Travel + Herniated Discs = a Challenge

If you've been following along, you'll know that a couple of years ago, I herniated not one, but TWO of my discs! Since then I've had a lot of ups and downs, and right before leaving Colombia I had the most frustrating appointment of my life.

To back up just a bit, the second to last doctor I spoke with told me I would be absolutely fine and didn't need any surgery, I just needed to go to physical therapy and try out a new medication, Lyrica, to try to cure the numbness in my left leg. The medicine gave me some crazy side effects when I started taking it, but they went away within a week, and I DID gain some feeling back in my leg (though not all)!

The doctor told me that I needed to see him 2.5 months later, right before we left for Asia, to reasses the situation. When I tried to schedule an appointment, I was told that doctor had moved and didn't work there anymore. I scheduled with another doctor, thinking that we'd be able to start where we'd left off.

Wrong.

After going through all the same inital tests, she told me that she basically couldn't tell me anything. She wanted me to schedule an appointment to check for nerve damage (even though I'd already done that test AND brought her the results) and to talk to a neuro surgeon because she thought I might need surgery. She told me to continue the Lyrica or quit whenever I wanted, because it was only for pain and wouldn't help my numb leg at all.

You can understand why I was upset. How could two doctors tell me such different things?!? I cried on the way home from that appointment, but by the time I got home, the tears had dried and I had made up my mind - I was going to cure these herniated discs by myself.

I started off by trying to clean up my diet as much as I could to bring any inflammation down. I was still on Lyrica at this point, but I decided that I wouldn't be continuing the medication. My diet actually helped a lot, and the distraction of getting ready to leave the country didn't hurt, either. I swear, pain is 70% in your head! When we got to Sri Lanka, the diet took care of itself. It's difficult to eat poorly here!

Second on my list was to get back to my physical therapy exercises and take them much more seriously. Five times a week, I spend 25-30 minutes at home listening to an audiobook and faithfully going through my boring stretches and strengthening exercises. I'm much more of a high impact exercise girl, but I gave ALL of that up! No more running!

Third is my level of movement. You'd think that rest would be vital, but I've found that the biggest help is to never. stop. moving. From the time I wake up until the time I go to bed at night, I try to sit as little as possible. When I do sit, I sit up totally straight and think about my posture until I can stand up again. All day long, I move. I ride my bike, go swimming, surf, do my exercises, go for walks, and just NEVER stop! The only rule? ZERO IMPACT.

I'm amazed by how well this has worked for me. I've been off Lyrica for awhile now, and while I expected some rebound pain, there's been nothing. As long as I follow my rules, I'm down to almost NO lower back pain. My sciatica is fading away, and I just feel so much better.

I was pretty nervous to attempt all of this while traveling. You never know what kind of food you'll be able to find, or how the long airplane rides will effect you, but I'm so happy to say that it's so far, so good for me.

I'm no expert, and every case is different, but all this to say: sometimes you have to take your health into your own hands. It's never hopeless, but big changes require big changes.