i thought i would sare my experience with people with the same problem.
i am now 35 yrs old
it started around 7 years ago when i was getting major back pain
i went to my local GP with the complaint on many occasions.was never sent for a x ray or scan and was told to take normal pain killers.i did this for so long but over time,my back was getting worse and the painkillers wernt working.
i then went back and was sent to me local hospital for various things such as acupuncture,traction,manipulation etc etc which i couldnt understand as they didnt know what my problem was.non of the procedures worked at all
it got to the stage where i had to go private as the pain was unbearable
within a week of going private i had a x ray that didnt show anything and then a MRI scan that showed i had 2 degenerate discs
so the next step was to have a discography to see if it was 1 or 2 of the discs causing my problems
luckily it turned out to apparently be only one which apparently was a good thing at my age or if they had to remove 2 my movement would be very restricted and put more pressure on my good discs
i went in hospital and had a L4/L5 fusion (lower back)
my experience in hospital was not very good as after my 5 hr operation i woke in the recovery roon to find out the anisatist that promised me morphene when i came round had actually gone home.there was no one in the hospital that was allowed to give me anything more than normal painkillers so i had to lie in bed for 10hrs until she came back to work in the morning before i could have morphene.to say i was in extreme pain for 10hrs is a understatement.
i had 12 weeks after the op at home not being able to do anything much at all.
i went back to see my consultant and he was dissapointed the operation hasnt worked
im not sure if i need the other disc out but have been to see various pain consultants,had facit joint injection etc etc all to no avail
it is around 3yrs now since the operation and am still taking diclofenac,co codamol and amatriptyline to help me sleep etc.
if anyone can recommend anything that may help or would like to exchange views etc feel free to reply.it would be nice to hear your views/experiances etc
oh and by the way i broke my foot today, please see above post.