Herniated disc in my lower back..

[black50]

Honestly if I had the money I would've tried spinal decompression first. I dont know if insurnace is covering it now or not but Andre(Strongnuff) was going to cut me a heck of deal on it. He and his wife own their own chiropractic clinic. I invested a lot of time and research to figure out which way to go. I tired phyiscal therapy, stretching, an epidural spinal injection(which gave me the worst head ache Iv had in my life for 3 days), pain meds and nothing helped.
Dr Guyer asked me this before I went into surgery "If this surgery would only alleviate 50% of your pain would you do it"? The statistics say that you have a higher chance of coming out with a 50% pain reduction. My pain level went down to around 5%.
Nick Chapman had another procedure where they implant a small device the sends electrical signals to the nerves in that area and interrupts the signals and he loves it.
My best advice is try some non permanent solutions first. An adr can be removed but you'll never have that disc material. I havent met one person or read any review of spinal decompression making it worse. Just give yourself some options to try before you finalize on a disc removal procedure.
I exhausted my alternatives and I was taking way too much vicodin so I pulled the trigger and Im glad I made the choice for an adr. I had severe mood swings on pain pills and I was taking it out on my pregnant wife which wasnt good. After my adr surgery I took pan pills for 2 weeks and then tried to give my dr back the bottle they gave me because I really didnt need it any more.
One tip I will give you and it was Nicks case is that if the pain is caused by stenosis(narrowing of the spinal canal) then nothing is going to help other than surgery.

about 60% of the cost of my decompression was covered by my insurance

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

Thanks for the info guys. Will discus all these opptions with the Doc.

[black2002ls]

I was diagnosed with a herniated disc a few months ago. I went to spine team texas and they set me up with tramadol, and 6 weeks of physical therapy. One part of therapy was to be put in traction. This did me the most good. I was pain free for about a month and a half. Here in the last couple of days, it has come back. It is the same kind of pain. I get a pain in my right hip and it causes trouble walking at times, and I wince from the pain. I'm going to do some research on this spinal decompression

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

The pain in the right leg is what I am worried about the most. My toes are also going Slightly numb. My co~worker that had the adr had another surgery two years earlier. He Got some relief, but the pain returned. He just delt with it. To the point he lost feeling in Right leg and foot. After the ADR his back was great, just never got the feeling back in his leg. The damage was done.

[black2002ls]

I strongly recommend Spine Team Texas. Don't wait, get an appointment ASAP. They are a place where surgery is a last resort.

[Chas_svo]

Inversion table did nothing for me. Neither did 3 epidurals, so I had to have surgery. I would try decompression and inversion table, just in case.

[black2002ls]

For those with an inversion table, which table do you have? Are they all pretty much the same?

[shumpertdavid]

I have 3 bulging discs in my lower back, 2 in my mid back, and 2 or 3 minor bulging in my neck, pretty much deal with back and neck pain daily. Some days are pretty rough. I have an inversion table and it's pretty nice relief to use it. I did 24 treatments at the chiropractor; deep heat treatment, spinal decompression, and adjustments. This was over an 8-10 week time period. After the treatments I still had the same pain and problems (although it was nice while I was going), did not have insurance, and spent a little of 3 grand out of pocket. Sure am Glad my girlfriend at the time insisted I get my back checked and set up the wonderful consultation visit.

Best part of the whole deal was that my Brother in Law is a Radiology tech and the MRI was free.

[marcs95gt]

i had spinal decompression and it worked for me. Got it done at a board members chiro clinic. They did a great job on me and recommend them. I have a herniated Disc and had pain for several years untill i went to get treatment With Andre.

[black50]

I was diagnosed with a herniated disc a few months ago. I went to spine team texas and they set me up with tramadol, and 6 weeks of physical therapy. One part of therapy was to be put in traction. This did me the most good. I was pain free for about a month and a half. Here in the last couple of days, it has come back. It is the same kind of pain. I get a pain in my right hip and it causes trouble walking at times, and I wince from the pain. I'm going to do some research on this spinal decompression

decompression is a modern day/advanced form of traction

[LS1Goat]

L5/S1 herniation right side lateral 10.1mm

PT helped improved range of motion and reduce symptoms of sciatica. Traction felt good, but relief is quite temporary.

Having Micro-endoscopic Discectomy performed next month. I'm tired of messing around with it. Conservative treatment is not going to yield desired results a 10mm herniation. And I finally found a way to admit that to myself.

Good luck to the OP. This particular back problem can really put limitations on your life, especially for those who continually symptomatic. Be aggressive at finding a good Dr./Physical Therapist and treatment plan. Whatever that may be for you.

[txstangnut]

I have disk problems also and use decompression and chiro. I chose not to have surgery and so far that was the right choice.

[BlueCoupeRedVert]

I have disk problems also and use decompression and chiro. I chose not to have surgery and so far that was the right choice.

But are you having bad leg pain due to a pinched nerve?? Right now my back feels ok, its my freaking leg I can barely walk. Starting to sound like surgery will the best option. Will see what the doctor has to say.

[black2002ls]

But are you having bad leg pain due to a pinched nerve?? Right now my back feels ok, its my freaking leg I can barely walk. Starting to sound like surgery will the best option. Will see what the doctor has to say.

This is the point that I got to before I finally went to the doc. So bad I could hardly roll over to get out of bed, at times the pain would be so bad and shoot down my leg it put me on my knees. After the prescribed cycle of prednisone, and the physical therapy, it has, for the most part been VERY helpful. I haven't been able to return to my old self, moving heavy boxes, and such, but what little pain I've had has been manageable with tramadol. I've relapsed a little bit, but I didn't do my stretches/exercises for a few weeks. Though like some have said, the severity of the herniation could play a large effect. I strongly recommend giving non invasive solutions a try first.

[slow99]

But are you having bad leg pain due to a pinched nerve?? Right now my back feels ok, its my freaking leg I can barely walk. Starting to sound like surgery will the best option. Will see what the doctor has to say.

Exactly how I felt. My back never hurt, it was just everything from basically both ass cheeks and everything down. I let mine go too far, was a stupid 19-20 year old kid and didn't go see a dr. about it. I have urinary nerve damage (don't know for sure that's the technical term) but if I tweak my back it feels like someone is stabbing me in the bladder when I piss. When I finally checked in for surgery, they measured me at 5'10'' (I'm 6' 2'') just from the slouching, etc, trying my best to even stand up and walk around.

Now, my back - right where I had surgery - hurts only if I tweak it and do something stupid without thinking. I am back to benching/lifting heavy and this past Monday-Wednesday my back was cranked pretty bad. I think it's because I did weights followed by a pretty solid ab workout 2 days in a row. It seems the ab workouts hurt my back more than lifting pretty decent amounts of weights. I will say this, and others might certainly disagree, but for me finding a damned good neurosurgeon (not orthopedic surgeon) was the key.