disc repair

[BNou]

i have been experiencing back pain going on 5, years now. after a very painful procedure this morning, my doctor believes i have torn discs. from L 3-5 and S1. does anyone know what the treatment is for that? thanks.

[Kalvin]

Probably the first treatment they would want to try would be Epidural Injections or Nerve Root Blocks. Whether or not they’ll help is hard to say, but they do help a lot of people. It’s definitely worth trying. Other treatments are things like Intra-discal Electro Thermal Annuloplasty (IDET) which in my opinion can cause more harm than good. What is your Doctor recommending?

And a microdisectomy is a minimally evasive endoscopic procedure that’s done to remove ruptured disc and bone material that are compressing the nerve roots. It’s done primarily on people that have more leg pain than back pain. I don’t if would help you or not because you really haven’t gone into much detail about the type of pain your having or what your MRI showed.


Take Care

[BNou]

i have already been through physical therapy and that didn't do anything at all for me except drain my wallet.  what is a microdisectomy?

[skmedlin27703]

One of my friends had a microdisectomy done and he is doing great... but the doctor may find surgery not required for you. Physical Therapy may do the trick.  Have you a recent MRI? That should help the doctor see exactly what is going on in there! Good Luck, keep us posted!

[BNou]

It was a discogram. They for lack of a better word, probed my discs with needles to recreate or in my case intensify the pain. I am always in pain, no matter the time of day. By doing this, and describing the pain to the doctor, intensity, pressure, pain, etc, he was better able to tell which exact discs were damage and what the damage is. They then injected a dye into the discs, sent me for a quick CT scan to confirm the diagnosis. He is projecting torn discs from L 3 - L 5, and S 1. Unfortuneately now, I can't get back in to see him until August.

I wanted to ask him the procedure to repair the torn discs, but was in too much pain and forgot. Do you know the procedure to repair torn discs? I am a firefighter and have 11, years until I can retire and really need to make it the next 11,  years. Thanks.