The Dr. said I have a ruptured disc, and arthritis in the facet joints in my lower back. Basically that means bone rubbing bone.

I go back on the 25th and they are going to inject a mixture of cortisone and an anesthetic into four facet joints, wait 2 weeks and do it again. He said I will need that 2 times a year.
I HATE NEEDLES!
After we get my lower back bothering me less, then we work on the upper back.

He also put me on " celebrex" an arthritis medicine. When he gave me samples, I said " But thats for old people!" That was when he took me by the arm and pointed me at a mirror.[]

I am on celebrex also for the repair of my torn rotator cuff. It is great stuff. I also have had several shots in my shoulder, just wait for the physical therapy to start.

I feel for anyone who' s having back problems, been there done that. I had a ruptured disc (L4) in my lower back several years ago and after trying everything there was i ended up having back surgery. I had surgery right at the beginning of bow season so that pretty much took care of my year of hunting. As for my back after surgery i do pretty much anything i want to do but i know my limits and i do ok as long as i don' t do something stupid like trying to pick up something really heavy. I do stretch excercises in the mornings when i get up that seem to help alot but i still have my good days and bad days. God Bless!

I am by no means bragging...hell, I' m embarrassed to be 32 and have all this crap done; 15 cortizone injections (that is 15 SERIES of about 20 shots each....YUCK)/5 epidurals/4 coitals/IDET procecure (they burnt out the vertebra), and they finally took out my vertebre 6 weeks ago and fused it up. If you have any questions, I' d be happy to tell you my experiences.

The shots didn' t do jack for me....but that sure didn' t keep them from trying did it! [:' (] I' d give them a ' shot' , as I have read that many people do get some relief. And believe me, a little discomfort is WELL worth it to avoid year after year of pain.

One thing I would insist on VERY soon is a discogram. This is where they inject dye into your vertebre to look for leaks. The IDET prodedure can potentially seal up those leaks (67% success rate) and offer you relief. It pretty much sniffs out the problem right quick, and could potentially save you feeling like a pin cushion.

Just my two cents.

Chad

Dang, Tmug. I sure hate to hear that. I' ve got the same stuff going on in 8 levels of my back, but only 3 of the discs are ruptured. The rest are just herniated.

The shots were only worth about a week' s relief each time I got one. That' s really all they' re worth, just a little temporary relief that you pay big bucks for. And it makes you feel just good enough to get up and overdo it, so you' re in even worse shape when the stuff wears off.

My big problem was they made me so dang hungry that I ate everything in the house. I COULD NOT control it. Went from 245 to 425 in 6 months and have been fighting it ever since. Of course the weight gain is the worst thing that could have happened to me and the idiots kept telling me that as they pumped that crap in. If you do have the shots, have all food removed from the house and tell your wife not to let you have any cash.

I really do recommend you go to see a chiropractor. All the docs told me to just learn to live with the pain and take pain pills when it was too bad to handle. And I just kept going downhill. The chiropractor has actually helped me, even restored a little function in my arms and shoulders, to the point where I can shoot my longbows again. I get as much pain relief from an adjustment as I did from the injections, without the out-of-control munchies. I hate to sound like an advertisement, and I' m really kinda embarrassed to even suggest it. I always distrusted chiropractors immensely and thought they were all quacks. Pain will lead you to do things that are out of character though, and I found out I was wrong.

They do like to get paid though.

Sorry to hear about that. I' ve been there too. I have a fusion anterior/posterior at l5-s1 and an IDET.Laminectomy and many cortizone injections.

Rookiehunter is a little confused on a couple points. The IDET doesn' t do anything to the Vertbre and neither does the Discogram.The IDET cooks the disc and makes it hard .Sort of like cooking a hard boiled egg.

The discogram(i' ve had 2) is when they inject dye into the disc not a vertabre.

I have a some questions:

Is this a workmans comp case.

Are they doing the cortizone injections with the aid of a CT machine?

Do you know the adverse effects that cortisne has.

What good is an injection/chiorpractor going to do you if your rubbing bone on bone. I' ve been there, went through a year of PT and the injections ended up with two Titanium cages in my spine,because nothing fixes bones rubbing together except a fusion.

Here are a couple articles for you to read if you want.

http://www.spine-inc.com/glossary/s/spinal-fusion.htm

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ArticleKey=602

Here is another site you can go and check out what I' m talking about.

http://www.yoursurgery.com/Procedure...m?BR=2&Proc=35

It shows actual x-rays and explains alot about different procedures.

I was seeing a neuro surgeon,he did my laminectomy. He orderd the PT and injections.I decided to get another opinion. I went to a Ortho that has great credentials and he will talk with you one on one.

Well he walks in and say' s " anyone every show you these films?" and pops my xray of my entire spine in the viewer." your almost totally bone on bone at L5/S1. You need a fusion" I ask him about the PT and injections and he say' s" workmans Comp?" I nod my head yes and he shakes his.

To make a long story short the Insurance compamy orders an ' Independent medical exam" . I live in NY they brought a doctor in from Mass. after looking through everything he say' s " well if your doctor wants to do a fusion I see more then enough evidence to warrant one." This is after a year and a half.

I think you are a little confused CharlieP. I did use the wrong term in that they are working on the disc, but an IDET doesn' t ' cook' anything to ' make it hard' . The ' hard' ness as you call it, occurs naturally only if you rehabilitate it properly through rest and physcial therapy post-surgery. Then the HOPE is that it will ' hard' en to the point of sealing up any leaks.

All that being said, I am far from a surgeon, as is the infamous Charlie P. Find the best surgeon you can in your area and talk to him about some of these things. Then go see another one, even if it' s out of your own pocket.

Little touchy aren' t you Rookie? Wasn' t trying to bust your cajones. i' m just trying to make sure Thunder gets accurate information.

" SpineCATH IDET therapy is a minimally invasive treatment in which the physician applies controlled levels of thermal energy (heat) to a broad section of the affected disc wall. This heat contracts and thickens the collagen of the disc wall. Therapy may result in contraction or closure of the disc wall fissures and a reduction in the bulge of the inner disk material'

http://backandneck.about.com/gi/dyna...ents_idet.html

That' s what a meant by cooking and making it hard. The way my surgeon explained it was the whites of an egg, when it' s cooked .

From websters What would you call it when you heat some thing to 194 degrees and it thickens ?

Never claimed to be a surgeon. I did however sleep at a holiday Inn express last night.

Ohhhhh mannnnI hate these threads! I feel for you guys ! As some of you know I had a double lumbar fusion done last year and thankfully I am doing good but I know the pain and misery accompanied this dreaded " Thing" . If I can help in anyway, just let me know.