A Diagnosis

I saw the surgeon today. He and the radiologist agree I have bulging discs between L3, L4, & L5. They are not emergent, and I'm in my 30's, so we I don't have to do surgery at this time. Whew! I had expressed to him how I"ve put off back surgery, and am not thrilled at the thought. If things become emergent, I would obviously have to have surgery at that point. He is referring me for steroid injections. Although, I don't know that I'm thrilled about steroids. He said the relief would be immediate, unless there is still isolated hip pain, which he can address at that time. He could do an exploratory surgery to look in my hip & diagnose. I asked him about any sort of therapy to help bulging discs. He feels there is none. I told him about the Bowen therapy, and he said to go for it if I want, but again, he's never heard of any fix for bulging discs. The theory is that they heal themselves, or you get surgery. He says you could poll 100 people and none of them would say anything fixed them, outside of surgery.

I asked him what I need to do/avoid. He said to avoid lifting, and keeping my weight down. He said people with lower back problems have more pain with more weight, as there is more weight then compressing on the spine. Other than that, he said people with this degenerative disc problem can lead a very active life as I do. No reason not to. My two biggest concerns are: keeping this from getting worse & getting back to active exercise (currently I'm doing walking, pilates, yoga, and a little cycling). He said if the steroids work, I should be able to run. WooHoo! I don't want to do marathons or anything, but running a few miles a few times a week would be great. There are small races that I would like to participate in with friends.

So, how do you feel about steroid injections? I don't know that I want to go thru with it, but I'm letting the referral go thru while I think about it. Will my face get automatically puffy from the steroids? How long does that last? My face has always been round (I was not blessed with chiseled cheek bones). Don't know that I want an even more round face than I already have.