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Bulging Discs and back pain

I have suffered with a bad lower back for years. I am 55 now and i had an MRI last year which showed up the bulging discs / prolapsed disc and squashed nerves.
I tried many different painkillers. Currently take ibuprofen and paracetamol.
I do get bad back spasms too. Currently in middle of one and trying to work also! I stand for 5 hour shifts which is painful.
Pain management offered me Morphine tablets but i refused. Hoping to get a spinal injection next.
Back is getting worse and doctors dont seem to care! I worry i may have to give up work. How will i be able to pay my bills then?
What do you guys take for pain?
I tried many different painkillers. Currently take ibuprofen and paracetamol.
I do get bad back spasms too. Currently in middle of one and trying to work also! I stand for 5 hour shifts which is painful.
Pain management offered me Morphine tablets but i refused. Hoping to get a spinal injection next.
Back is getting worse and doctors dont seem to care! I worry i may have to give up work. How will i be able to pay my bills then?
What do you guys take for pain?
Replies
Waiting to go back as injections was mentioned. I dont want to take gabapentin. Side effects can be horrible plus, coming off them a knightmare. I have tried pregabalin. It wasnt nice coming off that!
Work dont care.
Not sure how long i can carry on working to be honest. What happens then? How will i cope finacially?
No savings though, but, i do own my own small house.
Would i be expected to sell the house to live? No idea how it all works. Work is getting harder. My back is getting worse. Every shift my back is bad and especially when i go home as i have to lie down with hot water bottle under my back.
I take ibuprofen and paracetamol together. 600mg / 500mg. Use cream on my lower back. Heat.
Sometimes i just get a spasm and bingo, back really bad. I still hobble into work though as i cant afford not to be paid.
Scope
Do you have a CAB near you that you could get advice from?
Scope
Online Community Officer
degenerative disorder of the lower back in more than one place, so with age and wear and tear, it gets worse not better, while i could walk quite well 20 years ago, now not so good, i started off with no sciatica attacks, then over the years, it went from a few each year to almost one a month, which now can be a week long or longer, so that's also getting worse with age, back at hospital in the next month or so, so while i was offered surgery in the past, the success rate was too low for me, now i'm seeing if anything has altered, not in me, but the % rate of not making me worse etc, 20 years ago it was 60/40, with the 60% chance of making me worse, eg more stiff, as for me Spinal fusion was offered, with either a mess or rod or both to support what was damaged, with other treatments not suited to my needs, so took what else was offered at the time, and chose tablets, as a spinal injection was one of the causes for me of what may have caused it in the first place
Over the years I have been prescribed many different pain killers :- tramadol, amytryptoline? pregabalin, oxycontin, and gabapenten. The latter is what I have been taking for a few years now and I am quite happy with it, although I would like to cut my dose down, every time I try my pain level increases. Before my last operation I asked my consultant about a disc fusion, but his opinion was that it would restrict my movement and cause problems in the future.
After my first operation I went back to work (teacher) too soon, I struggled on for 1/2 a term, then it was the summer holidays and I could rest up then. I went back determined to keep working but eventually had to give in and accept that my body wasn’t up to it! I was very sad about retiring so early (49), also it was a really nice teaching job.
disc fusion, does restrict movement in some cases and is an option only for those with degenerative disorders with more than a few discs found to be faulty or beyond repair as such, in my case, this was what was offered to me 20 years ago, and i also didn't like the restrictive movement part, but it was an option for me, in stead of taking tablet which i did in the end, but now wish for long term use i hadn't, the side effects over the long years have been worse than the condition itself for me, so now i'm back in a month and going to see what other options are open for me, with 4 MRI over the years and 5 XRays, even i can clearly see the degeneration from my first and it's also good to have the color ones at the side of the black and white as a contrast, as it really does show up well, shame the WCA nurse had no ability to understand results, way above her pay grade, knowledge and ability.
i'm being drawing my pension now for 12 years, but atm now kicked off ESA, and unable to claim anything else until the lost letter gets replaced with my back up one, as the DWP signed to get my MR letter, then lost it, so have to wait another 10 days at least for a reply, making a total in all once done, of 2 months for a mandatory reconciliation letter, so if that's a no, then maybe a year for a Tribunal, as long as the strikes don't make it longer, as from the 1st of July, there going out, so says the lawyers and judges etc
Online Community Officer