yeah, that was kind of cool. I just wish his advice was good in my case. I'm 100% certain its bad.

I got the steroid injection via epidural yesterday. Holy **** that was painful - primarily due to having to lay almost flat during the procedure. Every time they injected stuff, my whole upper leg was basically 10/10 pain for several seconds. They shot some iodine or something like that to be able to see things better, then lidocaine to numb it, then the steroid. I was literally shaking for ~10 minutes after it was over due to the pain during the procedure.

About 10 - 20 minutes after the shock wore off, it started feeling better. That was the lidocaine, which was supposed to wear off after a few hours. The steroid was supposed to take affect in 2-5 days. Somehow, it seems about 50% better now, which is awesome. If it continues to improve over the next 4 days I'll be thrilled.

I still cant stand up completely straight or lie flat on my back without my right hip bent slightly, but that has improved significantly.

I can walk a lot better now, but still dont want to go any significant distance without crutches. I might try driving a short distance later today.

The shower is where the improvement is greatest so far. Since the hamstring stretch incident when the herniation happened, I had not been able to shower for for than ~2-3 minutes, and that was the most painful part of my day. I couldnt get water to my armpits - especially the left one, because that required me to straighten at the right hip. I had to have a bucket in the shower to rest my right foot on during the shower. This made it tolerable, but it was still painful. Getting out and drying was an ordeal that would have been nearly impossible without my wife's help. Today I was able to take ~5-7 minute shower mostly pain free, was able to rinse off under my arms, hardly had to use the bucket at all, and dried myself off without my wife's help.

My next chiro appointment is Thursday. I'm looking forward to that as he should be able to do more stuff on me now.

Interesting observation: I havent been paying close attention to what I've been eating, but I've felt a little hungry the past few days and I know I havent eaten as much since the disc herniation. My average body weight/body fat % and LBM the previous 10 days I checked it (5/13 - 5/20 and 5/27, 28) was 229.9/22.3/178.7.

When I was at the doctor yesterday I weighed 221 with all my clothes on in the afternoon (you generally weigh the least first thing in the morning when I weigh myself). I ate a lot more food that I had been eating for the rest of yesterday and my #s this morning were: 220.4/20.6%/175.0.

I figured I was going to lose some muscle/weight during this ordeal. I didnt know how fast it was going to happen.

Kara had similar injections under flouroscopy a few years ago and it made a HUGE difference. Hope you get the same kinda relief.

Time to eat

That's good to know - thanks. Yeah, I'll be more conscious of eating from now on.

Wow, that does sound painful....but perhaps extremely helpful.

Too bad you didn't have a European style shower for those few days, lol. They always annoy me when I'm over there, but I guess they'd come in handy in your situation although I'm sure it'd still be tough to shower.

Those weight #s are pretty surprising to me too. Just how fast you can start to lose lean body weight.

6/23

Been a while. Not much progress to report prior to today. I'm feeling a bit better right now.

I went to an MD yesterday because I needed more percocet. He only gave me 30

He suggested physical therapy at first, but after I told him I couldnt do any physical exercises, he said I could have some more percocet. He suggested some NSAID injection (just a shot in the ass), which I did while I was there. It felt like a bee sting for about 10 minutes, then I felt a little better for a while, but I hardly slept at all last night due to pain. I took a percocet at ~6 this morning. That was the last one I took Usually I have 2 - 3 by this time of day. I used Tylenol a few hours ago, and have had Advil a few times, but that's been it, and I feel better than I did yesterday. I think that shot yesterday might have helped.

I went to the chiro a couple hours ago, and he was able to be quite a bit more aggressive with his treatments. He did quite a bit of manual traction stuff and some ART on my hips. I also got some ART on the neck and got that adjusted. Right now, I feel as good as I have since the herniation, but the adductor flare up isnt gone yet.

Tomorrow I get my second epidural steroid injection. That hurt like hell last time so I think I'll take 2 percocets before I go. I hope this will get me to be able to walk somewhat normally. I'd love to be able to do building inspections on my own with no crutches.

I can get one more epidural after the one tomorrow before I am done with those. After that if I'm not healed, I can consider surgery, or some type of traction machine. I want to avoid the knife if possible.

6/24

Took 2 percocets prior to epidural. Epidural was not bad at all this time, in small part to the extra percocet, in large part to bending at the right hip and right knee a lot more during the procedure. The 1st epidural I got a couple weeks ago was extremely painful - about as painful as anything I've felt in my life - because my leg & hip were too straight during the procedure.

I did a diaphragmatic breathing exercise while I was icing my back last night. I am feeling stronger in my core area already - I noticed this when I was awake at 4:00 am this morning. I didnt get a lot of sleep last night, but last night was probably less painful than any night since this happened.

I feel less pain right now than in any morning since this happened. I think the epidural has something to do with that. The anti inflammatory injection I got a few days ago probably is also helping. The chiro stuff from a couple days ago probably is helping too. And the breathing exercise is also helping. I might finally be able to do something to help make this better.

I might start logging my diaphragmatic breathing work here to help keep me doing it frequently.

oh yeah, weight 220.0, 20.0% BF this morning. I ate a lot yesterday. I just looked at my weight/fat log and that is the lowest my body fat % has been since I started logging it almost 2 years ago.

Is there some sort of progression you have in mind that will come next when you can tolerate something more than breathing exercises?

Hope your day-to-day comfort is at least improving a bit.

Good luck with it Cha! We're all rooting for you to pull through this quickly.

Thanks guys - today is a relatively good day so far.

I anticipate doing bird dogs & planks next when I'm well enough, unless I learn something I dont know right now.

I did 3 sets of 10 of the diaphragmatic breathing yesterday and the right leg is a little tighter than yesterday. I dont know if that has anything to do with it or not.

220.6/19.6%

Good to hear, even if it's a small consolation.

I had a question for you, I hope you don't mind me posting it here. You mentioned in the beginner thread that a high pull to push ratio is key for keeping shoulders healthy. I've seen Cressey and/or Robertson say that people with computer-guy posture "can't do enough rows".

I'd like to add more rows to my programming. Right now I'm doing very little- I do barbell rows as part of my TM programming, which means they only get done once per week, and only done heavy once every two weeks. Obviously I need a lot more, but I'm unsure which types of rows will work best together and not inhibit recovery for squats/DLs. I also don't have the equipment for some types of rows; I only have DBs up to 55lbs along with my barbell and the power rack.

Any thoughts on how to add more pulling to what I'm doing now?

Thats a good question. Im assuming you dont have a cable machine or anything like that.

I bet you could figure out a lot of creative ways to use your bands though. My first thought is banded DB rows. Also you can do stuff like band pull aparts, band face pulls, horizontal band rows (standing or seated) with the band hooked to something like the rack, etc.

For a while I was doing PNF D2 flexions with bands. See Mike Robertson's youtube site for more ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/robtrainsystems#p/u

Think creatively about substituting bands for cable movements and you'll probably come up with more stuff.

Yeah, I've been eying up the bands for this purpose. I had a cable setup with my Smith machine, but I sold that a while ago. Thanks for the link, I'll check out Robertson's videos.

I posted a question over at Mike Robertson's new forum and got some excellent answers. Here's a link to that thread: http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/...herniated-disc

He would like more traffic at his site, but no trollish posts please. Check out the whole forum - they have a few good logs over there, and the advice given out is top notch.

Wow, I know which forum I'll go to if I ever (...) get injured again - those were some excellent answers indeed.

Glad to see you're having some progress.

thanks

did two sets of the breathing yesterday, making sure this time not to move the spine during them. It feels a bit better today.

I'm not ready for much/any rehab exercising yet. I'm dropping the breathing exercise down to ~1 time a day & only if I feel good.

My legs are atrophying. My wife mentioned today she can see they're getting smaller.

215.6/20.1% - that's the lightest I've been in many many years except for one day a little over a year ago when I was recovering from stomach flu & was dehydrated when I was ~214. I've accepted the fact I'm losing muscle and I'm trying to keep from getting fat again.

Chiro today - hopefully something good comes out of that.

I am starting to be able to straighten up a little more, and walk a little more. The past couple nights I've slept deeper than since this first happened, but still not for much more than an hour at a time before needing to roll over. The good thing is, rolling over is less painful & difficult than it was before.

Maybe this is progress, but its going so slow.

Sounds like a good mind set to have. It will happen so you might as well accept it while minimizing the damage BF-wise.

chiro - nothing too exciting. He did traction on my back and ART on my hips. It feels a little better, but not much.

He says its probably better if I skip doing the breathing exercise for now & try to imagine I have a cast on my back at all times. Preventing any spinal movement is best right now.

I was able to drive there today by myself - that's a first since this happened.

I was telling his receptionist about how difficult life is since this happened. She asks me if I want a handicap parking pass. I didnt know I qualified for that, but I do. I'll be getting a 7 - 12 month one. Someday. It looks like our state government is going to shut down this Friday because the politicians cant agree on a budget.

Brag - I get legitimate handicap parking privileges
Beat - I legitimately need them
Beat - I might not get my pass for a long time because my state's government sucks.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to call the MD to see if I can get a referral to a physical therapist who has a traction machine. Hopefully the MD will renew my percocet prescription as well.

hey. don't get too discouraged with the slow progress. sometimes injuries don't feel better for a while, and then after a night they feel significantly better.

Thanks.... I'm hoping that time comes soon.

One thing my chiro said today was encouraging: he says a lot of times when someone has a really bad bulge or herniation like I do, it heals back stronger than a more minor injury because of the way the body works.

Ship the PR deadlift then imo. Glad to hear you're keeping a positive outlook.

Cha, really feeling your pain from your posts.

Keep up the positive outlook and concentrating on the little things that are gonna add up to recovery over time.

You are an inspiration when healthy... and when injured.

thanks guys