25 can hardly stand more than 5 minutes
After ~5 months of debilitating pain, and ~7 years of sciatica in all, I finally got an MRI. PT seemed to make things worse so I've been told to stop and wait for an epidural steroid injection. The next step they say, if 2 of them don't help, is surgery. I'm assuming I herniated that disk 5 months ago, but I've had sciatica for far longer.
Does that mean the sciatica (stenosis) could likely just be genetic? Or that the herniation is from before the huge uptick in pain? If the herniation/pain hasn't gotten better after all this time (and stenosis is not helped without surgery IIRC) then an injection is just prolonging the inevitable right?
The only mostly pain free position for me is sitting down. I'm in horrible pain the minute I stand up and I desperately need to sit down after 5-15 minutes. Even lying down is too painful to sleep half nights. I don't feel terribly confident about this injection, and I haven't really been given any other options.
Basically: do y'all think I'm going to need surgery?
L4-5 large central disc herniation resulting in moderate to severe central stenosis. Disc material extends posteriorly 7 mm, compressing the thecal sac. Residual AP diameter thecal sac is 4 mm. The herniation measures 13 mm across its base and 10 mm craniocaudally. The bilateral L5 nerves are obscured as they exit the thecal sac.
After ~5 months of debilitating pain, and ~7 years of sciatica in all, I finally got an MRI. PT seemed to make things worse so I've been told to stop and wait for an epidural steroid injection. The next step they say, if 2 of them don't help, is surgery. I'm assuming I herniated that disk 5 months ago, but I've had sciatica for far longer.
Does that mean the sciatica (stenosis) could likely just be genetic? Or that the herniation is from before the huge uptick in pain? If the herniation/pain hasn't gotten better after all this time (and stenosis is not helped without surgery IIRC) then an injection is just prolonging the inevitable right?
The only mostly pain free position for me is sitting down. I'm in horrible pain the minute I stand up and I desperately need to sit down after 5-15 minutes. Even lying down is too painful to sleep half nights. I don't feel terribly confident about this injection, and I haven't really been given any other options.
Basically: do y'all think I'm going to need surgery?
L4-5 large central disc herniation resulting in moderate to severe central stenosis. Disc material extends posteriorly 7 mm, compressing the thecal sac. Residual AP diameter thecal sac is 4 mm. The herniation measures 13 mm across its base and 10 mm craniocaudally. The bilateral L5 nerves are obscured as they exit the thecal sac.