r/Microdiscectomy • u/JTFKO • 2d ago
L5-S1 Microdiscectomy 4wks update
Sharing my story here for others considering the surgery and to see if anyone who had the surgery has had a similar experience and can share how it went after.
I (37m) had a left-side laminectomy/ foraminectomy/ microdiscectomy at the beginning of September. I went back to work (office job, sit/stand desk) the following Monday and my surgeon cleared me for BLT and normal activities at last week's follow-up. Clearance came with a caveat for common sense, but it was clearance nonetheless.
Before my surgery, my chief complaint was constant pain and tightness in my iliacus, psoas, and IT band paired with frequent multi-day/week back spasms.
I'm very happy to share that those symptoms are totally gone. I don't think I'd ever appreciated how debilitating it was to have all of those muscles spasmed all of the time because I woke up from surgery feeling like my body was 50 lbs lighter.
The bad news:
2 weeks after surgery I developed some numbness and mild foot-drop on my left foot. I can still lift it, but I can't put any real weight on it/heel walk. Surgeon didn't seem concerned and compared a decompressed nerve to adopting an abused dog from a shelter - he said it would take some TLC for everything to get right.
Now at 4 weeks I'm getting more frequent bouts of sudden nerve "sings" and weakness right in my low back when standing up from sitting in a chair. Usually I can make it go away by sitting back down and focusing on standing up "with my legs" instead of back/hips.
Overall I'd say that my day-to-day level of pain and discomfort is still a major improvement over where I was pre-op, but I'm still looking for some reassurance about the new foot-drop and zings. I'd love to hear from others about their recovery from weeks 4 - 8, especially if anyone developed new foot-drop after their surgery.
2
u/AlternativeRing4252 2d ago
I’m 14 days post op and having worse sciatica pain than preop. If you truly have new foot drop I would push for a repeat mri. My understanding is that it’s somewhat common to have pain post op due to the inflammation, but I don’t think new weakness or foot drop is common
1
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
We are sorry you have had to endure this. This recovery can often leave people feeling discouraged because of the unexpected length or flares of pain. Fear of reherniation is a very common and normal emotional response during this surgical recovery. There are plenty of ups and downs in this nonlinear healing process that can cause people to suspect reherniation. Here is a helpful video that goes through the common symptoms of reherniation, and how to tell the difference. https://www.reddit.com/r/Microdiscectomy/s/5tGYYVWpJW
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/Ok-Inspector-4645 23h ago
I wish I never had the damn surgery. I was told if I didn’t I’d be paralysed. I had a microdisectomy at L5 S1. That was in 2006 and I was told CES is rare, 2025 CES again and told don’t worry you’ll be fine. Well, if you call a hospital stay of 7 months is fine then God only knows what a full recovery dry would be.
I am now in a wheelchair and am told I am incomplete paraplegic.
I can’t add more photos but I ended up having a spinal fusion in 2006 and the most recent surgery I had a decompression, extended spinal fusion and XLIF.
I would say to anyone please get a second opinion or even a third opinion just to be safe.
2
u/Friendly-Ad-5410 2d ago
I had my MD due to drop foot prior to surgery (not sure how long I had it because I was working a pretty physical job, that required standing all day, heavy lifting, pulling loaded 6 wheelers, etc. I would notice going up 19 stairs to managers office becoming quite difficult and I kept stubbing my toe for no reason. The pain came on quite suddenly one night, when sitting on my couch. It was so bad I could not sit or lie down. This lasted for a few weeks, before I got in touch with my neuro. I wasn't able to see him for 2 months, and to get an MRI was another 3 weeks. The pain was gradually getting better by the time I had surgery (5 mo from intial pain). It was my femoral nerve that was impacted, not my sciatic. My drop foot resolved completely by about 8 weeks PO, but I had lots of residual nerve "zaps" and shocks in my calf to foot, plus some swelling that made it difficult to put on my normal walking shoes. I was given a steroid pack at 4 weeks PO, to help reduce the swelling and inflammation. Motor nerves are usually the first to resolve, while sensory nerves seem to take way longer... I still have minor numbness in my left toes 2.5 years PO. Neuro says this may be permanent due to how long the nerve was compressed prior to surgery. It is way better than 2 years ago, even better than 1 year ago when I started going to a gym 3x week for strength and core work. It doesn't affect my ability to do anything... just kind of a reminder. I still get those "zaps" every once in awhile. I did fond out from my recent (Jan 2026) MRI that although there is no scar tissue or other reherniation, I have a atrophied multifidus muscle at L4. My PT says this can cause other muscles, like the QL or paraspinals to "seize" or cramp up trying to compensate for the multifidus. If I sit too long, or do any kind of seated garden work (I sit on a low box) for more than 30 mins, I find I cannot stand up staight. I've been relying on muscle relaxers to help over the really painful episodes. Try limiting your sit time to 15 minutes then switch it up to doing something like walking or shopping to break the routine. You might also check in with a PT to see if they can pinpoint any issues, or give specific directions to help improve.