Our support group continues to grow, thank you all xxx

Up until November last year, I was a recognised Birth Doula with Doula UK. I awoke one Friday morning in November at 6am to my son who was teething. I leaned over his cotbed to tend to him and I felt my back 'go'. An hour later, I got a call from my client saying she was having regular contractions and could I come.

A gorgeous baby boy was born 22 hours later however by this point, I was in excruciating pain with my back and I hobbled back to my car and drove home.

The following day, the Saturday, I was still in agony, my back went into spasm walking down the stairs and I couldn't move for about 5 or 10 minutes.

By the Sunday, the pain had moved from my back into my left buttock/leg and foot and I felt this strange numbness. I've never experienced anything like it and the pain, well, I've always said and will always say, I'd rather give birth than experience that pain!!!!

I managed to get an appointment with my osteopath on the Monday, relief all round as I thought he would take the pain away as he has done on the few other previous occasions I've been to see him with lower back pain.

My dad drove me there, I was lying in the back of his car and after seeing the osteopath I hobbled back to the car still in as much agony. Phone call to my GP on the Tuesday, prescribed Volterol, Diclofenac and 2 days worth of Diazapam. I took them all, I just didn't care as I was constantly writhing on the bed or settee - I couldn't sit down, I could only lie or stand.

The tablets really knocked me out and I finally got a little sleep. On Thursday my husband travelled to Germany thinking that I was improving. By early hours of Friday morning I was writhing in agony again. Being on my own, my first call was to my mum. My mum and dad came to the house at 1.30am, called for an ambulance and off I went to hospital.

By this point I couldn't sit down to go to the toilet so in the end they had to catheterise me. I had an X-ray and MRI scan the same day and was told I had an L5/S1 prolapsed disc and I remained in hospital for almost a week. At first I was on morphine but then this fantastic Pain Specialist prescribed me Gabapentin - a tablet that epileptics take everyday of their lives but found to help specifically with nerve pain. If I could shout from the rooftops about how this tablet can really help nerve pain I would!!!!

And so, once home, the pain was being managed much better and I tried to keep moving. I had physiotherapy for 3 months and 2 sessions of hydrotherapy.

At the end of January, however, because my recovery had plateaued, the physiotherapist suggested I go back to see my Consultant which I duly did in early February to be told I had a sequestrated prolapse compressing my sciatic nerve, large disc and it's unlikely to recover without an operation.

My Consultant at that particular hospital only carried out open discectomies so I asked to be referred to a spine specialist in a different hospital who was experienced with the micro-discectomy procedure.

And so in March I saw this new Consultant at Hope Hospital in Manchester, fantastic bloke, explained everything including the risks and so I went on the waiting list for the operation.

I had my micro-discectomy on the 14th May 2008, a very positive experience for me - the surgeons, the nursing staff, even the food I could rave about! The pain was almost gone, it took me about 6 weeks to wean myself off the Gabapentin tablets. I still had numbness down my leg and foot however I knew that because the sciatic nerve had been compressed for so long, this would take a lot longer to recover.

And so, some months later, my mobility began to come back much better, I could walk without much of limp and things were looking great, I felt very positive about the outcome.

However at the end of July 2008, I started to have back pain again and some discomfort in my right buttock, so I contacted the hospital and got an urgent letter of referral from my GP. I had a so-called 'emergency' MRI scan date which is the 30th October, then another 3 months for an appointment to see my surgeon, laughable eh?

Turns out I've still got a small bulge pressing on my sciatic nerve. Had an epidural injection in March 2009 for pain relief which helped a bit but now back to having painkillers again. Waiting to see a specialist in mid Wales now so the story goes on.