and sometimes the bear gets you.

I'm sitting at home with a torn disk in my back. Happened Monday after I finished my daily run. I sat in my La-Z-boy to grab a quick breakfast, and when I got up I was treated to excruciating pain. Like white hot poker in the spine pain.

A couple of days and many doctor visits later, my MRI showed a tear in L5.

After a couple of days on Lortabs and some steroids, I'm able to stand up and walk with (almost) no pain. Still am going to get an epidural today or tomorrow. Also am going to do 6 weeks of physical therapy.

The part of all this that pissed me off is that my Doctor wasn't in the office on Tuesday when I went in, and one of the other docs in the office took my case. She ordered an X-Ray (Ok), and saw something that concerned her. So she ordered a CT scan, which showed nothing more than the xray did. Which meant that I had to get an MRI to really see what was going on. So I now have to pay for a test that did nothing except line the doc's pocket.

The other big thing is the number of simply "don't care" types in the medical system. If for-profit doctors and hospitals can't get customer service right, just imagine how a government run one would be.

Ouch!! Back pain can really get you down. I hope you get relief soon.

Welcome to the health care run-around. My wife has beeen through the same thing with a ruptured L-5, and cancer...Good luck with it.


O43

quote:

Originally posted by Over43:
Welcome to the health care run-around. My wife has beeen through the same thing with a ruptured L-5, and cancer...Good luck with it.


O43

It gets better - I got to my specialist's office (60 mile drive), and they wanted me to go next door to the Kansas Spine Hospital to get the MRI.

Of course, the only hospital in Wichita on my insurance is the local Catholic medical center. So we scrambled and found another hospital 20 miles away (back towards home) that could get me in right away.

Got the MRI, then drove back to the specialist's office.

Nice, eh?

Good news: my first session of therapy went well, and I'm feeling pretty good tonight.

Here's an update:


Finished my first week of physical therapy. Pain is just about 100% gone, still have some when bending forward but other than that it's good.

Therapist is even saying that if I take it easy, I can start running again. I'll wait another couple of days, then go ahead and try some jogging.

Good to hear that you are feeling better. Pain in that area really puts a cramp on your lifestyle. I always call these thing on the conservative side, so I would do a lot of walking at first.

Did he say anything about stretching?

Hope, she didn't say anything about stretching. I'll ask her, but from what I've read, stretching is not looked on as favorably prior to workouts as it once was.

hope all is well. concerning stretching, i read recently that it better to do it after you work out. i don't understand it......