Herniated Disc Before Pregnancy

Almost a year and a half after my first son, my back pain flared up so bad, I was unable to walk, let alone take adequate care of my son. 3 months of pain medication and still no relief, so I stayed with family and found a few different sleeping positions and surfaces that alleviated my pain. I was pain free until the middle of my second pregnancy, when things went horribly wrong. I found I couldn't stand or walk. Sitting wasn't an option (and being female means I need to sit to use the restroom) and I had complications with urinating and BM's.

I laid in bed for 6 weeks before my OB sent me to a chiropractor. Everything worked out great. After the baby I went to pain management to keep the pain away. Epidural injections monthly and visits to chiropractor only helped manage, not eliminate my pain.

The first day of my 3 year of college (I was 26) my back went out again, taking walking out of the equation. I went back and had the shots, got the pain medication, saw the chiropractor, and still no relief. That's when I found out there were 3 discs instead of just the one. This helped explain why I still had not regained any feeling in my leg after the shots first started, and why things weren't getting better. My doctor had only been treating one disc.

I tried to continue with the shots, until I found out I was pregnant again. This time the chiropractor was no help, my OB wouldn't prescribe pain medication so I've been virtually in my bed for 9 months. My movements were severely limited before pregnancy and the baby hasn't made things any easier on my body. I've reconciled myself to a new pain management clinic and hope to have a C-Section with this baby as vaginal birth with the 2nd child was complicated because of the pain in my leg from the disc pressing on my nerve.

It's been 10 years of on again off again pain and it is heavily affecting my ability as a parent to do things with my children. I only hope that the future gets better with a change of doctors because being in this much pain for this long is completely unnecessary. There is so much damage to the muscle tissue in my leg (Dr. told me it was easier to learn to live with the pain in my leg than try to correct it and damage something else) that I can't remember a day my leg didn't hurt. The cold makes me want to cry, and I'm not even 30 yet. I have a whole lot of living left to do and it's hard to look forward to it when pain is the first thing you feel in the morning. - Nicole