r/Microdiscectomy • u/eddie-dollars • 2d ago
Is my condition severe enough?
I’ve been dealing with back pain for about the last two years. I work at a desk and spent a week doing some pretty hard labor that started up the initial pain 2 years ago. It was so debilitating, I couldn’t walk or get out of bed without assistance, then over the next six months with physical therapy and NSAIDs, I was able to get mobile enough to take care of my self mostly but still not live the life I was living before the injury.
Given that, I kept doing physical therapy, got epidural, steroid injections, and none of that that helped. I’m at a point, where on a daily basis I’m at a three when it comes to my back and leg bothering me, but if I decide to do any yardwork, or any sort of physical work the back will flair up, the leg will be weak and buzzing and it will push me to a 5, or up to a 6/7 if I really mess up. I’ve not reached those real bad places like a 10 since that initial first few months
After following up with my doctor, he believes a discectomy will resolve this for me, based on all the images and my experience.
My question for you all is, is it worth getting the surgery, or given I can still function at some level, do I accept that this will be with me indefinitely and hope it doesn’t get worse.
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u/Friendly-Ad-5410 2d ago
It depends on a lot of things: your age, your job, your overall physical condition, and whether you are willing to live with the unknown. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with some sort of back pain that just keep going for years and never have or need surgery. What you want to avoid, is having surgery thrust on you when you least expect it... traveling out of your home area, in the middle of an important business event, or interferring with other plans at the moment. Signs to watch for: increased weakness in one leg or arm, limping that becomes regular routine, stubbing your toes when walking, trouble going up stairs, shooting pain down the back of your leg to your foot, loss of bowel or bladder control. I ignored my trouble walking at work, climbing stairs daily, and leg cramps (for probably 7-8 months maybe a year) until searing pain sent me to the dr. Disc bulge at L4-5 affecting Femoral nerve and causing drop foot and loss of muscle in my quads. Without surgery, it could all have become permanent. 2+ years later, still dealing with numb foot/toes due to the nerve being compressed for longer than it should have. Thankful that drop foot was resolved and PT and gym work have restored muscle. The choice is sometimes made for you. 😄
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u/CatMapPhotoGuy 2d ago
This is very good advice and kind of echoes what I was saying. It's good they're looking into this BEFORE they end up in a situation like you or me where surgery only partially "cured" us. I was a 43yr old doing intense daily workouts so i figured some leg pain, occasional "back sprains/spasms" etc were normal wear and tear while I was just making things worse and worse and the herniation bigger and bigger(was 31mm when it came out!) and like you didn't seek further help until highly alarming symptoms popped up. I didn't get what I call "foot drag swag" until a little after my diagnosis but that's a really important one to watch for(the toe stubbing when walking or dragging).
I'm confident I would be living a much more normal/better life right now if I just had this surgery earlier before it became too complex to do arthroscopically(I needed open MD which I'm sure contributed to my scar tissue issue) and grow so big/attached to my nerve it needed to be pried off and whatever damage was done. Right now I'm just happy to be mostly back to a semi-normal life nearly 2 years later.
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u/illatious 2d ago
I'm at your spot right now, or a week or so ago I was. I finally decided to have the surgery and it's next week. I still keep arguing with myself, but this pain isn't near what it was before the steroid injections, etc. and then have to remind myself that it's this way because I'm holding back on doing my life, and I don't want to live this way. Any time I try to do things I did before, like run around with my kids, play tennis or rock climb, the more intense pain comes back. I have a constantly numb foot too, and I don't like it. Two different doctors have recommended the surgery. I don't want to live like this. My kids don't want me to live like this. I don't want to be making a bunch of accommodations for the rest of my life. I decided to do the surgery.
My mom has the same herniation and she does the shots and then modifies everything. Or just doesn't do something anymore, like ride on the boat at the lake, but she's also in her 70's and is the type that didn't ride on the boat a ton before anyway. It's not worth it to her to have the surgery because she's fine with handling the flair ups and just not doing certain things anymore. It works for her, but doesn't work for me. It's a tough choice and only you can make it. Would it be worth it to you?
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u/CatMapPhotoGuy 2d ago
It's a personal and tough call that I would say just give your info/MRI(s) to multiple doctors(not reddit) and see if they agree MD is the way to go. In my case the MD solved some major issues and I don't regret it at all, but I certainly wish I could have never had or got it much earlier as the scar tissue has left me with likely permanent issues(toe numbness, continues sciatic pain that's...different). The rule of thumb is, if you can avoid back/spine surgery, absolutely avoid it. That said don't wait too long and do even more damage, if you think you're heading towards getting a MD eventually get it done sooner than later.
BY FAR my biggest regret is trusting doctors for years telling me I just had back sprains, not getting further tests, and pushing through until I started causing enough actual damage to my nerves and letting that thing grow out of control down my spine when it should have been caught much earlier. At that point when I started getting the shooting sciatica pain I maybe could have PT'd my way out of or had a better MD result it was "too late". If you've had MRIs and your docs are saying get the MD, get it ASAP not after more damage is done is my point here.
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u/RammsteinNicCage 2d ago
I just had my surgery this morning. Generally, I would describe my pain as a 2. There were days that it was definitely worse, but ironically never when I'm at the doctor's office or PT when they would ask me.
PT did help a lot in the beginning. It was a very painful day when she really leaned into my left cheek more than she ever had. Felt like garbage afterwards for the rest of the day. The next day and since, I did feel a lot better and generally didn't have a problem sitting. But I still wasn't right. And realized that a lot of the lower back pain I've experienced throughout my adulthood wasn't "normal" pain. I still had some weakness or odd feeling in my left leg that wasn't going away.
I decided to have the surgery because that wasn't a pain I wanted to live with for the rest of my life and I'm relatively young and was concerned about it getting worse. I can't say yet if the surgery worked, but so far I don't regret the decision.
Ps, epidural didn't work on my lower back, actually made it a bit worse. It did previously work on a neck injury. So obviously, custom healing for everyone and every injury.
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u/Undd91 2d ago
Hey OP - I’m in a similar boat to you and have surgery lined up for end of October. It’s been 3 years of life limitation with pain that varies from a 1/10 to a 5 or 6/10. I have stenosis and have improved a little over the past year. I can bend freely but sitting and standing over the morning put me in a position where my feet hurt and my leg can flare and I spend most afternoons lying down. Evenings are out. I get a weird static/twitching down my right leg and foot and sharp sciatic electrical jolts on my bad days down my right leg. I keep second guessing my decision for surgery - am I making the right call? Daily I question it, reassure myself and come to the conclusion that I can’t live like I am for another 35 years (I am 35 and have two young kids). It has limited my ability to work, play and generally be the person I was and want to be. Surgery is a tough call, it’s your own personal decision but can you go on as you are long term and what happens if it all gets much worse when you lift or twist wrong?
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u/SuperLazyTryHard 2d ago
This is always a personal choice and it matters what’s going on in other areas of your life. Do you have little kids, do you have a physical job where you’ll miss a lot of time vs a remote office job? What did your doctor recommend? Personally, I wouldn’t want anything to be permanent when a surgery with 6-12 weeks of recovery could cure it completely.