Back Problems. Need advice

Leggo11

Well-Known Member
PEB Forum Veteran
Registered Member
Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this thread! I'm in a difficult spot in my military career. I've currently been in the USMC for 3 1/2 years (I have a 5 year contract), January I went to medical with severe back pain, they thought I had pulled my back so they prescribed me Flexural. I took it for about 2 weeks with no relief in my back, I had informed them of it and they took me off of it, kept going in for regular follow ups and then COVID hit and I wasn't able to see medical until the summer of 2020. They referred me to the chiropractor and I had an X-Ray done which revealed I had scoliosis in my back. I was put on Limited Duty in September due to my increased pain levels, and went to physical therapy for 2 months. They discharged me due to high pain levels and not being able to do just about any exercise. Early November I had an MRI done and it revealed that I had a herniated disc, an L5 pars defect, multilevel degenerative changes, and facet joint degeneration as well. I got referred to pain management and orthopedic surgery in December, and I'm currently not a surgical candidate. I had an epidural done but had 0 relief from it and they want to keep doing more, but with my faucet joint condition my Chiropractor says that it could disintegrate my joints and push my surgery earlier. They said they were going to refer me for a MEB but after my latest follow up, they want me to get more epidurals in my back and go to physical therapy again. I'm in severe constant back pain and it highly affects my daily life and causes me the inability to do my job. My question to everyone is this, is this something that would get me found unfit or fit on the med board? I know it hard for you guys to answer that, but any input on how your guys MEBs have gone would be greatly appreciated. My second question is this, how do I actually start the MEB process? It's seemed like a back and forth game and has only made my life more miserable, I just feel useless now because I can't do anything anymore. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! I've also attached my MRI results for everyone to reference.
 

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Why are you not a surgical candidate?

ultimately your doctor has to make the call to send you to MEB. I’ve seen advice on this forum not to directly ask a provider to be sent to MEB
 
Why are you not a surgical candidate?

ultimately your doctor has to make the call to send you to MEB. I’ve seen advice on this forum not to directly ask a provider to be sent to MEB
Thank you for the reply! The reason the say I'm not a surgical candidate is because they like to pursue more conservative treatment where I'm at, they typically only give spinal fusions here when it becomes very bad, such as not being able to walk or losing all feeling in your legs. The main reason I'm asking about trying to push the MEB portion is because of how badly it truly affects my daily life, I'm late to work almost 3 out of 5 days because I sometimes can't even move in the morning, I've been gaining weight and I have to starve myself to make weight and the Marine Corps doesn't care if your injured and can't work out. And I've been labeled as "lazy" because of my physical limitations at work and I just feel useless now because of my injury. I'm personally just tired of the harassment, and of the bull crap that has followed since I had this injury almost a year ago!
 
Not much you can do if none of your providers recommend a MEB might be some bias because of your age as well which is common.
 
Not much you can do if none of your providers recommend a MEB might be some bias because of your age as well which is common.
Thanks for the reply! They said they would put me on a MEB halfway through my first LIMDU and it's already been past my halfway mark for my 1st LIMDU period, I'm just confused as to why they are now hesitating, I don't really understand the process to much so I'd like to get some insight as to why this might be happening, it's frustrating because I'm the one who lives with this everyday and I just want the best for myself and my health! On a side note, is it worth trying to get my command involved? My command knows my situation pretty well so I don't know if people have actually had success with getting there command involved, or does it usually just lead to more problems?
 
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