MY SLIP DISC JOURNEY

hellu!! this is my first post on lemon8 and of course, i will be complaining and giving you guys insight into what slip disc really is and how i cope with the injury!

1️⃣ what is slip disc?

a slipped disc is when a soft cushion of tissue between the bones in your spine pushes out. It's painful if it presses on nerves.

2️⃣ how did i get slip disc?

the actual cause of my slip disc isnt really confirmef but my suspicions are - a fall at a bar in 2022 and my injury worsened in 2023 when i was trying to be a gym gurlie!

3️⃣ when did i get it checked out?

late 2023, i was working a full time desk job (on my ass all day) and the pain started manifesting really badly! it was pretty much unbareable but me being the gaslighting girlie i am, i told myself it was all in my head and it was just period back pains. i told my sister and brother-in-law about my pains (theyre both fitness junkies) and they said i should get it checked out.

4️⃣ orthopaedics and mris

i went to a GP initially to simply figure out whats wrong with me and my GP referred me to an orthopaedic clinic. i brought my boyfriend along for my appointment and went to see the doctor by myself. i left the doctor’s room and told my boyfriend “she said i have slip disc”. his eyes WIDENED and he was shocked. this DEFINITELY did not help me because at this point i had ZERO idea what slip disc was and its severity. i was then referred to do a MRI and xray at another clinic to confirm the diagnosis. turns out, she was right!

5️⃣ rehabilitation and how has it affected me?

well, simply put, the mri showed that my slip was not the worst so it was recommended that i stick to physiotherapy and painkillers. now, the honest truth is that, it has been 6 months and the pain is still really bad. physio has helped but not a substantial amount unfortunately. the painkillers are my only source of comfort as of now. for me, having this injury was a big change in my life. i went from being able to function normally on a day-to-day basis to not being able to sit for long hours, walk for long periods of time, workout hard or even play games on my PC. safe to say, this injury has brought a great deal of sadness into my life and it has definitely been hard to cope. however, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel that ill always look for. a good support system and being well informed about the injury itself has helped me cope with this.

anyways, my biggest takeaway from this is to always look at the brighter side of things and to not dwell on the bad parts of life. though i have not fully recovered, i try my best to be positive and optimistic about my recovery!

if anyone has any questions, feel free to leave a comment and ill do my best to help out and lend a shoulder to cry on :)

#slipdisc #injury #recoveryjourney #RealTalk