A few months ago I saw a back specialist to further investigate the constant pain in my lower back. My doctor ordered an MRI, a set of x-rays, and some blood-work to see what would show up. And this is what we found...
- I have 3 bulged discs( one located in the L3-L4 region of the spine, and the other in the L5-S1 region)
- Two disc tears( one disc tear in the L3-L4 region and the other one in the L4-L5 region)
- Mild scoliosis
- Osteoarthritis
- Degenerative back disease due to 3 of the vertebrae being low on fluid
I have had chronic low back pain for at least the past 5-6years and possible longer than that. However, it has definitely gotten worse with both of my pregnancies. So I really wasn't surprised that those tests found everything that they did. The bulged discs and disc tears explain a lot of the pain, and the osteoarthritis explains why I can usually predict when it's going to rain because my joints get so sore. And with Celiac Disease which is an autoimmune disorder due to an allergy to wheat/gluten, arthritis usually goes hand in hand with that. My blood work also detected Lupus which is another autoimmune disorder. Generally if you have one autoimmune disorder you usually have more than one or will develop more than one. However since my levels were not very high for the Lupus my doctor did not refer me to a specialist for that. However in the future I can most likely look forward to seeing one for that. The scoliosis I didn't know about, Lupus, or the degenerative back disease. So not the best of news however, it is good to finally have some answers! I have been going to Physical Therapy for the past several months and I have almost completely healed the bulged discs and disc tears! Now I can focus on strengthening my core and getting strong and healthy muscles to support my back. That's one of my many New Year's resolutions.
And to make things even harder we found out that my husband John has a massive herniated disc that is pressing/pinching on two of his nerves. He also has degenerative back disease as well and a disc tear just like I do. John has been in excruciating pain for the past 6-8 weeks. The pain has gotten so bad that when I left work to take him into the InstaCare his blood pressure was 191/115! And that was from the pain so imagine how bad the pain must have been for him. His blood pressure is still high because of the amount of pain he is still in so he's on 2 different blood pressure medications and I put him on a natural one to try and bring it back down. Although I know it will resolve once they take care of the herniated disc. The pain is the worst on his left side. It starts in his lower back and travels all the way down to his toes. Some days the poor guy can hardly even walk or stand to take a shower without having to endure massive amounts of pain.
He has had one epidural cortisol injection so far and he still has to take lortab pain medication every four hours for the pain. He has a follow-up appointment at the end of this month and the doctor will decide if he needs to do another epidural cortisol injection in February and if that doesn't help then he will refer John to an orthopedic surgeon who will have to operate on him and completely remove the herniated disc. We are hoping that John will not need surgery however we think that is probably what is going to have to happen. John will starting Physical Therapy this week so maybe that will help. Now on a more positive note John has recently lost 30 pounds! I basically put him on a very healthy diet and I prepare all of his meals for him where I carefully calculate the amount of fat, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, calories, ect. to make sure that they are at the levels he needs to lose weight and be healthy. This has been so great because John is not able to exercise in his current condition, and losing those 30 pounds has helped to not put so much pressure on his already damaged back.
And to make things even harder we found out that my husband John has a massive herniated disc that is pressing/pinching on two of his nerves. He also has degenerative back disease as well and a disc tear just like I do. John has been in excruciating pain for the past 6-8 weeks. The pain has gotten so bad that when I left work to take him into the InstaCare his blood pressure was 191/115! And that was from the pain so imagine how bad the pain must have been for him. His blood pressure is still high because of the amount of pain he is still in so he's on 2 different blood pressure medications and I put him on a natural one to try and bring it back down. Although I know it will resolve once they take care of the herniated disc. The pain is the worst on his left side. It starts in his lower back and travels all the way down to his toes. Some days the poor guy can hardly even walk or stand to take a shower without having to endure massive amounts of pain.
He has had one epidural cortisol injection so far and he still has to take lortab pain medication every four hours for the pain. He has a follow-up appointment at the end of this month and the doctor will decide if he needs to do another epidural cortisol injection in February and if that doesn't help then he will refer John to an orthopedic surgeon who will have to operate on him and completely remove the herniated disc. We are hoping that John will not need surgery however we think that is probably what is going to have to happen. John will starting Physical Therapy this week so maybe that will help. Now on a more positive note John has recently lost 30 pounds! I basically put him on a very healthy diet and I prepare all of his meals for him where I carefully calculate the amount of fat, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, calories, ect. to make sure that they are at the levels he needs to lose weight and be healthy. This has been so great because John is not able to exercise in his current condition, and losing those 30 pounds has helped to not put so much pressure on his already damaged back.
4 comments:
Wow guys! I hope you both feel better soon. Back problems are just horrible! Hang in there.
My goodness! I hope you guys start feeling better and you're able to get things figured out.
Thanks! My back is doing much better, now we just need to get John's back taken care of. He started Physical Therapy this week and we're hopeful that will help out a lot :)
I'm sorry you both are struggling so much, but thankful you have found the answers!!! Would you care to share any of those recipes from the meals you made for John? :) 30 pounds, that is AWESOME!!! :)
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