Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease?
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Sounds like they're saying you've got arthritis in your low back.
You have a semi soft disc in between each vertebra that cushions them from vertically smashing into each other and allows for movement. If you just had two bones stacked up they would just grind each other and hurt.
When your discs degenerate, that means they are wearing out and you have less cushion btween the bones.
I hear glucosamine helps, and perhaps craniosacral therapy.
My husband has this as well. It's usually an inherited predisposition. It will get worse with age, but you can combat it by keeping yourself in shape, and doing exercises to strenghten your back. My husband's problem is between L4 and L5. He has been in chronic pain for several years, but the exercises and keeping himself in shape does help.
I'm sorry you have to put up with this. it sux.
I had it since i was 13, and you can get it at any age. It does get worse with age, but physical theropy and other treatments can help with it. The disease is where your disk or disks are denigrating faster then normal, causing it to rub and irritate. Over time it could become herniated, but not usually. Don't do any exercises that pound on your disks like running and jumping, it will make the pain increase. If you have any ?'s visit a orthopedic doctor. Good luck.
Remember one thing I'm not a doctor you should consult a physician for all medical information. This is my experiences with this medical situation. I understand as well. But get therapy first and foremost. And ask the therapists what exercises you can use to strengthen your back. And continue to do this for the rest of your life. Try to stay away from the prescription drugs they become addictive. And good luck!
Despite your age, it is possible for you to have LDDD. Its actually more of a condition than a disease; it can be caused by a previous injury or another spine condition, or spine-stressing lifestyle (something like powerlifting for example). What happens in the condition is your discs- for whatever reason- cause you lower back pain. While it is typical in older people to get disc pain due to hardening of discs over time (normal with age), in your case there may be a spinal misalignement or other form of orthopedic problem involved.
I myself had an episode of spondylolysis at age 15. In this condition, I developed a stress fracture in one of my lumbar vertebrae and it was just due to repetitive stress specific to the serving motion in tennis.
Your LDDD diagnosis doesn't mean that you're stuck on a downhill spiral from here on. The progression of the condition can be slowed or halted (perhaps reversed) if you take proper rehabilitative measures. This may involve abstaining from certain activities, doing a strengthening program, or sometimes external immobilization/support or surgery.
If you leave your condition as it is, continue to experience pain from it and don't do anything about it, it is likely to get worse. It is, after all, a degenerative disease.
To recap, no, you're not too young for this. It will get worse with age if you don't do anything about it (plus, does any part of your body really get better with age?). And LDDD is a condition in which
My husband has degenerative disk disease all down his back,I have it in 3 disk in my back..you are awful young to have this.Yes it will get worse with age,however there is treatment but not a cure as yet.depends on how many disk are affected..I am assuming Lumbar means lower spine,which is better than all over,,,DEGENERATIVE dISK DISEASE is simply arthristis in the lower disk of your back,and they are wearing away and resting on the nerves of your spine..I take a med called flexeral.which is a muscle relaxer,and also take celebrex,and it helps me it is an artritis medication..since you have been in a wreck it is really giving you a problem now but it probably will get better,but may not go away altogeather but it probably will get better.You can see a pain management doc and they can help you,they will probably put you on a muscle relaxer and pain medication and later on some medication to help you.You need to be very careful about picking up any heavy things always,and use your leg muscles instead of your back muscles..Don,t get discouraged though,as young as you are there may be some type of surgery that could help you,I don,t know depends on where the disk are and how bad..I have had a bad back since I was 14 and I am over 50 and it flares up here and there and you will learn what you can and cannot do..Ice is the best thing to use ,do not use heat because the disk swell and ice hepls them disk to unswell where as heat will make them swell more..Its just something you will learn to live with..I wish you good luck and remember it will get better at times...
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