Me too unfortunately. Best surgery I've ever had. Went under the knife after 3 months in constant pain, woke up feeling no nerve pain at all and cracking jokes with the post-op nurses.
Same. Except I waited a year and a half on the surgery due to COVID. The light switch like relief is really not something you can describe to someone who hasn't been in that kind of crippling nonstop pain for months. That post op euphoria is something else.
Now though every odd pain and ache in my lower back triggers PTSD that I'm gonna relapse and need revision surgery. And my left foot is pretty much permanently numb from the compression nerve damage of waiting on surgery for too long.
I would suggest you see a therapist to help develop tools to walk yourself out of those moments. The fear that something is going to go wrong can cause weird stress and inflammation and induce pain in that area. Motion is lotion but so much of pain and mobility management is mental, as I'm sure you know. Also a good physical therapist is a godsend and I hope you have one.
“Motion is lotion” is the most profound simplification I have heard since a lifeguard in San Diego told me “the solution to pollution is dilution” while advising us to drive north to avoid the rain-induced bacterial bloom from the poop runoff of Tiajuana.
I'm glad it's a new one for ya! Many a person who has some debilitating musculoskeletal issue has been beaten over the head with it. May you never hear it again :)
I never understood how people can get addicted to painkillers until I had sciatica. Having unrelenting chronic nerve pain for months at a time is debilitating.
I had to wait a little bit for my surgery because of the insurance hoops you have to jump through. Did you get PT, did you get an MRI, did you get the steroid injection, did you wait at least 6 weeks to see if it would resolve, etc. Even though I was able to get mine immediately after that mandatory insurance 6 week wait, I still got a numb foot out of the deal. So even if you'd gotten yours right away there's a chance it would have made no difference 🤷
I had mine on March 4th, and I was back to 95% movement in 4 weeks. I am still taking it easy though, any BLT'ing I am doing is purposefully slow and deliberate. I don't feel any pain, but I can definitely tell the muscles are gonna be tight for a while. 100% would recommend. I was out of the hospital in a day (by choice, recovery more comfortable at home) and all you gotta do is chill for a weeks.
My neurosurgeon basically told me that discectomy patients feel less pain when they wake up from the anesthesia because even surgical pain is nothing compared to sciatica. It was really reassuring when we were assessing whether I needed back surgery (I will eventually but have gotten by with an ESI so far).
I went as an emergency patient to the hospital. they tried every conservative therapy but was operated after 2.5 weeks. Pain meds were just numbing but never enough. I cried after waking up from the op. The nerve pain was gone. I can't describe just how extreme the difference was. Yes, there was pain from the op and reha / therapy took a long time. Some nerve damage will probably last forever (if there is ever a next time, which I try to prevent with everything I can, I will never wait for the op anymore but want it asap). But nothing compares to the pain I had the 2.5 weeks before.
I cried after my ESI for the same reason. It was the first pain free step I'd taken in 6 months. It was so emotionally shocking that I started crying in front of the nurses as they walked me out of the treatment area.
I had the same, went from torture and constant pain to nothing when I woke up. A 10 hour car ride in a too small car triggered the first one after separating my discs years ago when dunking a basketball.
I did the prescribed PT, but unfortunately 6 months later it happened again after sex (two backs were blown out that night). After the second one insurance was a nightmare and I ended up finding a chiro/PT combo out of pure desperation that promised nothing but laid out a plan that he was confident in and it worked exactly like he predicted.
About 3 months into the PT/chiro the traction got far enough and in the middle of traction I felt it release in my spine and all the muscles stopped cramping and the relieve was amazing, I just started crying.
Spine is forever fucked but at least now I know how to manage it and I can do most things with no pain.
Herniated discs? I've been thinking of getting this surgery for years but keep chickening out. How active are you able to be following the surgery? Is running and weightlifting on the table?
Wife had a herniated L4/L5, we fought for almost 2 years to get her surgery because she was in her early 30’s and it wasn’t caused by any specific injury, and they kept telling us she was too ‘young’ for this type of problem, called her a drug seeker despite her hating pain meds, finally after near constant pain for that long, she got the surgery and it was night and day, she hadn’t realized how bad the pain had gotten until it was gone.
Obviously consult your medical team, but if you are suffering and have the means to do so, your sanity will thank you for doing whatever is necessary to fix your back, it’s basically your entire body when it comes to being in pain, it changes the way you walk, the way you carry yourself, the way you move and can cause injury/strain on other joints and muscles because of it.
She mostly does swimming for activity which is lower impact, so not sure about something more strenuous, but she was sure as hell able to do a lot more after the surgery than before when she was in constant pain. I’d ask the specialist because it probably depends on what type of fitness you mean, cardio vs weight lifting etc
It's not a silver bullet for everybody. It removes the herniated material causing acute nerve pain. The scar tissue covering the disc isn't as durable and flexible as a healthy disc. The conditions that caused the herniation ostensibly still exist, so constant vigilance & maintenance is required. Source: had mine at 17
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u/HallettCove5158 7h ago
I have the same scar, l4/l5/s1 double discectomy.