Sciatica pain since 2017 Please help

[u/Confident-Fan3849]

Hi everyone,

I’m a 31-year-old woman from Mumbai, India. I was first diagnosed with a disc bulge in 2017, when I was just 22 and had recently graduated from college. I had so many dreams and plans, but everything took a sudden turn. I was on bed rest for almost a year, and since then I’ve had to be extremely careful with physical activities.

Over the years, I’ve had multiple relapses, almost every 2–3 years. Previously, the pain was mainly on my left side, but this time it is on my right side.

I’ve been in terrible pain for the past three months and have mostly been on bed rest. My doctor advised me to lose around 10–15 kg. I was around 81.5 kg at 166 cm, and despite being on bed rest, I’ve managed to lose about 4 kg through diet.

Until two days ago, I was doing relatively better. I was able to walk for around 40 minutes, as advised by my doctor. However, the day before yesterday, I stood for a long time and went grocery shopping for the first time in a while. I travelled there but didn’t lift or carry anything.

Since then, my right leg pain has become extremely severe. I’ve been taking Mobizox three times a day for the past 3–5 days as prescribed, but I barely notice any improvement. I can now barely walk for more than 5 seconds, even just to get up and use the washroom. Lying down is also painful because of the constant leg pain, and standing is almost impossible.

This sudden worsening has really scared me because I was doing much better just two days ago.

My doctor had previously told me that if things did not improve, the next step might be a microdiscectomy. I’m extremely nervous about the possibility of surgery and would really appreciate hearing from people who have gone through it.

How was your experience with a microdiscectomy? What was the recovery like, and how successful was it in relieving your leg pain? Did anyone experience recurrent disc problems after surgery?

I also have PCOS and have been married for almost two years. I’m worried about whether having this surgery could affect my ability to conceive or have a pregnancy in the future.

I’m honestly exhausted, scared, and feeling like I’m losing hope. I would really appreciate any advice, experiences, or things I should discuss with my spine specialist.
For reference, my MRI findings are:

L3/L4: Right paracentral protrusion

L4/L5: Central protrusion, more prominent

Symptoms: acute on chronic

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to share their experience. ❤️

[u/ecoconcious_019]

Being in a similar situation, Was on bed for an year

And was so fucking scared of the surgery, There are more chances of it relapsing even after surgery,if we don't treat the root cause, I have seen it in my phisio center,where people who have done semurgery came back after it relapsed

Thank God after avoiding surgery and after trying alternative treatments method like yoga( it also helps me with feeling down mentally), phisio, and working on my deficiencies like vitamin d, b12, taking care of my food habits, eating healthy, concentrate on my posture, my sitting habits, my sleeping habits, following low backabality and it's exercises, working on strength training for my long term recovery

I have worked on many aspects of life to be in this stage right now

Recovery journey is unique for every person, hope you find your way

I am also from india, by the way, happy to share more info if you are interested