How'd your back disk surgery turn out?

[Elenfair]

::: clings to Quadgop ::::

I’m in a similar situation right now - disk trouble with pain down my right leg. I’m being a “good girl” and following my PT’s instructions very carefully. Then again, I have a very high pain threshold. We’re trying to figure out exactly what is going on - right now, it seems that the worst pain is when I lie down on my back and everything “snaps into place”… and then I can’t move at all! GAH!

Anyway - all this to say - I would try more conservative therapies first. I really would. I have heard of too many failed back surgeries, too many instances of people left with more pain coming out that going in… no thank you! I’m going to try all the PT, OT, non-surgical ways of treating this thing before I go under the knife!

I feel your pain, though, Napier. I have to say that traction is pretty darn cool. Same for electrotherapy and such. Setting my paws on a TENS unit this week… hopefully it will help some, too!

[Duke_of_Rat]

I had no idea there were so many failed surgeries. Among the back surgery patients I know, maybe 6 or 8, all have been successful. Mine were successfull both times (same doctor, 13 years apart). Each surgery did a different leg.

The same doctor did a fusion on my dad’s neck after he removed a collapsed disc. That’s why I chose him for mine, dad’s went so well.

As for pain progression, mine started out like a stiff lower back, couldn’t bend over or do a set up. Then a nagging pain right around the hip bone that was made better by applying pressure to the area. Then pain down the back of my thigh, like a pulled hamstring. Then burning in the calf muscle. Then pain on the outside of the ankle, and finally pain on the top of the foot, ending on top of the 3rd and 4th toe.

I still have a bit of tingling in my legs, and I don’t think my ankles ever got all of their strength back. My back still has minor pain if I over do it. I don’t think I would have survived any extended therapy, I was near the point of insanity from pain even with ever increasing doses of narcotic pain killers. It was pretty much surgery or nothing for me.

[Napier]

I went to work Monday and the first guy I spoke to said he’d had sciatica, pphysical therapy, steroid shots, then a laminectomy, then a fusion.

Soon after I walked to another guy who had sciatica, PT, shots, then a laminectomy.

Another fellow shortly after my problem started said he’d been through all these things, culminating in surgery.

Another went through all these plus surgery to trim some spurs, finally triple fusion surgery 5 years ago which worked great.

So far I think it’s 5 people I have met that had surgery. All said it was successful, at least pretty much so, and they are very glad - a big relief.

It is surprising I have not met anyone who was fixed by the therapy (which Drs say usually happens), or given that it didn’t work, was fixed by the shots (which Dr now says usually happens). My experiences seem very implausible if I understand the documented success rates of conservative measures right.

[mojave66]

I had two cases of sciatic pain down my right leg (L5/S1). The first was in 1998 and it DID resolve with physical therapy. However, it can also resolve spontaneously, so who really knows?

The pain comes back again early 2000, and I’m in a wheelchair all the time because the pain was so bad. Fortunately, I have a good nurse practitioner (I tend to like them over MDs, especially with HMO coverage) and she sent me to a surgeon who recommended steroids.

I had three treatments: the first, no relief. The second, the pain relief was measurable, but it didn’t resolve and I still couldn’t walk very far. I finally asked the doctor at the steroid clinic if the third shot would let me walk again, and he said “sorry, but no. I don’t think this will help 100%.” In other words, the steroids help reduce the nerve irritation but they don’t do much for the cause of the irritation.

So I finally had a microdiscetomy done the summer of 2000. The first time I had sciatica I had a bulging disk impinging on my nerve; this time the bulge had broken off and calicified to the bone, providing permanent irritation to the nerve. Nothing short of breaking it off would’ve worked, and that’s precisely what my surgeon did. But I got to admit I’m lucky; I work for one of the best research medical schools in the country so my surgeon IS the best neurosurgeon in the country (and even has a sandwich named after him, go figure). So if you can, make sure you research your surgeon beforehand, make sure he or she is top-notch. At any rate, my surgeon said “you’re gonna hate me for a week, and then after that I’ll be your best friend.” Hell, I didn’t even hate him, but after a week the first time I walked down my neighborhood street with absolutely no pain I was ready to canonize the dude.

In contrast I have a friend whose back looks like a perfect Klingon make-up job, she’s had that many surgeries. She’s also now in a wheelchair permanently, and lives with chronic pain. However, in contrast, her back problems are incredibly complex, involve several disks, and include a degenerative disease.

I’d say definitely get evaluated by a surgeon and listen carefully to the risks. Ask him/her directly what’s the percentage chance that you’ll be fully out of pain after the surgery. If you do have the surgery, follow the aftercare instructions to the letter. You don’t want to f*ck up your back again, as I’m sure you well understand.

[congodwarf]

Last September 27, I woke up with severe pain in my lower back. I tried to ignore it but on the 30th, I couldn’t take it anymore. While sitting - or trying to anyway, in the GI doctor’s office during a consultation, I just started crying. I called my primary and was able to get in. She told me I had a pulled muscle and gave me Naproxin. I have no clue how I hurt myself. I slept the same way I always do. I didn’t do anything strenuous. I was going to the gym every day and doing yoga once a week. At the time I was only abotu 60 pounds overweight (180 and 5’2"). I was only 24 years old.
After taking the muscle relaxers, I took the advice of some older classmates and I saw a chiropractor. After 2 weeks of him loosening the muscles in my back, I realized that the pain wasn’t in my back. It was radiating up from my left leg and making all my muscles tense. The chiropractor was the first one to tell me that I had sciatica and probably a herniated disk. He said he couldn’t work on me anymore and sent me back to my doctor. My doctor gave me more Naproxin and some Tylenol with Codein. The problem is that the Tylenol put me to sleep so if I wanted to work, I had to suffer. If I didn’t want to suffer, I had to waste my sick time. In December, they finally sent me for an MRI which showed that L5 was bulging just slightly enough to push on the sciatic. It’s not even a bad hernia. You can barely see it. It’s just in the right place.
I had my first cortisone shot on January 13, my 25th birthday. It worked wonders - for two weeks. After that, the pain started coming back. I had my second shot, this one a double injection, on March 3rd. This shot didn’t do a thing for the pain. The pain actually got worse. When I had my follow-up last week, the spine doctor had the surgeon come in and talk to me. The three of decided that I would be having surgery.
So, on April 5th, I will have 1/4 of my disk removed. Since I only get back pain when my leg pain makes me tense up, both doctors say I have a very good chance of walking out of the hospital without pain. The surgery is supposed to be excellent for people with just leg symptoms.

For me, the worst thing about the pain is when I stand up. As the blood goes down, I can feel it pulsating against my nerve. It’s one of the most horrible feelings I’ve had. It’s painful and icky all at once. I’ve almost passed out from that feeling. It also caused me to spend half an hour crying in the bathroom right after I got to work two days ago.

If you want, Napier , I can e-mail you after I have my surgery in two weeks and let you know how it goes-since we have the same symptoms. I can tell you that the shot was VERY painful. I don’t ever want to do that again.