Mild Disc Degeneration?

[billy_danger]

Starting about 6 months ago pain in my lower back increased to the point where I could no longer ignore it. I made an appointment with a spine specialist who recommended an epidural injection. The relief was amazing but it only lasted about a month.

On my next visit to the doc she ordered an MRI and prescribed about a weeks worth of Lortab 7.5. The bottle said I could take 1 or 2 every 6 hours as needed. I started with 1 pill every 6 hours (4 a day). The pain I've been experiencing comes in two varieties: the constant ache and sharp, INTENSE, burning pain that happens on average about once an hour. The sharp pain is bad enough that my reaction to it is involuntary gasping, yelling, jumping out of my chair, etc. Impossible to ignore. The constant ache I think I can live with.

Ok, so the MRI comes back and you can see one of the disks in my lower back is black and bulging (unlike the lovely healthy white disks). The radiologist who reviewed the MRI called it "mild disk degeneration" on the report. The source of the intense, sharp pain is probably from the disk pressing a nerve.

My doctor said that it wasn't bad enough to warrant surgery since surgery more often than not causes more problems down the line and it might not even relieve the pain. She said I was too young (41) to start that kind of treatment. Fair enough. She seemed shocked when I told her that I was taking 4 Lortabs a day. She says that is too much and I shouldn't be in that much pain. She the wrote me a prescription for Nucynta which is supposed to be less habit forming. Again, fair enough.

The intense pain I have is fairly unpredictable. As soon as I stop taking meds it just comes right back and is very disruptive to my life. Imagine getting suck in the back with a red hot knife all day and night. The Nucynta really isn't that great although it is better than plain old aspirin.

I was pretty active before this started. Bike riding, martial arts. But the back pain just becomes so demoralizing that I want to just sit still all the time. Resulting in being pretty much out of shape now.

My question is: if my symptoms are from "mild disk degeneration" am I just being too whiney? It seems pretty major to me. I like to think I'm a tough guy! I don't relish the thought of becoming dependent on meds but if surgery isn't an option and non-narcotics like Nucynta won't help (much) what am I supposed to do?

Is there such a thing as "mild disk degeneration"?

[billy_danger]

I was probably a little too hasty. Nucynta isn't a bad alternative. It took a day or two but I can tell it works and doesn't make me as sluggish as Lortab. I did some reading on it and it is apparently a "schedule II" drug for some reason. I haven't noticed anything about it that would make it "sought by drug abusers" that would justify it being grouped in with other more dangerous stuff. It would be much easier to get if it wasn't in that category. My pharmacy even had to call two other pharmacies to get it all together.

Has anyone else tried this stuff?

[atonicat]

I just wanted to say that Nucynta is a narcotic.

[kitty447]

Much sympathy to you billy_danger. I too have been suffering from lower back pain for the past 5 yrs, but severely for the past 2 yrs. Nothing and no one has helped me. I've been on all types of pain meds and steroids, physical therapy, chiroprator, neurologists, etc. I've been taking Neurontin for the past 3 months now and the pain is a little more tolerating but none the lest, still strongly there. This pain has disrupted and changed my entire life. I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disk Disease and told that surgery wasn't really an option yet and probably wouldn't even help. So what do people like us do now to be able to live a normal life. Please let me know if you get any help.  Good luck.