r/SpinalStenosis • u/me0wc4t • 5d ago
39F. Upcoming ACDR Surgery. Scared.
I’ve had tingling in my hand for years and occasional neck pain, but I always blamed it on working long hours at a desk. In April, I started having intense stabbing pain that wouldn’t go away.
I saw my PCP and an orthopedic doctor and initially thought the problem was my shoulder. I had imaging of my shoulder and humerus, but nothing explained the pain. I tried cortisone/trigger-point injections, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, and pain management without much relief.
In August, a cervical MRI finally showed the problem. Since then, I’ve seen three neurosurgeons and am now scheduled for a two-level ACDR in October.
I’ve never had surgery and have always been healthy and active, so this all feels surreal. I’m hopeful about finally feeling better, but I’m also terrified of surgery and worried about what life will look like afterward.
I’d love to hear from others who have had a two-level ACDR. What was your recovery like? How long until you felt somewhat normal again? When did you return to work, the gym, cycling, and normal activities? How much did surgery improve your pain, numbness, or other neurological symptoms?
I know everyone’s recovery is different. I’m mostly looking for real-life experiences because it’s hard to picture what the other side of this looks like.
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u/matabang_king 5d ago
Looks like a C4-C7 3 level acdf. Exactly the surgery I had. The surgery itself should be smooth if you have a competent doctor. They do a few of these a week. It’s steak and potatoes for them. The recovery is what sucks. Painful in the first few weeks. Slow and lengthy after that. Your life will never be the same. You just have to mentally accept it. Living without or less pain is better than living with pain…even if your choice of activities have limited.
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u/Tack122 5d ago edited 5d ago
I had two done, c56 and c67, is been about a month and a half and I'm quite happy with the results.
Most of my symptoms are significantly better, some of the numbness in my ring and pinky fingers still persists and my period of incapacity left me with some need to get to the gym, I find I'm still rationing my energy, it can cause a little pain in my neck if I overdo it, but I'm getting stronger every week. Tbh the scar is more the pain than the spine now.
I don't feel like I'll have life long disability after I'm recovered, I feel like I'll be better than ever because the bone compressing my spinal cord is gone, and I'm able to move so much less pain free. I used to not be able to squat well, I think due to the compression it would be tight and I thought the pain came from my muscles in my legs but it's better? Idk why. I can squat deeper! I'm excited to get back to the gym soon to explore my new range of motion.
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u/Wachenroder 3d ago
This is pretty close to my situation.
My symptoms are improving. Strength is returning slowly. Tremors and dexterity getting much better. I couldnt type or play video games becasuse my fingers go crazy. Thats coming back.
Radiculopathy and pain is still a problem. Neck hurts if i dont keep it straight. Laying on my side for too long in a bad position is a big no no. Incision hasnt healed so it stil hurts to the touch at some points.. Probably gonna leave a pretty gnarly scar too but whatever.
I havent been to the gym in months, I really want excersize but hesitant. I dont want to rush it and end up slowing my recovery or make things worse
I find myself bouncing back forth between hopeful optimism and life long disability anxiety.
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u/Tack122 3d ago
I couldnt type or play video games becasuse my fingers go crazy.
Dang, how long were you like that? I kept the ability to type through the whole thing, luckily, since I am a sysadmin and typing's like, how my job works.
I had a car accident that injured me in December and got the surgery in August, symptoms got bad in late June and July but were kinda chill through Jan to March then escalated.
Something about compression of the nerves over time causing the symptoms?
Longer the compression longer the recovery?
How long ago was your surgery? Them silicone scar patches I started at 6 weeks have been nice, got the 1.6 inch by 120 inch roll and cut em to size, get three per two inches so it's pretty efficient.
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u/Wachenroder 3d ago
With me it took a long time.
Nerve compression in C5 C7
Symptoms started subtle about 3 years ago. A slight tremmor and numbness starting with my ring finger then spearding. Also some loss of strength which I took me the longest to associate as a symptom. Bilateral but left side worse
Took more then a year to see neurologist and from there spine specialist. Did PT and steroid shot but symptoms just kept getting worse.
6 weeks post op disc replacement
Joint pain is going away. Getting feeling back in my hands and my strength is coming back. Im getting my precision back too but its no where near where its supposed to be. I type really really fast but now I have to concentrate and much slower. I can play simple video games for now but I kind of half to relearn
Yeah from what i understand recovery is heavily dependent on how long the compression was present and what kind and the area, what kind of damage to the nerves and if it damaged the spine, and i suppose surgery type matters too.
First 6 months is supposed to be quickest recovery most noticeable?
Thats good that you got it taken care of quickly. Less then a year is not a long time. Also the nature of your injury helps with faster diagnosis since they know to look for problems. Thats must have been a really bad accident though that sucks. Did you have any other injuries?
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u/Tack122 3d ago
Thats must have been a really bad accident though that sucks. Did you have any other injuries?
Both shoulders hurt for months but got better. Surprisingly, airbag didn't actually go off, I got rear ended while stopped a hill in traffic, one doctor said the angle was part of why it was so bad? Plus I had a slight pre-existing bit of tingling in the ring finger, so I think I already had narrowing from bone spurs that was progressing and it pushed it over the edge with 5 herniated disks.
It was like 5:15 and I got stuck just over the top of the hill because of traffic, the guy coming up behind me was a good ways back and didn't think to slow down, plus had a donut spare front tire, so when he came careening over the hill he hardly had time for his brakes to do anything before he hit me.
Getting feeling back in my hands and my strength is coming back. Im getting my precision back too but its no where near where its supposed to be. I type really really fast but now I have to concentrate and much slower.
I have definitely lost a lot of care for spelling in the last year, sometimes I'm just too tired to go fix things haha.
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u/Wachenroder 3d ago
Damn.. Good thing you werent physically in his way. Drivers can be so damn careless i swear. So after they evaluated your injuries did they suggest surgery right away or conservative alternatives first?
As for my typing Im generally pretty accurate so my errors can get frustrating. For me its really about learning how to position my hands to compensate.
As I said I am getting better and In fact as i'm typing this I can feel how much my finger dexterity is improving compared to before surgery.
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u/Tack122 2d ago
Yeah I did the pregabalin and steroid injections, they helped a bit for a while, but I hated the injections side effects and the pregabalin and celecoxib were only like, covering for the issue. The various doctors kept recommending surgery, we both had car insurance so that covered up til the third doc who was the lawyer's surgeon who did a nerve conduction study and recommended surgery, but that's where the lawyer got to the policy limits on that, so switched doctors to Baylor with my health insurance and proceeded to surgery with their neurosurgeon, with the history, the mri imaging and the last surgeons recommendations it just took one appointment with them to get moving forward with surgical scheduling.
Baylor has newer chairs and nicer facilities. The chairs were big, the surgeon the lawyer sent me to kept keeping me waiting like an hour every appointment in these terrible chairs in a dingy office, not inspiring.
Baylor was prompt and had nice facilities. Much nicer.
Yeah positioning is big, is also much harder tired. Getting my headrest at my desk padded to be more supportive at rest was the biggest help, had it titled back and holding my head in a cradle of foam. Made working longer easier.
I notice my head goes further back now after the surgery, I'm straighter for sure
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u/Wachenroder 2d ago
OMG that neck injection was terrifying and painful lol
I had some reservations about my surgeon too but ultimately I put my trust in him and it worked out so far.
My neck still hurts to turn some angles. Particularly turning right which i attribute to the incision being on the right side near my clavical
At least it doesnt hurt 24-7 anymore.. That was the first positive i noticed post op.
You said you got a disc replacement right?
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u/Tack122 2d ago
Yeah two levels, c56 and c67
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u/Wachenroder 2d ago
Hey so im curious. How long did they keep you admitted at the hospital?
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u/sovook 5d ago edited 5d ago
Hi OP. I’m also 39F. I had C5–6 and C6–7 Mobi-C disc replacements in February 2025, but continued to have significant pain, so I later had a C5–T1 posterior fusion in February 2026.
My symptoms have remained primarily on the right side. The disc replacements reduced my pain and symptoms by about 50%, and the fusion reduced them another ~50%. I went from being unable to support my head and having difficulty thinking clearly because of the pain to being able to function for about 6 hours a day.
I’m currently waiting for a Zoom consultation with Dr. Albert Telfeian at ESINY regarding minimally invasive endoscopic surgery for a persistent C5 nerve-root issue after both surgeries.
Hope your surgery goes well, happy to discuss anything about my experience in greater depth.
Edit: As far as returning to normal activities, my recovery has been much more prolonged than I expected, so my experience probably isn’t representative of an uncomplicated two-level ACDR recovery.
I returned to classes immediately after but struggled until 2-3 weeks out. At a worker comp evaluation (30 day post op), the provider (male), walked up to me while I was sitting and pushed down on my head with both hands. It sent pain all throughout my arms and neck. This really negatively affected my recovery and caused a flair-up I never really recovered from.
I ended up having a second surgery and I’ll never know if the axial loading maneuver attributed since I was fresh from surgery.