My Journey through the last 2 months of my Ailment

After a good long break of 20 days from Steemit I am back. Though this break was not a very welcoming one.

The month of August has completely drained me out not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. While I decide to start writing from today I am still uncertain as to what the flow of this post is going to be like, so excuse me if you find things going haywire. I am trying to gather myself up and get back to normalcy. I still am in a state of shock as to the way things shaped up in such a short period of time.

I will like to share my story as I feel the problem that I went through, already a lot of people are going through and not taking it very seriously.

How it all BeganIt all started around 2 months back. After returning from my Iran trip I use to get a little leg pain on walking long distances, initially I did not bother much thinking it would just be a regular day to day exertion since at the same time we also had our house shifting work started. Gradually the pain started increasing and the walking time started reducing.

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Starting with my TreatmentI decided to visit the Doctor and he mentioned it was a regular Sciatica pain and gave me some medicines saying it would settle down in 5 to 6 days. I completed the prescribed medicines but there was no difference. I was still not very serious and taking it very lightly. After another few days when I felt the pain was just not going while walking I decided to visit an Orthopedic doctor, with his suggestion we got an MRI done. On the results he pressed the panic button on me mentioning I had a large disc bulging out between L5 and S1 and surgery needs to be done at urgency. Mentally I was not at all prepared for it, so my immediate reaction was no and also I decided that I will not panic, do some proper research and then come to any conclusion. Also the surgery Doctor mentioned to me in Muscat sounded very complicated and it kind of scared me off as I did not want any fidgeting with the Spine.
In the mean time I started with Physiotherapy sessions and I was looking out for an alternative therapy which would give me a permanent long term relief. I also started with Ayurvedic massage therapies. After around 20 days of therapies I was relieved of the pain and my walking got normal.

Then I traveled to India. Though I knew the pressure from the nerve was relieved but I knew the root cause still existed and I had to work towards it. I had read about Acupuncture treatment being very effective for bulging disc, so the day I arrived to Mumbai the same day I visited an Acupuncture Doctor. On seeing my reports he too mentioned that my case was bad, the bulge was very big and there was 20% chance that the treatment may not work. So I told him that I will like to go with the 80% probability which was high and rest I can manage it with my will power.

Working on Alternative TherapiesIn all this while I was consulting couple of Doctors to get multiple opinion and each one would say, with a problem like your's we are surprised you are still walking and even the Acupuncture Doctor had the same to say. He said I should just consider myself lucky that with a problem like this I am still mobile and I am like sitting on a time bomb which would explode at any time. To my bad luck that was the last day, the same night I had a severe attack with all the nerves in my leg pulling and leaving me in extreme pain. I felt that was the most painful experience never realizing that there was lots and lots waiting for me in the days to come. I did not want to go to the hospital that night as I knew that they would directly get me onto a surgery. Crying all through out the night I took painkillers but they also seemed to have no effect. Somehow I managed to pass the night, which seemed to be like one whole lifetime. Finally in morning rushed to my Acupuncture doctor,he gave me a treatment and relieved the pain and then I had to get admitted to his hospital for a 2 weeks treatment.

After this night I lost my mobility completely and not only that to this time I had no issues in sitting, but after this night I was not able to sit. There was extreme pain shooting down the leg on walking and sitting. It all boiled down to me on complete bed rest. The 2 weeks treatment extended to almost 3 weeks and there was no relief in the pain, some nights the pain would be little less and some were completely restless. They would not give me pain killers as that would not work for the Acupuncture treatment. Day and night I was all the time in tears complaining about the pain and complaining to God why do I need to go through all of this. But I still had hope that I would get out of it, so I was taking it all. Finally the pain got little stable and less and my walking and sitting time got to 5 mins, so the doctor said I should now go home and be on bed rest for another 2 to 3 weeks and it will gradually settle down and I would be alright.

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The Final HitJust a little over 24 hours coming home and then there was this one another major attack, where there was severe spasm all through my leg and the nerves were pulling like crazy. That night I was literally then wishing for death as it was just beyond my capacity to bear the pain. I was feeling my leg was being cut into small pieces. My family was feeling helpless looking at me in so much pain. While I was in pain they had tears in their eyes. They called up the doctor who advised some painkillers. I ended up taking 5 strong pain killers with not even 1% effect of it, finally with no option left midnight we rushed to the hospital, because by now I felt I might just lose my leg forever if I delay it any further. At the hospital they gave me some heavy painkiller injections but even that would not work. Finally after some heavy 5 painkiller injections pain reduced by 50% and by this time I was so heavily sedated that I dozed off for the next few hours, but morning again it was the same and by this time I also started feeling numbness in my leg. They did an MRI again and the Doctor mentioned that the bulge had increased much more than what it was and had pinched the root nerve completely and now surgery was the only only option. At that stage I also had no option but to give in for a surgery.
He mentioned that it was going to be a very minor surgery of Discectomy and the only thing they would do was to remove the bulge which would release the pressure from my nerve and they would not be doing anything to the spine. This was a much relief for me to hear against the surgery procedure mentioned by other doctors. May be if I would have got this option earlier I would have not gone through so much of ordeal. The way the surgery was described to me by the other doctors had scared me and I had competently shut down on that option.
Finally the surgery was done the same day and I was relieved of the pain. The recovery process started and it was happening very fast, just the same way as it went down.

This whole experience has taken away a lot of my energy and has left me complexly drained out. It's going to take some time for me to get back to my daily routine. It has been very shocking for me to go through this and everything coming up so suddenly. In my Yoga I have known many people who have suffered from Sciatica for long years but never got to this stage. Also people who have went down to surgery it has been a gradual process over a long period of time. And for me it all started and ended in a period of just 2 months which seems unbelievable to many including my own self. If I close my eyes now also I get all the scenes of the last 20 days flashing to me and making me just think and think why did I have to go through all of this.

My family the biggest support for me in this most challenging phase, while I was going through the pain I could feel the pain that they were also going through seeing me in such a state. My friends who were day and night sending out prayers for me and my Healing circle who were wholeheartedly doing my healing. Without all of them I don't know how I would have come out of this. No amount of Gratitude expressed is enough to them. My friends on Steemit, who were so concerned about me and wishing for my recovery, I can't thank you all enough for showing your so much love and support.

I am much better now. My mobility is back. I am able to walk and sit for longer duration. Today after 28 days finally I stepped out of the house on my own and I was so emotional feeling so grateful for this recovery. I still do have very mild spasms in my leg but then the doctor mentioned that's normal and it would take some time for me to be in perfect health. The next 3 months I need to be very careful with my back, ensuring no heavy lifting or wrong body postures.

While a lot of people have been asking me, will I continue with Yoga; and the answer is Yes for sure. Yoga has kept me going strong all through out and to an extent I got all the strength to endure so much only because of my yoga practices. Though for the next 2 months I will take it very easy and also go in for Hydro therapy to strengthen my spine.

Thank you for visiting my blog

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