Advice anyone?

[trucker66]

Greetings all.
Has any one had any experience with the trucking industry and in particular, degenerative disc disease? Or how about post concussion syndrome?
I am a truck driver and on September 23rd of 2008 while I was sweeping debris out of my trailer I fell about 5 feet out of the back of the trailer and landed directly on the top of my head, I was knocked unconcious for about 30 minutes and experienced pain in my neck and middle back. Not to mention the horrible egg on my head. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where they took cervical and thoracic xrays, and also a ct scan of my head. all tests were negative. They gave me dilaudide for the pain and sent me on my way. I left the hospital with a severe headache, and have had the headache ever since. I also had some vestibular problems along with some memory loss and other cognitive symptoms, all which have seemed to improve with neurorehabilitation. A few weeks later I was stricken with an excruciatingly sharp pain in my lower back while I was getting up from a seated position. I told my doctor about this and she ordered xrays of my lower back which showed that there may be some signs of disk degeneration. She ordered an MRI of the lower back which indicated degeneration L2-L5 and also a herniated disk at L4,L5. I have been going to PT for 3 weeks now for my back problem along with taking skelaxin. There is great improvement in the muscles in my back but I still have extreme pain in my spine. I am also stricken with these unbearable headaches on a daily basis. The Doc is calling it post concussion syndrome. all I know is that I wake up with a pounding headache and I go to bed with it. I have trouble sleeping now, where I never ever had any trouble at all. I take Vicodin and Topamax for the headaches. I also am seeing an OD who is treating the headaches through manipulation. He gave me 3 shots of Lidocaine in my neck last week and plans to give me more shots in my back this week. The pain meds make it bearable, as to where I can function during the day, but I cannot get in a truck and drive. I also fear that at some point I will form a dependency on the pain meds. The back pain does not allow me to sit or stand for more than 30 - 45 minutes at a time. Has anyone else had these problems? Is there hope that I will recover fully and get back to doing what I love the most? After 6 months of pain and doing nothing I am going absolutely crazy. My life has changed so drastically. I am not sure how this whole WC thing will play out. Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks