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.
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.