Going Down

Catchy Title. :hubba:
My Doc told me yesterday that I have a herniated disc that has to have surgery to take that disc out and fuse the 2 pieces together.
The doc gave me all the down side of this disc problem, like if I don't do anything about it I can be parolized in my left leg or both, or I can have the surgey and take a chance to be parolized or I can Die on the
table
but he did say I would be waering a back brace for 3 months and Can't do a damn thing for a year and I have a big place that need to be tended to.. Oh well the grass and weeds will grow tall....

The bad thing about this is, that I can't tend to my plants and might have to pull the plants up intil I can get back on my feet again.. As for my wife taking care of them isn't going to happen because she to dam worried that she going to get busted and go to jail and she won't put her self in that position to take care of them...

Does anybody know what to take for this freaken pain?
I can't take any Hydrocodone because of the liver and this pain is a nerve pain..

If I say anything wrong here, I surely don't intend to. And don't call me Shirley . My wife has 2 herniated discs. She tried epidurals, 3 bouts of 12 shots. For her, a waste of time and money. She goes to a chiropractor now, twice/week and so far, much better. There are some good excercises she does now that help. Hydrocodone (and other offered prescription drugs) - well, neither of us think lifetime prescriptions are the answer to any problem.

At least get a 2nd (and perhaps a 3rd) opinion. I'm a lot less worried about your plants than your spine .

If I missed the boat on this one, please ignore this, I meant well.

sorry to hear about that flyinghigh although with todays technoligy i think all will be fine !!..due to these operations being performed on a regular basis these days ! and i am sorry i cannot offer any assistance to relieve the pain !! its not my feild !! LSD maybe ! all the best and take care !!

Hey flyinghigh I have been and I'm still where your at, about 5 yrs ago I broke my neck and had a herniated disc at the same time and left it go for about 8 months. Still worked everyday until my left arm finally quit working and went totally numb, I put up with a but load of pain and nothing worked except a strong Indica smoke(for pain) and 1000mg motrins( for inflamation) and that just took the edge off. I don't do the pain scripts the doc's write they just seem to make me feel worse than the pain it'self sick wise that is and I took everything from hydrocodone to fentynol patches, oxycotins all of it made me sick. Nothing you can do about nerve damage except go get surgery before you get damage that can't be fixed and loose use of your leg. Some chiropractors can help you releave some of the pain but the only way to fix a herniated disc is surgery. My doc told me another month of working I would have lost all use of my left arm, kinda scary. So my suggestion to you is get your surgery whether it be by your doc or another doc like purplephaze said with todays technology you have a very good chance at recovery to lead at least a some what of a normal life. The only downside to it is scar tissue after surgery I have it and also another herniated disc at the moment and I am dealing with it all over again, and what really blows I am fighting with SSI for my disability and have no Insurance at the moment to have another surgery and I need 3 in all. And a little FYI for every inch of nerve damage it will take 3 months of healing time to regenerate and heal that nerve, so be ready to be a couch potato for a little while...take care..

I have had the same thing Flyin'. 3 surgaries to date. I herniated my L5S1 which pinched my left sciatic nerve. Instead of removing the disc and fusing them together, I opted to have the disc "shaved" off off the sciatic nerve, and it has been great ever since bro. I did have 2 more instances of that disc having a little piece break off and lodge back into my sciatic, but another surgary just took that disc piece out.

If you are getting nothing but a fusion option, then that might be your only recourse.

Bottom line bro, if the pain is too much, pretty much nothin but a surgary will alleviate the pain, sorry to say.

please please please look into something other than fusion, as it is a 100% permanent and irreversable procedure with about 75% success rate.

Do yourself a favor and get a few more sopecialists to look at it.

I have two herniated discs, and I excercize and stretch regularly, plus I try my best to eat really well.

It helps.

Fusion does not. Trust me, we in this household have done the reserch.

:holysheep: I Can't stand it anymore !!!!! I need a big shot of morphine just to sleep for a Good night..!
The more I stand and walk and the relief feels good intil I sit down again and here comes the pain.
I haven't had a Good night sleep for about a month or 2 now and I sleep during the day some and when night time come I go sleep around 10 pm or so and I sleep til 1 am and then I am up all night and all day and maybe get alittle snooze here and there..

I excerise back and fourth to side to side and it Don't help :holysheep: I need a shot.
Well :holysheep: I can sit here at the comp anymore..

Odd as it may sound, sleep on the floor--put a couple of quilts or blankets down and go fetal. I made it to 40 and my doc had said if I didn't get the disc shrapnel like Norcal I'd be fine. At 40 or so, our bones begin serious calcification and pretty much fuse themselves. Worst thing I could do when my back was "out" was riding in a freakin car. Had a VW Beetle--the real one--and when I'd get to where I was going, it took me a good ten minutes to straighten up. Worst thing to do: lift a 19" TV and lean over to put it in a car. Guaranteed pain within hours. Luck and lay off the hard stuff much as you can--the stuff has a nasty habit of becoming habitual.

PencilHead said:

Odd as it may sound, sleep on the floor--put a couple of quilts or blankets down and go fetal. I made it to 40 and my doc had said if I didn't get the disc shrapnel like Norcal I'd be fine. At 40 or so, our bones begin serious calcification and pretty much fuse themselves. Worst thing I could do when my back was "out" was riding in a freakin car. Had a VW Beetle--the real one--and when I'd get to where I was going, it took me a good ten minutes to straighten up. Worst thing to do: lift a 19" TV and lean over to put it in a car. Guaranteed pain within hours. Luck and lay off the hard stuff much as you can--the stuff has a nasty habit of becoming habitual.

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Oh I have done that at the beginning sleep on the floor but that wasn't in the pain relief.! I did that last night and I feel alot better but I still have pain and that what wakes me up. Pain
Riding in a car is OUT intil I have to go to the doc then I lay in the back seat of my extended cab truck and that can be a hella of ride for about 50 Min's to see my doctor..
Wow VW Beetle and it a real one, :rofl: so ur saying the new VW ain't real..
I don't ride in my Acura well it is just to much..

A colleague just had a similar op - herniated disc - had two fused. He was back at work after 2 weeks and now 3 months later is in pretty good shape, he just needs to lose a lot of weight.

leafminer said:

A colleague just had a similar op - herniated disc - had two fused. He was back at work after 2 weeks and now 3 months later is in pretty good shape, he just needs to lose a lot of weight.

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I was told that I had to wear a back brace for 3 months and do nothing while I am healing.
Back to work in 2 weeks, WOW, I must go see this doc so I can do things in 2 weeks and that way I don't have to worry to much about my Plants after I go and get me a drip system before I have this done..

I am a surgery test person, :hubba: see I had 13 Plastic surgery on my Cliff Pallet that the roof of my mouth, and 1 replace hip, 2 liver biopsy to see what condition my liver in, and 1 colon crap done, and now going to have back surgery Wow call me the Million dollar man.

Sorry to hear about this Flyin. Didn't you just have a big surgery last year? I hope you find relief soon.

Your medical insurance provider must hate you.

Avg recovery time from bone fusion surgery = 3 to 6 months. Average.

That is from about 12 different doctors, surgeons and specialists. Most strongly recommend against it.

Three years after my injury, I still have to watch it. I have to be careful for the rest of my life. If it's cold outside, it makes it worse. Often still I have to use opiated at night to get relief, as my stoner tolerance is much too high for cannabis to help curb pain.

Properly stretching and working out your back muscles involves a lot of leg movement.

Keep looking, read others personal reports and stories. At least 70% of folks who get the fusion regret it, most of them however were in the 25 to 35 age bracket.

Still, a younger body can heal faster than an older one.

I cannot stress enough however about the proper diet.

Lots of:

Fatty fish (salmon, tuna, shark, sturgeon)
Seafood (everything including seaweed)
Suppliments (Glucosamine, glucosamine, glucosamine)
Reduce red meat (Higher levels of protiens in the body can shift your PH to the acidic levels. Cheese and milk can do this also)
Veggies (EVERY DAY) broccoli, asparagus, and Superfood from Odwalla.
Protien suppliments (Without whey or kreatine)
Fruits (berries especially)
Poultry (open range or cage free, watch for hormones, no foster farms)
NO FAST FOOD EVER
Reduce sugar consumption
Reduce liquor consumption (switch to wine)
Salads (daily. Mixed baby greens or multi colored salad mix) Iceberg and romaine offer 0 nutritional value.

When you eat out, don't cheat.
Go for walks. Starting short, then you can work into longer ones.
Stretch before and after. Do more when you wake up in the morning and some before you go to bed.

Make you doctor or chiro tell you how you can help yourself.

My wife has been living WITHOUT her L5 S1 for about three years now.
It is an every day battle. We refuse to take the fusion.

There are other solutions out there.

Since you have herniated discs, has anyone recommended traction therapy yet?

...and I forgot to mention, there are surgical specialists who uses the Da Vinci surgical robot.

I had a job for a while assembling these things.

To perform the surgery, they make only two small incisions on your lower back and then use the machine on remote control basically to do the work.

Outpatient procedures. Amazing.

Here is a link to the Da Vinci Surgical Robot and a few places that use it:

hxxp://www.laserspineinstitute.com/
hxxp://www.bonati.com/

You want to look for specialists who use this machine:

hxxp://www.intuitivesurgical.com/index.aspx

SmokinMom said:

Sorry to hear about this Flyin. Didn't you just have a big surgery last year? I hope you find relief soon.

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Yea SmokinMom I had Hip surgey last 3-31-08.
I am hopen to fine relief on 6-6-09 after surgey ! :holysheep: I BETTER !!

LOL The Effen Gee, the insurance does hate me and the Doctors Loves me.:hubba:
So your saying since you had your fusion your STILL in pain when it gets cold and have to take opiates to cope.?
Smoking weed always help curb with the pain, but it has it plus. Sleep, make a person want to eat, and I read some where were it help Not to get Alzheimer which it strong in the family.
Doing exercise everyday has it plus which most of us don't do everyday and to put into a daily schedule can be ruff..

I understand what you said about eating the right meals, which we eat pretty good the good foods but when it comes to fruits that expensive and dont buy enough of it.

Going for walks is good which I don't do much and I use to ride bikecycle years ago and when my hip gave me problems I quite and now here I am got back problems and still not going to be able to ride for another year.

So your wife haven't had anything done yet after 3 years.? OUCH !!

Traction wouldn't work for me because it compress on 1 side from the years of walking with a limp.

The Effen Gee said:

...and I forgot to mention, there are surgical specialists who uses the Da Vinci surgical robot.

I had a job for a while assembling these things.

To perform the surgery, they make only two small incisions on your lower back and then use the machine on remote control basically to do the work.

Outpatient procedures. Amazing.

Here is a link to the Da Vinci Surgical Robot and a few places that use it:

hxxp://www.laserspineinstitute.com/
hxxp://www.bonati.com/

You want to look for specialists who use this machine:

hxxp://www.intuitivesurgical.com/index.aspx

Click to expand...

Thanks for info on those web sights.! But I live in Ca. and those places are in back east some where and I don't have the funds to get there and I don't think they have anything around here like that..