Two Herniated Discs in Lower Back? Now We Need Surgeon Recommendations.

I can relate to your situation, my husband had a herniated disc about 10 years ago, he went through Chiropractic and then finally steriod injections and then finally talked to a surgeon then one day it just started feeling better and he had problems on and off these past 10 years and now has been down with the same problem for about 3 weeks now, he is going to the Chiropractor again and is looking to talk to a surgeon. I know what you mean about surgery being scary. I think that it is worth at least talking to the surgeon and at least seeing what the options are. Chiropractic care really did help my husband's back to correct itself. I don't know much about just physical therapy. His problem has been his job he bounces in a big truck all day and I think his back just couldn't take it anymore. I hope all goes well with your husband. I can sympathize with you. It is no fun having a husband with a bad back!

hey K.,

I am a physical therapist. PT is a great alternative to surgery and can often times fix a herniated disk. It does take time though. If you are concerned about the costs let your PT know. You may be able to work out something where after a few visits he is able to continue on at home and just see the PT once every week or two. Most therapists are flexabile and understand that you have a life too. As for that clinic, find a new one. That is completely rediculous. There are several outpatien clinics that stay open until 7 or 7:30 specifically to accomidate people who work. (both new and old patients) You can go to any clinic you choose not just the one your doctor suggests. As far as the back is concerned surgery in not the great fix that it would be for a hip or knee replacement. I strongly urge you and your husband to consider other options. Please feel free to contact me at ____@____.com if you have any questions I can help you with.

-J.

I would love to recommend a FABULOUS chiropractor that has done amazing things for my back naturally - Dr. Mott ###-###-####
He is so humble and isn't too proud to admit if he can't help. good luck to you

I had two herniated discs in L4 and L5 (lower back) and I found one of the best spinal specialists in the area, Dr Won. I found him and the releif I needed from www.back.com Good Luck.

Dear K.,

My husband is in a similar situation. We have been dealing with this problem for about 2 years now. When this first came about it took 3 months before he could get into the physical therapy.

Besides changing his lifestyle - my husband had to change his career and stop teaching gymnastics (the constant kicks in the head and lifting fat teenagers/cheerleaders kept injuring his back).

We looked into the recommended therapy, the same was suggested for him. He had a friend that was a chiroprator who sat down with him and looked at his MRI. He started therapy with the chiroprator and it got better. He has sat down with several chiroprators and a surgeon and basically he was told that recovery from the sugery is so long and hard that he should wait as long possible before having this surgery. He has been told that as soon he starts the steroid injections he will start down the path of surgery. Because there will be a point when the steroid injections no longer work and then it is cut and paste time.

Now it is possible your husbands body can heal itself - this is not possible for my husband because of his degenerated discs. My husband has been told by everyone that surgury is a inevitable for him. So we are trying to prolong from having the surgery as long as we can -- the surgeon has recommended this as well.

My husband says that the best thing for him was ice therapy and relaxation. We recommend Dr. Minshew Shurr & I have heard of several people who have had the same problem recommending Dr. Tracy Weist. They are both very good chiropractors, but they both have very different styles.

After having back problems for many years I know what your hubby is going through. My advice, do try some conservative methods before surgery. I would always reserve that for the last option. What doctor is he seeing?? I've seen a few in the DFW area that have poor reputations and one even made my problems worse, I can give you names if you'd like. I also go to a wonderful orthopedic surgeon in Dallas (worth the drive because he's conservative and excellent.) His name is Dr. Viere. I had a nerve block done very poorly at Spine Team Texas. Stay away from the places that take more consideration of their personalized products more than the outcome of the patients.
Your body can heal itself with a herniated disc. How many doctors confirmed this diagnosis?? I went to 5 people, all with different diagnosis. It wasn't until Dr. Viere ordered a special test to determine my actual cause of pain. Anyway, you have a lot of options and there are a lot of bad orthopedics out there.
So, get a second opinion, try conservative methods, and rest. You don't HAVE to do therapy 3 times a week to learn the exercises and do them at home.

Also, everyone should be advised to STAY AWAY from Dr. Miles. I think he moved his office to the mid-cities. He is a terrible, terrible doctor.

Best of luck and I'm always an ear if he, or you, needs someone to talk to.

Ali

Hello!!
My hubby just had this happen to him and had his surgery in July. My advice?? Do the surgery asap. The results are remarkable and hubby was back at work (desk job only) after two weeks.

He went to Dr Weiner at Dallas Neurosurgical Associates. Here is the link:
http://www.dallasneurosurgical.com/weiner.html

He had his surgery at Dallas Presby and had nothing but the best of care.

I hope this helps!! I will be praying your hubby also has a speedy recovery...that is something that is very painful to have to go through....

hugs
H.

Hi, I have experience with this for >8 years. I would forgo surgery, until all conservatives measures failed. I would not do a back fusion for disc herniations either, soley a microdiscectomy, which would be more appropriate anyways. As far as PT goes, you can take your prescription any place, so find a clinic that is open early or closes later. They do exist. Also 3x week is a suggestion, you can ask to be seen only 1-2 times and ask for an appropriate home program. But a PT cannot do that without checking in with you and reevaluating you at least one time per week. I hope this information helps and I wish your spouse a speedy recovery.

My husband has had major back problems as well and had 3 different doctors tell him to have surgery. Thankfully we found chiropractic and he is as healthy as can be and has had no problems in over 5 years. If you would like the name of a great chiropractor message me.

J.

I would advise doing whatever you can to avoid surgery. My dad had his first back surgery when he was in his 30's. He's now in his 70's and has more surgeries than I can count. If he had tried alternative therapies in the beginning, he could have avoided a lifetime of pain and more surgery. Focus on the desired outcome rather than the money. It is an investment in your husband's health and well-being. Yours too, since I'm sure he's a bit cranky when he's in all that pain!

Is there another center where he could schedule his therapy at a more convenient time? Shop around, I'm sure you'll find something.

Good luck!

M.
"My son finally eats all his veggies. Even the green ones"
www.GoodHealthMadeSimple.com

Hey K.-
let me just say chiropractic care and or spinal decompression. Spinal decompression is for herniated discs. It works amazing! If you need a chiropractor in irving who does spinal decompression call me dr. J. dagnan bargy ###-###-####.

Hi K.!

Has your husband tried Chiropractic? I am a chiropractor and I treat patients with discs all of the time. They respond very well to chiropractic care. A chiropractor does everything that a physical therapist does, but we also do adjusments to mobilize the joints and remove the pressure on the discs. I also have a cold laser that helps heal the disc at the cellular level. Unfortunately, the shots just cover up the condition and tend to result in more problems down the road. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me Dr. Sandra S. ###-###-####. Thanks!

Hi K.,

I am actually a "husband" - I work with Mamasource (I helped them to start this, worked on the early concept, etc.) and I check out some of the activity just to see how things are going. Since I'm not a mom, I don't normally respond :-) But like your husband I have herniated discs in my lower back. I've had two back surgeries and now I live on pain medication. I can give you some quick info from personal experience:
1) My first surgery worked GREAT, then I fell and reherniated the disc!
2) To my knowledge, physical therapy cannot repair a herniated disc. It might help to build the muscles up and take some pressure off the back, but if it does it doesn't make much difference.
3) Steroid shots can work, but sometimes they don't do anything. I think it depends on if the doctor puts the steroid in exactly the right place. The effects of steroids last for a few months and wear off. Some say they last for a year, but I think that is rare. Steroid shots to not fix it, they just reduce the inflammation and take pressure off.
4) Pain meds are effective, and I have been on them for a couple of years. No, I don't like it, wish I didn't have to do it, but they work. To get proper treatment, your husbands Dr. needs to refer him to a pain management Dr. - I go to Mid-Cities Pain Management in Bedford (Dr. Don Enty). They also do shots.
5) Herniated discs do not repair themselves, they do not heal. Sometimes people get better, most of the time they don't. Surgeons can fix them and now they have minimally invasive laser techniques that are amazing. But I learned that your chance of success the first time is very good. The second time it is 50/50. After that, the chance of success goes DOWN.
6) A big problem that I am dealing with is SCAR TISSUE. After the surgeries, a lot of scar tissue has formed in the surgery area and it can cause serious problems. Scar tissue adheres to the nerves and pulls them. Not good!

If the prognosis for your husband is that surgery is the best bet, I recommend Dr. Rothbart. He fixed me 100% that first time, then a month later I screwed up and reinjured myself. My mistake. If I had just been more careful I think that surgery would have done the job. But the 2nd surgery was failure. SO now I live on pain meds with an occasional shot.

My goal is to go back in the future and get either a fusion or artificial discs put in. But the artificial discs are still in the early stages.

Last, I will say this. Being injured like this really sucks. It is depressing, and you really feel BROKEN. My heart goes out to your husband. He has some decisions to make and then this is a journey. Hopefully he will find something that works. He should have a skilled surgeon like Rothbart look at it and see what his options are. But I don't think physical therapy will do much, and absolutely STAY AWAY from chiropractors - they can make it MUCH WORSE.

I would be glad to talk to your husband and share any additional advice or thoughts, or just be someone that he can talk to that understands the pain and what he is going through. I wish you both the best.

D. H.
Mamasource Advisory Board Member
____@____.com
###-###-####

I am so sorry that your husband is in so much pain; I can tell that you are very concerned about him. Herniated discs, from what I know, don't heal themselves. If they are truly herniated, they only get worse, not better. Steroid shots can give temporary relief, but they don't cure the problem and over use will create other problems. So, steroid shots can only safely be used a couple of times. Physical therapy will help, a stronger back always helps with holding the spine in its right placement, and physical therapists know the right exercises to correct posture. I'm not sure this is what you would want to do, but maybe you need a second opinion from another specialist.

The best to you and your husband - I truly hope he gets better.

The body does have an amazing ability to heal itself, given the correct tools and therapies. Herniated discs only become a problem when they begin to impinge on the exiting spinal nerve. Most orthopaedic surgeons will tell you to follow the conservative approach, and it does take time as well as using several different "try and see" approaches. Physical therapy can help relieve the immediate inflammation, and yes, the discs can heal. Unfortunately, in the real world, no one has time, as you said, to take off work several times a week. However, depending on where your husband works and how long he's been at his job, he may be eligible for benefits under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Have him call his HR person to check on this.

Dear K.,
I had a herniated disc in L5-S1. I did not have any back pain at all but rather sciatic nerve pain. It was very severe and there was not any position that I could be in that would alleviate the pain. I did not want to pursue the other options of physical therapy or epidural steroid injections because there was not guarantee that they would provide any relief. I chose to have surgery instead. I had an outpatient microdiskectomy. The surgery itself was about 1.5 hours, the doctor said it was much worse than when they had done the orginial MRI three weeks prior. I walked out of the hospital three hours after arriving, had food and drink on the way home. I never took a pain pill or muscle relaxer. They gave me electronic icepack that you were supposed to use so many hours a day. I was back to work after 10 days. That was three years ago and now sometimes if I drive too much there might be a little ache but never any actual pain nor sciatic nerve pain.

Back surgery involves a very painful and long recovery. I would get a second opinion on it and research a lot before deciding.

Who says the center is where he has to go to get physical therapy? Unless insurance will only cover that center, I would look for other options. My husband had a specialized personal trainer meet him at the YMCA at 6:30pm twice a week for his back therapy excercises. He didn't stick with it past 2 months after he started feeling better though, and now a year later he probably needs to start going again because his back is hurting again.

Good luck and I hope he gets it worked out!

Hi K.. I had basically what your husband had...it took a while to "fully" heal, but I did and without surgery. I did my visits/therapy at Texas Back Institute and I highly recommend them.

What happened with me is that I would have different "episodes" over about a year and a half. I would get past one painful episode and be fine for a while and then do something to reaggravate it and then have to go again. Basically, the longer he can go without "aggravating" the injury, the more time the disks have to heal, and what I was told is that the portion that is herniated and pushing against the nerves eventually hardens and shrinks.

By the way, as painful as it was, I did work with the injury. I did my visits to Texas Back during my lunch hours (3 times a week). They have several locations in the area...Plano, Dallas, Denton, etc...

You can get through this. Best of luck

K.

i am sorry to hear about your husband. back pain of any kind is no joke. i do have a recommendation of a phenomenal doctor that specializes in spine work. his name is dr. james guess out of the metrocrest orthopedic clinic. his # is ###-###-####. good luck

First of all, I have had lower back issues for the past 10 years, (I'm only 30) and it originally started with herniated discs in my lumbar spine. Secondly, I am a physical therapist myself and so is my husband. We managed to avoid pain medicine, steroid injections, and surgery by agressive physical therapy each time my back would flare up. There are many PT clinics, including my husbands, that will and should offer 5:00 or later appointments. The other thing to remember that you can go anywhere for PT, not just where your doctor suggested. You also don't have to go 3 times per week if your PT doesn't recommend it or if your husband can't coordinate it with work. If you need any recommendations for PT clinics in your area, I could definitely give you some.

I've had the steroid shots via epidural and they worked for pain management. One time I had a balooned disc and went to a chiropractor who was very patient and methodical - 6 months later it went back into place. But unfortunately he died and I haven't found a decent chiro since. I've heard about compression treatments and need to inquire about them.

I really hope your hubby gets to feeling better soon.
B.

Hello K.,

I hightly recommend the book called, "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind". I think you will find chapter 6 very useful... it is called, "Practical Techniques in Mental Healings". The cost of the book is under $10, so it is a heck of a lot cheaper than physical therapy, medications, and doctor visits. The only thing needed is an open mind.
Good Luck!

K.,
Have you tried chiropractic? My husband is a chiropractor and sees cases like your husbands everyday. His office has all of the equipment of a physical therapy facility plus the added benefit of manipulation. The bonus in your cases is that his office is open until 8:00pm twice a week.

Feel free to contact him with any questions. The office is in northeast fort worth, ###-###-####
R.

Please go see Dr. Wendy Baxter at Baxter Family Chiropractic in Arlington. She will be straight forward and honest about how she may be able to help. Although your insurance may not cover chirporactic, they are extrememly accomodating! Surgery will only be a temporary solution, and too risky for that. They can schedule around work hours, etc. My whole family has had a wonderful experience with her and I strongly believe that she will be able to help! Let me know if you need her contact information. Hope this helps!

Have you tried chiropractic? Its a good natural alternative to surgery and has helped many people with similar problems. I am a chiropractor who has 2 herniated disc and through regular care I feel great, still practice with no problems. Although some patients eventually need back surgery the conservative approach is better. Of note the best surgical option is a microdiskectomy, this type was the best I saw with little down time. If you need help finding a chiropractor close you just message me.