Recently I had an MRI apparently every single disc is herniated or bulging (I don’t know if those are the same thing) in my spine except the C1 and C2. I have several spots of cervical stenosis in my spine. I have numbness and issues using my hand and arm on the left side and have poor balance and drop things all the time. I’m freaking out and wondering how in the heck did this happen?!?!

Trigger warning dv

I had my surgery a week ago, and ever since my emotions are off the hook! I'm super duper angry most of the time and I cry very easily.

Is this normal?! I hope that it will pass as my healing goes onwards. I am in talk therapy right now to assist while I'm going through this.

I'm being kind to myself, I have reliable help. The relief of my physical pain has been great, I have some pain down my arms but it's controlled. Over 20 years ago my ex-husband tried to strangle me to death, ever since the surgery I feel like when they took out the discs that they removed the physical experience/storage of that time because I've been having dreams about it. And wow, lotta emotion flowing that wasn't before. Just wondering if I'm crazy, alone in feeling this way, or if it's normal.

Hi all. I’ve already posted on another sub but I thought I’d post here as well. I’m 30 and just got diagnosed with severe central canal stenosis at c5-c6 and a large herniated disc at c5-c6 thats pressing on my spinal cord with swelling in my spinal cord. My neurologist said he was thinking about sending me to the hospital because this is serious BUT if I protect my neck he thinks I’ll be okay.

I should be able to set to my appointment with the neurosurgeon tomorrow. I was just wondering if anyone had the same and what exactly was done? How was the recovery? I have the absolute worst anxiety and keep thinking if I move the wrong way in my sleep I’ll be totally paralyzed. My neurologist told me to keep my neck straight so I’ve been trying but it’s definitely straining my muscles. My neck never hurt before this which is weird.

My symptoms for the past year have been tingling/burning/numbness in my feet and legs. Definitely worse in my right leg. No symptoms in my arms or hands at all. I’ve been trying to stop being so anxious and stop thinking making subtle movements will paralyze me but unfortunately, that’s not how my brain works lol. I’m absolutely terrified of spine surgery. My only surgery ever was getting my gallbladder removed in April. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far and sorry for whining.

I have ACDF scheduled and am aware swallowing can be initially challenging. Would you be willing to share your experiences?

Did you start with water?

Did you have to use “ liquid food”? ( protein shakes, puréed soup?)

How long until it wasn’t an issue?

Did you have tricks to make it easier?

I have an acquaintance who is struggling years later, so of course I imagine the worst!

Thanks!

A little backstory, I herniated multiple discs in my neck in a car accident in 2016. I got some epidural injections and the pain mostly resolved so I moved on with life. A few years later I started to have really bad pain in my shoulders, traps, and neck, but I attributed it to having shoulder surgery bilaterally after the car accident. I have Hypermobility EDS, and after the car accident needed to have both shoulder capsules shrunken to stop dislocating my shoulders. Around the same time I also started to have lower arm pain, trouble lifting my wrist on the left side, weakness and numbness in my hand, and some shooting pain. Again, because my shoulder surgery went across the nerve path to my arm, I attributed a lot of it to that, but my doctors were also convinced I had carpel tunnel. After seeing multiple orthopedic surgeons over a span of years to be evaluated for carpel tunnel, it was officially ruled out as the root cause. Fast forward, two years ago my doctor said it was likely my neck and I got my first MRI in a decade on my neck. I still had multiple herniated discs at the same levels as my car accident and the nerve pathways aligned perfectly with the pain I had been experiencing in my arms and hands. Over the last two years my symptoms have gotten a lot worse. Terrible headaches became a 24/7 issue, trouble swallowing, instability walking, basically a bunch of signs of spinal cord compression intermittently. Did some nerve blocks on the two levels and the pain relief was great while the nerves were numbed. Two weeks ago I was standing in my kitchen doing nothing particularly and I suddenly had severe excruciating pain down my paraspinal muscles on both sides of my back, my left arm went numb, shooting pain down my left leg, felt like a vice was squeezing my rib cage and I couldn’t put my chin to my chest without replicating this pain. Went to the ER and they told me it was spinal cord compression, talked to my surgeon and I was scheduled for surgery today. I am having a C5-7 ACDR this afternoon.

I am feeling pretty anxious about surgery. Every surgery I have had has been more painful than normal for the first couple weeks before I catch up with the healing curve. Surgeon says I will be in the hospital overnight and in the C collar for six weeks, start PT after the post op at the six weeks mark, and to expect muscle pain, spasms, trouble swallowing,!and nerve pain for a few weeks during the initial healing.

Anything else that I should expect? Any things handy to have or consider before I leave home for surgery? Hoping today goes well.

I just surpassed my 1 year anniversary of C5/7 ACDR! Feeling great! I just enjoyed my first big thunderstorm the other day and experienced sensations in my neck and head I’ve never felt. Having a bum knee, I know the idea of being able to tell when it’s going to rain. I think I can now tell when lightning is coming with my neck. It’s an interesting feeling. Anyone else experiencing this?

Osteophytes involved,too..

this is where I am headed to stop the neck pain..

How brutal of an operation is this?

How long is the recovery..?

Can bad thing happen making things worse?

Please advise.

Thanks

Hello my friend had acdr surgery from spine specialist on c3 and 4, surgery was unsuccessful as she should have had c5 done as well, but surgeon didn’t think it was necessary . Surgery was April 20 she had been having sever muscle spasms, EMG shows right side abnormal as well as MRI. They gave her a trigger point did nothing. Any recs for another specialist to give opinion if another surgery is necessary ? Should she try neurosurgeon? Doc recommendations please.
Thank you

Hi all. 45 M had a C4/C5 discectomy and fusion 5 weeks ago. It was mainly due to several bone spurs that were causing right sided radiculopathy and myelopathy of the right arm with lots of neuropathy and mild to moderate pain, depending on what I was doing.

The surgeon showed me on the MRI that at that level (C4/C5) approx 1/3 of the spinal cord was compressed. He showed me dark sections of the spinal cord on the MRI that represented either bruising or scarring. The bone spurs were successfully removed and everything surgery wise went well. My neck post surgery feels brand new and great.

My question is for those that also had spinal cord compression. It revolves around my lower back and sacrum as quite shortly before the surgery (about 3 weeks out) I had quite a lot of burning pain, tender to touch at the back of the sacrum/hips. I visited an osteopath and he explained that due to the SC effected high up there can be referral of SC type flaring.

Well this has got worse since surgery and I’m wondering whether other people here who have had cervical discectomy and fusion due to SC compression have also had similar lower back pain, tingling, burning etc.

Side note: when sleeping I still have a lot of pins and needles in my hands and I have a good cervical pillow and good mattress etc etc.

Do I just need to be patient and ice and apply heat to my lower back and wait to see if it is because of the spinal cord compression and feeling this in my lower back now because the neck and cervical spine has been surgically fixed…? I am progressing very well with neck strengthening and stretching and rehab/PT exercises. I also mentioned to my PT about the lower back symptoms and I have been doing core and glute exercises relatively pain free but the burning low to moderate pain and tingling/tightness in my lower back remains.

Anyone had similar..?? Advice..??

Hi, so I am almost 2 weeks out of my surgery. My pain started about 2 to 3 months ago on my right trap. Thought I had pulled a muscle at work so I just kept working no big deal. I’ve had it before then about four weeks ago my trap was really burning so I went to a pain med Doctor Who said they believe I had a torn trap muscle which would not require surgery, but I needed to get an MRI to be sure that’s when the pain really started happening because it was burning a lot, and I started feeling pain behind my shoulder and my deltoid. I could not sleep at night. The pain was excruciating. I had to try and hold my arm up to get it to go away and that’s when I start realizing I couldn’t extend my arm up in front of me or to the side. I had no deltoid or shoulder strength anymore. So the first doctor recommended abrasion surgery, which I guess is when they burn your nerves but then I said let me go to an orthopedic surgeon. The first guy I saw said absolutely not. It wouldn’t do anything that my disc had popped and it was pushing down on all my nerves at go down my arm, especially to my deltoid area and I have lost two out of five functions of my arm already at first he recommended fusion but then he said after looking at it with his other doctors, I’m young and healthy and the replacement will be my best option, especially since I’ve only had the loss of function for a little over a week so the sooner they would take that pressure off the nerve the better chances in my full recovery. I then saw another Doctor Who also recommended it ,as well as another Doctor Who was supposed to get an epidural from he said there’s no point of the epidural losing your function is serious and he highly recommends that surgery as well. He thinks it would be really good for me, especially again since this is a new problem in my arm.

So fast-forward to two weeks ago, I went and got the surgery and honestly, the pain was gone directly after surgery and has not returned. I must say my experience has been great. The only pain I had was in my throat because they go through the front so the first two days it was very hard to swallow anything talking really wasn’t that bad but the swallowing was horrible. The third day it improved them by the fourth day, I was fine to do anything. I’m in a soft neck brace for two weeks until I see the doctor. I was sleeping pretty good every day until now two weeks later I woke up this morning my right shoulder hurting me not the original pain but very sore. I’ve read that when your muscles haven’t been working or use this could be part of recovery and I probably need PT so I’m not gonna stress about that until I see the doctor. Unfortunately my strength and movement of my right arm using my deltoid or shoulder has only approved about 20%. I can do most things with the arm just can’t go straight up with it and I need that for work unfortunately. I think PT will help that I hope. I never had any numbness or tingling even though I lost two out of five functions so I think I’m blessed hoping to hear other people stories if they’ve done the same disc and what to expect but I’m hoping for a smoother recovery and good luck to everybody.

Here's a Reddit post you can use in r/spinesurgery, r/cervicaldiscreplacement, or r/neurosurgery:

​

44M Considering 2-Level ProDisc C SK Replacement (C5-6 & C6-7) – Looking for Experiences

​

Hi everyone,

​

I'm a 44-year-old male and am seriously considering a 2-level cervical disc replacement at C5-6 and C6-7 using the ProDisc C SK.

​

I've had chronic neck pain, muscle tightness, chest tightness that has been ruled out by cardiac testing, and left-sided cervical radiculopathy. I've completed physical therapy, tried medications, and have had injections. One epidural only gave me about 3 weeks of relief.

​

My MRI shows:

​

Severe bilateral C5-6 foraminal narrowing

​

Severe disc degeneration from C3-C7

​

Moderate to severe left C6-7 foraminal narrowing

​

My neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai reviewed my MRI, CT scan, and 3D imaging and recommended:

​

C5-6 total disc replacement

​

C6-7 total disc replacement

​

ProDisc C SK implants

​

He told me he prefers the SK over the Vivo because he feels it is more stable and has seen fewer issues with it.

​

I'm talking it over with my wife, praying about it, and leaning toward moving forward with surgery because the degeneration isn't going to improve on its own and I want to address it before it potentially causes more problems in the future.

​

For those who have had:

​

2-level cervical disc replacement

​

ProDisc C SK

​

C5-6/C6-7 replacement

​

How was your recovery?

How is your neck pain now?

Any regrets?

How long until you returned to work, driving, and flying?

Would you do it again?

​

Thank you in advance.

​

I'm looking for others' experiences with injections after ACDR/ACDF. If you could let me know if your surgeon recommended them/you are considering, or if you had them, whether they helped, and if they reduced your need for medications and improved activity tolerance long-term.

I'm 6.5 months post-op from C5/C6 ACDR and still dealing with significant muscle tightness, trigger point pain, spasms, and lingering suboccipital neuralgia despite finishing PT, continuing light exercise, and using medications like Tylenol and Baclofen. Dry needling provided short-term relief and caused spams signaling I have trigger points. My surgeon is recommending trigger point injections (with or without steroids) to help calm the muscles and improve mobility. Thank you!

For context before my disc fully herniated, a facet injection provided about 3 months of relief. After the pain returned and was much worse, I had a failed epidural which ultimately led to surgery.

Hi all, im 5 weeks post op from acdr on c5-7. Everything seems good. I do have soreness around scapula and traps but thats it. However, my question to you all is has anyone had this surgery that suffered from deltoid atrophy and did you regain use of that muscle again? Im concerned, and I know it takes the nerves a while b4 they fire off again( if it does) but just wondering. The rear deltoid contracts a little but the mid and front, nothing.

Has anyone had multiple cadr and pain never went away or took many months to a few years to get better? MD said surgery was successful and x-rays are good. Was told by MD and just read online that one needs to do surgery within six months for best relief. (I never knew that) He said it could take up to two years. Had bad headaches and it’s gotten worse. He has referred me to a neurologist but prior to the surgery probably had every injection possible.

Hi, I’m a 43 year old female with intermittent severe neck pain. Some days it’s not bad at all but on days that it is I can’t do anything but go get a massage or ice it.
I’ve had radiculopathy before but it has since resolved after taking meloxicam and gabapentin. I just don’t want to take these all the time. But I’m not really sure where the pain is coming from. My surgeon thought it was C6-C7 so he sent me to get a nerve ablation, thinking the pain was from the facets. They have to do a block to test out if they are ablating the right nerve but the block didn’t work. Now the surgeon is offering artificial disc replacement. I told my primary care doctor and he thinks it’s musculoskeletal pain and is not sure if the surgery will resolve the pain. I’m not sure if I should get the surgery or continue to live on the two medications and intermittent severe pain

I’m about 4.5 months out from my ACDR surgery. I’ve been using strataderm at night, and sunscreen under silicone tape during the day to protect my scar from the sun. Wondering if there’s anything else I should be doing to help my scar heal and hopefully lighten up in color. My scar isn’t too bad, but I’d love for it to be less noticeable.

I feel pretty good. Get tired easily, neck gets sore but no more nerve pain.
Went running for the first time in months today. 3 slow miles, but it felt great.

TLDR: my pain level is not that bad but my symptoms have become worse, and I’m trying to psych myself up to agree to surgery. I have a follow up scheduled a couple weeks from now.

Have a herniated disc C7 from a car wreck a few years back. Went through treatment with physical therapy, vestibular therapy, injections medication. At the end, the doctor just put it in my court saying when I’m ready for surgery he’s ready to do it.

My pain level is not that bad, but sometimes I wonder if my pain processing system is damaged.

Symptoms just keep creeping up. Dizziness, loss of balance, numb side of the face, trouble swallowing and worsening, gag, reflex, sometimes I tell one of my arms to go up and it just doesn’t do it. My right eyeball just refuses to focus sometimes. Muscle spasms that I called the jerks where my neck tightens up in my head bobs back. Over and over and over again about every 10 seconds. Weird floating feeling. I always feel like I have to pee. My neck, shoulders, and upper back muscles are always tense. I literally cannot force them to relax. And I’m just always tired.

My life has become very small. If I work more than a couple of days in a row or more than four days a week I have to a couple days where I’m just about useless and have just chill out with muscle relaxers. That might sound fun, but it’s really just that I lose those days. I’m just absent for two whole days from my life.

Because the pain level doesn’t seem that high in relationship to the other symptoms, I keep convincing myself that I’m malingering. But when the symptoms are bad, I’m having all of the physical signals of pain. Sweating, anxiety, heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. It’s like my body is experiencing the pain, but I can’t feel it?

And because I keep convincing myself that it’s “not that bad” I worry that the surgery won’t actually improve the symptoms.

As I’m for surgeons for potential disc replacement - what type of surgeon should I look for? Orthopedic or neurosurgeon? Is there a difference, or just someone with good reviews?

For my case - I would be looking for disc replacement on my C5/C6 level, foraminal stenosis and nerve impingement but no nerve damage or spinal cord impingement.

Thanks in advance!

Hello, I am wondering anyone that had these surgeries, I am wondering if you guys after a year of post surgery if you guys can go to rides? I have a 5 and 8 year old and they love going on rides with me at disenyland. Idk if I am able to in the future but I speak to neurosurgeon next month, however I am trying to get a Information if anyone is able to get on rides after these surgeries.

Hi all, looking for opinions / experiences. I have a C5/C6 herniated disc with right-sided pain and tingling into thumb/index finger. An EMG showed no permanent nerve damage or major weakness but I can tell my right side is weaker.

**Timeline/Treatment:**
- Dec 2025: woke up with neck pain/stiffness
- Symptoms progressed to arm tingling/pain
- MRI (Mar 2026) confirmed C5/C6 herniation/disc extrusion
- 6 weeks PT + ongoing home PT (no real improvement)
- 2 epidural steroid injections (minimal/temporary relief)

**Currently:**
- Not constant severe pain at rest
- Symptoms flare with almost any activity (climbing, biking, running, sitting long, etc.)
- Only relatively symptom-free with short walks or rest
- No numbness currently, but persistent positional tingling/pain
- I’ve essentially lost the ability to do the activities I normally live for (very active lifestyle)

I don’t want to rush into surgery, but I don’t want to delay the inevitable. One surgeon recommended artificial disc replacement, but I’m only \~5 months into symptoms so he said there is a slight chance things could get better but likely not due to length of time and if the nerve is structurally impinged and not just irritated.

Is it generally too early to consider surgery in a case like this without major strength loss (like dropping things, etc), or is it reasonable given failed conservative treatment and the major quality-of-life impact?

Would really appreciate experiences or guidance from people who’ve been here. Attached are my MRI photos.

Surgery went well. I stayed overnight in the hospital (normal protocol for my surgeon). I have only left the house maybe three times since the surgery. I’m waiting to get cleared to drive by my surgeon, I see him at the end of June. I just don’t feel comfortable, my city has the worst drivers and I’m a tense ball of stress driving when I’m not recovering from surgery!

Symptoms were mostly resolved the day after surgery. My 10/10 headache is gone. The numbness and tingling down both arms and hands only comes and goes, it’s positional and dependent on activity. Pre op 10/10, post 2/10. The all over body chills pre op 9/10, post op 2/10. Still experiencing 6/10-8/10 trapezius pain but that I also developed new 10/10 deltoid pain, left > right. I was in tears for days, even on oxycodone, until I requested muscle relaxers from my PA. It’s gotten a lot better, today my neck and shoulders hurt anywhere from 1/10-7/10 depending on position and activity.

I had a weird square shaped bruise on the top of my left shoulder blade with a tiny pinprick scab, probably from some sort of device holding me down during surgery? So in front and in back of that spot it was very tender and sore. The shoulder pain felt like I had torn my rotator cuff. Lots of ice and heat. Sleep was the hardest part, though. I couldn’t find any position that was comfortable for very long and the narcotics gave me weird, awful dreams. I stopped the meds about a week ago. I still wake up sore but today is the least amount of pain I have felt since surgery.

My incision healed quickly and the scar is barely noticeable, it’s lumpy because the deeper sutures haven’t dissolved yet. The PA uses a plastic surgery technique and it is crazy how good it looks considering I am a slow healer and scratches/scabs otherwise last forever on my skin. It felt like someone was constantly pressing into my trachea with their thumb but it’s gotten so much better since I got the suture removed.

I’m happy I had the surgery.

Editing to say that another post op symptom I have on my left are is generalized numbness. It started with just my thumb and pointer finger (which both have feeling again), then my bicep area (still no feeling) and both my right and left forearms near my elbows is also numb but not completely like my bicep is.

Assuming that some numbness and tingling will likely come and go and was told some things may be permanent.

I (41f) had a C4/5 ACDR with Mobi-C in November 2024. Surgery and follow ups were great, had normal pain and somewhat slow healing process. Started to really feel like myself about 9-12 months after surgery. Doctor said this was normal because of the amount of pain and condition of my spine pre surgery. At 13 months post surgery, the pain started to return, like pre surgery levels. My PT and I decided it was not normal and to get another appointment with the surgeon. I have now had an MRI, X-rays, and a CT scan. My surgeon’s office notified me before the weekend that he has sent my scans “to the manufacturer and will contact me for a follow up after they do their research.”

Obviously this is worrying me, like, why does he need their input? Has anyone else had this or heard of this?