Herbs for Musicians

Back in 2011, I needed back surgery.

That is the short version.

The long version involves the reason why it happened, and the experience I had with the medical system.

One day, I was walking my dog. I had foolishly tried to follow my kids, who were riding their bikes, and of course the dog wanted to keep up. I couldn’t. I tried holding the dog back since I couldn’t run that fast and ended up twisting my back.

This was before I had learned about herbs, but honestly, I don’t think herbs would have helped in this instance, anyway.

I tried resting, using over-the-counter pain killers, ice, etc. Nothing helped, and I started getting a shooting pain through my buttocks and down my left leg. After doing a little research online, I identified this as sciatic nerve pain.

I went to my primary care doctor and explained what was going on. She said my description of the pain was “textbook sciatic pain,” then sent me to get an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a “bulging (herniated) disc.” From there, I saw a back specialist who sent me to see a physical therapist, saying that 80% of bulging discs are resolved through physical therapy.

Instead, I ended up in more pain. Even though I kept seeing the back specialist and complaining about this, she told me that I needed to have PT for a certain amount of time before insurance would cover any other treatment.

Over the next six months, my pain continued to get worse. I couldn’t drive, so other people had to get me to appointments. I couldn’t do anything around the house. I couldn’t sit for more than just a couple of minutes at a time without being in excruciating pain. I had to lay down in the car to ride to my appointments. Neither could I sleep. No matter what position my body was in, pain was shooting through my lower back, my buttocks and my legs.

My husband called the doctor in the middle of the night when we were both up because I was in such pain. I cried at my appointments and looked like a hysterical woman. Towards, the end, I couldn’t get up the stairs in my house to take a shower, and I couldn’t get out of bed without help so I could take myself to the bathroom. I started using a walker that was lent to us, but even that was not helpful because I couldn’t put pressure on my leg.

My doctor had prescribed medication. I was on a nerve medicine (Gabapentin) as well as Vicodin, Ibuprofen, and, at times, prednisone. I have no idea what all that did to my body, but it wasn’t killing the pain. I was even given cortisone shots into my spine.

Nothing helped.

And I was treated like I was a druggie looking for drugs.

It came to a head when, one day, I had taken all the meds I could take in a morning, yet I was still in so much pain my husband took me to the ER. I was crying and moaning in the waiting room, so they brought me back right away. I was given yet another medication, which did help while I was laying down. But when I needed to get up to use the bathroom, as soon as I tried to put pressure on my left foot, I collapsed. This happened right in front of a nurse, so she saw with her own eyes that my pain was real and incontrollable.

I was finally believed.

Two days later, I had back surgery.

Based on the MRI, my doctor thought she was going to be working on a regular herniated disc. But when she opened me up, she learned that the MRI did not show the real problem. I had a calcified disc. Meaning she had to cut out bone that was laying directly on my sciatic nerve. Not only that, but when she removed that bone, she discovered a cyst which had been growing and also pushing on my sciatic nerve. This cyst was hidden behind the bone in the MRI.

Later, the doctor told me that my sciatic nerve had been squashed flat, and she admitted to being very nervous when she saw that, as I could have had permanent nerve damage. Thankfully, it began to reinflate as soon as the pressure on it was relieved. I am extremely grateful to God that I now have no pain, only a little numbness on the outside of my calf and can move.

The calcified bone may have been caused by an unknown accident when I was younger, or I might have been born with a deformity in my spine. My physical therapist also told me I have a loose sacroiliac joint This means that even with just one hard step, I can throw my pelvis out of alignment, thus pulling down on one side of my back and creating pressure on my sciatic nerve. This explained years of a dull ache down the back of my legs I had since I was a teen and thought was normal. The PT showed me an exercise I could do at home to get myself back in alignment whenever I needed to.

While this issue I had with my back was a structural issue and could not be solved with herbs, it still was a major turning point in my relationship with modern medicine.

1. It’s shocking that such advanced technology as an MRI can’t tell the whole story.
2. No matter what resistance you get, you must be your own advocate for any health-related issues.
3. You have to keep fighting against that resistance.
4. You must listen to your body.
5. Even a small amount of pain is not normal.

It is the need to take charge of my own healthcare that affected me the most. I was dismissed by the back doctor for so long regarding the intensity and amount of pain I was in. I wasn’t even able to stand up straight. Yet, I was not believed until a nurse (in other words, a proper professional) saw the pain “in action.” I still do not know what else I could have done to convince the doctor that my pain was real.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time I was dismissed by a doctor. Other times involved my first pregnancy and issues with my gallbladder that lasted for years before I finally had it taken out. Those are stories for other posts.

But I was determined that it would be the last time I was dismissed.

And I also determined that I was going to take care of myself as much as I could and depend on doctors as little as necessary.

I am not saying all doctors are dismissive of their patients. And, when it came to the actual surgery, the back specialist was amazing. But my inherent trust in the modern healthcare system has been destroyed.

Obviously, herbs cannot do surgery, and herbs are not suitable for all medical conditions. Modern medicine is definitely necessary at times. However, my trust in healthcare providers must now be earned – and as a more informed patient, I have more confidence and ability to determine which providers are trustworthy.

Herbs give power back to you and me. Practicing herbalism allow us to make first-level decisions for ourselves, to determine whether or not we need to turn to a doctor. There are many things we can do to support and improve our health without needing the permission or the signature of a doctor. And at those times when we do go see a doctor, we can be better patients and self-advocates. We will go into our appointments with more knowledge about how our bodies work, the signals it is giving us, what approaches we have tried to address the situation – all of which is information can help our doctor decide how to treat us.

Your Herbal Ally,

Heather

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