Those of you with bulging discs

just wondering what has worked for you as far as pain relief.  What kind of long term prognosis are there?  Is there a cure other than surgery? 

Annie, welcome and at the same time sorry to hear that you have been among the chronic pain suffers for over 5 years. The bulging discs are often the start of much more but exactly what the more could be has many factors. Some discs respond to PT and even some drugs. The problem is as we all know that they remain prone to further bulding and herniation. They are doing more disc replacements today than they used to but the last report I saw still showed 50% effectiveness. Each person's journey is also is individualist. The way my body responded to treatment is different from the next person. I had an injury 12 years ago and I saw so many specialists and surgeons, each giving their opinions and prognosis. In the end, I took the words of an older lady orthopedic surgeon and she told me what I thought was the best route. I said that I was not inclined to fump into the operating room as I had heard too many horor stories of people who started that rounte and never seemed to find a finishing point. She said her advise to me was to wait until I had no other choice as surgery was in my future and that truthfully, there were no guarantees that it would make it all better so living with the pain was going to be part of the rest of my life. In the last 3 years I have had 3 surgeries and though they were considered sucsseful, as that wise old doctor told me, I am still learning to live with the pain the rest of my life. Those of us you will find here are the ones that the miracle surgery or treatment did not happen for. The option for us is how to learn to deal with the effects in a way that continues to give us hope and joy. Life does go on. Don't be afraid to get second and even third opionions from doctors who take different approaches.

Hi Annie and welcome to Healing Well's chronic pain forum. Glad you found us but always hate to see another person be afflicted with this lousy condition. At least by coming here you know you are not alone, there are a lot of us on here just like you in pain.

It is really difficult to answer your question on what works best for a person because everyone responds so differently. Most drs will offer conservative care consisting of physical therapy and many times OTC NSAIDS like Ibuprophene or Motrin. I do know they want the patients up moving around and not laying in a bed or chair as the more we move around the better off we are. Use to if a person hurt their back they put you to bed for a week and they no longer do that. They say now that caused more harm than good. If you are under the care of a PM dr then you may undergo different types of injections, its just real hard to guess what different drs will want to do with a patient. Some people use heat/ice packs I prefer heat over cold. Generally, a dr leaves the disc alone unless there is some nerve involvement and its severe enough to warrant surgery.

Anyway wanted to say welcome aboard.