Will my back pain get better so I can stop feeling like a druggie?

[bellabloom 2,467]

I have had a herniated disk in my low back for a year and have been prescribed narcotics for it. I hate taking them and they work less and less for me each month, my world revolves around the pills and wether my pain is tolerable enough to function.

I can even describe how brutal my back pain has become, I cry on a daily basis.

I am hoping this rny surgery will resolve my back pain or at least diminish it so I can get off these awful meds and not suffer as much.

Have any of you had chronic back pain go away after losing you weight?? How much weight did you need to lose before you felt improvement.?

I am 34 yrs old, 5'6 and currently 238 pounds

Edited November 14, 2014 by bellabloom

[ladypoohbear 123]

One of my doctors told me that if I loose weight, my back pain would be better. Ha, I lost 130 lbs. And pain still there. Of course being 130 lbs light I'm getting into exercise and Loveing it. Maybe when I get back into shape it will feel better. Right now I'm enjoying be lighter even though I hurt still.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I have had chronic back pain for more than half my life. I was on narcotic pain killers until about 1.5 years ago when I realized like you they were doing me no good in terms of pain relief. I had 5 back surgeries including spinal fusion. I also had a número stimulator implanted to help with nerve pain in my leg in 2005. Believe it or not, when you take those types of drugs, they actually cause you to feel more pain because you require more of the drug. About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted to know what my pain would be like if I weaned off of pain killers completely, working with my pain clinic, I did that over a couple of months. Now, if I take a Tylenol once every 3 weeks I would be surprised. I suffer from psoriatic arthritis and have learned other methods to deal with my pain. Incidentally in December I was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease from all those years of swallowing pain meds. It is the reason I decided to have weight loss surgery and get some weight off my joints.

It was one of the best decisions I ever made besides getting off pain meds. Yes, my back still hurts but it is tolerable and I use ice, meditation, and I move around a lot to relieve pain. If I have nerve pain in my leg from my back which is now rare, I use my neurostimulator.

Incidentally, since I have lost my first 50, I am now able to get around and exercise a lot easier, and I feel like a million bucks compared to 4 years ago. The weight loss has certainly helped. I am looking forward to the next 95 lbs!

I wish you all the best, and hope that you find something that will work for you.

[Baconville 578]

I have lost 210 pounds and am approaching 18 months post surgery. I had horrible back pain prior to surgery. I do not have a herniated disc and I did not take narcotics, but I lived on Advil. Since losing the weight I now have absolutely no back pain. We can't take Advil, but I don't miss it at all because I have no pain. It is SO liberating to live pain free! I hope you have a simular experience!

[Tricia_H 20]

The back pain has remained even after I was 130 lbs, but not as severe. I have herniated disks, pain meds only help me for limited time (I build tolerance to them) but loosing the weight did help. Also, look for a TENS unit ... it sends small electoral pulses into the area you are hurting, I could have misspelled the name, but it has became a sanity savior when the pain is severe.