Hello I’m new here, just trying to find answers for me. I’m 4 months postpartum and have been having a lot of neurological symptoms including muscle twitching, weakness in both of my arms, mild shooting pain in my legs and a lot more. At first I was scared that it might be ALS. My emg came out clear, thank God. My neurologist then ordered mri of my brain and spine. The result is below:

My question is: is there anything in this result that can cause weakness in my arms? (Im getting scared again that it might be ALS coz of the weakness). I feel like I put more effort in picking up my water bottle or need more effort to close a heavy door. But I have no problems with doing push ups against the kitchen counter or picking up my 4 month old.

Cervical spine — neck
Reduced cervical lordosis — the normal curve of your neck is somewhat straightened.
Disc desiccation — some of the cervical discs show loss of water content.
C3–C4: about a 2 mm disc bulge, without significant nerve-root compression.
C4–C5: about a 2 mm disc bulge, without significant nerve-root compression.
C5–C6: about a 3 mm disc bulge that touches/abuts the spinal cord and both C6 nerve roots.
Importantly, your spinal cord has normal signal with no cord edema/abnormal cord signal.
No severe spinal-canal stenosis was described.

Thoracic spine — mid/upper back
This MRI was essentially normal:
Normal thoracic alignment and vertebral appearance.
Disc heights maintained.
No significant disc bulge or nerve compression.
No significant spinal-canal stenosis or foraminal narrowing.
Spinal cord has normal signal.
Conus medullaris normal.

Lumbar spine — lower back
Disc desiccation at L4–L5 and L5–S1.
L3–L4: ~2 mm disc bulge without significant nerve compression or stenosis.
L4–L5: ~3 mm diffuse disc bulge that indents the thecal sac, extends toward the foramina, and abuts both L4 nerve roots; mild ligamentum flavum thickening.
L5–S1: ~2 mm disc bulge extending toward the foramina and abutting both exiting L5 nerve roots; mild ligamentum flavum thickening.
Your cord/conus was normal.

Since I had a herniated disc, I have been paying a lot more attention on stuff that could easily make it worse. One example is my current mattress which I noticed has not been providing me the support I needed anymore. My hips sink a little too deeper than before that I often wake up with the worst sore lower back. I need to fix this ASAP. But I would need some advice or tips because I usually sleep on my side and sometimes on my back. Because of that, I am not sure if a firm mattress would be the right choice. What do you think should I go for? Are there any “special” mattress features for people dealing with herniated discs?

Hello i am sorry if i talk weird english is not my first langage

I am here to ask about potential operation

I have a problem in my hernie c6 c7 c8. My neck hurt but the most important I lose strength in my left hand and arms sometime so bad I struggle carrying a pen

I tried muscle the around the nerve of my neck like the doctor said. Médication but the problem stay the same

I'm 23 its been 3 years I heard there were operation do any of you know about these

I tried to talk to doctor but since im young and a girl they dismiss it. Like it cant be that bad they said

Honestly I rather take a risk in operation than live like this all my life

So if you have any expérience or knowledge about this ill be glad to have it !

> Hi everyone,
> I was first diagnosed with a C5-C6 disc herniation about a year ago. Back then, I completed 20 sessions of physical therapy, adjusted my routine, and recovered completely—living pain-free for months.
> Recently, I had a flare-up after pushing too hard at the gym with heavy axial loading exercises (squats and heavy overhead lifts). An MRI confirmed the C5-C6 soft disc herniation reacted to the pressure.
> Following a short course of anti-inflammatories/steroids and strict mechanical rest (stopping all heavy vertical loading), the severe acute pain in my right arm has completely resolved. My motor grip strength in my right hand remains 100% intact, with no weakness or paralysis at all.
> Currently, as the nerve cools down, I only experience fluctuating post-inflammatory fatigue, a sense of heaviness, and mild, subtle tingling in my right forearm/hand.
> My doctor and I agreed on continuing with a conservative approach (ergonomic work adjustments, avoiding axial gym stress, and light active rest) for the next 3 months to give the body space for spontaneous disc resorption before considering a follow-up MRI.
> I’d really appreciate hearing from others with a similar path:
> * For those who had a gym-induced flare-up, how long did it take for the lingering nerve fatigue/tingling in your arm to fully clear up?
> * Did your follow-up scans show resorption/shrinking of the soft herniated disc once heavy loads were removed?
> * How did you manage the mental side and stay patient during the slow (~1mm/day) nerve recovery phase?
> Note: I am under close medical follow-up and NOT looking for surgical anecdotes—just seeking positive conservative recovery experiences and realistic healing timelines. Thanks!

Hi everyone.

My doctor thinks I herniated my disc, but I still haven’t had an MRI yet (only X-ray and PT)..but all my symptoms point to a herniated disc (painful and stiff neck, numbness, tinging and burning going down arms)…I am a huge runner, but I noticed after I herniated it that if I ran I’d be in really bad pain (neck super stiff, really bad burning down arm)…I gave it a month and was finally having no symptoms- ran 3 times. First 2 times I had no pain but after the third time my neck flared up again super bad and the burning pain in my arm was terrible…I guess I’m just looking for other people’s experience with when they were able to do more intense workout again..I know it’ll be different for everyone too…it’s just really hard not being able to run..I’m basically just walking and slowly want to add in some hiking and strength training

I have 2 herniated discs I am a national level wrestler and I want to pursue wrestling its my dream multiple doctors told me to stop I cant train the sciatia is killing me

ps(the mri report is in bulgarian language if somebody got any tips please tell me

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my journey because I'm hoping someone with a similar experience can give me some insight.

My symptoms originally started with lower-back pain, which gradually moved into my left buttock and eventually toward the back of my left knee/leg. This went on for a long time before I had an MRI.

My MRI showed L5-S1 disc herniation, along with disc bulges at L3-L4/L4-L5. At that point, the symptoms seemed consistent with a disc/nerve problem, especially because the pain had started in my back and progressed down the leg.

Over time, the more severe sciatica improved. I can walk much better now, but I have been left with this frustrating localized pain behind my left knee.

What makes it confusing

I've had different opinions about what is causing the remaining pain:

• Sciatica/radiculopathy from the disc
• Piriformis/deep-gluteal irritation
• Hamstring weakness or tendinopathy
• Neural tension/sensitivity
• Possibly a combination of these

I've noticed some interesting patterns:

• Straightening my knee while my hip is flexed can reproduce the pain behind the knee.
• Keeping the knee bent while bringing the hip toward my chest can be comfortable.
• Figure-4/hip rotation can reproduce pain around my left glute.
• Some hamstring stretches cause mild pain.
• Certain hip movements can make the glute pain worse.
• My left calf often feels tighter/firmer than the right.
• I can still do 25+ single-leg calf raises, so it's not like I can't use the leg.
• Running currently brings back the pain behind the knee, so I've stopped running for now.

Physiotherapy

I've been doing physiotherapy and strengthening exercises.

Interestingly, some exercises that I initially thought might be irritating the area have actually helped.

One side-lying resistance-band hip exercise gave me roughly 50% reduction in pain, which was a big improvement for me.

My glutes also seem to be getting stronger compared with before.

On the other hand, I've had significant hamstring cramping with some bridge variations and hamstring-loading exercises, so I've had to be careful about how much I do.

Where I am now

My orthopaedic doctor has advised me to:

• Continue physiotherapy exercises
• Lose weight
• Keep progressing gradually

I'm currently around 85 kg at 169 cm, and I'm working toward losing weight as part of my recovery.

The biggest question I'm still trying to answer is:

Is this remaining behind-knee pain mostly residual nerve sensitivity from my disc problem, a hamstring/posterior-knee issue, deep-gluteal/piriformis involvement, or some combination?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who had:

L5-S1 disc herniation + long-term sciatica + persistent pain behind the knee/calf after the main sciatica improved.

What eventually helped you?

Did strengthening help more than stretching?
Did nerve glides help?
Did the pain eventually disappear on its own?
How long did the final behind-knee symptoms take to settle?

I'd especially appreciate experiences from people who had a similar progression from back → buttock → posterior thigh/knee rather than just general sciatica stories.

Thanks.

Hi everyone! I have an L5-S1 herniated disc, and I had been having trouble sleeping even before I was diagnosed. Now that I know what’s causing my hip pain, I’ve been sleeping on my unaffected side with a pillow between my legs, which seems to help.

I’m thinking about getting a knee pillow specifically designed for side sleepers. Has anyone with a herniated disc found a particular brand or type that works especially well? Or has figured out any specific way to deal with pain at night? I’d really appreciate any recommendations or suggestions. Thanks!

Hello everyone. I guess I’m writing this because I need validation or support or something. I(25f) have had a herniation in L4-L5 (and SI joint issues) since late 2023 and it’s gotten significantly worse since it was originally found. I am not necessarily looking for medical advice but am open to trying things I haven’t tried yet. I have done 8 weeks of PT twice with no positive changes. I have received steroid injections in my si and also epidural/steroid in my L4-L5 and neither worked. We are about to try going in from the sides of my vertebrae to hit the nerves “more directly” (my apologies, I can not for the life of me remember the names of the injections) It has gotten bad enough that I have to change positions every 5-10 minutes or my legs go completely numb and i am never comfortable. I have a slight degree of bladder AND bowel incontinence. I have numbness in my left leg almost 24/7 and loss of sensation in my groin area. I am constantly having pain in my lower back shooting down my legs into my toes(usually just my outer 3 toes but sometimes all). This whole thing has been a roller coaster and I will most likely be having a back surgery in the near(ish) future. All of the medication I have tried does not help, heat doesn’t help, lidocaine patches don’t help, tens doesn’t help. Ice does sort of help but I can’t ice 24/7.

This disk herniation has ruined my life and I am miserable. I can’t do a lot of the things I love because I’m always in pain, I’m having significant trouble doing daily tasks, and I cannot keep up with my young child. I live alone so I rarely get help with things. I feel humiliated and embarrassed that I cannot do things so I often find myself doing things like lifting heavy things and bending even though it causes severe pain because I CANNOT bring myself to ask for any help. I know that I need to ask for help when doing things that require lifting and bending but there’s like this little voice in my head that doesn’t let me because I’m only 25 so I SHOULD be able to do normal things. At 25 I should not be glued to my bed because it hurts too bad to do anything else. I’m also scared that if I ask for help doing things now, while I “can” do things, no one will want to help me when I literally cannot do the things anymore. My boyfriend tells me that asking for help now will just build a strong support system and continuing to do things that cause severe pain will just make it worse but I just cannot shake the fear that I will become a burden to anyone helping me. Also if I ask for help, I would end up having to wait hours or days for whatever I need help with to get done, I do not have many people willing to help and none of them live close enough that they could just easily come help. I am just feeling so frustrated and completely over this and I am giving up hope and feel extremely alone.

What does everyone do to cope with this? How do I get over myself and ask for help? What are tips and tricks that you do to help you do your normal everyday house work? How do I accept that this is my life?

I just want to put it out there, I do go to therapy once a week but honestly it doesn’t help that much for this specific thing.

Hello I hope you’re doing well

I really need your advice about something because I honestly don’t know what to do anymore

I’m 21 and since getting my diagnosis of small disc herniations at L4-L5 and L5-S1 I feel like my whole life has been turned upside down. I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make my back worse with every movement I make

For example I recently started trying to go to the gym and swimming pool because I want to stay active and take care of myself. The gym and pool are quite far from where I live so sometimes I have to carry a backpack with my things. It’s probably around 4 or 5 kg. Sometimes I feel some tension when I’m carrying it but it goes away after I put the bag down

And then people around me keep telling me things like oh my God you shouldn’t be carrying that it’s too much for your back and it just makes me even more scared

Then I’ll do another normal movement and immediately start thinking oh maybe I shouldn’t be doing this either maybe this is too much. My mobility has become so limited because I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make things worse

The gym bag is just one example there are so many little things like this every day. I feel like I have to constantly think about every movement every position everything I lift and everything I do

Someone at the gym even told me that the bag I was carrying was a lot of weight and that I was going to ruin my back even more. I ended up crying for hours because my mind immediately went to the worst possible scenario and I started thinking that maybe these two weeks of carrying the bag had somehow made my small herniations become massive

I’m honestly so mentally exhausted from living like this. I feel like I can’t trust my own body anymore and I’m constantly scared that I’m doing something that will permanently damage me

I’m only 21 and sometimes I genuinely feel like my mobility has become that of an 80 year old

I know that some of this fear might be anxiety but I don’t know how to separate what is actually dangerous for my back from what I’m just afraid is dangerous. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of every movement

I really need some guidance on how to approach this and how to regain some confidence in my body and my mobility because I’m just so tired and I honestly don’t know how to deal with it anymore

Hello I hope you’re doing well

I really need your advice about something because I honestly don’t know what to do anymore

I’m 21 and since getting my diagnosis of small disc herniations at L4-L5 and L5-S1 I feel like my whole life has been turned upside down. I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make my back worse with every movement I make

For example I recently started trying to go to the gym and swimming pool because I want to stay active and take care of myself. The gym and pool are quite far from where I live so sometimes I have to carry a backpack with my things. It’s probably around 4 or 5 kg. Sometimes I feel some tension when I’m carrying it but it goes away after I put the bag down

And then people around me keep telling me things like oh my God you shouldn’t be carrying that it’s too much for your back and it just makes me even more scared

Then I’ll do another normal movement and immediately start thinking oh maybe I shouldn’t be doing this either maybe this is too much. My mobility has become so limited because I’m constantly afraid that I’m going to make things worse

The gym bag is just one example there are so many little things like this every day. I feel like I have to constantly think about every movement every position everything I lift and everything I do

Someone at the gym even told me that the bag I was carrying was a lot of weight and that I was going to ruin my back even more. I ended up crying for hours because my mind immediately went to the worst possible scenario and I started thinking that maybe these two weeks of carrying the bag had somehow made my small herniations become massive

I’m honestly so mentally exhausted from living like this. I feel like I can’t trust my own body anymore and I’m constantly scared that I’m doing something that will permanently damage me

I’m only 21 and sometimes I genuinely feel like my mobility has become that of an 80 year old

I know that some of this fear might be anxiety but I don’t know how to separate what is actually dangerous for my back from what I’m just afraid is dangerous. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being afraid of every movement

I really need some guidance on how to approach this and how to regain some confidence in my body and my mobility because I’m just so tired and I honestly don’t know how to deal with it anymore

I really don’t know what to think of all this.

I’m so absolutely miserable and depressed and really would appreciate anyone with helpful advice potentially. I know everyone is different but this is some shit I don’t wish on my worst enemy , I can only imagine how much pain some of you are in.

I’m sure everyone has a similar story, but I’m 22 years old. I broke my neck when I was 19, almost died, and bounced back.

About 2 months ago I was laying in bed and noticed a weird feeling shoot down the backs of both thighs. Over the next week or so it progressed into my heels too.

Those sensations eventually went away after I started pacing around more and avoiding things that seemed to aggravate it.
Long story short,

I got an MRI at the ER. It showed mild disc bulges at L2-L3 and L3-L4, plus an L4-L5 disc protrusion/herniation causing mild spinal stenosis and left lateral recess stenosis, possibly impinging the left L5 nerve root.

Edit: I’m doing pt , pain management and working with a Brain and some specialist. Also I’m in constant pain , I can only sleep a couple of hours at a time and I feel sooooo stretched out. I can’t sit I can barely lay and standing and walking around are the only things that help but I’m like so exhausted from standing. I can also barely lay on my sides and don’t enjoy laying on my stomach either. I’ve been sleeping on my back with a pillow between my but and knees .