[cbloom]

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I do have pain killers (vicodin) but they don't do much. I can get maybe 4 hours of sleep if I take 2 before crashing.


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You should talk to your doc; you can get epidural injections for pain; you should also perhaps get a steroid injection.

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Everyone I know that has had surgery still has issues, but as one physical therapist told me, "a lot of what causes the problems in the first place are still in place after the surgery, and guys don't stick to the regiment of stretching and exercise afterward like they should, so taht's why it recurrs." Makes sense to me, but still scary.

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No matter what you do, the #1 thing will be the rehab. It will literally be like 30-60 minutes a day every day. If you do it, you can get better. Depending on your state right now you may or may not want to get surgery before rehab but in any case the rehab is what will determine if you really get better or not.

If you feel like you aren't getting enough good advice from your doc, find another one. University teaching hospitals tend to be the best. It's worth paying a little more.