Anyone young have disk degenerative disease, and what treatments do you suggest?

Question

I was dignoised with the disease a year ago and i've tried PT, medications, excericeses, massage theorpy, and about everything else, but nohting has helped so far. And since i'm 14, they won't do any injections or surgery, but i have horrible cronic pain. My family won't bring me to anymore specialists because nothing is working, and alot the things we have tried were expensive. What can i do, i can hardly stand up for more then ten minutes, and every day things are hard to do, even blowdrying my hair, and my back pain is almost unbearable everyday.

Any suggestions and/or recomendations would be superly apreciated.

Answer 1

my husband developed degenerative disk disease due to jumping out of airplanes. This might not help much, but i can tell you from expereince, both my husband and my father had surgery to correct this ailment and it only made things worse. my husband is 24 and can barely move. I can suggest that you might try using a cane. i understand that you are young but as you know this is a very serious condition. also you should know that steroid injections can cause tissue collapse around the injevtion site, and also major weight gain.as far as physical therapy, you might try hyrdo physical therapy, its easier on the back. talk mom into keeping it up with the doctor, bc as before mentioned this is a serious condition. If you are interested in pain killers, you might try naprosyn, it is a non narcotic and is not addicting. if that does not work, then maybe a mild narcotic pain reliever such as darvocet might help. stay away from vicodin or percocet, they dont help much with the type of pain yu are dealing with. I also suggest using a heating pad for about 15 minutes when the pain becomes unbearable, and lots of hot baths. since my husbands surgery he has gone down hill, and he loves the baths, as they help tremendously. my heart goes out to you, because i have experienced first hand the pain that ddd patients experience. If you have any questions, feel free to email or im me, i allow ims and emails from Yanswer users. Good luck...oh and yoga...yoga and medidtation, it has been one of the few things that has actually helped my husband.

Answer 2

If you haven't seen the a rheumatologist, a neurosurgeon and a pain specialist, then see your family doctor about getting those referrals. Then, let your family doctor talk some sense into your parents.

The next suggestion is radical, but it might be needed. If your parents continue to refuse to allow you the necessary medical help, then talk with one of your teachers or your family doctor about reporting this as child abuse. That's what it is. Your parents could be ordered by the courts to get you the help that you need. If they refuse, the courts could actually order you out of their home, and then you would be considered a ward of the state. The court orders would be heeded and you would begin to get the help that you need.

I fully understand the pain that you are discussing. I've been there myself, daily, for a couple of decades, as a result of multiple types of arthritis.

Answer 3

I was diagnosed at 32 with DDD, and I thought THAT was young! I was told that I had the back of a 65 year old truck driver. At your age, I would think that you would have a chance of generating more disc, they told me that the best I could do was strengthen what I had left. I took glucosamine/chondroitin supplements and did physical therapy. I see a chiropractor regularly and do decompression therapy. I've never taken anything stronger than aspirin for the pain, I wish I had gotten something stronger just to help me get a good nights sleep though. My DDD is in L4-L5, L5-S1, I had horrible pain, couldn't tie my shoes, it was very hard to even get dressed. I was in pain just standing over the sink to brush my teeth. And forget about shaving my legs, it was all I could do to get through a shower.
I still have chronic pain, but I have gotten to where it is manageable. You don't mention chiropractic, try that. It really helps me, and compared to you I'm "old". Good luck, I feel your pain.

Answer 4

I can sympathize with you as I have Fibromyalgia,Ostio Arthritis,
and Sciatica, please don't rule any of these out as, Arthritis has no
age limit. I did Hydro-Physio Therapy and at the Pain Clinic 15
shots of local anestic twice a week for 8 months. I am now on a small dose of Morphine 15mg. 2 x a day, my heart goes out to u
cause r so young as you have chronic pain like I do, maybe your
Mother should be more persistant with r Dr. or Specialist to give
you pain killers to alleviate the pain.
Best of Luck
Summer

Answer 5

I have degenerative disc disease also; they noticed it in me when i was 15 and got an MRI scan. it never hurt untill now though, i am 17 and am in chronic pain so i know how it feels, i cant bend, twist,move much, it hurts so bad in school too so haven't been going lately (doing work in comfort of my house).I also have scoliosis, this pain has been going on months and ive tried plenty of pain killers, non work, have a new set to try and am waiting to get physio, i know it sucks, i know how you feel and we do seem to be the youngest with it here, odd. i hope it works out for you,keep trying to feel better :[

Answer 6

Have you considered medical treatment and surgical help for this in India? My cousin got her surgery from a company called Forerunners Healthcare in India.She just paid 25% of the amount she was quoted in USA.

Forerunners Healthcare is very famous in India. I read a lot about them in the Newspapers and magazines. I have read a lot of their patient stories also. They arrange financing for USA, Canadian, UK and other international patients who plan to have surgery abroad for low cost, as all types of medical treatment and surgery is not covered by insurance. They also have photos pasted of their nternational patients. You can checkout their website. There are huge cost savings. As a doctor I personally believe that your medical treatment and surgery can be easily handled in India, as the quality of healthcare available In India is simply best in the world. The surgeons are USA/UK trained and facilities are 5 star.

http://www.forerunnershealthcare.com
Hope this helps.

Answer 7

i know what you are going threw , if you can't get good help don't give up keep going to the doc, try some kind of exercising , for the back and the abbes or stomach , don't give up i know it's so hard at times just keep fighting it i found that when its warm out it's not as bad so i try to go where it's warm in the winter and the warm ocean helps me alot to , don't get hooked on the meds they give you they will mess you up really bad the older you get , if the pain going down your legs into your feet gets worst get to a doc, and tell them , good luck and learn to live with some pain , i really hope this helps .......jim

Answer 8

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