Michelle
Olivia, I basically have the same pains as you, only not in my ankle, and the pain radiates down only 1 leg ( my right) I had an MRI and discograms, and meylograms. All of these tests came back that my discs are deteriating, and due to a car accident it has made them even worse. They found out my nerve endings are frayed and the discs that are most injured are L3, L4, L5, and S1. I have had a surgery in which the doctor has scrapped the disc tissue,(the pain comes from your disc bulging and sitting on your nerves in your spinal cord). I am 26, and the doctor believed I could then do physical therapy and be alright. He was wrong. The pain after the surgery was still there. My doctor can't believe that at my age my back is THIS bad. He says that only fusion will help but he does not want to fuse it because i am too young, and fusing my back would put pressure on my other discs ( which all are degenerating). The end result, he said, if he fused me, would be that I would need another surgery to take care of the discs the fusion made worse. I can tell you that you are on the right track with the MRI, from there your doctor will beable to see how your discs are. Ask him to (after you have heard the results from the MRI) if he says you have bulging discs, ask him to do a mylogram, and discogram. (my doctor did the tests only AFTER i still complained of pain. Theses tests are not fun to go through, but they are thorough and will tell you exactly what is wrong with your discs, if there is anything. At this point in my pain, the doctor has given me a month to quit smoking and see if that helps. (Smoking cuts off the oxygen to your muscles and therefore your muscles will spasm, bringing about more pain). I have to make a decision by March 1st, 2002 as to have the fusion or not. I am currently looking for alternative cures. Also you might want to go see a chiropractor, I have been going for the past 3 months and it has helped with my pain. If you should start researching alternative actions for lower back pain, and find anything interesting, please forward the links to me..I would very much appreciate it!Good luck! Michelle