Helen Watts' story

I first started to experience constant lower back pain at the age of 24, I was fit and active but there was a not a day that went by that I didn’t have pain. It got increasingly worse and I would have sharp shooting pain down through my buttock to my legs and feet and sometimes this would be accompanied by tingling and numbness. My GP prescribed anti-inflammatory medication and rest but the pain continued and I was referred to a neurosurgeon who diagnosed a prolapsed disc in my lower back at L4-L5.

There was not one single event that caused it, but I think that working as a nurse may have been a major contributing factor. After lots of prodding and poking I was put into a steel corset for 3 months and ordered to rest. This is quite an old fashioned treatment for a prolapsed disc, however, my consultant and I were against any kind of surgical intervention given my age and the implications that it could have on my career.

I knew that surgery was a real possibility but I wanted to try conservative treatment first, however, having a 3 month holiday is one thing, having a 3 month enforced rest, when there were days I couldn’t walk very far, was pretty awful. All I could do was lie flat on my back, it was terrible. I'm a very active person, I love going to the gym and exercising so I'm not very good at sitting still! Half of my right foot was numb, I lost all the reflexes in my right leg and was unable to really weight bear on it. To makes matters worse I was a young, single girl, forced to wear an ugly corset which resembled something from Victorian times. But I was very lucky and have a great bunch of friends and family who supported me through all the bad times. One lasting memory of that period in my life was falling over in my bedroom trying to put my knickers on and ending up in a crumpled, crying mess on the floor.

One of my biggest fears was my nursing career, I had only recently qualified as staff nurse, and all of a sudden it was threatened. It was a struggle to prove my fitness to my employers and my consultant and they did eventually allow me to return to work. Now, 6 years on I am still a nurse working in an accident and emergency department. I can never forget about my back and unfortunately, as I write this I am at home, unable to work, due to exacerbating the injury. However, I am optimistic that after a few days rest I will be fine. It is the first time in 6 years that I have had a day off work due to my bad back which is hard to believe looking back on how poor my prognosis was. I continue to live life to the full but am always aware that the injury could reoccur and that I may need surgery in the future. I have recently been in training for a 10km run, much to the better judgement of all my medical friends, and it looks like I am going to have to concede defeat on that one and find another challenge instead!

My back will always be my enemy but I have to listen to what it is telling me in order to win the battle.