Medical Endeavors w/ my Herniated and Degenerative Lumbar Disc

Hello everyone. I'm really really enjoying my time pain free! I'm a whole different person. What really makes me comfortable is the fact that my disc is fine, and since i've had it for over a year, I think it's safe to assume that the endplates are permanently fused with my bones. Couple this mentality with no pain, and you have a guy in a great mood! Except this time, i'm conscious of what it means to be pain free and the need to keep it that way (there's nothing worse than feeling pain free and then falling back). So I got a reply from Mr. Boeree: Thank you for keeping me posted.  I am delighted to hear that the facet joint injections have been so helpful. I think it very worth while bearing in mind that there is an important difference between degenerative facets and painful and inflamed facets.  Essentially when we remove a degenerative and damaged disc this motion segment (that is to say one vertebra, its neighbour, together with the discs and the t...

Wow. This is what it felt like from month 3-6 post-op. Pristine, strong, pain-free! My facets have finally calmed down. There's one very important thing to note about this, that because only my facets were treated, the surgical site is absolutely pain free. The disc is doing a great job. What i'm wondering is why the facets started flaring up. Is it disc related? This didn't start happening until after the 6th month post-op. I hadn't had any sort of heavy activity for years until I started this restaurant. And the disc IS supposed to prevent facet degeneration by having constrained motion. So i'm left wondering, what caused this? I don't want to jump to any conclusions yet.. but I will ask Boeree his opinion. I'll let you know what he has to say. Cheers everyone! Now lets hope I stay pain-less!

I got my facet injections today! I had levels L4/5 and L5/S1 done. Initially I was only getting L4/5 done but mid through the procedure the doctor decided to do L5/S1 free of charge. I figured I don't want to go through another round of injections in case L5/S1 was the culprit. I'll be keeping a pain diary and i'll post an update in 2 weeks. Wish me luck!