route before all the injections. I think I was too far gone by then. I don’t have endometriosis, but I have heard that is quite painful. Laurierace hang in there. Flare ups suck. I can imagine how you are feeling. I have decided being 60% better might be worse for my type A personality. I’m not wanting to pull my hair out from pain anymore, but I can’t ride or sit for a long time either. Argh!
On the Neurontin, I’ve known 3 people who have taken it, and one refused to take it at all, it seriously messed her up, my old office mate…I could definitely tell when he was on it, and another office mate, also could tell when he was on it.
That stuff made those 3 loopy as hell. Obviously, YMMV as people here get great relief with it.
I’ve got L3, L4, and L5-SI discs all either bulging or herniating. Properly diagnosed in 2008. The discs were pretty much managed with a couple of years of epidural series (I would do 2 or 3 epidural series over a 3 month period). Then, the next time I went in, it turns out it was more my arthritis in the facets and the left SI joint. Did a series of branch block tests, they worked, did the RF neurotomy, that lasted for nearly 3 years.
We redid that this past Dec. and it has not been quite as effective as the last time, but my doctor thinks it might be my facet arthritis causing the pain. I need to decide when I should actually start dealing with this one. I have to keep in mind that it takes 6 weeks to get IN to see my doc.
I also just finished the RF on my cervical and thoracic area (this past Wed) because I always had major muscle knots and spasms that nothing could touch, turns out I also have some pretty good arthritis in that area. One block, and I felt those knots and spasms melting away. So far, this one seems like it is working. I do wish I could keep doing the PT for that, that was divine. The needle sites are still sore from the RF, but that is expected, and I usually skip one day of riding after my injections (I make sure I ride the morning of my injection because she likes me to take at least 1 day off).
Riding makes my low back feel better most of the time, but, I have comfy horses and no longer have any jack-hammer sort to ride.
I love and adore my pain management doctor. She keeps me sound with minimally invasive injections and procedures 2-3 times a year. The other thing that helps is exercising, in addition to riding. Even when it “hurts” to exercise, I have learned to mostly differentiate between “stop now, you are damaging yourself” pain and “this isn’t damaging anything, push through” pain and I always feel better after exercise, and I always stop when I feel the first sort of pain.
Oh, I do take 75mg diclofenac sodium once a day, 5 mg flexeril at night (not always, but this winter it has been pretty consistent), and if things are actually painful enough to warrant the nasty side-effects of pain killers, I take a tylenol #3 with 2 advil.
I do some yoga, not as much as I used to, and I also have been doing Feldenkrais this past winter and find it very complementary as well.
What type of exercise do you do SaddlefitterVa? I am tolerating walking for now, but used to run and not sure the back can take it. I am open to yoga and Pilates. My trainer has started Barre and loves it. At this point I’m open to trying anything.
I mostly run on the treadmill. I can’t do the road, but the deck on the treadmill gives me enough cushion that I can do it.
I started slow, and initially, 6.0 mph was my fastest speed, somedays, that was too fast (so not running speed by a true runner’s standards). I was very conscious of using all my muscles and bending the leg joints to absorb the impact at first, but I think that is mostly habit now. I have to use decent shoes too. When I bought new shoes, everything felt better. I only use those for my jogs.
I now can comfortably sustain 6.0-7.0 mph in the hill program for about half an hour, which gets me to 3 miles. Weekdays I only do 22 or 23 minutes, which gives me about 2.25 miles. If I can get in 3x a week, I feel pretty good.
I also sit on an exercise ball. It has to be fully inflated for me, and I don’t so much “sit” as constantly shift around, kneeling, sitting up straight, slouch, kneel, play with using second ball someone brought me at work as a foot rest while balancing on main ball (be ready to grab desk if I lose balance).
And, when it isn’t the worst winter in decades, I average about 9 rides a week.
Basically, the hardest part is learning to differentiate between the different pains that go with this. Tweaking the discs can put me into spasm for a couple of days, sending me running for a steroid pack, ice and muscle relaxers. That is almost always me getting careless in how I pick up some innocuous, not-heavy object when over-bundled in winter.
Arthritis pain, also can cause general muscle achiness, but it is different from that disc pain. The arthritis in the neck actually was causing me to have locked shoulders, but PT and the feldenkrais helped those, and hopefully the RF I did last week will be a long term fix.
Sore muscles, that is the one that can feel like it hurts almost as much as the first two, but that one is the one I have to make sure I’m properly aligned, possibly reduce the exercise at first (slower on treadmill) and then keep on.
The other thing, after a flare up, I have to deal with the fear of some activity or exercise hurting. I’ve found that often, my fear of pain will make me initially think “no”, but then I cautiously start doing something and find it is ok. Everytime I tweak it, I have to go through the same mental gymnastics of fear. But, I am doing better at recognizing the instant I tweak a disc, and I immediately stop, ice, and get to urgent care for steroids within 12 hours. I usually get a shot and a prednisone pack, and then seriously restrict myself for 2-3 days, imposing on my dear husband. But, we’ve both realized that I come back in 2 or 3 days as the inflammation is reduced instead of the first and worst time, I powered through stuff and scared the crap out of us both when I had a few hours of such terrible spasm, I could not stand up or sit up. That was the one that got the MRI and formal diagnosis.
I probably should get into the habit of wearing a low-back support, mostly because it would remind me to lift things properly, all.the.time (well, in the barn).
Three bulging discs here…
Have been in the same situation with flare ups that completely took away my ability to walk. Glad you’ve done an MRI.
Doctors do not believe I am a good surgical candidate (until, as one said, I start dragging my left leg…niiiiice), so for me it is a pain management issue. Low-dose Tramadol keeps me comfortable enough.
The smartest thing I ever did was finally just say, “I give up.” I honestly thought I might never be able to ride again. But by not pushing myself and taking away that pressure to feel like I “had” to ride, I gave myself enough time to “heal.” It took about a year to get to the point where I decided to try to get in the saddle again.
Now, when I feel particularly sore or uncomfortable, I know to back off and give my back time to settle down instead of sending myself into a major flare-up.
Learning what configurations of pillows and bolsters to use while sleeping, sitting in the recliner, etc., has helped tremendously.
Good luck!
“That stuff made those 3 loopy as hell.”
Start with a small dose & work up. That will go away. I don’t know why Doctors don’t really advise this!!!
This is how I take my morning dose of neurontin (gabapentin) - cut 300 mg capsule in half, take half, set other half in a little paper cup. A half hour later I take the other half. If I took 300 mgs at once, I’d fall asleep for a few hours.
I’ve added in Cymbalta & that is helping, actually!
Lawrence, how are you doing after your hip surgery? I have a fusion at L5-SI and SI joint dysfunction and seriously sometimes my hip hurts as bad as my back - or worse. Praying you are having an excellent recovery.
I’m thinking of having an epidural injection in my lower back, for spinal stenosis.
Does anyone know what the risks are? I’m trying to do as much research as I can, before I do anything!
[QUOTE=Zenyatta;7579365]
I’m thinking of having an epidural injection in my lower back, for spinal stenosis.
Does anyone know what the risks are? I’m trying to do as much research as I can, before I do anything![/QUOTE]
I have regularly gotten epidurals for my spinal stenosis. Epidurals are a piece of cake compared to other things. The risks are extremely slight. (Things like infection, spinal headache, etc.) There is a possibility of nerve damage in unlikely event that you move while the needle is in your spinal column, but that is extremely rare.
The recent big case (New England Compounding) with the fungal infections got a lot of press, but it was a highly unusual circumstance and really a small number of people were infected. Very few top notch hospitals would use a drug from an out of state compounding pharmacy when you can buy depo medrol right from manufacturers who are highly regulated. Those hospitals should have known that they were taking a risk by using cheaply made drugs. Things have tightened up a lot since that disaster.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that a recent study showed that if you get too many epidurals it can cause bone thinning in your spine. That can lead to fractures-- so you really don’t want to get too many epidurals, but if you need a few series (usually 3-4 shots) once in a while as I do, I would certainly get them.
I fell off my horse 16 days ago and now in a brace and will be for 4 months. Ihave a compression fracture of the L2. Have weaned myself off the drugs as I couldn’t think. I came on here to hear and read about people who have ridden after a back injury. I so want to get back on my horse again, and know its a long road. I bought her 2 weeks prior to accident and she is a lovely mare, and it was just one of those silly spooks, the day before she went on a nice trail ride and didn’t batter an eyelid at anything, so was feeling a little over confident in what was underneath me. My last horse was a horrid shier, and never got me off, and on the quietest horse I have ever owned, shied at a bird, and taught me how to fly. I would so love to hear of people who have ridden after this sort of injury. I need to hear that I will ride again.
I am in a bout of some major back pain - so much so that I was on my knees crying yesterday morning (I can handle pain and I’m not much of a crier to put it in perspective). I don’t know what on earth I did to hurt my back. Usually I can think back and remember “well, I shouldn’t have picked up that big rock” or something similar - but this time I have absolutely no idea.
I’m waiting to hear from the chiro to get in for an appointment for a massage and adjustment.
The last time I was in so much pain was two years ago when I got bucked off and landed flat on my back. But at least then I knew why I was hurting.
Walking and riding make me feel better (granted trail riding at the walk bareback is all I’ve aimed for since the pain started). Sitting and lying down make me feel really bad and I have a hard time sleeping and I just hurt.
I’m trying to do gentle yoga 1-2 times per day. When I hurt myself from the fall two years ago, I started yoga right away and it helped me a lot. Note, though, that I teach yoga so know what to do and go at my own pace. If you are in an acute attack, I might not recommend a class, although some stretching could be good - check with your Dr or PT.
I’m thinking I may have actually hurt myself in a Pilates class on the reformer - it is the only thing I can think of that I did right before the pain came on.
I’m obviously not a chiropractor or an orthopedic specialist, but I’ve had my fair share of injuries: right off-set C1, compression fracture C3, reversed curve neck, torticollis right neck, cork-screw scoliosis, almost non-existent t-8 and t-9 vertebrae, unfused sternum that causes my ribs to walk on one another, compression fracture L4, bulging disc L5-S1.
I’ve never had surgery and won’t require it for awhile.
I drink a LOT of water, drink bone broth daily, glucosamine-chondroitin and fish oil supplements, gluten/dairy free (reduces my inflammation), and take traumeel instead of NSAIDs when I’m painful, weekly epsom salt baths, and I work out as much as possible. When I’m really painful the only thing I can do is swim and it helps SO much.
I don’t go to chiropractors or massage anything anymore…they made everything worse. I do enjoy a cold laser occasionally when I’ve done something to re-injure something and that’s it. I live a totally full life and just avoid doing ridiculous activities like lake surfing or speed boating (bumpy).
There’s hope for everyone
