MidlandSeagull69
Banned
just been diadnosed with one, anyone had one? can tell me the treatment or if surgery was needed?
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Prolapsed disc
- Thread starter MidlandSeagull69
- Start date
Why don't you ask the doctor while you're there?! 
Uncle C
Well-known member
Wozza said:Why don't you ask the doctor while you're there?!
Oh come on, you can get a much better prognosis here on NSC
MidlandSeagull69
Banned
- Thread starter
- #5
Wozza said:Why don't you ask the doctor while you're there?!
i'm not there anymore! it was an assesment from a physio who i have to see again in 2 weeks, so i will research it before i go back, henec the original question.
MidlandSeagull69
Banned
- Thread starter
- #7
CrabtreeBHA said:GOOGLE SEARCH!
SHEESH some people
will google give me a first hand account of someones experience? who i can discuss it with? smoe people indeed,
Lammy
Registered Abuser
We've got a bloke in our office off sick with a slipped disk at the moment. He is being offered a steriod injuction.
Mrs Lammy has a damaged disk due to swimming butterfly when she was younger. In her case the damage is perminant.
Mrs Lammy has a damaged disk due to swimming butterfly when she was younger. In her case the damage is perminant.
It depends where the disc is. I had a bulging disc in the lumbar region but it was put right with physio.
I am visiting an ostepath at the moment because I have a trapped nerve in my neck (C5) which is causing pins and needles in my left hand. It is working (the manipulation)
I am visiting an ostepath at the moment because I have a trapped nerve in my neck (C5) which is causing pins and needles in my left hand. It is working (the manipulation)
The Laughing Bluebird
New member
I was diagnosed as having a prolapsed disc way back in July 2002 and I've had almost two and a half years of painful hell since. Intensive physiotherapy, two spinal epidurals, nerve root injections, acupunture and various courses of tablets. But the only thing that's worked to take the pain away has been cider!
I've been on the NHS waiting list for an operation since July 2003. They were due to operate a fortnight ago, but the surgeon has now decided that I need another MRI scan first. The date of the op is now looking likely to be late February at the earliest.
I was offered the chance to have an operation privately with the same surgeon, but unlike Richboy I couldn't afford the fee, which in my case was quoted as £12,000 minimum.
Perhaps I should point out that my case is possibly a little different to yours, as I have been diagnosed as having a hereditary spinal problem that has caused the disc to prolapse in the first place. However, I suspect the result is likely to be pretty much the same - severe back, leg and foot pain at various intervals.
As it happens, I'm currently in the best shape I've been since I attended the NSC get-together in Brighton back in the summer of 2003. I'm getting around just fine at the moment and I'm in very little pain. But since July 2002 I've missed nearly 8 months work and there have been various times when I've been unable to walk / stand up / sit down / lie down / sleep (the symptoms have changed as time has gone by).
The NHS here in Wales is an absolute joke thanks to the efforts of the Welsh Assembly, and I was recently told by my physiotherapist that I would've been operated on within a year of the problem being identified if I'd been living in England. So, hopefully, you should get sorted out a lot quicker than me.
Best of luck.
I've been on the NHS waiting list for an operation since July 2003. They were due to operate a fortnight ago, but the surgeon has now decided that I need another MRI scan first. The date of the op is now looking likely to be late February at the earliest.
I was offered the chance to have an operation privately with the same surgeon, but unlike Richboy I couldn't afford the fee, which in my case was quoted as £12,000 minimum.
Perhaps I should point out that my case is possibly a little different to yours, as I have been diagnosed as having a hereditary spinal problem that has caused the disc to prolapse in the first place. However, I suspect the result is likely to be pretty much the same - severe back, leg and foot pain at various intervals.
As it happens, I'm currently in the best shape I've been since I attended the NSC get-together in Brighton back in the summer of 2003. I'm getting around just fine at the moment and I'm in very little pain. But since July 2002 I've missed nearly 8 months work and there have been various times when I've been unable to walk / stand up / sit down / lie down / sleep (the symptoms have changed as time has gone by).
The NHS here in Wales is an absolute joke thanks to the efforts of the Welsh Assembly, and I was recently told by my physiotherapist that I would've been operated on within a year of the problem being identified if I'd been living in England. So, hopefully, you should get sorted out a lot quicker than me.
Best of luck.
Hungry Joe
SINNEN
The Laughing Bluebird said:
Bloody hell. A friend of mine at work suffers from this too. All the best to you both.
Stumpy Tim
Well-known member
What are the symptoms? I've got a problem with my lower back at the moment. When I go running, it siezes up after a couple of kms. It's pretty worrying though I've got insurance to get it fixed. Where is the source of the pain with a slipped disc?
Hungry Joe
SINNEN
Stumpy Tim said:
Get it checked out. My friend at work said her's used to seize up playing netball. She'd be fine one minute and then it would just lock.
I suggest an MRI scan, even if you have to pay for it. Mine was £400.
Before that I was being treated by a physiopherapist but I think it was a waste of money as until you have a scan you cannot tell for certain what is wrong.
For example, if you had a suspected broken bone, the first thing they would do is x-ray it; MRI scans are obviously too expensive to provide for those who pay taxes to fund the NHS. It seems silly trying to treat something when you don't know exactly what is wrong.
The NHS is a joke. I was on three month minimum waiting list for physio so I went private. This improved things a bit but it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to rectify it, and the pain was becoming unbearable, so I was referred for an MRI scan - this would have been another 5 months!
A prolapsed disc is when the gooey bit (nucleas pulposis) inside the discs that make up your spine pertrudes through the disc. This can put pressure on nerves which can cause pain and numbness.
Basically you can have an operation which should rectify it; you can have an epidural injection which has about a 60% chance of temporarily relieving the pain, or you can treat it with physio or with an osteopath. As I said, it would be best to find out what is wrong before considering your options.
Before that I was being treated by a physiopherapist but I think it was a waste of money as until you have a scan you cannot tell for certain what is wrong.
For example, if you had a suspected broken bone, the first thing they would do is x-ray it; MRI scans are obviously too expensive to provide for those who pay taxes to fund the NHS. It seems silly trying to treat something when you don't know exactly what is wrong.
The NHS is a joke. I was on three month minimum waiting list for physio so I went private. This improved things a bit but it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to rectify it, and the pain was becoming unbearable, so I was referred for an MRI scan - this would have been another 5 months!
A prolapsed disc is when the gooey bit (nucleas pulposis) inside the discs that make up your spine pertrudes through the disc. This can put pressure on nerves which can cause pain and numbness.
Basically you can have an operation which should rectify it; you can have an epidural injection which has about a 60% chance of temporarily relieving the pain, or you can treat it with physio or with an osteopath. As I said, it would be best to find out what is wrong before considering your options.
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MidlandSeagull69
Banned
- Thread starter
- #16
see i knew there were some human's on here rather than the morons who rely on google to answer every problem they have.
The Laughing Bluebird
New member
Stumpy Tim: The most common symptoms of a prolapsed disc are sharp pain and tenderness in the lower back and buttocks, along with varying degrees of pain and numbness in the legs, feet and toes.
Often, the first sign of a disc bulge is a tingling sensation along the back of one leg or numbness in the feet or toes. That is sciatica brought on by the pressure of the disc against the nerves in the spine.
If your lower back is seizing up after running sessions I'd be pretty hopeful that it is some sort of muscle problem as opposed to a disc problem. But I'd have it looked at as quickly as possible if I were you - if it is disc-associated, then the sooner it's dealt with the better, believe me.
Fatboy / Richboy: What sort of op are you having? A discectomy? And £400 for an MRI scan? Where did you have that done? I had to pay to have one with BUPA in Feb 2003. I'm looking at the invoice now: £695.00!
Often, the first sign of a disc bulge is a tingling sensation along the back of one leg or numbness in the feet or toes. That is sciatica brought on by the pressure of the disc against the nerves in the spine.
If your lower back is seizing up after running sessions I'd be pretty hopeful that it is some sort of muscle problem as opposed to a disc problem. But I'd have it looked at as quickly as possible if I were you - if it is disc-associated, then the sooner it's dealt with the better, believe me.
Fatboy / Richboy: What sort of op are you having? A discectomy? And £400 for an MRI scan? Where did you have that done? I had to pay to have one with BUPA in Feb 2003. I'm looking at the invoice now: £695.00!
It does have some long name which escapes me. They are removing the bulging part of the disc.
I had the MRI scan done through a private hospital but it was using a machine at the local NHS hospital! I suppose different private hospitals vary their fees.
I will definitely take out health insurance when I get a job, particularly as the odds of it happening again are higher than the odds of it happening to someone else.
I just wish this had happened when I had a job as I would get paid sick leave instead of it cutting into my drinking time.
I have already annoyed the nurses by taking ages to calculate my weekly units of alcohol consumption, and when asked "what concerns you most about coming into hospital?" answering "missing the game on Saturday."
I had the MRI scan done through a private hospital but it was using a machine at the local NHS hospital! I suppose different private hospitals vary their fees.
I will definitely take out health insurance when I get a job, particularly as the odds of it happening again are higher than the odds of it happening to someone else.
I just wish this had happened when I had a job as I would get paid sick leave instead of it cutting into my drinking time.
I have already annoyed the nurses by taking ages to calculate my weekly units of alcohol consumption, and when asked "what concerns you most about coming into hospital?" answering "missing the game on Saturday."
Roger Mellie
New member
Got 2 prolapsed discs and one that is bulging (about to prolapse) and it aint good news. If you have one it is not so bad. Physio is first call and sorts some people out. If you can get by with this then do it and forget. If you have one prolapse then surgery will fuse it to the next disc and the rest of your life should be fine. If you have two or more together then that is when it gets more complicated. If they try and fuse two knackered discs to one either side of it then it puts too much pressure on the ones it has been fused to and they break down and you are f***ed. My advice (and I have been seeing people for last 5 years) try physio to the best of your ability and if that does not work then get the surgery to sort out one. If not the discs around it can weaken and if two or more go it gets messy. Good luck back pain is a ####
The Laughing Bluebird
New member
fatboy said:
It's incredible how these things work, isn't it? In my case, after 6 months of NHS physiotherapy had failed to work, my GP gave me the consultant's details and strongly advised me to see to him privately in the first instance in order to jump the NHS queue and get the MRI scan done quickly.
The first consultation, the scan, and the follow-up consultation all happened in the space of a fortnight and cost me just over a grand. If I hadn't been prepared to pay this, my GP told me that I would have been waiting a minimum of 8 months to see the consultant and then another 4 months for the scan.
I saw the consultant privately in February 2003, and after the follow-up consultation I joined his NHS waiting list for further treatment. He told me surgery was almost certainly going to be necessary but they would try an epidural first. I had the first of those the week before our play-off final against QPR, and it actually made the condition worse!
It is now December 2004 and I'm still waiting for the operation. But if i hadn't stumped up a grand in Feb 2003, I'd probably still be waiting for the first epidural. That's how efficient the NHS is in Blair's Britain.
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