Okay, I guess you all are getting sick of hearing me complain about my back problems, but here goes...
I had surgery to remove a ruptured disc about 6 weeks ago. There was some damage to the nerve root, but they repaired it. The dr. said it would take up to a year for the nerve to completely heal, so I can expect some pain in my leg for a while. Well, it has hurt off and on, mostly off. Overall, I've been doing really well.
Until Sunday. Sunday morning we went to church and I sat down and, not thinking, crossed my legs. I immediately felt something pull in my back, so (obviously) I uncrossed them.
Since then, the pain in my leg has gotten almost unbearable. Almost as bad as it was before my surgery. I called the dr. but they haven't called me back. My next appointment isn't for two more weeks.
Is there anyone out there who can put my mind at ease and tell me this will pass? I'm terrified that I've damaged the disc again. 
Dr. told me that until the scar tissue builds up the disc is at very high risk of rupturing again.
Thanks for the good thoughts, becky. Hope your mom is getting better.
The dr just called me and said that the pain is caused by the nerve healing. They said after about six weeks, the nerve endings start to regenerate, which causes increased pain for a week or two, then it gets better.
You'd think they could have warned me about this! 
Bless your heart. I hope your back pain gets better real soon 
Wow Shellie I hate to hear this! Funny (well not really) you shoud mention your back. I threw my back out again over the holidays too. I have a buldging disk. That's one of the reasons why I had weight loss surgery. It has been fine since I've lost 100 lbs. Well Sat morning I was sitting on the arm of a chair, I crossed my legs & BAM it went out! I thought I wasn't going to be able to go out of town. It felt better Mon & Tues but I swept my bus out this morning & now it's flared up again. I hope your surgery was a complete success & that's true about the 6 wks of healing~ My back isn't bad enough for surgery but it's bad enough to cause problems. I feel your pain!! That shooting pain that goes from the back to the toes is unbearable!! Hang in there girl!! Hope you feel better soon. Oh.. PS... sitting at the puter doesn't help any... I'm finding that out 
I just wanted to say that I hope you are feeling better today.
I have back pain too (female problems ) so I know its PAINFUL!!
Hang in there girl 
Well, I have to say, I'm not feeling much better, but it helps a lot to know that there's not anything 'wrong'.
Take care of that back, TC! I've had problems off & on with this disc for years until it finally just refused to heal. I took oral steroids and had a steroid injection to try to take the inflammation down, but no luck. (plenty of weight gain, though, YUCK, hate steroids!!) The surgery was a success, but it's a MUCH LONGER recovery than I was planning on! Don't be stubborn like me and refuse to go to the doctor until you almost can't walk!
Shellie ... I'm so sorry that you're in so much pain!! Now that you mention what the doctor told you, I seem to remember having the same pain you're having several weeks after my surgery, too (those few months after surgeries are a bit of a blur to me ... percocet made everything fuzzy!!). It did go away, though, and I sure hope yours will, too!! Do you still have any pain meds left? If so, maybe those would help. I remember that I was weaning myself off the percocet when I started having the pain that you're having, and the doctor wrote me a prescription for a few more weeks' worth. Hang in there!!!!
The last time I saw my dr., he told me to start weaning off the pain meds, so I very rarely take them anymore. He gave me Vicodin last time and it doesn't work very well, so I just don't bother.
But I guess I'm right on schedule with my recovery, so that's good to know!
Thanks for all the support, everyone!! I love my CC family! 
Yes, its me whining again. I had a doctor's appointment again this week, and since I'm having so much pain in my leg, he thinks I've ruptured the disc again. ARGHHHH!!!!! I'm on steroids for two weeks, then if they don't help, he's going to do another MRI. I just don't know if I can go through all that again... knowing now that it might not even work! I'm just so down about it, no sooner did I start feeling better, it happened again. I'm trying to be optimistic, but I just can't find a bright side to this. I've followed my drs. orders to the letter...why didn't it work???? 
Thanks for listening to my little vent.
My mom has had back problems since I was 6 years old, so for the last 21 years.
She has had the steriod injections and it made her balloon in her weight really badly. She decided to start to see a chiropractor and has been seeing chiropractors since to provide her relief. She has most of the weight that she gained but I don't know if she will ever get back to the weight she used to be when I was little.
I still see a chiro for maintenance myself since I got whiplash when I was 11.
I gained 20 lbs the last time I was on steroids, and they didn't help one bit. I had the injection, too and it was just a waste of time.
I guess I don't know much about chiropractors, but can they really help with a physical injury like that? Last time around the disc was actually rubbing the cover off the nerve root, my dr. actually had to glue a patch to the nerve. Or would I need to get it fixed and then see a chiro to keep it healthy?
Gosh girl I hate hearing that your in so much pain!! Is there another doc you could go to? I know you have done what your supposed to. It doesn't make sense that you could have ruptured the disc again. I'd go to a chiropracter. I started going to one last week. Let me tell you I feel much better & no meds! But all I have is a buldging disc & pulled muscles in my back, nothing as bad as you have. My neck is the big problem but the chiro is working on that too. I hope you feel better soon. If it means gaining weight to feel better then I'd do it. But that doesn't make sense either does it? Gaining weight causing more problems on that disc? Go figure. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Cheer Up Lady! I'm thinking about you & sending prayers your way~ Hang in there~
Thanks Tina!! The problem is, my doctor has the best rep in the area for these surgeries, so I'm hesitant to leave him. He did warn me ahead of time that this was a risk...just not a common one.
I really wouldn't mind the weight gain if the steroids work, but they don't do anything at all. Oh well, not much I can do at this point but try to take it easy. I think about 80% of ruptured discs eventually heal on their own, so maybe I'll get lucky this time around.
As soon as you are able start to find a good chiropractor, and if you are not feeling relief from that chiropractor after several visits, don't be afraid to find a different one.
I've been seeing my chiropractor since I was 11 and I am currently 27. I tried switching to the chiro that my husband saw when he was little because the guy was way closed to my house, but I wasn't getting the relief I had been getting with my original chiro, so I switched back to my guy. I have to drive farther to see him now, but to me it is worth it if I feel fixed when I leave.
Shellie ... I'm so sorry that this is happening. It sounds similar to what I went through very shortly after my first surgery. My leg pain got much worse about a week after my first surgery, and the surgeon put me on steroids. They didn't help at all, and he did an MRI with contrast. It showed that the disc had ruptured again, along with the one above it. That's why I had to have surgery again a month later. What a difference that surgery made! I hope you don't have to have surgery again, but if you do, I really hope it will be a success. I hope the steroids that you are on will help make things better. I hated taking steroids, too ... I had all kinds of bad side effects from them.
I will tell you that I went to several different chiropractors before I had surgery, and I didn't get any relief from any of them. I have also been to chiro's farther back in the past, and never had much success those times, either. I don't want to sway you away from going to a chiro, if that's what you want to do ... I just wanted to tell you my experience with them. I know that lots of people swear by them.
I'm thinking about you and sending you (((hugs))). Hang in there. I know how discouraged you are ... I've been there.
Thanks for sharing that with me, Jess. I have really been struggling with the idea of another surgery, and possibly switching doctors. It's good to hear that mine is doing the 'normal' thing. It's so frustrating but I don't really think I have any options. I can't risk not getting it fixed because of all the nerve damage I had, I'm in serious danger of permanent damage. And who wants to live in constant pain? So far the steroids aren't working and I'm on painkillers again.
I'm trying very hard to count my blessings, but it's tough not to feel sorry for myself!
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