Case Summary  |  Osteoarthritis Takes a Toll on Life

I'm an old women who has always been in good health. I exercise, eat right and do everything in my power to stay healthy. I admit that back problems run in my family and that I thought by doing what I do I'd be able to prevent any problems later on in my life. Sadly, this assumption was totally wrong.

As time went on, I noticed I was developing severe pain in my back. This pain began to worsen by a great extent in January of 2004. I tried to shrug off the pain and I simply consumed Tylenol twice a day. This helped a bit but I still felt a great amount of pain. I'd even feel pain in my back whenever I picked up my grandchild, so really I could not do anything. During the next two months I did not exercise at all and I felt drug down and weak. My daughter began to notice the changes and she asked me what was wrong. I told her I was having severe back pain but it was nothing to worry about. It was not until my son visited me that I was finally talked into seeking further help for my problem because it had gotten so horrible that I was unable to sleep at night.

A few days later after my son I left, I booked an appointment with my doctor. He told me he felt something was wrong but that I needed further examination before he could make a diagnosis. He sent me to the hospital where I was given an X-Ray. After I received the X-Ray, my doctor came to me and told me the bad news: I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease . He then went on to tell me that the disc in my back would need to be replaced with a plug and this would require surgery.

I underwent surgery about three days later. After the surgery, where I had no complications, I could feel a very sharp pain in my back. At this time I actually didn't feel like this surgery didn't do anything for me. Even though I was in pain, the nurses told me this was normal and that I would be on the road to recovery. I waited several weeks and sure enough, the pain in my back began to subside from the surgery and the pain I had previously was almost non-existent.

To this day, I do have a bit of back pain, but it is nothing near as severe as it was back in 2004. I do take Motrin in order to relieve the pain and it seems to have completely helped. I am still active, thin and very fit. I feel really good for my age, regardless of the small set back.