Congrats on 1k. Goalie was supposed to ban you

 

Yeah, I hope the nerve block works long term, but I'm not gonna worry myself if it doesn't... There are still many more options to explore... Maybe a brace of some sort could help me, or maybe some inversion therapy(don't know exactly why those weren't suggested before, and I'm mostly guessing)

And no, Goalie didn't ban me upon reaching four digits... I was actually looking forward to it, lol

 

You have started down a road of trying to figure out how to live with this and have a life. That is the objective. The same one I started down some 35 or so years ago when this hit me Back problems do not get solved overnight unless they are not a problem and learning to deal with them so you can enjoy what it going on around you is what it takes to get through them.
My back has been messed up for multiple years, L4 and L5 damaged and those things basically do not get fixed with an aspirin and a Band-Aid. Time has passed, operation has taken place, nerve damage is a given if for no other reason the path the nerves date is through your back. Disc's slipping or moving around is like pinching off the path way much the same of squeezing a water hose. Nerve damage when damaged, rarely gets better although I can attest as a function of time it has gotten both better and worse. Like you just said, there are a number of options that will let you have a life, some will work for one person and not for another. It took me about 10 years to discover what would work for me and I have my life. Of course you have limitations, I was limited to 15# dead weight and being careful about my mobility 20 years ago. I just got in from replacing the front springs in the car I am rebuilding and moving around about 30# of tools or more plus a 50# tire or so, two of them. Should I be doing it? Of course not, but that is my life and with the proper medication and taking it easy between being stupid I can get away with it. Up to a point. Of course I hurt a bit but I can tune that out. That big hurt I couldn't. This started when I was 45. I just turned 74 and I am not dead yet and I am still abusing my body, but again, that is my life. Good luck on finding what works for you and hopefully what ever it is lets you continue to work. I had to stop when I was 59. But the important part, you just started, Damn that is a good thing to hear!!!!

 

I've got a new update today, and likely will for the next few days... I'm trying not to get excited, but I noticed today that my pain level has diminished compared to yesterday... It was also a hard day; I made 120 coils of pipe, 100' long each, and 5 coils that were 300' long, but my point is, I didn't really need to take any medication... It was approaching 6/10, but normally it would be off the scale... Standing up from a chair, an exercise that "normally" takes me 20-30 seconds to accomplish, is done in five seconds or less... I can stand up straight immediately after too(haven't done that in a while)

 

Good good good in the area.

 

So, I realized I forgot to update the thread... The nerve block didn't work, and I'm now looking at physical therapy as an alternative to surgery... The pain has returned in full, and has continued to get worse, and other complications block my path to relief...

 

19bonestock88
(Quote)

So, I realized I forgot to update the thread... The nerve block didn't work, and I'm now looking at physical therapy as an alternative to surgery... The pain has returned in full, and has continued to get worse, and other complications block my path to relief...
(Unquote)

I have been playing the same game lately for roughly the last 1 months or so. With the residual's of damaging my back and having an operation at about the age 43 I reduced the pain level to something manageable over time but the nerve related pain (so I thought) becoming slowly worse I am not at 74, not only lived long enough to become an old man it turned out that I now have vascular problems.
To me despite having 4 heart attacks it never dawned on me the rest of my body having arteries are also plugged causing blood flow problems. In part my concerns over my Partner Valerie have deferred my attention so I just assumed that the increase in pain in my legs and back were a continuation of nerve damage! Nope! Vascular has shown me that I am in deep doodoo with the rest of my body and as I also have kidney problems related to the heart attacks, surgery which is monitored by a dialysis method is something potentially damaging to my Kidneys. So the bottom line is with age I am screwed. The have me on an art-assist machine which massages my legs in such a manner that it encourages them to find or create alternative paths for my blood to flow through my body. It is a mechanical device and it takes at a minimum 2 hours of my day to process things daily and I was informed that the rented machine will be purchased for my use for probably? A life time no matter how short it might be. (That's a joke son!)
The point? I have been concentrating and believing that I was fighting an increase in nerve related pain and it turns out there was a second problem developing that caught me by surprise.
A direction you also might be going in.
I dunno, getting older is not for the weak it seems.
Good luck on solving your problems, I am there along with you, pain sucks and it diverts your attention from having a life so try to keep that under control.
In part my control go to meds are narcotic based and I have no problem in saying so, using them or recommending the use of them IF and the operative word is IF they are a prescription based control.
Again good luck.

 

So, I'm updating here again... 8 weeks of physical therapy, two different nerve blocks(the last one blocking both the L5 and S1 root), and my pain remains in full... Granted the last nerve block worked for two weeks or so, but it's more expensive than either of my cars...

The doctor said that given my issue, i can either live with the pain, and have nerve blocks scheduled every 90 days, or have an operation to remove the disc herniation... Either way, he told me the disc is about half gone(maybe worse now, the MRI was back in October), and eventually the disc will be gone and I'll have to deal with the associated arthritic damages to my L5 and S1 vertebrae(eventually will need fused), but if I get the operation, the risk is slightly higher, and it opens me up to need more operations in the future...

 

oh joy. Hurt like hell for now until more self destruction forces you to get an operation, or get surgery now and not hurt but maybe need more surgery later.

I'm no doctor, but why not just remove the remaining part of the disc and fuse the vertebrae at the same time?

Where's Unc n Rube?

 

I'm here
As those of us fighting medical problems either are own, our partners or both, time has a tendency to get stressed just a bit.
Having fought back pain half of my life and it's associated problems the short and sweet of it all simply is this in order to have some kind of a life with minimum pain, take the chance and have the operation! Pain relief methods work for some, you find out quickly whether it will work for you or not, it didn't for me. '
Get the operation and or the back fused, what ever it takes to deal with the basic problem and learn how to live with the end result.
Nothing will restore you back to what it was before the problem cropped up, but fusing the back (if that is a solution) takes care of the deficiency and then learning to live with what is left gives you a life which is what you want, and like it or not it works.
I have been around too many people in my life that had to have major back surgery to be able to go on living a life worth living.
Valerie is back in the hospital again so I will drop by when I can.