Please help me - Slipped/Herniated Disk

ChRyan212

Hi, new to Boards, new to forums in general and haven't used one before so I hope I'm doing this right etc.

My mother currently has a slipped/herniated disk in her lower spine. The pain leaves her in tears of agony almost every day. Her life has been reduced to nothing. She's gone from climbing mountains to being chair or bed-bound and has been for the past 3-4 months. It has caused a huge spike in her depression and has affected our lives too. I'm barely able to sleep at night.

We've tried countless painkillers, it kills me as well because she's constantly having her dose increased and I'm terrified of what too much will do to her in the long run. She's had epidural injections and some other exercises but its done pretty much nothing. She seems to think that paying 600 for another injection will work but I don't think it will and its gonna break our hearts when it doesn't because its taken so long just to get the 600. She needs the keyhole surgery, the discectomy I think its called.

Can anyone please help? I understand surgery costs 5-6 thousand which is money we literally do not have. Is there a way to have the surgery and to pay it off afterwards? Does anyone know any surgeons in the country or even options abroad to take?

With her depression flaring up I'm worried about what might happen if things don't improve, what she might do. She's already on a public waiting list but just to see a consultant will take up to TWO YEARS. She needs this surgery 4 months ago. We are all desperate and at our wits end. Any advice, tips, contacts, anything at all? Thanks.

.......

This post has been deleted.

ChRyan212

Just for a consultation will take up to 2 years, I'm honestly worried she'll try something before then.

.......

This post has been deleted.

phildenny

ChRyan212 wrote: »

Just for a consultation will take up to 2 years, I'm honestly worried she'll try something before then.

Who diagnosed that it was a slipped disc.

donkeykong5

*modsnip*

ChRyan212

phildenny wrote: »

Who diagnosed that it was a slipped disc.

My apologies, got the info mixed up, she did have a consultation that diagnosed her after an MRI but she's been told it will take 2 years to see neurosurgeon and then a further wait for the surgery

ChRyan212

donkeykong5 wrote: »

*modsnip*

She is currently on oxycontin (160mg twice daily) and oxynorm (5mg every 6 hours as needed) and this does nothing for her. She has tried other medication but this has either done nothing for her or left her with very bad side effects causing her to be taken off of them

failinis

My aunt has similar (I think it was crumbling disks but she sounds exactly like your mother), was told 2yr wait, they just borrowed money to get the surgery done private. This is in the North though.

I agree with ....... - go private then say you need to go public.

Kurtosis

Mod note:

Just a reminder to everyone that medical advice is not permitted (i.e. suggesting what medications should be tried), advising the OP on ways to access surgery or discussing your own experiences is fine. Please have a read of the charter.

ChRyan212

failinis wrote: »

My aunt has similar (I think it was crumbling disks but she sounds exactly like your mother), was told 2yr wait, they just borrowed money to get the surgery done private. This is in the North though.

I agree with ....... - go private then say you need to go public.

What was the cost of the surgery?

.......

This post has been deleted.

ChRyan212

....... wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

What would be the benefits of seeing neurosurgeon privately before going public for surgery? Sorry, I'm quite new to to all of this, never had to deal with something like this before

.......

This post has been deleted.

Professor Moriarty

ChRyan212 wrote: »

Hi, new to Boards, new to forums in general and haven't used one before so I hope I'm doing this right etc.

My mother currently has a slipped/herniated disk in her lower spine. The pain leaves her in tears of agony almost every day. Her life has been reduced to nothing. She's gone from climbing mountains to being chair or bed-bound and has been for the past 3-4 months. It has caused a huge spike in her depression and has affected our lives too. I'm barely able to sleep at night.

We've tried countless painkillers, it kills me as well because she's constantly having her dose increased and I'm terrified of what too much will do to her in the long run. She's had epidural injections and some other exercises but its done pretty much nothing. She seems to think that paying 600 for another injection will work but I don't think it will and its gonna break our hearts when it doesn't because its taken so long just to get the 600. She needs the keyhole surgery, the discectomy I think its called.

Can anyone please help? I understand surgery costs 5-6 thousand which is money we literally do not have. Is there a way to have the surgery and to pay it off afterwards? Does anyone know any surgeons in the country or even options abroad to take?

With her depression flaring up I'm worried about what might happen if things don't improve, what she might do. She's already on a public waiting list but just to see a consultant will take up to TWO YEARS. She needs this surgery 4 months ago. We are all desperate and at our wits end. Any advice, tips, contacts, anything at all? Thanks.

I had discs removed and it helped greatly. It probably will work for your mother but that's not much help to you. Have you any political/medical connections that you could tap? If your mother is in that much pain I'd try any route.

As an aside, having tried various interventions, apart from surgery osteopathy was the best by a country mile.

ChRyan212

....... wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Thanks, to be honest i had no idea you could do that, she was told that if she went privately for the consultation with this neurosurgeon recommended to her then she would have to pay for the surgery privately too, she couldn't pay for just the consultation. As I said, new to all of this so i assume now you can just get a consultation privately and not the surgery

ChRyan212

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

I had discs removed and it helped greatly. It probably will work for your mother but that's not much help to you. Have you any political/medical connections that you could tap? If your mother is in that much pain I'd try any route.

As an aside, having tried various interventions, apart from surgery osteopathy was the best by a country mile.

Thankyou very much, I'll look into osteopathy also

.......

This post has been deleted.

Stealthfins

Wouldn't an orthopedic surgeon be better than a neurosurgeon ?

givyjoe

ChRyan212 wrote: »

Hi, new to Boards, new to forums in general and haven't used one before so I hope I'm doing this right etc.

My mother currently has a slipped/herniated disk in her lower spine. The pain leaves her in tears of agony almost every day. Her life has been reduced to nothing. She's gone from climbing mountains to being chair or bed-bound and has been for the past 3-4 months. It has caused a huge spike in her depression and has affected our lives too. I'm barely able to sleep at night.

We've tried countless painkillers, it kills me as well because she's constantly having her dose increased and I'm terrified of what too much will do to her in the long run. She's had epidural injections and some other exercises but its done pretty much nothing. She seems to think that paying 600 for another injection will work but I don't think it will and its gonna break our hearts when it doesn't because its taken so long just to get the 600. She needs the keyhole surgery, the discectomy I think its called.

Can anyone please help? I understand surgery costs 5-6 thousand which is money we literally do not have. Is there a way to have the surgery and to pay it off afterwards? Does anyone know any surgeons in the country or even options abroad to take?

With her depression flaring up I'm worried about what might happen if things don't improve, what she might do. She's already on a public waiting list but just to see a consultant will take up to TWO YEARS. She needs this surgery 4 months ago. We are all desperate and at our wits end. Any advice, tips, contacts, anything at all? Thanks.

Similar injury happened my ex. Try the GP, insist on a referral letter for an x-ray (MRI actually a think). Get this done privately, it cost us around 200euro (cant remember exactly how much). We then paid for a private consultation in the hermitage (around 150 as far as i remember) to assess the damage and see what it would cost privately. The disc was badly herniated and needed surgery pronto.

Before she went down the private route, we tried A&E a second time (first time got no where before we did the above) and brought along the MRI (you can get a CD copy from the clinic completing the MRI)

Long story short, there was a risk of the herniated disc causing permanent bladder damage so they admitted her immediately and operated within 2 days. The reason being if they had of sent her home and did suffer perm bladder damage, they would have been at risk of being sued (the senior doctors own words).

This isn't medical advice, just our experience. Your mother may not have herniated the same disc, so the reason for operating so soon may not exist in her case. Still no harm in spending the money on an MRI and Consultant, over temporary pain killing injections. You will at least have cut out some of the steps in the process.

PS not sure what steps you've taken so far to get on the waiting list.

.......

This post has been deleted.

ChRyan212

Anyone know of any good reasonably-priced neurosurgeons? I saw one on a past Boards post but I tried to contact him and turns out he went and bloody retired last year!

.......

This post has been deleted.

donkeykong5

donkeykong5 wrote: »

*modsnip*

Was it not ok to tell her the tablets that I find helpful ?

failinis

ChRyan212 wrote: »

What was the cost of the surgery?

I would have to text her and ask but it was more than £9000 - but she may have had a different procedure (she has arthritis etc too).

Kurtosis

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Was it not ok to tell her the tablets that I find helpful ?

Telling the OP to "ask her doctor for them" is not ok. Also if you have any queries on mod action in future, please don't comment on thread, send a PM instead. Thanks.

Wesser

I would advise you to get a credit union loan and Pay for the whole thing privately.

You cannot jump the public queue on the back on one private consultation.

You cannot fake caudal equina syndrome ( permanent bladder involvement) to skip the queue. The doctors diagnose it, or not. You either have it or you don't.

ChRyan212

Wesser wrote: »

I would advise you to get a credit union loan and Pay for the whole thing privately.

You cannot jump the public queue on the back on one private consultation.

You cannot fake caudal equina syndrome ( permanent bladder involvement) to skip the queue. The doctors diagnose it, or not. You either have it or you don't.

Thanks, Credit Union may be an option for financing, will call in at some stage with her to see what options she has.

chatjunkie

ChRyan212 wrote:

Anyone know of any good reasonably-priced neurosurgeons? I saw one on a past Boards post but I tried to contact him and turns out he went and bloody retired last year!

I had two lumbar disc surgeries with Ashley Poynton in the Mater Private and he's fantastic. Couldn't recommend him highly enough. Was very immobile for 18 months prior to surgery- totally bent to one side, could not straighten under any circumstances. Flying it since- you'd never be able to tell that I had any issues.

He is private only however so you would have to get a loan.

horsey63

ChRyan212 wrote: »

Anyone know of any good reasonably-priced neurosurgeons? I saw one on a past Boards post but I tried to contact him and turns out he went and bloody retired last year!

Bet that was Paraic O'Neill !! he did my first two microdisketomies/decompressions - great guy, when my back went again a few months ago, I was referred to Michael Kelleher in Santry Sports Clinic, had a 2 level spinal fusion with him

.......

This post has been deleted.

Confused mum84

Somebody very close to me has been in similar situation for last number of years & been to see a huge number of nurosurgeons & orthopaedic surgeons up & down the country- had the disectomy - worked for a little while but then seemed to trigger issues in above discs.. The disectomy was performed by a nurosurgeon.. Had other surgeries since by Damian mc cormick & things are improving

I'd recommend prof Damian mc cormick , he's an orthopaedic surgeon that works out of mater private & public - by far the best we've seen . You should maybe book private appointment (not sure but initial consultation would be circa 200) . You could discuss your options & take it from there

Confused mum84

One other point to mention- the person I know also got the pain relief epidural in lower back every 3 /4 months for 2 years before surgeries in hope that they would work - it never did - they do for some people but your mother sounds unlucky too.. Apparently if they don't work after a number of go's , they're not going to work .. Donal harney was best pain specialist we ever went to see & heard people who had been to other specialists saying great things about him in waiting room .. He's cork based though .. Also walking helps , basic but can help keep you sane .. Hang in there.. Hopefully medical marijuana might be legalised soon - might offer some hope to those in chronic pain & an alternative to opioids .. Hang in there & take each day as it comes

givyjoe

Wesser wrote: »

I would advise you to get a credit union loan and Pay for the whole thing privately.

You cannot jump the public queue on the back on one private consultation.

You cannot fake caudal equina syndrome ( permanent bladder involvement) to skip the queue. The doctors diagnose it, or not. You either have it or you don't.

You don't have to fake anything, and if they wait til this happens .. then it's permanent damage. That's the whole point of operating before the damage is irreversible. It's up to the doctors to decide once they see an MRI if this is a risk for not, but she needs to get in front of one first.

donkeykong5

Does anyone think the mri scan helps. It's about €390.00. But would it be any better than just the usual back x rays.

Eircom_Sucks

chatjunkie wrote: »

I had two lumbar disc surgeries with Ashley Poynton in the Mater Private and he's fantastic. Couldn't recommend him highly enough. Was very immobile for 18 months prior to surgery- totally bent to one side, could not straighten under any circumstances. Flying it since- you'd never be able to tell that I had any issues.

He is private only however so you would have to get a loan.

he did my L5-S1 Microdiscectomy in April 16 and been great since

ChRyan212

Thanks guys for the help so far, I've shown her some responses and she sends you all her thanks and gratitude
She currently has flu but will sit with her once shes better and really go over the options/advice, will post updates

jcd5971

ChRyan212 wrote:

With her depression flaring up I'm worried about what might happen if things don't improve, what she might do. She's already on a public waiting list but just to see a consultant will take up to TWO YEARS. She needs this surgery 4 months ago. We are all desperate and at our wits end. Any advice, tips, contacts, anything at all? Thanks.

Hey had this issue myself was out for months had to leave job and everything.

Right my advice is go to gp and get referral letter for an mri then ring the places that do it for me that was limerick clinic, Galway clinic and barringtons. Do this private

They have varying prices but should be no more than 250 tops. This will save you loads of time as you could be months waiting for the scan on public waiting lists.

Then unfortunately you have to go onto waiting list for the actual operation as it's cost prohibitive as a private patient.

In terms of pain relief I got some benefit from fentanyl patches and dyphene(spelling) injections into the disk itself.

But the best relief I got was from lyrica it's a different type of pain killer but helped me a lot.

Good luck

horsey63

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Does anyone think the mri scan helps. It's about €390.00. But would it be any better than just the usual back x rays.

MRI is the absolute best thing you can get if there is a suspicion of a herniated disk, compression of the nerves etc

stedeb

Hi there , My wife has the same and had an MRI in the Euromedics in Santry Dublin .
it was only 225 or 200 with medical card in Sept 2015. When her Doctor seen the cd scan of the MRI they said it was a surgery job and injections would not work for pain relief .
She is on 3 meds for pain relief neuritin ,Diaphene and tylex since then.
we got a letter in Dec 2016 to see if we still want an appointment with Sinnott in the matter , this is just for the consult. and then hopefully the surgery.
at the moment the meds are working but she takes it easy and knows when it is affecting the back. sure i even know by the way she stands if her back/leg is at her,
anyway give euromedics a call as they fir us in very quickly.

teacup1985

Eircom_Sucks wrote: »

he did my L5-S1 Microdiscectomy in April 16 and been great since

How long were you out of work For? And did you return to normal activities post surgery?? Thank you.

donkeykong5

horsey63 wrote: »

donkeykong5 wrote: »

Does anyone think the mri scan helps. It's about €390.00. But would it be any better than just the usual back x rays.

MRI is the absolute best thing you can get if there is a suspicion of a herniated disk, compression of the nerves etc

By shopping around I got it for € 200.00