Anybody had corrective surgery for scoliosis as an adult? Talk to me please!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello.

I have a 45 degree curve in my lower back. Have had since I was a teenage, but we didn’t have insurance so it never got fixed. Never really bothered me until this year, when I started to first have hip pain and leg numbness, and now it’s awful and it’s wrecking my life in serious bad ways - can’t walk far, can’t run, can’t lift weights, can’t swim, hurts all the time, interferes with sleep. My discs are bulging as a result of the curve, which is pressing on a nerve.

Due to the curve the normal surgery of just enlarging the hole the nerve comes out of wont’ do, that will collapse. I’ve had two opinions, my surgeon and a professor and researcher at the best teaching hospital here. I have some risk factors in that while I am no longer obese I am still overweight (BMI around 27, down from above 40) and I had an embolism that nearly killed me in 2006 - significantly, before I lost weight and quit smoking and started getting regular exercise that I am now not getting due to all this. I’m 43 years old and I’m not ready to have a life that means walking for spaces of less than a city block without being in pain.

Recommedation today - those two factors are big risks. If I am willing to accept the risks, I should have the surgery. (Few other things first, but yeah essentially.)

It’s a big surgery - 10 hours or so, a week in hospital, a week in rehab, six weeks off work, missing a semester of uni.

Have you done it? Did you consider it and decide not to do it? If you did do it, are you happy or sorry?

TL;DR: I am 43 with risk factors and considering correcitive surgery for scoliosis, am I stupid?

2

You’re not stupid, what you have is a problem without a clear answer.

I am going to applaud you for carefully considering whether or not to have surgery. Really, doing research and thinking carefully about this choice is extremely important.

You do have risk factors, this is true, but risk factors can often be managed. You need to talk to knowledgeable doctors about how those risks can be managed during surgery and immediately after.l

**The real question here is will you be better off with the surgery or without? ** From what you say there are a real problems with not having the surgery, including increasing disability, inability, and possible health risks as you can’t engage in meaningful exercise as you are, which may well lead to weight gain and deteriorating health. On the other hand, the surgery will be a major trauma to your body, may result in unpleasant and/or debilitating side effects, and carries significant risks. You’re not going to get a definitive yes/no answer for whether or not to do this.

Good luck to you.