I have a herniated disk, and numbness in my feet, how long will it persist?

will it be perament? i have had it for about a week, and it is not getting better, i have a herniated disk, and some of my mediaction is not working.



also, is a herniated disk and a bulging disk the same thing

i too have a herniated disc. the dr told me that if I had the surgery there is no gaurentee, that the problem will not return. so I opted not to have the surgery. yes I have numbness, not in my feet but my legs. I was told that if you can bend at the waist, arms reaching for the floor in front of your toes, legs must remain straight as possible in order for the back to pop, that your back will pop and it will help relieve the pressure and discomfort. often it works, but there are times i have done too much and this treatment doesnt work it is a hit and miss type treatment

herniated disk, bulging disk, prolapsed disk are the same things.
u have numbness in your feet, means, the disk in ur spinal cord already pinching/pressing on the nerve that supply ur feet. the disk will continue prolapse further if u not seek for treatment. painkiller would not help much, because it cannot "shrink" back the disk. it just reduces pain.
after doing MRI for investigation, appropriate treatment than can be decided. in the mild one, physiotherapy may help. the severe prolapse needs surgery. it is not permanent, it can be treated.

sometimes a herniated disc will correct itself with PT, depending on the severity? Did your Doc do an MRI, the numbness will stay untill the nerve is not being irritated by the disc any longer and sometimes it will cause permanant damage have you considered having a surgery to remove the pretruding disc? its not very invasive and you usually home the same day, if the pain meds are not contolling the pain tell your doc and they may give you stronger meds or up the dosage. yes herniated and buldging same thing, just dont let it go to far where you end up with a ruptured disc, Good luck to you

Episodes of sciatica are supposed to resolve on their own within 6 weeks. Even after my sciatica stopped, the pain continued unabated. After 6 months, I had surgery to remove the 'jelly' substance that came out of the disk. It helped some, but I still have a fair bit of pain. I think a lot of it is because I lost so much muscle mass during the sciatica (lack of use), that there is an imbalance between the two sides of the low back, hip and leg. Even though you have sciatica, it's important to keep moving to maintain as much strength as possible. As for the numbness, it impoved when the sciatica stopped, but I was left with reduced sensation on the inside of my foot, and the transverse arch under the base of the toes took a hit and flattened. I now use custom orthotics to lift that part of my foot up again. I sure hope things improve for you soon. I had to take morphine, gabapentin, and celebrex (anti-inflammatory) for the pain, and I still use them at smaller doses. I use 1 morphine pill at bedtime so control the pain so I don't keep waking up at night from the pain. This is a really crappy thing to have happen to anyone. Do everything you can to control the pain or it will rob you of everything good in your life.

Re. herniated vs. buging: a bulging disk is when the outer ring of the disk (annulous) weakens allowing the jelly substance inside to seep closer the edge, making it bulge out from the spinal column. When the annulous ruptures/tears, the jelly gets squeezed out in the spinal column where it can put even more pressure on the nerves. Physical therapy may help to treat a bulging disk, but once it's ruptured, nothing can be done to reverse it. Therapy may help, but the disk will always be 'deflated'.

This is sciatica. It will go bad day by day. There is no medicine for it.
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