Nursing Student with Herniated Disc

[sunNsand88]

I need some advice. This past Oct I was diagnosed with herniated disc's (c5/c6 & c6/c7). I am just now starting the nursing school at Immaculata University. All my class so far have the "old school" desk and connected wooden chairs that for you to sit straight up. These types of desk cause extreme neck/back pain along with shooting pains & numbness down my right arm. Over the past 3 days my symptoms became a 100x worse and I ended up getting an emergency appoint with an orthopedic surgeon. He gave me a cortisone shot, pain killers, and steroids (prednisone pack). I am supposed to see him in 2 weeks for a follow up. He said if this doesn't work then we are going to have the talk about getting a fusion. He also advised me to talk to my teachers and see if they can get a desk without an attached chair for me since it seems to be a trigger for pain (you can add walking, sitting and even laying down the that list).

Do any of you have any ideas on how I can make sitting in class any easier?

side note: It's the day after (tues)getting the cortisone shot and my pain right now is at an 8 our of 10 (compared to a 12+ when in the doc office). I don't have class till Thursday. Thankfully I have a few days off.

[Mr. Murse]

I'm definitely not saying this to discourage your path towards nursing, but I hope you are aware of how physically demanding nursing is on a body? If you're already having this much trouble, are you going to be able to handle the sitting and standing, pushing and pulling, bending and squatting, walking and running, and all the other physical demands of nursing?

Again, not trying to be a party pooper, and I really do hope you find a way to cope with the back problems, but I also don't want to see someone go into a career that will only exacerbate their problems and make you even more miserable for years to come.

On a more optimistic note, there are many, many nurses out there that learn to deal with various kinds of back problems. consider various lifestyle changes for starters. Many back problems stem from other lifestyle choices and many people can benefit from working on other things that you might not immediately associate with back problems, like losing weight, or watching your diet for foods that contribute to tissue inflammation and adding foods that reduce inflammation. Try different positions and ways of sleeping. Different shoes. etc. Look into some holistic solutions that may be helpful.

Anyway, good luck. I wasn't trying to be discouraging, but depending on where you go nursing can be extremely physically demanding and rough on even the healthiest person's back. I hope you figure something out.

[bluejay47]

Dr. John Sarno, professed of rehabilitation at NYU, has made some interesting observations on chronic pain. I can't recommend his book "Healing Back Pain" enough. Best of luck to you!

[wirehead]

Whoa...Easy on the fusion discussion!!! The cortisone shots take a good 48-72 hours before they kick in, but it should help. How about physical therapy? Many of them are ergonomic specialists, and can help correct your posture, put you on a strengthening regimen, and can include traction to open the disc space.

Once you talk fusion, it affects the entire spine, particularly the vertebrae above the fusion level. Fusions are a last resort! You can get epidural injections where they care inject the steroid into the disk space in hopes of relieving the herniation, they are done under local or twilight sedation, usually in a series of 2 to 3 shots bi-weekly. Then there is a microdiscectomy procedure which is more minimally invasive than a fusion where they remove part of the facet joint, and trim the part of the disc pressing on the nerve, they can remove any loose fragments as well. Then they have laser procedures where they zap the disc in order to shrink it! Orthopedists are not usually the best case scenario for this type of problem, seek out a physiatrist, or a pain management doctor who are the docs who would perform epidurals or laser procedures, if you require surgical intervention, than seek out a neurosurgeon.

Best of luck, you picked a career notorious for back and neck pains.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Woah! Talking about surgery already is scary. You just started treating this problem. Before surgery I would ask for a 2nd opinion. My husband has chronic back pain from degenerative disc disease. Sitting in certain chairs causes him terrible pain as well.