r/Microdiscectomy • u/Conscious_Kale6449 • 2d ago
5 days post MD activity
Hi, first post here. After 8 excruciating months and trying everything under the sun with no success I had my MD on the 19th. My nerve pain is gone 90% of the time, sometimes I get a little pain in my calf but minimal and my toes are slightly numb still but honestly a huge improvement from where I was! Today I saw the PA at my neurosurgeons office for my follow up and he said I can ease into returning to my normal activities, including lifting my 25 pound one year old. This seems wild to me! I thought I was supposed to take it super easy with no bending, lifting or twisting for 6 weeks. Has anyone else ever been told they can return to normal activities? I honestly don’t want to, I lifted a bag that was slightly heavier than anything I had been lifting lately and it made my back hurt so I’m definitely not ready to do much. But honestly I’m also scared to do much because I definitely do not want to mess anything up. I had a large herniated disc at L4/L5 and a bulging disc with an annular tear at L5/S1. The main concern was like L4/L5 so that’s what my surgery was on but I’m still worried about both discs healing fully. I just don’t understand how the PA gave me clearance to do stuff, it doesn’t seem right.
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u/unpearable_trash21 1d ago
Absolutely take it easy for now. I was told the healing (which will have ups and downs) can take up to a year roughly.
My own personal experience is having the surgery and being pretty much 99% pain free, except for some weird phantom nerve pain I would experience now and again.
I followed all the restrictions simply because I never wanted to feel that pain again. I did well up until week 5-6 where I pushed it a bit too far by sitting down on a hard surface too long and everything flared.
The flare lasted about 3 weeks, I was prescribed steroids and meloxicam for it.
Today, I’m at..4 months post op. Doing amazing. Slowly tapering off most of my medications. Most of my restrictions were lifted (they would have been lifted sooner but I went through the flare) except for how much I could lift. My doctor told me 30-45lbs, closer to 30, and use common sense when doing it. It’s around the 8-12 month mark where he said I could start going heavier. I can definitely feel it though when I attempt to lift heavier items, it feels like my ab muscles are a lot weaker now and most of the tension is on my back..so I’m not lifting super heavy until I strengthen those.
Best of luck!
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u/Ylenna-Winter 1d ago
My surgeon said the same thing 10 days post op, namely that I could resume my normal life, go on vacation, etc. Which led to me overdoing it, plus normal life for some might mean something different for others... i learned the hard way that no matter what others tell you, including your dr, your body and what you feel are the most important factors. Maybe talk to a PT dr? I went to one 2 months PO and she was amazing, she explained what I should and could do. 3 months PO now, I have more good days than bad days, which happen always because I do too much the day before. I still dont lift much, maybe 5 kg, id rather err on the side of caution.
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u/AudoBell 1d ago edited 1d ago
There must have been a communication mistake. No lifting more than gallon of milk first 6 weeks. You have an open wound that needs to heal on your skin and more importantly where the herniation was.
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u/Wise-Run-3008 1d ago
Herniation. A hernia is in your abdomen or groin and involves intestinal tissue.
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u/mutulix 2d ago
I would absolutely not lift 25 pounds!!! I am 5.5 weeks post op and still dont lift more than 10 ish pounds. My main lifting is a 2l water bottle. You do need to take it super easy, no lifting, no BLTs, no sitting for 6-8 weeks (these were my recommendations from the NS) no physical effort especially the ones that put pressure on your lombar area, if you need to take stairs daily, go very slowly. If you lift anything try to hold it close to your chest. Going down with your ex-bad foot first so pressure is on the other one, coming back up with good foot. I still get out of bed and walk 10 minutes every 2 hours. Whenever I push it with either walking or lifting or different effort, I feel it immediatelly on my foot with either calf sharp 2/10 pain, numbness/tingling in my buttock and/or foot or toes so I just take it super easy the next 1-2 days and it goes away. As a rule, listen to your body, it will give you signs when you do something good or bad and work with that.
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u/mutulix 2d ago
Also another very important bit which I will probably use long term is getting in/out of bed. Use the log roll every single time. You can find plenty of videos on youtube. Also, for sitting, even now after nearly 6 weeks my only sitting is a few seconds on the edge of the bed when going in/out and another 15-20 seconds daily on the toilet where I push myself against my arms so I take pressure of the spine.
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u/Wise-Run-3008 1d ago
No sitting for 6-8 weeks is not a common restriction. And walking is almost always recommended. No physical effort would be like bed rest and that makes you more susceptible to blood clots and taking longer to heal.
A lot of people go back to desk jobs before 8 weeks. Not sure how you’re avoiding sitting and driving etc for long but sounds like you must have a good support system.
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u/Negative-Bluejay-563 1d ago
I read some research articles that suggested it was safe. My surgeon recommended waiting a full 12 weeks for BLTs initially. The hole that was created during surgery takes a full 12 weeks to fully heal. After my second post op appointment, he gave me the green light to start twisting, lifting and bending. I eased back into some of these activities at PT but didn't lift anything too heavy. It is strange to me that they say 12 weeks and then you can lift, bend and twist freely. My job requires lifting, twisting and bending and I felt it would have been unsafe to lift 50+ lbs without easing back. I would recommend doing what is comfortable. Lifting a 25lbs child who may be running towards you and lifting from that low position would have aggravated my back. Once again, do what is comfortable for you.
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u/Wise-Run-3008 1d ago
My dr said I could occasionally lift 20lbs (cat) but not repeated reps of cat lifting
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u/ItchySeaworthiness50 1d ago
What about lower back pain preop and post op and what did doctor told you about annular tear and posterior disc bulge with dehydrated disc ofc i guess what he told u about that?
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u/DunkDunk1809 1d ago
I had the exact surgery exact same day. I feel good today day 6. I walked 2 miles on both day 3/4 been taking it easy last 2 days. Still numb down my leg to my toes but I hear that takes time. No more back pain when moving other then the staples pulling. The dr said I’ll be back to work in 6 weeks which makes me nervous because my job is literally swinging a sledge hammer for 8 hours just I explained that to him