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For those of you who have had a herniated disc, what did it feel like before you had a dr. confirm it was in fact a herniated disc?
My low back has been excruciating on and off for years now but it seems to be more like every day - sharp lower back pain at most times of the day for me. I'm trying to confirm whether it is a herniated disc.
Yes, I am going to have a physician check it out but I'm curious how it felt for those of you who had one.
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My herniated discs are in my neck, and I had a sharp pain in my shoulder and numbness in my fingers. I thought I had a torn rotator cuff or something, because I was a heavy weight lifter at the time. Finally an orthopedic doctor said she thought I had a herniated disc, and an MRI was ordered which confirmed her suspicion.
Herniated discs often cause nerve damage and pain that will radiate down the affected nerves, and sometimes the pain will show up in places that may not make sense to you.
While symptoms of a herniated disc can be isolated to the back, there is usually radiation of symptoms, pain, burning numbness typically into the buttocks and/or down the leg...
Symptoms often worsened by sitting, coughing, sneezing....
Only way to know for sure is to get it checked out.
Symptoms often worsened by sitting, coughing, sneezing....
The sneezing can be bad. I have to brace myself whenever I know a sneeze is coming on.....
OP, bluedevilz is very knowledgeable and spot on with his description above. I started having pain 5 months ago and had an MRI that showed a disc herniation at L5-S1 with significant compression of the S1 nerve root on the left side. I also have loss of disc height and desiccation as well. I have pain that radiates down my left buttock and/or thigh (with occasional tingling in the bottom of my left foot). Over the course of a typical day, the pain ranges from sharp and acute, to a dull ache, to going several hours with little pain at all. Pain level depends on time of day, my position (sitting upright tends to make my pain worse), what activities I'm doing (I actually feel better with exercise), and how long it's been since I've taken medication. The mornings are the worst, though. After that many hours off my feet, getting up and walking around is awful. I usually wait for an hour to get dressed and attempt to tie my shoes.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 02-13-2019 at 04:45 PM..
Got 3 of them. Been dealing with it roughly 20-25 years or so. Some days are better than others. Few days are worse. But I got a high pain tolerance and just deal with it. Sure I can alleviate the pain through medication or possible surgery, but I'm not. Mind over matter. Since I'm retired now I no longer have to worry about over exerting myself. Move at my own pace and life goes on.
I have three herniated discs; L4, L5 & S1. My back aches when I walk for extended periods, when I do a lot of lifting, and occasionally when I wake up in the morning. I occasionally get referred pain into my buttocks and leg and that feels like someone poured molten lava into the nerves in those areas, I've had two series of epidural injections to deal with that but those hurt like hell and I don't think I want any more of them. I also ruptured C6-7 and had that disc surgically removed. Before they did surgery I had horrible pain down my arm and some of my fingers were numb and I had fasciculation (fast twitching) in the affected arm.
This has been going on for over 30 years, for the most part I have learned to ignore the pain, when it gets really bad I use a heating pad or take ibuprofen.
My lumbar disc herniations were confirmed by an MRI, the diagnosis for the disc in my neck was an MRI and a Myelogram which was an awful experience
A true herniated lumbar disc makes it hard to walk....the disc usually puts pressure on surrounding nerves and is very uncomfortable.
Yep. When I get out of my car and walk into someplace, I'm usually hunched over for a minute or two with pain shooting down my leg. Once I get moving though, I'm good. Walking doesn't seem to bother me after that first few minutes.
My husband had this. On and off for years. He would say his “back went out”. And a couple days later he was fine. One day it just got really bad. And didn’t go away.
Very quickly, within one week, he had xrays, an mri, and surgery by a neurosurgeon. He saw the neuro on a Wednesday and Friday he had surgery. Between Wednesday and Friday I was given strict instructions that if it got any worse to take him to the ER and they’d operate on an emergent basis.
His was so bad that he was having severe difficulty urinating.
I hear about people going years with this problem and I guess you can, my husband went 15 years with the intermittent pain but it got to a point that it just couldn’t be ignored anymore. And he certainly did ignore it for all those years.
Very quickly, within one week, he had xrays, an mri, and surgery by a neurosurgeon. He saw the neuro on a Wednesday and Friday he had surgery. Between Wednesday and Friday I was given strict instructions that if it got any worse to take him to the ER and they’d operate on an emergent basis.
His was so bad that he was having severe difficulty urinating.
Did he have cauda equina syndrome? I believe that is, indeed, treated as a surgical emergency (or near to it).
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