Approaching 6 months, losing hope of dealing without surgery
Hey, I have a C6-C7 herniated disc, approaching 6 months of daily pain. It has improved really significantly over that time but nonetheless it’s definitely still there. Some days are better than others, but I take ibuprofen most days at some point when it flares up. I’m able to do rows and rear delt resistance machine work at the gym - the days I can do this it does make a difference. Seen several physios, do the chin tucks etc daily. I’m a software engineer and sitting for long periods is killer.
My neurosurgeon says it’s up to me at this point, he’ll replace the disc if I want. But if the pain is manageable we can wait to see if there’s further improvement. My feeling is that the recovery might have plateaued, I’m not sure there was significant change in the last month, though I’ve only been able to get back to the gym for the past week or two.
I’m looking for advice from anyone that’s been in a similar situation, ideally some stories of a strong recovery post six months because I have to be honest the surgery doesn’t sound appealing