Degenerative disc disease

[Totley]

Hello everyone I have degenerative disc disease, I have all symptoms like neck pain nerve pain going up back of head which never goes, I'm having numbness in fingers and toes and nerve pain sensations on and off over body, iv had enough just wanna know what's going on, I get exhausted easy if I do too much I noticed, the numbness and sensations are really bothering me, I wanna be normal again 😢I'm such a fit sort of person all this has come as hell of a shock, I'm only 43 years old, and I I'm taking pregablin 25 in morning and 50 in evening and 1 naproxen 500,all out of desperation and still I suffer, can anyone relate or help me, it's getting me down, thank you????

[Hidden]

Hi, and welcome, I feel for you, it’s a hard one to cope with, I have the same symptoms, and apart from X-ray guidance pain injections or surgery we are stuck, there isn’t a lot any one can do for us, except the above, and in my last pain injections yeeks it hurt like crazy, so we are stuck on pain meds, and I can’t tolerate the strong ones, so I’m left in pain quite a bit. The meds could be making you drowsy or sluggish, we just have to keep kicking it abs try and push our way through, I’ve suffered since my 20’s and now 48, it’s no life but we have to push through. Take care don’t give up.

[Fra22-57]

I know we get the brain fog but the pregabalin makes it twice as bad BUT it helps with the pain so it’s a no win for me and you alike .☹️

[TinaBSheffield45]

Hi Totley, I too have the same. My GP wanted to fuse my spine in two places, but when I went to see a Neurosurgeon, he told me that the best thing to do was Pilates. This helps to strengthen the muscles either side of your spine, to help support it. Best think I ever did. I still get a few twinges, and still on some meds, but no where near what I was. May be worth a try, but speak to your doctor first. I got diagnosed at 45 and I am now 50, and more active than I have ever been. Hope that helps.

[Heman69]

I’ve got spinal damage including the neck and have tried all pain relief available on the health service to almost no avail in fact the pain relief caused a heart attack at 44. pregabalin I found was a horrible evil drug and dumped it over the years the easiest drug that helped a touch for nerve pain was nortriptyline I still use that now but I found that if you Cut out all processed foods or as much as possible and if you can do the keto diet or increase certain vitamins like E. b12 high strength C. K2-7 Coq10 and your pain while get less and less while your body heals.

[NPR1 in reply to Heman69]

Hi Heman69

I have just replied to Toley but wanted to add something to your post about your heart attack, i suffered what i though was bells palsey last year off the meds i was on mertazapine at the time and due to my mental health being affected by my low iron and vit d i took them, it turns out that it was in fact a stroke. Now i have tried quite a few over the last 10 years as you know when you want it all to stop you will try anything, amitryptiline, gabapenton, niproxin, mertazapine, (all spelt wrong i do apologise). I was wondering if you could send me the details of the products or the websites which you get your supplements mentioned above. I've been wanting to try especially the Q10 and B12 for a while but as you know there are so many cowboys out there you end up spending a fortune then realising you've made a mistake. Eg i bought some aloe vera last week and when i checked the label it had in there sodium benzoate and asorbic acid, total no no's for anyone, i may as well of just bought the plant.

Many thanks in advance. x

[Heman69 in reply to NPR1]

Hi basically I get all supplements from Amazon in the uk if your in the USA it will be the same or similar as they have the most choice and you can compare several brands against each other in the one place here’s a picture of the main supplements I use I do use a few more but these are the main ones that I find work best co q10 is in the packet.

Supplements I use

[SpikeDinosaur]

My husband had similar issues with a prolapsed disc for over 12months. He hated gabapentin, amitriptyline helped with sleep, along with some really strong painkillers. Nerve block injections worked for a few weeks. Physio was important, but didn't help with the pain. Everything he did just made pain slightly more bearable. Ultimately, surgery was what worked. It's now about 9 months on and he's still regaining fitness. Feeling slowly returning to his foot, but not there yet. As we all know it ends up being a really personal thing about what drugs work, whether we get side effects and whether a surgical option will help. What I do know is that we have to keep pushing and advocating for action to be taken. At least for me this feels uncomfortable, but if we don't then we can easily be fobbed off. I hope you find something that helps you.

[NPR1]

Hello Totley

My heart goes out to you, i have a d.d.d. also along with fibro, vertigo, raynauds, memory problems, etc its not important, what is important is trying to get rid of that feeling of hopelessness, patheticness, sadness. I felt like this the whole of my 30's i denied it for aprox 10 years plodding on with what i thought i should easily be able to do, still working full time, always pushing myself to get fit or get to the next level. I was quite fit before my illness took over my life and loved nothing more than being out on my mountain bike. I'm now 43 and last year due to trying to manage my condition on my own (doctors are hard work and only really wanted to address depression which is there due to my disability and i can't take the tablets as they are far too strong, tried many,) and the stress and pressure of working in the construction sector i broke big style, got sent home from work and have never been back. please check out my other posts there is quite a lot in there on different coping mechanisms, lifestyle changes but acceptance of the person whom you are now is extremely important along with asking for help and trying to find the most natural products out there. Just a few thing i would like to mention which i use but these are used with no medication, I'm certainly not saying come off your med's everyone is different and i know they do take the pain away for some people,

*CBD patches (placed on lower back not arms) 24% Patch access health - helps with pain, sleep, anxiety, depression and appetite. I use one patch over two days but do have some patch free days.

*Arnica (SBC )-helps muscle pain, back pain, bone pain, headaches, bruises - wouldn't be without it.

*B12 - if you look at a B12 deficiency it is unbelievable how many things can get misdiagnosed due to this

*Nutrient dense food - eggs for breakfast, bananas for potassium and lemon water, watercress is also extremely nutrient dense.

*Hot baths are amazing just difficult to get in or out of sometimes when your in pain, i use epsome salt baths at least twice a week, you could also take a magnesium supplement.

*Cold is better that hot for me to ease the pain through the day so i keep a gel pack in the fridge or freezer and this is amazing on the shoulders, neck and lower back it instantly reduces inflammation, (pineapple also reduced inflation)

The key for me was taking my like into my own hands with the doctors, asking for copies of my blood tests and trying to figure them out on my own was the turning point. Once i did that i had to beg them for for iron and vitamin D tablets but once they were topped up it made a huge difference to how i could cope as these alone also affect anxiety, depression, mental health, fatigue, muscle pain, etc.

Also research is the key but don't do too much as you can overload your brain, try to ease one thing at at time and take baby steps. I use what other people have used and if it works yeah if it doesn't then i move on to something else. My next mission is to try and repair my myelin sheath which covers your nerves and once damaged it slows down your electrical impulses and inflames the nerves, i found a supplement but before i try any supplement i make sure that it is tried and tested and contains the correct ingredients as most of them are synthetic so not good (also double check food labels for synthetic ingredients all of the other crap they put in there). I'm going to try the diet change for this first so organ meats, broccoli, spinach, peas. I might try the smoothies every morning again with everything in there which should help and see how it goes.

I forgot to mention water, its my best friend, hope some of this helps and don't be scared to accept you for who you are now, be warned though that this comes with great sadness and grieving, which you have to do, but once you come out the other side you can cope with it so much better.

Take care, big hug. x

[Totley in reply to NPR1]

Thank you so much thanta the best advise iv ever had, will look into the methods, my partner or friends gont understand the pain I'm in 😔, thanks again x

[NPR1 in reply to Totley]

You're very welcome, the only advise i can give to help people understand what we go through is an extremely helpful handout which i received when my mental health became affected by my disability, its called the spoon theory. The problem i had was feeling like i shouldn't have to explain to them they should know but, wrong frame of mind i know that now and the more i can make people to understand the better the relationship is, i don't think you can explain in full what we go through other than if we were covered in bruises every day of our lives from head to toe they could see our pain, but asking people to adapt with you and having tools like this theory helps them put it into perspective. x