Has anyone else had a herniated disk before?

What did you do for it? Surgery? Physical Therapy? Anything at all? Details please.

I had to have surgery since the pain was a reoccuring problem.

Yes. I had two at the same time in the lower back. After weighing all the options I went with surgery. I got two opinions and both were the same - physical therapy will not cure the problem. When the disk is herniated it has compressed and the actual "jelly" is making contact with the spinal nerve. The disk must be trimmed in order to relieve the pain.

I had the surgery in a spine clinic with an expert surgeon. With my insurance I was out about $1500.00 out of over $25,000.00 worth of treatment. I was walking within 8 hours of the surgery and doing physical therapy the next day. Within 8 weeks I was back to work and within six months I was fully healed. I have had no trouble since then.

The hardest part was forcing myself to do the therapy. That is where healing and recovery really takes place. It can be painful to walk the first few weeks, but you MUST DO IT! Otherwise you will have complications. Kicking the pain meds was hard, too, but I dropped them cold turkey and had only one bad day.

My advice would be to pick a surgeon with a good reputation for doing the procedure you need. Secondly, make sure it is done in a facility with a low infection rate. You can research that on the net.

Finally, do the surgery. Therapy is just prolonging the inevitable.

Yeah...I actually had a doc that was pretty agressive. I appreciated that because I needed to be told what to do. Report It

In most cases surgery is not required. Indeed - surgery should be undertaken only if a motor (not a sensory) nerve is impinged. There are medications which may help, and physical therapy may help as well. The key to answering your question is to know the findings on magnetic resonance imaging.

My mother had this.. although it was about 10 years ago so your options have expanded since then.. however she had opted for Surgury followed by physical therapy, They removed the disk and fused the vertebrae together using a cadaver bone.

Yes, Surgury helped me. I would recommend considering it, but where it is makes a difference. The neck is easy,(unless it is C2, that's riskier because of breathing issues). In most cases for the cervical spine,they go thru the front, and it is a quick recovery. Lower down, they go thru your back, recovery takes longer. Have you considered an epidural? My sister has had two, a week apart, and she is doing pretty good. A lot of pain relief. Consider your age, your activity level, and how much surgery will change your life. If you are sedentary, you may choose to go with physical therapy and medication.

Before you let them cut you, at least go see a good chiropractor. Mine has done wonders for me. No scalpels, no cadaver grafting, no scars and now, no pain. You have nothing to lose.