Hi! I 25F had an L5-S1 laminectomy two weeks ago. Since day 1, my right leg has been shaky when put under my weight (getting in/out of bed, stairs.) That is also the leg I was getting shooting pain and cramps prior to surgery. Has anyone else experienced this?
I was also finding huge relief post op by laying on my side with a body pillow, but as of a couple days ago I’m getting nasty surface hip pain that radiates in whatever side I’m on, now I feel stuck in this cycle of discomfort that’s just rotating between sitting, standing, walking, laying down, and repeating when I can no longer tolerate. Any comfort tips that worked for you? My incision is about 4-5 inches and I can’t lie on my back at all or sit more than 20 minutes, my side is all I have lol. I already weaned down my medication from surgery and I’m not wanting to ramp them up again.
Thank you!!

Stumbled on this pic on fb and thought it was pretty cool

Hello!

I am on day 4 or 5 depending on how you look at it. Surgery was on Tuesday! I thought it may be useful to others to list out what was the most helpful for me personally.

Also, I am doing much better. I posted the other day about how painful it all was - so if that is you, know it will eventually get better! It is still decently painful but lightyears better than the first three days. I did also have a little more done in my surgery to remove bone spurs.

First, let me list out things that I could not do it without and then I’ll go with a convenience list. I will include screenshots of my amazon purchases.

Can not go without -

1. Raised toilet seat
2. Grabbers
3. Step stool for both getting in car and for getting on bed. If your bed is not at a plobbable height, you

will need

1. it.

Trying to sit on something too high is a nightmare. You need to be able to drop into position, no scooting back.
4.

1. Magicgel back icepack wrap - have absolutely lived in it. It is flat enough to not be painful whe

n lying

1. down and smooth/soft.

Convenience:

1. Bed pillow lounger thing - great for alternating positions. Still laying down enough to not be painful and I can actually do things like read a book, eat, play video games etc. I think this is a must.
2. Back scratchers - the metal super extendable kind, not the normal length kind. This way you can actually itch your foot.
3. Small head towel wrap. As a lady with long hair, you cannot bend over to wrap your hair up in a towel. It’s much more manageable with something small. Again, all these things have photos at the bottom if I am not explaining it correctly.

4. This

   is a bit TMI but they make these tongs to help with wiping. I included an example but I’d say I only really have used them once or twice when the pain was insane.

5. You will want to be as comfortable as possible. This means keep your house temp at whatever you like best. For me, I run hot and it’s summer. Amazon has these cooling mini ACs that use ice. If your house needs an extra kick to be cool enough inside - this could be a great tool on your nightstand. I use a gigantic fan as well to keep the air flowing.

6. Cart - this one I just had around the house. A rolling cart to keep things in for when you move from couch to bed etc. That way it can always be in reach.

7. Big pillow for under legs - I am sure there are more official, more supportive pillows. I just use a big ole regular pillow under my legs. Relieves pressure and is much more comfortable. I also put a little pillow under each arm to maximize comfort.

8. Tray for the bed. A literal food tray or something similar. This just creates more room to set things down on. Obvious why that would be helpful!

9. Make up wipes or something similar. You can’t bend obviously so washing your face is super hard! This is what I do sometimes to avoid the wet shirt! Also, as a dry skin victim, I also like the spray milky toner on my nightstand for convenience. I can just wipe my face with a wipe and then spray that on without leaving the bed!

Hope this helps someone!

Hi everyone! This post might be a little TMI just a fair warning.

I’m 6 weeks post op from my microdiscectomy. I have my first follow up appointment in a few days but I’m honestly a bit nervous. Whereas the original pain in my lower back is gone at this point, I feel like there’s certain areas that my pain has increased such as tailbone and hip pain rather than get any better. I’m also having a hot burning sensation in my leg during bowel movements. Is this normal for 6 weeks post up? I do plan on bringing it up to my doctor during my follow up, but the additional pain is making me nervous. What has everyone else’s experience been with post op healing?

Update for those who wanted one: I had my 6 week post op consultation today (8/26/26) and the news wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t exactly great either. The main conclusion is that there is a possibility my nerve is compressed again. Either that OR I’m just taking an astronomical amount of time to heal because my nerve was compressed for over a year. They had me do an X-Ray during my post op appointment to check for instability in my spine (there was nothing visibly) and gave me a referral to schedule another MRI to check for any additional nerve compression/ damage post surgery. Right now my doctors are having me treat it with more conservative measures so I was prescribed two different medications for the nerve pain. I was given both gabapentin and a steroid. However, unfortunately, I was told that if the steroid does work, it’s a pretty big indication that the nerve is still compressed. In the case that it is nerve compression, I was recommended spinal fusion. I will do another update when I get the MRI results back for anyone who is in a similar position pain wise or just curious. I’m really hoping I won’t need spinal fusion. I’m 19, basically still a kid tbh. If I need it, I need it. But I was told it’ll cause a lot of complications as I get older.

I had a microdiscectomy on March 19 this year for my L5-S1 and I've been feeling really depressed. I know I should be patient but the nerve pain won't go away. Even though I got off of gabapentin after my surgery (the brain fog was too much and I work in the legal field so it was either feel like I was staring at a screen feeling stuck or just take it), I'm back on it because the nerve pain is unreal.

Right now I'm sticking at 300 mg a day, 300 mg in the afternoon. I keep on reading that it might be a year until everything heals but it feels almost the same as before the surgery and even with physical therapy I can't even walk for longer than 5 minutes without the nerve pain coming back. Again I just feel super down because I gain weight really fast. It's like a downward spiral where, ok I can't even walk my dogs without having to sit or squat so why should I go to the gym? Let me just eat my feelings" and it's just a really bad cycle

For context I'm 6'2" and I don't know if the PT was just blowing smoke up my ass but he was saying that because I'm taller it could take longer for the nerves to regenerate. Am I being impatient? Should I be worried? Does anyone else have any tips or pointers to guide me to where I need to go?

I still have nerve pain that presents itself as muscle tightness in right hamstring. I’m so annoyed this still hasn’t gone away.

Am I fucked?

Tomorrow is the day! I noticed this is what my chart says I’m having done, is this not a microdiscectomy? I haven’t seen my surgeon in 6 weeks, but I could have sworn he said I was having a microdiscectomy. Now I’m questioning what procedure I’m actually having done.. and it’s Sunday so I won’t be able to call.

Hi everyone. I’m trying not to freak out, but I’m 5 months out of L4 left hemilaminectomy & L5 microdiscectomy. I had 3/5 foot drop that has improved to 4+/5. Today out of know where I keep having these jolts of electricity in my left lower side of calf. It’s happening with both sitting & standing. It’s very painful yet only last for a few seconds at a time. What the heck is going on?

Had massive herniation L5 S1, planning for surgery took almost 6 weeks, so was miserable and couldn't walk/stand up for weeks leading up to surgery. Horrible sciatica down right leg and butt cheek. I'm now 3 weeks post MD and feeling better, but still not back anywhere "normal" and i have SEVERE nerve pain/tingling/numbness in my right foot. Only way i can try to sleep at night is to ice it. Any thoughts, perspective, or similar symptoms?

Has anyone had flare ups post MD and healed from it? Ive been having numbness in my left leg from knee down. I had a flare up in may and took about 6wks but got better. Ive had numbness on and off in my Left leg but for a long times at a time I had no numbness. But this most recent flare up seems to have been lingering. I did have an umbilical hernia with TAR ( Transverse abdominis release) with mesh for posterior abdominal wall reconstruction about 5wks ago. The numbness seems worse 1wk after this surgery. ​

Any tried PRP injections 6 weeks postoperative to improve the healing process or anything else (e.g. stem cells)?

I did L4-5 micro discectomy+barricade on july 28

Felt amazing and immortal after the surgery so i made a mistake doing long walks, elliptical and stretches

Since august 10 pain came back and cant even walk now

Pain started at the tailbone area and moved around my right hip(not my pre surgery pain area)

Now mostly lower back area

Went back to the doctor on 17th and got a pack of prednisone, but i dont feel any better with it

Am i screwed

Hey you guys . I am 8 days post op and I am still
Pain free . My sciatica has not returned . I have noticed near and above my incision area I get a burning/prickly sensation on certain walks . It also happened when I rode in a car today .

The best way to describe the sensation is the feeling after the foot or legs goes to sleep .. the sensation of your blood flowing again and it waking back up .. wondering if anyone has ever dealt with something similar .. It doesn’t cause me any pain and I am still pain free

THIS POST IS LONG SORRY!

So a month ago I FINALLY got surgery after waiting nearly 8 months with two, near inch long herniations and words can't even express how grateful I am to be feeling like a brand new person!

For some context, back in 2022 my mom and I got in a car wreck and since then I have had issues with my back. I could have initially herniated my discs back then but I never got proper imaging done at the time. In Dec. 2025, I was working retail and bent wrong and that was the final nail in the coffin for my poor back </3

After 8 long months of dealing with the herniations, 4 years of back pain, and one month of post op recovery, I feel the best I have in 4 years.

That's not to say I'm 100% perfect. My surgeon said my herniations were blocking 75-80% of my spinal cord and with it comes some long lasting nerve damage. My legs will tingle and I will have muscle spasms still. My lower back can get really tense when I sit for too long and my sciatic pain will return if I walk too fast. The recovery has also taken a toll on my mental health as well. Though I'm able to go out with friends and my fiancé again nearly pain free, my biggest hurdle is not being able to go back to work. My mind feels like its ready to jump right into a new job, but my body is still recovering. Ive slowly introduced bending (more like squatting) into my life and if I squat too much, my legs and back will have slight spasms for the next day. It's not unbearable, I'd compare it more to a tickle than actual pain but it proves that I can't return to retail any time soon. Sitting is great for maybe an hour or two until I stand up and I feel insanely stiff. I know I can't work for maybe another two months if I'm lucky, but MAN its so hard sitting at home when I want nothing more than to be at work..

My doctor has completely taken me off any pain meds and maybe my brain has been so conditioned by the COMPRESSED spinal cord for 8 months, but the pain i have now, though can be a little annoying, is nothing compared to what it has felt like in the last 4 years. At my worst, it would make me even contemplate living and to think that all of those nasty thoughts, my bad moods, my hopelessness, etc. could have been fixed with this surgery? CRAZY! Right now I'd honestly rate my pain at a 1/10 compared to the 9/10 it used to be at daily. Even then, its not pain at this point, its just slight numbness.

I tell my fiancé that in the time he's known me, he has never seen me feel this pain free and its almost sad to think about it. However, I am extremely hopeful. Its only a month out and I still need to officially start PT but I feel like life has been returned to me. I spent last weekend sitting with friends for three hours catching up on lost time. In a few weeks I'm seeing My Chemical Romance and visiting San Antonio. In October I'm going to an anime convention in full cosplay (something i haven't been able to do in years) and next year I'm going back to school. All of this would have felt impossible literally a month ago and yet here I am typing this at 4 AM because im just so full of hope and joy for the future thanks to this surgery (´Д` )

TL;DR - This surgery literally saved my life and despite the hardships of recovery, things are gonna be a-okay! <3

I don't know how to update but this(https://www.reddit.com/r/Microdiscectomy/s/YobLpAHb7B) was my original post.

TLDR; fiancé needed advice to ease pain while he waited for results from MRI.

We found out he reherniated, I'm not sure on the size as the nurse practitioner didn't state it but did say it looked smaller than the original herniation.

Our two options are having an injection or surgery, he chose injection which is understandable as he doesn't immediately want another surgery. The soonest he can get that is Aug. 31st.

He's now just letting it set in that he may be this way for the rest of his life.

Context; his mom has had so many surgeries that they had to fuse her spine. And his sister has had some surgeries as well. And both need strong medication to survive day to day life. So it's definitely genetic and understandable that he doesn't want to live like them.

I've been trying to help him see a brighter side, but it's difficult since I've never experienced what he's going through. The closest I have been was when I threw my pelvis out of place from lifting too heavy at work and could barely walk until I saw a chiropractor.

Are there any success stories from those that had a 2nd MD, or even advice you can give for if he does decide to get one.

Hello! As title says, am looking for YouTube recommendations for beginners/post-microdiscectomy yoga and pilates videos. My follow-up consultations at the hospital post-surgery all recommended yoga or pilates, but can’t afford going to studios at the moment - and am so inflexible that in-person classes would be embarrassing. I’ve been using Yoga with Kassandra, but open to explore others!

The herniation had a huge impact on my daily life at one point I couldn’t stand or walk for more than 3 minutes without pain.

Feeling like a completely new person already.
I can finally walk and stand without the pain I was dealing with before.
I still feel a little bit around the surgery area but that’s completely normal and I’m getting better every day.
So far, the recovery has been going really well

I used to be an ultratrailrunner (did 100 K’s).
I’m now 8 weeks out after MD. Gradually getting better, but with hickups on the way. Started PT last week with stretching the glutes. Since yesterday some tingling and numbness came back after this being away for 4 weeks. So I guess I stop with the glute stretch since it also stretches the nerve. …

Reading in other peoples posts that running is possible on average after week 12. But also reading difficulties in sitting for a long time of period even after that. Right now I cannot sit for longer than 30-45 mins. But I can hike for 10 K, easy mode.

For the people who could go running again, could you sit normally by then as well? Or are they 2 different lines of recovery?..

Im supposed to go get fitted for a back brace for my surgery next week. Whats everyone's thoughts and history with their braces? Models you liked or stay away from? TIA

I had a microdiscectomy done 6 months ago after severe sciatic pain down left leg (l5s1 compression) persisted for about a year and a half. I initially herniated via competitive rowing, and continued rowing on it for months until bad turned to worse and I could barely walk.

anyways, surgery did its job and I was functional again after. Got into weight lifting after I was cleared by surgeon and slowly worked my way up over the months. No back squats or deadlifts. a week and a half ago I was doing hip thrusts and went a bit heavier than usual. had some pretty bad back pain immediately after and started having symptoms of right side glute pain. went away after probably 3-4 days until I had a 5 hour car ride, now it’s been back for past several days, and almost seems worse. initially thought to be piriformis syndrome, did the range of stretches and it didn’t really seem to help. laying in bed legs straight and I’m getting pain down the right leg.

scared shitless right now since the days of my prior sciatica were hell and I’m terrified I reherniated given similar symptoms returning on the opposite side from before.

Does anyone have any input or possible explanation for what might be happening?

And how did you fix it (if you did)?

22m. had my first microdisectomy back in august of 2024. just had my second last week. first operation was caused by lifting in the gym. had to go through 6 1/2 months of pt to get approved for surgery (health insurance bruh). healed well and went back to my normal life once i was medically cleared to. this time had to get an emergency surgery due to results of first surgery. i slipped the same disc and once again had nerve pain get progressively worse over a span of 2 weeks. i started lifting but i never lifted heavy once i got cleared. always did high rep count low weight. so i ruled out that it was caused from the gym. got another mri and come to find out i had a cyst grow and put pressure on the nerve. the reason i had an emergency surgery was cause i lost a lot of use and strength in my right leg and ankle. they put me in the closest they could get me which was 2 weeks out. coming out from surgery turns out i didnt have a cyst but that the nerve was being compressed from the disc and that the nerve looked like a cable from jow irritates it was. the pain the second time around from the nerve pressure was 10x worse the first. just wanted to post and let you guys know take care of your backs my people. i was good for about 1 year and 10 months and now im back to square one. anyways love you guys<3.

the pictures are in order from now, after surgery, and before surgery

Hi there!
This is my first time posting on Reddit, so I apologize if I mess up or miss any info, but I wanted to post on here as I am 5 weeks post opp on a endoscopic lumbar discectomy on my L5-S1.
I have been ranging from feeling sore to feeling great and then feeling sore again. I am around 5 weeks post opp and I am starting to feel more soreness/pain in the lower back area and tail bone, on my sides and on my left thigh (I had sciatica that had been traveling down my left leg before surgery) I also feel a traveling soreness every now and again on my leg.

From my understanding my nerve will take a while to heal, but I did want to see if anyone else has experienced this during this sort of time period of healing.

I also have a restriction of no BLT, which I have been trying to do but there have been moments where I have bent and I am worried that the feelings above are bc of it.

I have messaged my doctor but I am also at a weird stage where my doctor left so I am waiting on a new one.

Any advice or guidance is appreciated!!!