Crummy Back

My first back problems started in 1993. I was 18 at the time which makes me 31 now. I worked on the loading dock at a distribution center for a very large company. One morning, I was loading a huge TV in a box into a trailer. I turned to grab the next box to stack and I saw the TV box starting to fall. I twisted around to catch the box and ended up bending backwards and felt an intense pain in my lower back.

I had trouble straightening up when I tried to stand. My manager sent me home for the day. I still had pain the next day, so they sent me to a doctor under worker's compenstion. I started physical therapy but within a few days I started feeling pain in my left leg. I was sent for an MRI and they noted some degenerative disc disease and a bulge in the L4/L5 disc. I went off to college and continued to experience the pain. I was sent for epidural steroid injections. I had 3 injections and the pain went away. At the end of this incident, I recovered well but suffered a loss of reflexes in my left leg.

I went for several years after that incident with various back pain, but not much leg pain. I would occasionally get muscle spasms which responded well to muscle relaxants. In early 2002, I had a fairly nasty cold and cough. I was getting ready for work and bent down to get something from under the sink. At the same time, I began a fit of coughing. Almost instantly, my lower back went into a severe spasm. I was hunched over and in significant pain.

My wife urged me to see my family doctor. I was prescribed muscle relaxants and responded fairly quickly. As my muscles relaxed, the leg pain arrived again. I was scheduled for an MRI and diagnosed with further bulging at the L4/L5 level and spinal stenosis. I was scheduled for physical therapy and 3 epidurals over the next few months and finally responded to the last one.

Between 2002 and September 2006, I was doing well. I had the occasional spasms that required muscle relaxants, but the spasms always subsided. I had been working on remodeling a bathroom since Labor Day weekend and I felt the spasms come back. Around September 15th, the spasms were fairly intense and I was starting to feel leg pain again. I had muscle relaxants left over and took those like I was supposed to. I went on an ATV trip on October 8th and noticed that the leg pain was getting much more intense. I had a lot of trouble sitting and standing. The muscles were not relaxing this time. Something was different.

When I returned from the trip, I went to my family doctor to get a stronger relaxant and some pain medication. He prescribed those, but also scheduled an MRI. I had the MRI on October 30th. The pain was excruciating. I didn't know if I could continue to lay on the MRI table for the whole 15 minutes. My leg and back hurt terribly. I got the results on November 6th. The stenosis and degenerative disc disease had worsened. I had broad disc bulges at L3/L4 and L5/S1. The L4/L5 disc had herniated.

I was sent to a pain management doctor for pain control and given a referral to a neurosurgeon. I had an epidural steriod injection on November 9th. I had immediate pain relief as usual and was optomistic about the results. The pain relief lasted about 4 days. Both of my legs were cramping badly at night. I'd get out of bed and work out the cramps several times each night. I had a second injection on November 21st and was requested to start physical therapy.

On November 22nd, I met with the neurosurgeon. He looked at the MRI results and told me that I have a "crummy back". I agreed, and asked about my options. He said that it was complex since there were so many factors involved - the 3 levels of disc problems as well as the stenosis. He requested that I get a myelogram so that he could determine the nerve interaction. I mentioned that I was being scheduled for physical therapy and that I still had one epidural injection remaining. We agreed that I would see how those activities went before pursuing the myelogram.

More on this later...