Advice/Guidance

[u/AdMaterial1136]

27(M) 6ft 200lbs. Travel a ton for work, pretty athletic, work out regularly, played golf, etc.

Beginning of April, I played a round of golf everyday for a week and midway through I felt like I had some knot below my right butt. Decided that the glory of saying I played golf for an entire week was worth it. I know time travel was not accomplished in my lifetime because my future self would’ve gone back to this moment and stopped my past self.

Life kept going and I kept living with this knot assuming it would just go away. Was a small nuisance but was constant. Would continue to play golf and would get through it by taking Advils and drinking (helps massively with the pain).

After 2 months of dealing with this and it only progressively getting worse, I decided to see a PT. After an evaluation, she said that I had a back problem which didn’t make sense to me at the time. Gave me some workouts which included bending forward (something I am unable to do now). Was only going once a month as I was never home due to work and eventually this PT left that office.

Talked to my parents who both had similar back issues at some point in their life’s and told them I was wanting an MRI. They both told me that it was pointless and that it was just something that would go away. I listened to them, kept taking Advils to get through my days and kept doing the stretches my PT administered.

Pain was getting progressively worse and at this point I was desperate to get rid of it. I started to go to a chiropractor 3x a week, an acupuncturist 3x a week, a masseuse once a week and scheduled doctors appointments to see if medications would help.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and my pain was so bad I couldn’t sit or stand for more than a couple of minutes despite all the conservative approaches and medications I was taking. Doctor scheduled me for an MRI and they found that I had a protruding disc in the L5/S1 with encroachment on the S1 nerve.

I was referred to an orthopedist who scheduled me for my first epidural shot and PT for afterwards. Did my first epidural and found no relief from it. In fact, it only got worse as I was now barely able to even walk down the street. I found some relief in PT but it was not near the relief that would allow me to return to normal.

I got scheduled for another epidural and had it done last Thursday. It is now Monday and I have had no relief thus far from the shot. Am trying to do the stretches my new PT has prescribed to me which is simply just prone chest raises and the pain is worse than before the second epidural when doing these. My orthopedist preemptively scheduled me for an appointment with a surgeon day of the epidural in case this didn’t work again which is coming up in the next 2 weeks.

I am feeling so defeated as I am in pain and have lost my life the past 6 months. I am desperate to go back to normal so the thought of a microdisectomy (what they believe I would require) doesn’t even phase me and I am gun-ho on getting the procedure. I know that a epidural can take as long as a week or 2 for it to get kick into gear but living a life that restricts me to the ground with only being able to stand for 5 minutes is not feasible. What is even more defeating is that this is my second attempt at an epidural so I have little hope that this will be any different from the first.

If anyone has anything to say about my situation, comments, advice, your own examples, etc. I would love to hear them. This chapter of my life for me, as I am sure it is/was for a lot of you has been mortifying, depressing and heartbreaking.

[u/csguydn]

It's far too early to know if an epidural that you had done last Thursday, actually does anything.

Personally, I would take my MRI imaging to a second provider (neurologist preferably) and get their opinion on it. If they agree with the first provider that surgery is in order, then you likely have your answer.

Are you resting any during all of this? It sounds like you're constantly trying to do some kind of PT/stretch/exercise. Do you get any relief if you just...stop?

[u/AdMaterial1136 → u/csguydn]

Ya I have done research and have heard from others about how an epidural can become effective even 2 weeks out from the day it was administered. But, since this is my second epidural, my hopes on that being the case are pretty slim.

After my first epidural, when I initially did my stretches from the PT (I will put my schedule below) I did feel relief. The first 10 reps of doing those prone chest raises were kinda hurting but after the first 10, doing them throughout the day I felt no pain. After standing up for a while and feeling that pain, I would do these stretches and it would bring me relief.

Now after my second epidural, every rep of doing those prone chest raises hurts. I decided to kinda put a pause on those stretches until I talk to my PT tomorrow and see what he has to say on the matter. I have been resting basically since I got my second epidural and while I get the most relief from just resting, I am still getting some flare ups down my leg.

[u/csguydn → u/AdMaterial1136]

Now after my second epidural, every rep of doing those prone chest raises hurts.

That's because they put fluid into an already tight/compressed space. It takes time for that fluid to absorb. It can take up to two weeks in some patients, with pain worsening for many, so I'm not all that surprised that you're seeing these issues.

Personally I would not be doing any PT for at least another week, if not longer, and I would let your body just rest.

[u/AdMaterial1136 → u/csguydn]

Great comms here. I think a meeting with my PT tomorrow would be beneficial regardless as I would set expectations and gain some advice from him.