u/bear_claw_1

40 m. Relatively fit and healthy. Extremely active before this mess. April 30 hurt back (only back pain) stayed that way for about a month. Then on May 22nd things went downhill literally all the way down my right leg. This led to Memorial Day spent in total 10 pain and then foot drop. This has me puzzled because I’ve never dealt with this before. Currently I’m way better than I was Memorial Day weekend. My foot drop which was moderate is now prob back to about 80-85%. Pain is essentially gone, although I still have little stuff here and there. Tingling and numbness is a definite come and go threat, but it as well is getting better. I’ve been on two rounds of steroids spaced out and I did have an epidural injection about 3 weeks ago that didn’t do much.
After speaking with my doctor surgery is an option that is still on the table if I deem it necessary now I do not want surgery, but if surgery is the only thing that’s going to get me back to where I was before then I want to consider it. My question is to you guys at what point should I definitely say yes I need surgery.? also if I decide not to do surgery, how long of a window should I be looking at here until I’m back to where I was before this injury? Also, how long does the tingling last?? I had a l4l5 disc extrusion idk if this matters my my doctor acted like this was better than a herniation because it would absorb quicker. I don’t know about that either. Maybe I could get your advice on that as well. Thank you for all your help.

I’ll Try to keep it short. A month ago a had an injury, and mri showed l4l5 disc extrusion. It was pretty nasty looking. 2-3 weeks of debilitating pain. Then got foot drop. Not complete but definitely moderate. Got on some steroids for a week which helped me a little. Since then been very slowly getting some better with set backs of course. I’m definitely gaining strength but it seems like it’s gonna be a very long road. I constantly have numbness coming and going along with everything else coming and going. Pain is tolerable.
My question is have any of you had success with the esi taking your leg symptoms away ? Pain, numbness, or even weakness. I have had one esi in the past but the symptoms were only in my back not leg. I’m feeling like I am getting better very slowly but optimistic that this can get me over the hump. I was just curious about your experience with leg symptoms and esi. Thanks