u/IndependentNo3143

I'm probably just very late to the pill app party, but I'll post this anyways in case it helps anyone else. With all the different medications I'm on, I found it difficult to take pills on time. Apparently , there's a bunch of apps that you can use that will set up an alarm every time you need to take your medication. I downloaded a couple to try out and I found "Pillo" to be the right one for me. It'S free super easy to set up and actually kind of cute. This little monster yells at me when it's time to take pills.

I was able to enter all of my meds , how many times a day , i'm supposed to take them and the app did everything else. It appears to have some other things also but I haven't been in the mood to check it out yet.

Hello I will keep this short , but i'm freaking out. Yesterday was my first post ope and I felt fabulous.I was walking around laying comfortably in my bed.My leg pain was gone. Fast forward to now. I think I'm over 36 hours from my M.D and my leg is sore again , and i'm so stiff , I can barely move. Is this normal? I was home alone , but my mom is here now. I have my self all freaked out about d.V.Ts and that the surgery failed , even though I know I read online , that my leg pain might not be gone when I woke up. The problem i'm having is that it was gone , and now it's back

Aetna denied my spine surgery scheduled for Tuesday. I'm bedridden, single mom, and completely broken.

I have a large L5-S1 disc extrusion with severe nerve compression 1.4cm excrution and documented neurological damage. I've been bedridden for nearly a month. I have a 10 year old son I cant care for. My surgery was scheduled for this Tuesday with a neurosurgeon who said I needed it urgently.

Today Aetna denied my prior authorization because I haven't done six weeks of physical therapy. I can walk approximately 15 steps before my leg gives out completely and pain fires up full throttle. I have a lost ankle reflex that my surgeon says is permanent. I wake up every night in agony.

I've been fighting this insurance company from my bed for days. I called them on a Saturday night. I escalated it. I sent messages to my surgical team. And they still denied me.

I know I have to appeal. I know the statistics say most appeals succeed. But I'm exhausted and in pain and terrified and I just needed somewhere to say — this system is completely broken and I am completely broken tonight.

Has anyone been through a similar denial and come out the other side? I could really use some hope right now.

UPDATE! peer to peer review successful!

I finally got my surgery scheduled and I honestly can’t describe how relieved I feel.

After weeks of severe nerve pain, limited mobility, and trying conservative treatment, my neurosurgeon decided it was time for a lumbar microdiscectomy. I know not everyone gets to this point quickly, and I’m grateful things moved forward when they did.

I just wanted to post this because when I first started reading here, I was scared, overwhelmed, and unsure if I would ever get real relief or answers. Seeing other people’s experiences helped me more than I can say.

If you’re still in the waiting phase or feeling stuck in pain, I really hope you get clarity, a good care team, and the treatment you need. I know how isolating this kind of pain can feel.

Wishing everyone here healing and better days ahead.

I got my first ESI shot today. I was having intense muscle spasms before I went in so the drive up there was awful. Once arrived It was a long wait, or just felt like one. I kept hearing people point out i was doing it without sedation.I had selected without sedation brcause it was the soonest appointment. The way they kept saying "without sedation" made me think that I had signed up for the most painful procedure ever. I got a little nervous when they all started handing me hospital, gowns and hospital hair covers to wear for the procedure. It also made me more nervous when I got in the room and it looked like an operating room, I had worked myself up so much before getting this thing that by the time I got it, I was shocked that I didn't feel a thing. There was a little discomfort when he was pushing the medicine in.It felt like pressure on the sorest part of my body, but it was nothing compared to the pain I've been feeling for the last 3 weeks. I feel like it's working already , but from my understanding that's just the lidocaine and that it will wear off in 3 to 4 hours.

For those of you who have gotten these shots before, when did you notice actual relief?Was it the 3 to 5 day window that I've read about?Or was it sooner or longer?

I pray that I get relief from these shots because i've been living in nightmare for the last three weeks.

I saw the pain specialist today and we discussed my MRI

. He gave me 2 options

Option 1: go straight to ER and have surgery

Option 2 : try epidural steroid injections while simultaneously setting up consult for surgery

Im thinking to just try the ESI whike waiting for surgery consult

MRI SUMMARY At L5-S1, large central to right subarticular disc extrusion 15mm with multifactorial mild

canal stenosis, severe right and mild to moderate left lateral recess effacement, and

moderate right neural foraminal stenosis. Apparent impingement of right traversing S1

nerve root.

Large extrusion (1.1 cm AP × 1.4 cm CC)

Haven't seen Dr yet but my MRI report i tossed into chat GPT to break it down and here is what it said

Large extrusion (1.1 cm AP × 1.4 cm CC) → this is not a small bulge; it’s a significant herniation

Severe right nerve crowding

Moderate narrowing of the right foramen (exit hole for nerve)

Mild canal stenosis overall (central canal is not critically tight, but the nerve path is)

At L4–L5:

Smaller disc protrusion

Some narrowing on both sides, but not the main problem

I have been bed ridden and in the worst pain of my life .. anyone else have something similar ?

So I went today for MRI and I had a total meltdown tears and all from the pain driving over and walking . The tech completed the MRI and when I asked how long for it to be read he said this " your dr ordered 3-5 days but im putting a rush in so 24-48 hours ". While im happy to get closer to a resolution faster I cant help but wonder what the hell he saw that made him prioritize mine .

I also and getting more numbness in my foot. Im over here feeling like life is over and that im going to lose everything from job to home .... im afraid I will be in this condition forever . Im crying my eyes out and dont know what do!

So I got a new bed with adjustable base and was told to do zG . I put i rather large pillow under my knees and my pain over last 3 nights was horrific. Can using to large a pillow make it worse? I woke up today with numbness which is new and painis worse...... so bad

Hello, im new to sciatica . I hate it ( no surprise) im a single mother and even driving and cooking is hard. Im in dear of having to work tomorrow , I work from home so that is a bit of comfort. I have had such a bad flair up last 2 days im crying and wishing I was dead. Im going to chiropractor 3 weeks now and it helps a little on that day. I got a new bed, went to dr , went to urgent care and only thing thats helped so far is the troradol injection I was given . I have has xrays but still waiting to hear back. Im feeling so hopeless and depressed and the pain is agony. I have it mostly in butt and hamstring and it feels like muscles are on fire and ripping .if the pain travels further down its excruciating. Lowest I have had is in the calf .. I need help and hope