Starting to lose it
5 months in. Mri showed 9mm herniation at l4 l5 into the nerve root. First 3 months were brutal. Id wake up in extreme pain but after moving for a few hours the pain would come down to a 2 and I’d only have a slight limp. With PT and getting a standing desk, I was finally pain free for 2 weeks end of may.
I then maybe got cocky and lifted a case of milk at Costco and immediately felt the shooting pain down my right leg. Woke up next day in agony and I’ve had a heavy limp ever since, every 15 steps I have to stop cuz my right leg seizes up. I feel like I’m 90 yrs old. It’s now been a month no improvement. I can’t work and essentially now bedridden for the last week. I can’t even lay flat to PT. Standing up causes pins and needles and cold sensations, Losing hope after these 5 months. I have ESI coming up and neurosurgeon consult on the 17th. But in this condition I truly can’t push thru work. I do freelance with no fallback.
I hear different warnings about the surgery, people say it leads to lifelong surgeries. My body did heal this once maybe it will do it again, but i haven’t been able to break this flare for the last month, heavy limp needing breaks every 15 steps. Maybe i made it worse cuz it’s never been this bad or disabling.