Im currently deployed and i hurt myself in the start of the deployment. i ended up getting a X-Ray and CT scan. The X-Ray did not show anything and all they got from the CT scan was Minor Bulging in my L-1. They put me in PT for about 3 weeks but only made my back and sciatic worse. iv had about 6 toridol shots in a course of 1 month back in october. that seemed like the only way for the pain to go away. The Pain is pretty intense and its there is pain constantly and the pain also runs down my right leg to my foot. iv had this pain for about 8 months now.. and no signs of it going away. they gave me a profile only while i was in PT for about 3 weeks and they have not given me an updated profile ever since. They have told me that their is nothing they can do for me. they refused me of meds and iv gone back for a profile but could not get that either. i redeploy soon and i just need some guidance on what i should do cause no one seems to care. if anyone can help , please do so.
Sciatica/Possible herniated disc advice
- Thread starter jrdefrancisco
- Start date
Neither an Xray or CT is going to show nerve impingement. You will need an MRI for that. Since the Doc is unwilling to help you at this point, I suggest The ER during your 72 pass when you get, or tough it out until reverse SRC. Make sure they document it during SRC and they should generate a referral.
In the meantime, if you can, get to another doctor. If your unit is like most, the doc is a PA and they do the best they can, but sometimes are not as aware of soldiers needs as an MD.
Stay safe and good luck
Joe
In the meantime, if you can, get to another doctor. If your unit is like most, the doc is a PA and they do the best they can, but sometimes are not as aware of soldiers needs as an MD.
Stay safe and good luck
Joe
Jrdefrancisco: I agree with Joe on this one as well. A couple of other things that you can do: Request a referral to pain management and the other thing that you could do is that you can request an outside 2nd Opinion thru Tricare.
Might be a dumb question but have you requested that an MRI be done for your back?
Take care.
Might be a dumb question but have you requested that an MRI be done for your back?
Take care.
Thanks for the response. Im being told by our unit medic that they are not going to give me an MRI because im to young for Surgery ( im 23 ), and that even if i got an MRI they would not be able to help me. thats why im so lost on what i should do. @Ranger2992 i will do the SRC and hopefully they will actually want to know or find out whats actually wrong with me. @Dcmd124 and iv requested to get an MRI but they dont want to send me to get one because they say its pointless. I even got pulled in By my Battery level commander and First Sgt and they said they would see what they would try to get me the MRI. later i talked to the medic and he said no they were not going to send me for an MRI
A medic is not a Doctor. He does not know what he is talking about. If somebody is injured, it doesn't matter how old they are. A referral to a nerosurgeon via SRC will net you an MRI. They always want that. The nuro will evaluate the MRI and look at the level of damage, and then make a recommedation as to whether you are a surgical candidate, or if alternate forms of care would be better for you.
Age plays a factor, but the damage is what plays the biggest role. There are many forms of surgery that can be used to correct spinal problems. They don't need to jump into a spinal fusion, or disk replacement unless the disk is totally destroyed. In my case they did a laminectomy/disectomy to clean up the hole that the nerve runs through. When they opened my back they found my nerve was completely squished between L4/L5. They cleaned it up, freed up the nerve and took out 50% of my disk. When I woke up it felt like a train hit me, but for the first time in a year, I had complete relief of the horrible pain going down my right leg.
It's sounds like you work in the typical "suck it up and drive on" unit. The medics are there to put bandaids on problems, and try and backstop soldiers going in for problems. Just hold it together and get seen at SRC. Also make sure when they tell you to do your pre redeployment PDHA, you list everything that is wrong with you.
Stay Safe,
Joe
I'm currently going through an MEB due to spinal problems. Here is the timeline I dealt/am dealing with on this. I complained about back pain since my first deployment but had that combat arms mentality of suck it up, drink water and drive on. My second deployment it got worse-shots of toradol or robaxin nearly every night jest to fall asleep for three months. Then went to Drill Sergeant school and it still hurt, but I sucked it up. First cycle on the trail-it went out bad. XRay showed some narrowing. The MRI revealed a herniated disk at L5-S1 (AUG 2011). Tried PT/traction and then pain management (epidural steroid injections). The injections worked for a while (7-8 months) but evenutally they did nothing for me. Nerve conduction study showed nothing. Saw a neurosurgeon at a VA hospital after arguing with my PCM about it all. Was not a candidate (SEP 2012) for surgery, but he said that was based off a year old MRI. Convinced PCM to get me a second opinion and a new MRI. OCT 2012 saw a civilian neurosurgeon who said I should have had surgery months ago. Surgery scheduled for one week later. Microdiscectomy/Laminectomy to get the disk off the sciatic nerve and open the spinal canal up some. Two months of con leave. PT started up again in Jan 2013. Med board initiated Mar 7th. New MRI this past Monday revealed the space that the surgeon created has now filled with scar tissue which is why I am still in pain 24/7. Now I am told since I have started the MEB process I can't get another surgery, but that I have to wait the process to be over and go through the VA.
I guess the bottom line is: you are going to be in pain regardless. Just keep on the doctors to get any kind of progress. I didn't get surgery until it was literally unbearable and I even contemplated suicide due to the pain level. I was up to 1200 mg neurontin, 800 mg motrin, and 4 5/500 percosets every 4 hours and it dropped my pain to an 8 from a 10. Spinal injuries suck and you are going to be dealing with it the rest of your life (sorry to tell you that). But definitely try the pain management/PT/Traction first. They all helped in their own way for a while. Good luck.
I guess the bottom line is: you are going to be in pain regardless. Just keep on the doctors to get any kind of progress. I didn't get surgery until it was literally unbearable and I even contemplated suicide due to the pain level. I was up to 1200 mg neurontin, 800 mg motrin, and 4 5/500 percosets every 4 hours and it dropped my pain to an 8 from a 10. Spinal injuries suck and you are going to be dealing with it the rest of your life (sorry to tell you that). But definitely try the pain management/PT/Traction first. They all helped in their own way for a while. Good luck.
Joe Thanks again for the Reply. every bit of information helps, and you are helping out a lot with this information you are sharing with me.
Redleg26 thank you too sharing your timeline of this injury. thank you for letting me know worst case scenerio. Someone always has is worse and you are a great example of that. This is definitely the most annoying out of any pain. i just hope its nothing to serious and can be cured.
Thanks again to the both of you. This really is putting me in the right direction to getting the help i need.
Redleg26 thank you too sharing your timeline of this injury. thank you for letting me know worst case scenerio. Someone always has is worse and you are a great example of that. This is definitely the most annoying out of any pain. i just hope its nothing to serious and can be cured.
Thanks again to the both of you. This really is putting me in the right direction to getting the help i need.
Redleg: Are you in the Army? If so, they are quoting Medcom Policy 11-038 which is in regards to Surgeries during the MEB / PEB process. The policy clearly states that if surgery is necessary to prevent loss of life or loss of function then the surgery is approved. Long story on this, while I was in the MEB / PEB process I had 3 orthopedic surgeries including neck surgery. If the surgery is necessary to prevent a loss of function, I would start doing the process to get approved. Take care.
Welcome to the PEB Forum!
In retrospect, I had an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) L4-5 disc fusion surgery in 2011. My recovery was slow and I didn't get well enough to perform the assigned duties of my MOS within 1 year so referral into the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process was initiated.
From the ALIF L4-5 disc fusion, I am still in significant daily pain even with the 2400mg of Neurontin daily medication following the 50% failed ALIF L4-5 disc fusion surgery (i.e., Herniated L5-S1 disc with lumbar radiculopathy) in 2011 (before acceptance into IDES) which was additionally complicated by two motor vehicle incidents in 2012 (i.e., hit by a large SUV as a pedestrian & an automobile collision avoidance situation) (after acceptance in IDES).
Moreover, the ALIF L4-5 fusion surgery was only 50% successful in that the bilateral radicular leg pain from the low back down to the toes was eliminated, but the ROM issues remained. As a direct result from all of those injuries, the overall radiating pain in my lower back returned with more severity, the bilateral radicular leg pain returned with a vengeance with additional pain in bilateral hips and cervical spine.
To that extent, I am definitely a "medical challenge" for any military and/or civilian healthcare provider, but I have decided against having any additional low back pain (LBP) elective surgeries to try to potentially remedy the physical challenges.
Overall, it's not a good situation for me since my activities of daily living (ADL) are truly a daily challenge. But, I shall continue to persevere for myself and more importantly my family.
I hope my experiences are helpful with your potential decision of any future lumbar surgery.
Thus, I quite often comment that “possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer.”
Best Wishes!
Welcome to the PEB Forum!
In retrospect, I had an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) L4-5 disc fusion surgery in 2011. My recovery was slow and I didn't get well enough to perform the assigned duties of my MOS within 1 year so referral into the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process was initiated.
From the ALIF L4-5 disc fusion, I am still in significant daily pain even with the 2400mg of Neurontin daily medication following the 50% failed ALIF L4-5 disc fusion surgery (i.e., Herniated L5-S1 disc with lumbar radiculopathy) in 2011 (before acceptance into IDES) which was additionally complicated by two motor vehicle incidents in 2012 (i.e., hit by a large SUV as a pedestrian & an automobile collision avoidance situation) (after acceptance in IDES).
Moreover, the ALIF L4-5 fusion surgery was only 50% successful in that the bilateral radicular leg pain from the low back down to the toes was eliminated, but the ROM issues remained. As a direct result from all of those injuries, the overall radiating pain in my lower back returned with more severity, the bilateral radicular leg pain returned with a vengeance with additional pain in bilateral hips and cervical spine.
To that extent, I am definitely a "medical challenge" for any military and/or civilian healthcare provider, but I have decided against having any additional low back pain (LBP) elective surgeries to try to potentially remedy the physical challenges.
Overall, it's not a good situation for me since my activities of daily living (ADL) are truly a daily challenge. But, I shall continue to persevere for myself and more importantly my family.
I hope my experiences are helpful with your potential decision of any future lumbar surgery.
Thus, I quite often comment that “possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer.”
Best Wishes!
Thank you For sharing this with me. im really contemplating if i want to push for surgery cause i hear all these stories about the surgery failing and more issues coming up... but thank again for sharing your experiance with this.
Welcome to the PEB Forum!
In retrospect, I had an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) L4-5 disc fusion surgery in 2011. My recovery was slow and I didn't get well enough to perform the assigned duties of my MOS within 1 year so referral into the DoD IDES MEB/PEB process was initiated.
From the ALIF L4-5 disc fusion, I am still in significant daily pain even with the 2400mg of Neurontin daily medication following the 50% failed ALIF L4-5 disc fusion surgery (i.e., Herniated L5-S1 disc with lumbar radiculopathy) in 2011 (before acceptance into IDES) which was additionally complicated by two motor vehicle incidents in 2012 (i.e., hit by a large SUV as a pedestrian & an automobile collision avoidance situation) (after acceptance in IDES).
Moreover, the ALIF L4-5 fusion surgery was only 50% successful in that the bilateral radicular leg pain from the low back down to the toes was eliminated, but the ROM issues remained. As a direct result from all of those injuries, the overall radiating pain in my lower back returned with more severity, the bilateral radicular leg pain returned with a vengeance with additional pain in bilateral hips and cervical spine.
To that extent, I am definitely a "medical challenge" for any military and/or civilian healthcare provider, but I have decided against having any additional low back pain (LBP) elective surgeries to try to potentially remedy the physical challenges.
Overall, it's not a good situation for me since my activities of daily living (ADL) are truly a daily challenge. But, I shall continue to persevere for myself and more importantly my family.
I hope my experiences are helpful with your potential decision of any future lumbar surgery.
Thus, I quite often comment that “possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer.”
Best Wishes!
You are welcome, brother! No worries...it's all good!
Thus, possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer.
Best Wishes!
@Dcmd124 I don't think they will look at it as loss or life/loss of function. It is only a loss of feeling in the right side of my foot, and my biggest complaint is the 24 hour pain now. I still consider myself blessed to only be in this amount of pain as my pain level leading up to the surgery was unbearable.