Back Surgery in my near future

[Nickshu]

Back in January I picked something up in a panic and felt like I pulled a muscle in my lower back badly. It was sore to painful off and on for about a month then I started getting numbness in my right foot and pain down my right leg. I did massage, steroids, NSAIDs, and physical therapy. Fast forward to this past weekend I woke up with 10/10 pain, trip to the ER with morphine and toradol which took it down to maybe 6/10. MRI shows severely herniated disc at L5/S1. It's clear that I won't have pain relief until it's surgically corrected. I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon tomorrow morning for consultation. Good times....no fun. Never thought I'd say it but I can't wait to get surgery to relieve the nerve compression and get out of pain.

[billybek]

I know what it is like to have back pain, but not to that extreme.

Good luck getting this sorted, I hope it works out for the best.

[tevake]

I'm wondering if some time on an inversion table could bring you some relief in the mean time.
I sure feel for you, back or neck issues can ruin every thing you want to do.

All the best in getting it fixed.

Cheers Richard

[vash]

good luck!!

my coworker and good friend had it done. he is in very good shape and just picking up luggage incorrectly derailed him.

he was at the doctor discussing surgery, and the doctor said, we can do it right now..my buddy without hesitation said yes. caught his poor wife unprepared. they wheeled him right away into surgery..

he said whatever happened it was better than the torturous pain.

again..good luck. my buddy is damn near 100%.

[Arizona_928]

It is very hard injury. I had a bilateral laminectomy at l5-s1 just about a year ago. One of the hardest injuries I have ever overcome mentally, and physically. I hope you can find some relief in the mean time.

Swedish medical center in Denver is really really good. I highly recommend the neurosurgeons there.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I fought through something similar, though not the 10/10 pain, maybe 7/10. Two herniated discs, sciatica, one fractured vertebrae. I really wanted to avoid surgery as it seems to go wrong all too frequently. After losing about 40 lbs the pain is very nearly gone.

[VincentVega]

nice job, I could lose 40lbs too

l5/s1 issues here too. I went under the knife and its been fine since. Recovery times are great now, I was in bed for a week, a coworker was working again after a couple days.

[911SauCy]

It's interesting how many of us are effected by this, myself included.

Sat down with the chiro on my 30th birthday in January to review my MRI of a severely bulged disc L5/S1...after 4 episodes of not being able to walk, stand, sit, or really move at all. I have an appointment with a lumbar team here in CT to discuss options soon, not soon enough...

OP, good luck to you as I never had pain to such an extreme.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by 911SauCy

It's interesting how many of us are effected by this, myself included.

Sat down with the chiro on my 30th birthday in January to review my MRI of a severely bulged disc L5/S1...after 4 episodes of not being able to walk, stand, sit, or really move at all. I have an appointment with a lumbar team here in CT to discuss options soon, not soon enough...

OP, good luck to you as I never had pain to such an extreme.

Boy that's about right, it sucks! I see the neurosurgeon this morning, if they could put me on the operating table immediately I'd take it!! I tried chiropractic with no improvement, even the chiro said I should have surgery ASAP.

They also told me not to wait too long, if you let it go for too long (as in months-years) the nerve area can get scarred down making persistent pain after surgery more likely.

[GH85Carrera]

I can only sympathize with back pain. I have been quite lucky and not had that burden.

My dad had some back issue when I was about 10. He could hardly move. Any movement was painful. He managed to get to the hospital and as an Air Force pilot that meant the flight surgeon. The orderly came in first and says "hop up on the table" and my dad looked at him and said "if I could hop up there I would not need to be here"

The entire thing was long ago and like most parents in the 1960s they did not discuss health issues with their kids so I don't remember much about what his problem was. It was resolved and he went back to flying.

Good luck with your surgery. Ain't it grand that there is an option like that. Imagine just 100 years ago in 1916 and needing back surgery. You likely would be dead or paralyzed.

[911SauCy]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

They also told me not to wait too long, if you let it go for too long (as in months-years) the nerve area can get scarred down making persistent pain after surgery more likely.

This.

Could also cause muscle atrophy, which then will screw with walking, posture etc etc and likely lead to more issues down the road.

I'm hoping a nice little steroid injection shrink job will be able to get me back in action 100%.

[VincentVega]

I went through that a bit. I didnt realize I was compensating for the pain and once it was gone my hip was a little out of alignment and one hamstring was week as can be. No reason to rush into it but if its time for the knife, do it.

[Nickshu]

Hey guys surgery completed this morning. Everything went well and I'm back home and feeling great. It was so cool wake up and find my right sciatic pain completely gone.
Thanks for all your well wishes.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Arizona_928]

What did they do?

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

What did they do?

Laminotomy and micro discectomy. Basically a 2 inch incision over L5/S1, opened up L5 bit for access, removed the herniated portion of the disc. As I understand it they do something to the disc as well to facilitate scarring at the point of herniation to prevent recurrence. Doc says 5% recurrence risk.

[cgarr]

Had this same thing done 20 years ago at age 37, was great for 15 years but now I have bad arthritis in the area of the repairs and nothing to fix it right now, good to hear it worked out great!

[red-beard]

If you are willing to come to Houston, we have a genius surgeon. He just preformed surgery on my father's neck, to relieve partial paralysis. Most lower back surgery is out patient.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

ADA- std?

[NY65912]

22 years ago I had a laminectomy L3-4 L4-5. I had an extruded disc due to a work injury. The annulus fibrosus (wall) of the disc broke and the nucleus pulposus (jelly insides) came out posteriorly into the extradural space. The surgery took almost 7 hours.

The downside to the surgery has been the lingering muscle spasms which can be debilitating for long periods.

My advi
ce to you is to do the physical therapy as though your life depends on it.

Best of Luck!

[Don Ro]

I've had my share of back pain over the years...nothing like the seriousness of what I read here. It's frightening how quickly and easily the back can be injured.
When my back is sub-optimal, I'm pretty much dead in the water.
I went to get out of my truck one morning, rotated my body to step out and WHAM!!!, big time back spasms. Went home and to bed w/a heating pad and the next morning it was as if nothing happened. Lucky me.
.
An ex g/f was a personal trainer...we often worked out together and she had clients who were "professional" (potential competition) body builders with whom I also worked out.
To a person, they all said that the key to having a sound back was to have well-developed abs (the core of the body). I was told that a person can work their abs every day, unlike other muscle groups, because abs are muscles of endurance.
Also, as has been said, weight loss is one key to having a healthy back.
Anyway, just a thought.
Best of good luck to you, Nick - and others.
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PS Also, the hip flexors are important.
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Back Pain Relief: Stretch Your Hip Flexors | POPSUGAR Fitness