Any suggestions on how to deal with a herniated disk other then continual use of!

Any suggestions on how to deal with a herniated disk other then continual use of heavy duty meds? HELP!?

Am currently on 4 different types of meds; anti inflamitory (2), & pain killers (percocet & tylonel 3).

See a chiropractor! I know it's more work and time than popping a pill, but it seems obvious that you don't want to keep taking them. Talk to your friends to see if they know of a quality chiropractor in your area, someone who gets results, not just the one with the prettiest ad in the yellow pages (though they might happen to be the same one, but they also might even just have one line in the yellow pages if they are that good). A good chiropractor will be able to adjust your herniated disc, as well as give you therapy for pain control, and home exercises to strengthen your muscles to help facilitate the healing process.

Try to avoid having surgery, because like cutting a board, once it's done, it can't be undone, so if you have any lingering effects after the surgery, you'll likely have them for life. Besides that, the best numbers on the success rate for spinal fusion surgery to fix discs is around 50-60% (of patients who are either better or no worse than before the surgery-so you might end up in the same spot and somehow that's considered success!). The disc replacement surgery has been on the market for around 3 years, so if that is a proposed option, good luck finding out what that synthetic disc is going to be like in 20 or even 10 years.

Remember, your disc didn't herniate at one time, it was a gradual wearing and tearing process, so a chiropractor won't be able to fix it in one visit. It depends on the severity of the injury. If it is just a grade 1 herniation, it may not take too long, but if it is a complete rupture of your disc, you may not ever get it completely fixed, regardless of what you do, though chiropractic will definately give you an increased quality of life, and you may be able to decrease the medication dosage yourself depending on how well it makes you feel. Best of luck