Author Topic: Due To Worst Yeaer Of My Life, Unable To Get Car To 2nd Year Service  (Read 6111 times)

Offline Brenbo

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The situation has taken a dramatic turn.  went to MRI Scan on friday and was in such pain getting on/ off scanner table the radiologist told me he was going to fast track result and get consultant immediately. Then consultant rushed me to Derriford and they operated on me next day (saturday).  it was an enlarged herniated disc from which the jelly substance inside had touch every last nerve and spinal fluid to the legs. I was told if left any longer it would have permanently damaged nerves for legs but was caught just in time.  Also good news is the pain has completely gone.  Bad news is cannot drive for at least 4 weeks+ all goin well. Which is after the extra months grace on my service.  I may give VW a call and tell about situation to see if they can extend the extra month

Offline SRGTD

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Wow! Hope you have a speedy recovery and remain pain free. :smiley:
2020 Polo GTI Plus; Pure White, DSG (because they all are)
Gone but not forgotten;
2016 Polo GTI; Blue Silk
2011 mk6 Golf GTD; Carbon Grey
2007 mk5 Golf GT (2.0 170bhp TDI version); Deep Black Pearl
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Offline Guzzle

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Aww, bad times.

But hopefully now much better times to come  :smiley:

Can you not ask a friend to help? Maybe put them on the insurance for a couple of days?
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Offline Watts

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Wishing you a speedy recovery :smiley:
2019 Oryx White 5dr TCR.

Was - 2015 Tornado Red 3dr GTI PP, manual, Santiagos, Audi short shifter.

Offline Brenbo

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Now I am back with it a bit more, I have just discovered it was not jut one herniated disc but two.  I had herniated L4 and L5 discs at same time.  Apparently the surgeon said it was one of worst cases he had seen.  I have been told I can drive by week 3 to 4 so may be OK to eventually do it myself now.  Will just take it day by day and see how I go. Thanks for your words of support guys This is a great forum to be part of.   :smiley:

Offline kalimon

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If I'd done my back in to the extent that you have, getting my car serviced would be the last thing on my mind if I'm being honest.
I've suffered back problems since I was 21 and I know how debilitating it can be.
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Offline Brenbo

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It will be a low priority getting the car serviced.  I have done low mileage and to be honest the yearly thing is partly a ploy by dealers to ensure your service plans/services are regular so they get more money out of you.  However by 4 weeks in to recovery I guess I may be feeling like a caged animal and if the physio gives me clean bill of health to drive I may take it in then at the earliest. 

Health is more important and the surgeons have given me a quality of life I never thought I would ever get back.  So I am eternally grateful to them.  Their words for the state of my herniated discs/nerves on my spine was 'It was a Mess', 'it was one of the worst they had seen' and that I was lucky to not have had permanent nerve damage to my legs.  If I had left it any longer I would have.  So I will tell the osteopath on my appointment that the MRI was important, unlike he suggested, and lucky  I did do it as I was not going to recover on my own and could have had permanent damage if I had not have had the MRI as soon as I did.  It's gonna be an awkward appointment I think when i tell him..  My advice to all of you guys who do have sciatic pain in your legs is to get it checked out properly via an MRI scan as it may be something more serious. 

Offline golfdave

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I So I will tell the osteopath on my appointment that the MRI was important, unlike he suggested, and lucky  I did do it as I was not going to recover on my own and could have had permanent damage if I had not have had the MRI as soon as I did.  It's gonna be an awkward appointment I think when i tell him.. 

My advice to all of you guys who do have sciatic pain in your legs is to get it checked out properly via an MRI scan as it may be something more serious.


About 10yrs ago I had a bout of sciatica..which turned out to be the worst the GP (about to retire) had seen....

I had experience shooting stabbing pains in end of left big toe & discomfort in lower back...saw osteopath who said is was my "gait" as I have hyper flexing ankles..so sent me to see podiatrist who recommended special footbeds...so more money.... 4 months on over winter..still no progress....then I was doing something stupid...under kitchen cupboard under sink install/plumbing...on back over the cupboard edge....the next day was painful...the day after I was at my business I I could feel my back tensing up & getting more painful by the hour....so got home with a walking stick 15mins stagger

Now I was on the max over the counter painkillers...so get home hot waterbottle...couldn't get upstairs so had dinner & fell asleep on couch...morning I was crying as the pain was unbearable....cramp seizers in the gluts. The biggest body muscle...your arse basically....thing its painful in the arch of your foot try that instead....then every few minutes it felt as if some one a pealed the skin back at the top of the leg & was pouring liquid fire, followed by liquid ice down the leg under the skin...

Got the is aforementioned GP out...she did an exam & got me to sign a document for heavy duty synthetic morphine injection..which I did..that took the edge off for 2hrs ..enough time to get the heavy duty prescription pain killers....

Anyway I eventually got a consultants appointment about 8 weeks later...NHS is very fast..lol...by that time i had decided to forget the ostio & the stupid podiatrist....I was starting to see a "mctimony" chiropractor....this is the most gentle form ..no crunching you...& this was working in fact the poor bloke was himself very scared due to my state, but we did a little every week, then every two weeks..I was then also taking Syndol which then contained a muscle relaxant...it doe not any more as addictive & I was on the max does to come of the higher strength prescription stuff as I was off my face...so this stuff allowed the muscles to unlock & relaxed....I also started seeing a physio...who just does muscle massage..no crunching...just massage the knots etc out of muscles...

So the McT chiro to align the bones & the physio to massages the muscles...& the drugs to unlock the muscles & ease the pain...

This worked...when I had my first meting with the consultant he was wondering why I was not in as bad a shape as the GP saw me...well 8 weeks & the about costly out my own pockets....so he booked me for an MRI etc....

By the time I had the MRI & the second meeting with him...it was September early..& the initial GP was Feb.....so 6-7moths latter.....by which time I was almost normal for me which is fitter than most people...& he wondered why so I told him...


Anyway my back has 4 in the "L" which are FUBAR..two are very dried out & they offered to remove the discs & pin..but I said NO as 40% failure & knew someone who had just had it done...more problems with sciatica due to scar tissue as they cut over the spine (now they like to go through the stomach)...consultant agreed with me & also said the podiatrist was right..I do have hyper flexing ankles..but he ewas wrong is giving me footbeds...that just make maters worse...your body adapts..have you ever had problems like this before?..NO...its natural wear & tear on the discs & most people get it eventually.....so that was that..


Basically if you get pains in the big toe its serious....the discs bulge out/sideways & press the outer sheath of the sciatic nerve into the nerve core..this shorts the nerves...the sciatic nerve goes from the L4 lower back...down the rear across the hip, through the groin, down the inside of the thigh...& ends in the big toe....


Best course of action is gentle Pilates..stretching/yoga...get the muscles unlocked & the bones put back into place....10yrs on I'm still fine still winter mountaineering, telemark ski-ing etc....swimming ...doing car mechanics..

Yes I still feel it giving me jyp...put I know what to do..I also know that decent backpacks with big hip belt lock out the spine & dump the load onto the hips..bypassing the spine...& know that my lower back muscles are very strong which is why i had the problems...they took loads of over loading...then when they failed it dumped everything on the spine...which ran away...

anyway I'm rambling now... :rolleyes:





Offline Brenbo

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Glad to hear you have got over your pain. 

As you may know, the best form of prevention and recovery is to ensure you have strong core muscles.  Which from your skiing and mountaineering etc, sounds like you do. 

Although I had a bad night and day today feeling sick, stomach cramps and dizzy from aftermath of codeine withdrawal and anesthetic.  The pain relief of the sciatic pain i have witnessed is like night and day. I also had the leg on fire pain on occasions which also made my genitals ache like someone had kicked me with steel toe cap boots.  I am glad the pain is all over now just need to get body back to a normal state of activity post perscription drugs.  Which is taking a while but slowly getting there.   :smiley:


Offline Brenbo

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OK time to wrap this thread up with some good news.  Recovery from operation is going well.  Although I had the diagnosis as stated on my previous posts.  Have just found out the condition I had was called 'Cauda Equina Syndrome', online the symptoms untreated look horrific so a lucky escape all round. 

Anyway back to the topic.  I have been advised not to drive for 4 weeks from the surgery date.  This means the service will be just past the one months grace period I was told by the dealer.  So I rang them today to inform them of the surgery and advisory on driving and that I would be booking the service after half term all going well.  The gilr in the service dept at dealer told me that would not be viable and if I wanted to to try and extend my service plan to ring VW UK for any concessionary period extension as they cannot/will not do this themselves, oh and I had to get my car in on 20 october or else it will be voided as a service plan?.  So I called VW UK and they said the grace period after service date is infact 2 months for a service plan to be used within not 1 month. 

So I called my dealership back but this time the service dept manager and had a bit of a rant of how the previous staff member had been a bit jobs worthy and explained my situation and condition and surgery etc,.   They were horrified this had been the case on my last call and said that I can have two months as explained by VW UK and they have booked me in for the service, sometime in November to allow for recovery to be good enough before driving in.  So this is great, but a lot of uneeded hassle to get as a result.

The reason I writing this post is to inform those of you who don't know or have been miss informed the service plan can be extend to a date of 2 months later than the expected date.  Also if you want something done right always go to the manager of the department. 
« Last Edit: 17 October 2018, 15:08 by Brenbo »