Major Pain in the A$@
Ok. This isn’t for sympathy. And I surely don’t need a lecture. Matter of fact, I’m not sure why I’m writing this at all. I guess I just am not "inspired" enough today to write about anything else.
I’ve had this pain in my left glute and down the leg for awhile now. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. I’m healthy. Never had anything major wrong with me in my life. "Suck it up" could be my motto. And…the pain hasn’t interferred with my cardio (only time it doesn’t really hurt) or even too much of my lifting so, how bad could it be?
But…the pain has not gone away. So a few days ago, I call my orthopedic surgeon brother who immediately says "Sounds like you have a herniated disc and you need to come see me (he’s about 2 hours away) and have an MRI done." He goes on to explain to me treatment options if that is in fact the case and tells me about his personal experience with the exact same problem. After 4 or 5 months of suffering, he woke up in a Chicago hotel not being able to get out of bed…my reply? "I have a contest in 5 weeks! I’ve put too much time and work into this to NOT do it!!" My brother understands completely (I mean, he’s an orthopedic surgeon, probably KNEW what his problem was and still didn’t do anything about it!). So yesterday, I go see him.
EXACTLY what he said…herniated disc. So that’s where I’m at. He prescribed medication and told me that no surgeon is going to do surgery at this stage (symptoms haven’t gone on long enough). told me that with this medication and rest, history has shown that a lot of cases clear up and surgery isn’t necessary. The "doctor" told me that I should lay off lifting, but the "brother" knows that I won’t.
My plan…lay off the lifting…well, at least a little…yesterday was just a cardio day and I did that prior to seeing him. Today is no cardio and tri’s and bi’s which I worked on Tuesday for some reason so they don’t have to be worked today. Tomorrow is just cardio. Sunday, one of two leg days so I can take it off. After that, I’m lifting, but will take it easy on the legs…no deadlifts, no weighted squats, stuff like that. Major pain in the a$@, minor bump on the road to my contest
June 8, 2007 at 6:36 am
shanky,
Go see a chiropractor in the meantime. They may be able to make some adjustments to will relieve pressure on the nerve that is being impinged upon. Keep in mind that this may or may not work and will probably not be a permanent fix being that you have a herniated disc.
I had similar pain to you when I injured my back doing deadlifts. What it boiled down to is me pulling a muscle which pulled my spine slightly out of alignment which, in turn, put pressure on the sciatic nerve. This gave me pain down my leg and in my gleuteus medius. In addition to that I had nerve damage which caused my left leg around the bottom of my quad to go numb and lose about 50% of the strength in myleft leg. It took about 6 months to get back to 100% strength.
You are right though, you have come to far to have this slow you down. Give the Chiropractor a shot for some temporary relief.
Good luck and I feel confident that you WILL get through this and place 1st in your show.
-kenji
June 8, 2007 at 6:38 am
Sorry to hear about the back. Take it easy and train smart. FYI…the diet is going go this week, I’m eating more calories.
June 8, 2007 at 6:43 am
Sorry for the ignorance, but can you do other leg exercises like leg extension, leg curls and other like such.
June 8, 2007 at 6:57 am
I feel your pain girl!! That is a tough break but you’ve been at this long enough that you’ll find ways to work around it and still meet your goals. Actually it sounds like you already have a pretty good game plan in mind. I wish you the best.
June 10, 2007 at 7:52 am
Man! That figures right!!??? You work so hard to get that body, about to compete and you find that out! I think your game plan is good … just don’t over do it and you’ll be fine until after the comp. i would definitely get it worked on soon after!
June 11, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Girl I hate to hear about the disc. You have approx 5 weeks to go huh? Well, your legs look great right now and you are ahead of the game so just drop your weights and go for light weight more reps and you should be fine. Looks like you already have quite a bit of muscle to work with. DONT overdo it and end up really hurting yourself. It’s not necessary!! Good Luck!