Question: Hi, I suffer from recurring herniations in my L3/L4 disc. It started with an injury when I was 16. I'm 34 now. Since the original injury, my disc has herniated 4 more times, once when I was 28, then again at 32, 33, and now it just herniated again today. The last time took place beginning in July 2019; it took 3 months of laying in bed for that one to go away, pain meds didn't help, I had to force my body to perform simple daily tasks including going to the bathroom which was particularly painful because it hurt worse to sit. Since then I've tried to maintain a low key lifestyle. I've gained weight which I hate (I'm female, 5'3, 240 pounds, Caucasian, non-smoker but I vape, rarely drink), so recently I tried exercising again last week and now I've blown my disc again. (When I herniated it at age 32 it was due to exercising also.) My question is, is this normal for a disc to continue herniating? It feels like it gets worse every time...how can I make it heal faster? How do I prevent it from herniating again? Is there something a doctor can do to fix this??? I don't want pain meds, I hate how they make me feel. Last time put me into a deep, bad depression, I felt so useless and was in constant agony, and I'm scared of it being that bad again this time. Please help!!!

Hi, I suffer from recurring herniations in my L3/L4 disc. It started with an injury when I was 16. I'm 34 now. Since the original injury, my disc has herniated 4 more times, once when I was 28, then again at 32, 33, and now it just herniated again today. The last time took place beginning in July 2019; it took 3 months of laying in bed for that one to go away, pain meds didn't help, I had to force my body to perform simple daily tasks including going to the bathroom which was particularly painful because it hurt worse to sit. Since then I've tried to maintain a low key lifestyle. I've gained weight which I hate (I'm female, 5'3, 240 pounds, Caucasian, non-smoker but I vape, rarely drink), so recently I tried exercising again last week and now I've blown my disc again. (When I herniated it at age 32 it was due to exercising also.) My question is, is this normal for a disc to continue herniating? It feels like it gets worse every time...how can I make it heal faster? How do I prevent it from herniating again? Is there something a doctor can do to fix this??? I don't want pain meds, I hate how they make me feel. Last time put me into a deep, bad depression, I felt so useless and was in constant agony, and I'm scared of it being that bad again this time. Please help!!!