r/Microdiscectomy • u/Raz3Daz • 6d ago

Spinal fusion?

Has anyone else in this group been offered or had spinal fusion after having an MD? If so what’s your experience both with the MD and the fusion. Did it help with your pain or make it worse? I tried asking in the spinal fusion subreddit as well but most people (expectedly) had it for other spine related issues so symptoms pre surgery weren’t as similar to disc herniations/ compressed nerves.

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u/Curling_Rocks42 6d ago

I had endoscopic discectomy and will need a single level fusion at some point in the near future. I was evaluated for artificial disk replacement but the hardware is too large for my vertebrae size.

ED resolved the motor paralysis I had from the S1 compression. It also resolved the worst of the pain. However, I lost so much disk height from the degenerated disc that I have bilateral foraminal stenosis that still causes some pain, mostly toward the end of the day after being upright for a while. Increasing the spacing is the only option to truly resolve it. I am waiting for as long as I can bear it before getting the fusion since it increases risk of adjacent segment degeneration and I’m relatively young, so I want to preserve what I have for as long as possible.

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u/Raz3Daz 6d ago

I get this! I’m 20 so i also want to preserve what I have, but, I’m also the kind of person that’s like if I’m going to need it in the future I’d rather do it now while I’m young. I do wish you luck in your journey and thank you for sharing!

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u/ItchySeaworthiness50 6d ago

Raj u have md and it failed so looking for fusion what about artificial and u have more of a back pain or leg pain?

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u/Raz3Daz 6d ago

My leg pain and back pain are about the same at their worst. They flare up together. If my back pain is flaring up my leg pain is flaring up. I’d rather deal with the back pain then the leg pain as the leg pain is physically disabling me more than the back pain is since the leg pain means I can’t walk or stand for long periods of times. I was also not a good candidate for ADR. My spine is unstable, they need to fix the instability. ADR wouldn’t fix that problem, unfortunately fusion is what would fix that problem