Herniated Disc L5 S1 and Things to Drink for it
10 Comments Published by Jason October 27th, 2008 in Survival. Share This
You never know when it’ll happen to you – at least I certainly didn’t. For 36 years I wandered around having a good old time; doing every lousy thing to my body I could think of – without ever really thinking. About 10 months ago I started to feel some pain in my leg and while it was annoying, I didn’t worry much. If it hurt I’d take some pain-killers or a beer with a shot of something and I was back to the races. Isn’t that how Canadian Club wants us to think Dad would have handled it?
Well, I tried to be like Canadian Club’s mythical Dad and after 10 months the pain became something new, something overwhealming. I went to see someone more like my dad; I went to see a doctor.
After hours and hours of waiting, several x-rays and not much else that was useful — its official, I have slipped a disc. Having googled my symptoms before I went to see the general practitioner OR the spine “expert”, I already suspected I had either hurt my L5S1 disc or L4L5. L5S1 it is.
The first thing the doctors are suggesting is some “physical therapy,” which I assume, from reading online, means I’ll get taught some exercises and the therapist will work with me to ensure I learn them right. The exercises will help me build core-strength and muscle in places that should help my back support itself better. Additionally, it seems not re-injuring myself is important (duh!) and keeping inflammation down is a big deal. When my dad slipped a disc he didn’t drink Canadian Club, he drank Aloe Vera Juice.
Holy crap is this stuff awful! It tastes like you’d expect paint thinner, white gas or turpentine to taste. I am literally amazed that humans can ingest something so foul tasting and its supposed to not just be helpful but wonderful. I found an article written by an entity known as Alien Sheng that suggests I’d find Aloe juice helpful:
The health benefits of aloe vera taken internally include: improved circulation, regulation of blood pressure, promotes healing of bones and joints, strengthens the immune system, defends the body against bacteria, heals internal tissue damage, heals ulcers, improves and even eliminates constipation, blood sugar regulation, and reduces itchiness in psoriasis helping it to heal.
And again, my Dad swears this is what fixed up his back. He also drinks Tullamore Dew. Regardless, I’ll keep you posted as to how this works. To read the myriad articles on it, I should be feeling like superman in just days.
you have my complete sympathy, I herniated my L4-L5 Disk 2 years ago so severely that I finally had to have surgery after a a month and a half of physical therapy and popping vicodin and valium like they were tic-tacs. Sure that sounds like a lot of fun (the drugs, not the herniated disk) but when you are in that much pain it doesn’t feel good at all and only takes the edge off at bet. .
Good luck and if you need any advice or encouragement you have my email (at least I had to use it to log in).
I had a herniated disk in 96, two years before I turned thirty. Freg, I felt old then.
It was bad, surgery was considered. One leg was quite numb to the touch, and slightly numb for control (i.e. I couldn’t life my toes on one foot among other things that cause limping).
I went into physical therapy (place called the back instutute in canada). I also took up swimming, only casually.
I was incredibly lucky, as that was enough to delay surgery. I’m now 40 and have still avoided surgery, even though I’ve waffled on the exercise.
So for me, as a valueless anecdotal data point: go therapy, big time.
Wow, Mojoandy. I’ve got some numbness but thus far no loss of strength — so it seems the PT is highly recommended. I’ve got to say, another day of drinking that vile Aloe and I still feel like the inflammation is down. The pain in the leg is gone but the numbness prevails. I understand it takes a LONG time for nerves to repair from even compression damage?
Did you get all mobility/feeling back?
Yes. I was only 24 when I screwed up my back, same crap. The doctors discovered my left leg was almost 7mm longer than my right, due to some strange pelvic obliquity of mine. I also got those crazy injections into my pelvic cavity and damn it was the strangest feeling, not to mention “seeing” it on the scope thingy as he stabbed into my joint and injected away. Oh well, the physical therapy helped, stretching on my own multiple times daily helped even more. Another tip from the scouring I have done. Keep your stomach tight ALWAYS. Suck it in like you are at the beach and a huge fatty. Seriously, I almost wanted to buy one of those infomercial band things that vibrates as soon as you let your gut out. It helps to train yourself to support your back better wid’ yo stomach. Also, sadly, a large portion of people have back pain of this sort because they are wearing clothes (read: beltline) too tight for their burgeoning belly… For real. I got a desk job and four years later my back was really bad because all my activities just let my back supporting stomach go to sh!t. If I could rock suspenders all day everyday I totally would… FYI I am 6′ about 220lbs? or more, so definitely overweight. When I get into my car – even if I haven’t eaten anything all day – I have to loosen my belt or I get even more pissed with road-rage b/c my back is killing me halfway through my commute. Stoopid belly. Stoopid back pain.
Ya Im 16 years old and i have a petruding disc in my L5 I have almost had it for about a year. I hurt it by lifting weights in football. I never thought of my back getting hurt. And all those people out there with back problems know what i mean when i say ” you dont know what you got until its gone”. Now I cant do anything i feel like my life is ruined. And just i moment ago i read an artical on Dr. Ron look for his web site and he will tell you everything you need to do to heal your back completely if you have a bulging or herniated disc Most doctors tell you the same stuff every where you go for example stretches, they give you medication and ect. It helps but the pain comes right back but Dr. Ron states many things that you will find informative.
Turmeric with Curcumin is best for reducing inflamation.
I am now 60 and herniated my L4-5 disc when I was 30. Back up to the early 70’s and there wasn’t a CAT Scanner or MRI to find a disc problem so all the doc’s could do is shove a 12-14 inch needle up your spine and as they pulled it out they injected a dye into the Dural Canal. It was called a ” Mylogram ” and it gave you a headache like no others can beat and you couldn’t take any meds for it because of the dye and you had to stay in bed for 24 hours. After the CAT came out my doctors quickly found the herinated disc and operated on it after 15 years of agoney. I thought ,,finally I will be free of pain and all the pills,,but,,the pain lives on today. I have had Facet Injections , Rhysotomies , Nerve Blocks and the nerves phyically cut with open surgery to my Facet Joints and still have the pain. I have to live with most of it and ritired early from my work which helped. Last year while out on my small boat I leaned over to pick up my hat that had blown off my head and I was struck by a feeling of having 1000 volts of electricity in my lower back and legs etc.,and couldn’t move for about an hour and had to get help and go to a hospital. A week later I had a scan and durring that week I couldn’t use my bowels or bladder much. I had hernitaed my L5-S1 Disc on the left side. Back to surgery again next month ??
I herniated L5 disk shoveling on Jan 9 th of this year. I went numb from the waist down, but waited 3 days before I went to the ER. I had no pain until 4 days later and ended up in the hospital on pain meds& neurotin. I spent 4 days there and went home with a walker. After maybe 10 days, I was able to stand and walk somewhat on my own. I started physical therapy and have continued it for about 8 weeks. My neurologist said I don’t have a pinched nerve, but the disk is pressing on my spine according to the MRI I had. I am so doscouraged. It seems to be getting better and then the next day my legs are so tight feeling and the cord in my groin is tight again. Has anyone gone through the same thing? I know everyone’s different and I am 55 so maybe the healing process will be longer. I wish I could get some straight answers because I know the longer it goes, the more chance of permant damage. Any input would be appreciated.
I got a few slipped disks and lower and upper and pain is unbearable. it feels like my life is over also. Plus im 29 and i dont have insurance. I just have tons of faith in god and tons of prayers. God introduced me to this Aloe Vera stuff which i originally thought was over rated when 2 months ago i started using if for my wrists, because i had carpal tunnel from working on computers. I was considering surgery as i had no cartilage in my left side wrist, and had injured my right, which been injured for 10 years. I applied the aloe 5 times week super generously for about a month, and long behold, my wrist is fixed! cool, i don’t need surgery any more. Then Dumb ass me i was doing squats without a belt, and slipped my disks. I was all messed up, so i applied aloe vera and went to buy the pills to. And its been 23 days since i hurt myself, and i am doing really good! i had experienced unbearable pain, but now i can walk and do stuff with no pain. I thank god for healing me and enlightening me to this wondrous plant that can even kill cancer that doctors don’t want anyone to know about. This aloe also cleaned and detoxed me out if you know what i mean! I applied it topically on my back, (spine) super exaggeratedly generously and just let it dry out on my back. did that about 50 times so far. Oh and one thing, you have to get some one to pull your legs super gently when lying on flat surface. My theory is that you are regrowing stuff in there and you need to create room. Every 5 days is ideal, or when you start feeling like aloe is “not helping” you need legs to be pulled genitally for only few seconds. And take pain medicine before because you will hurt the next day, like a soreness. It may be unbearable, but you will notice improvements! I hope nobody has to go through hurting their back because it is worst than cancer! With cancer, people want to live and survive! WIth back pain, you want to die! It is aweful! God Bless You
I injured my back at 12 years old playing hockey and was unable to move for three days. Then the pain went away until I was 18. At that time it came back with a vengence, and now 25 I dont know how to deal with it anymore. Pain killers were my best friend but changed my mood significantly;now I have stopped using them and the pain is extreme. L4 and L5 s1 disc is herniated, and putting pressure on my siatic nerve. I am confused as to what method to use in managing the pain, but a chiropractor is seeing me daily to hopefully curve my straight spine(should be curved), and lessen the pain of the herniated disc. I did the exercises from physiotherapy, but now chiropractor told me to hold off on the exercises and do no physical work other than walking. I would appreciate any helpful advice because I am so close to giving up and resorting to pain killers, even if it is the easy way out and only masks pain. Any advice would be helpful