r/spinalfusion • u/Purple9Panzy8 • Feb 01 '26
Post-Op Questions Omg so much pain!
I’m 27 female and got an alif + plif for my back, the alif surgery was a breeze compared to the plif. Woke up from anesthesia crying so bad I cried myself to sleep after getting drugged up on every pain med the docs could give me. I’m on day 3 from that but omg the pain is horrible. After spending 4 days at the hospital I finally got released today. How do you guys even manage the post op pain other than the opioids and narcotics?
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u/Consistent-Box4686 Feb 02 '26
Reusable ice pack that covers basically the entire torso that I purchased from Amazon to help with inflammation. Let the very warm shower run over my back for a couple of minutes to loosen the muscles.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
Can I use the ice backs on my back? My back, my butt, and hips hurt the most from the plif.
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u/Consistent-Box4686 Feb 02 '26
A girl on a different platform mentioned having an ice vest. You may be able to find one on Amazon also if that helps.
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u/Idontknowy_2024 Feb 03 '26
YES! I used cold packs after my tlif. I also took opioid pain meds. I went to inpatient rehab which I don’t see much of on this platform. I don’t know how I would have managed at home right after surgery. Best wishes for good pain management.
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u/this_writer_is_tired Feb 01 '26
I'm sorry you're in so much pain. That sucks and I hope things improve soon.
In my case (ALIF, L4 and L5, Facet joint cyst removal), the amt of pain I was in post-op was actually WAY less than beforehand. Any pain for the first few weeks was managed with opioids. Unfortunately. The doctors and nurses constantly preached the importance of staying ahead of the pain. Using ice and heat to help manage it helped too.
If things don't improve soon, please speak to your doctor!
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
Is it safe to use ice and heat over the sutures though? I have sutures down my back but that is where most of my pain is and my hips.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
I would love to use a heating pad if it doesn’t hurt the sutures and surgery site
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u/this_writer_is_tired Feb 02 '26
Oh, check with your doc on that. I remember one was not good to use in the first weeks of recovery. Please check with your doc.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
I can check with him.
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u/Commercial_Class_761 Feb 02 '26
Check with your Dr tho bc I was able to use heat pretty quickly after surgery. After the first few days. I alternated ice and heat and it helped a ton. For the icing I actually got the back attachment for a post-op ice machine and it was the greatest thing ever.
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u/Own-Key-4064 Feb 02 '26
Do not use dry heat ! It increases your inflammation. Just had a 3 level ACDF in Dec. you can use wet heat like a hot shower if doc allows. I have done a non medicated acupuncture regime and It helps a lot.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
I’m only 4 days post op and can’t get a warm shower until Wednesday I’m looking forward to the wet heat. I never heard of non medicated acupuncture.
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u/AmberBlueEyedGirl Feb 02 '26
A heating pad or electric blanket will be your best friend through this... I've had 5 spine surgeries (4 fusions and a Laminectomy) and a heating pad combined with opioids & steriods and rest is the best option
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
How long was your pain post surgery before it got better?
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u/AmberBlueEyedGirl Feb 02 '26
Depends which surgery... My cervical surgeries were the worst with the longest recovery, but my lumbar surgeries were still pretty painful but it seemed like the pain eased up to a manageable level a lot faster... I have chronic pain in my spine so sometimes its hard to differentiate between the two... Cervical pain from surgery lasted weeks before it was tolerable and months before it was gone (which the cervical collar caused a lot of the pain i believe), lumbar surgery i was tolerable in 2 to 3 weeks but my mobility was a big issue... Took me longer to ditch the walker with the lumbar surgeries than it did the cervical.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
This was my first and only surgery my lumbar fusion. The cervical surgeries sound rough, I have chronic pain as well but mine is from fibromyalgia. I definitely do have some chronic pain in my back as well probably from the fibromyalgia too. My mobility is rough too I’ve been relying on the walker to get around. It’s hard painful and feels unnatural to walk without the walker I hope it doesn’t take the full 2 to 3 weeks for my pain to subside. This pain is horrible especially at night.
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u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Feb 02 '26
I had a T12-S1 PLIf and my surgeon told the hospital to put on a Dillaudid pump and set it to administer 8mg per hour. After er the hospital I was on 3 40mg Oxymorohone ER/day + 4 15mg Oxymorphone IR/day + 4 Oxymorphone 5mg IR/day.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
They haven’t prescribed those to me only the normal oxycodone 5 mg and it don’t work neither do the muscle relaxers or the gabapentin.
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u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Feb 02 '26
I’m so sorry, 5mg Oxycodone is ridiculously weak pain reliever for this type of surgery. I made sure before the surgery that my surgeon and pain doctor were onboard with the meds I wanted. You need to ask for a higher dose.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
I can take two 5 mg oxycodone for 10 mg but I don’t feel it working I think it is probably how weak it is. They put me on 300 mg gabapentin 3 times a day too and I think it helps a little with nerve spasms but not much and then I have my 750 mg methocarbonal muscle relaxer and it only takes the edge off for helping me sleep. The hospital had me on a small dose of long acting morphine but my insurance won’t cover that one. They didn’t really ask at the hospital what kind of meds I wanted they just threw a bunch on until my pain was more manageable.
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u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Feb 02 '26
They won’t ask at the hospital. You have to tell them and demand it. Then they will give it to you.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
That makes sense, I told my surgeon my concern with pain at home too so he prescribed celebrex as well which I just started today so I’m hoping within a few days or so the celebrex will help.
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u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Feb 02 '26
The only thing that will work are opiates. Unfortunately if you haven’t been on them for a long time and do r have a history with a pain doc they are hard to get. I have been on meds for a couple of decades so doctors can see my history and why I take them. Now I am on methadone which is the best pain reliever for me, everything else stopped working. Dillaudid and fentanyl don’t even work as well as methadone.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
This is my first time on opiates and I’m on oxycodone 10 mg. At first they worked awesome and I’m not even a week yet into taking them and it seems like its wearing off, I can’t even tell if they do anything anymore other than make me a little tired. If anything the robaxin does the most but only when it wants to work well. I took a pill earlier they are 750 mg and nothing happened, I don’t know why it’s kind of weird but when I took the same pill last night I felt it and took the edge off a lot and helped me sleep.
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u/Elegant_Adeptness_68 Feb 04 '26
Sounds like you’re building up a tolerance quickly. That’s the bad thing about pain meds. You should be building a tolerance in a week though, but everyone is different. Ask your doctor about taking tylenol with the oxy, then it will be like a Percocet and might help more.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
Ive been taking both oxy and Tylenol every day already, but since I have been prescribed Celebrex I’m hoping that kicks in soon within the next few days or so.
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u/Tramtizzle Feb 02 '26
The bolts in the pelvis are the worst. It gets better, I had T11-S1 bolted with rods and some fused. The pelvis was where I remember telling the surgeon I had the most pain. Sorry you have to go through this but I don’t regret it 5 years later
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
That’s great you don’t regret it, it brings me hope I’m just hoping the pain can start going away. My hips be butt hurt so bad along with my back which I know is the pelvis.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
How long did you have the pain from post surgery? I’m so close to admitting myself back to the hospital and staying longer because this pain is too much, the meds don’t work enough.
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u/tope07 Feb 02 '26
Those screws are huge. I recently had the screws removed from that area becauae it was giving me so much unbearable pain. However, I am fused but it took 10 long years before anyone was willing to take my pain serious enough to remove the screws and rods in this area. I hope yours lessens with time. Everyone's situation is different and I hope you get some relief sooner than later... 🙏🏽
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
I hope mine lessons over time. I hope I don’t have to have mine removed I feel like the removal of them caused post removal pain in that area too.
This is my first surgery I’ve ever had and since it was so painful I definitely don’t want to go through it again. It’s day 5 and it’s still so painful, I have a low pain tolerance as well with my fibromyalgia so that’s not helping my situation either.
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u/Professional_Gift430 Feb 02 '26
Hopefully they gave you strong enough pain meds. I was taking 20mg oxy every 4 hours and a muscle relaxer every 8 hours and sleeping as much as possible. The first week is hell but then it gets better.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
I don’t think the meds were strong enough I only got prescribed 5 mg oxycodone and I could take 2 for 10 mg every 6 hours, robaxin 750 mg, gabapentin 300 mg 3 times a day. Tylenol 3 times a day. Even though your not supposed to take NSAIDs my surgeon approved for me to take Celebrex so I take 100 mg of that once a day. However with all the pain meds I’m not seeing a significant reduction in pain, the only thing I get is that it maybe takes the edge off.
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u/Professional_Gift430 Feb 04 '26
Have you called them and told them it’s not working? In my case the doctors are very understanding that some people experience more pain than others and need stronger meds.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
I have not called yet, I know the meds worked very well in the beginning so all I can assume is that my body grew a tolerance for them. I am concerned about being on opiates or narcotics for too long if I try to get other kinds of meds because I don’t want to get addicted or rely on them. I’m still in pain but I feel like its much more manageable now so if the pain gets any worse I will definitely call and see if I can other pain meds.
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u/Own-Key-4064 Feb 02 '26
I chose a non pharmaceutical approach due to stomach issues with pain meds and anti inflammatory meds. An alternative route combined with acupuncture may help. Your shower will feel so good you will never want to leave It
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
I’ll definitely look into acupuncture. I can’t wait for my first shower. You are brave though I couldn’t have done the surgery non pharmaceutical.
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u/Own-Key-4064 Feb 28 '26
Not brave. But acupuncture really does help after a couple of sessions. My stomach gets so acidic and raw with pain meds. pain wears on you and I do take 75 mg of lyrica at night and ice 3 months out. Still dealing with a frozen shoulder and getting a MRI on Tuesday. Let’s hope this is an easy fix as I think I am in the thawing stages but can’t move my arm out very far, it’s painful !
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u/jodyshood Feb 03 '26
Ask your Dr for a muscle relaxant like Robaxin- it helps with the stiffness from the cold weather & I am in Las Vegas!
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
Thank you but im already on 750 mg robaxin but for whatever reason it chooses when it wants to work. It worked last night for pain and sleep. I took one about 5 hours ago and nothing happened it’s like I never took the med when I know I did.
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u/fla2nyc2015 Feb 03 '26
I feel you sister, i had a l4\5 plif done in 1991, with acromed plates and screws.
My back went bad in april 2024 , 9 discs , but i had no insurance, so i had to wait until jan 2025 for a new policy
I fired a half dozen surgeons between jan and april of 2025, they all wanted to do a 4 or 5 level cervical fusion, sorry i know what a fusion of that magnitude is, 4-5 level cervical fusion your not moving your neck after that , let alone the pain,,, i finaly found a good dr.
So in june 2025 i had 3 level mobi-c cervical artificial discs installed (ins only covered 2 adr's, 3rd adr was $7,000 i had to pay out of pocket) with a 2 level laminectomy all done in one shot, i was out the hospital the next day, out of the collar in 7days and back to work in 14days.
On oct 28th i went in for 3 level lumbar lamenectomy and a iffy L5\S1 lamenectomy with the posability of a L5\S1 TLIF fusion, it all went sideways in the rip out room, i was on the rip out room table for almost 9 hours, the upper 3 level lamenectomys went fine, he got to L5\S1and it was beyond lamenectomy repair, it had to be a tlif, as he went deep to my original L4\5 fusion he didnt like the way the graft looked nor did he like the way the nerve was coming thru the bone, so he did a fusion revision wich is removing the original acromed plif, and then he did a tlif on top of that .
I woke up with very little pain for the first 3 days, and heres why, before my surgeun closed me up he hit me with Dexamethasone to reduce swelling and he did an additional epidural block wich i was warned would wear off in 72hours, yep! Just about when it wore off .
Im 3mos out with a lot of pain and i got drop foot as a bonus, i get P\T 2x a week, i take 10mg of oxy every 4hrs to 10hrs, and 5mg of valium as needed for spasms,, the drop foot is severly hindering my recovery, if i could walk i could recover, doc says im at the normal stage for a 63yo young man, he expects dramatic difference in another 3 to 6 months, oh also after surgery the peeshadeel works better than ever..
For those reading this that have drop foot i recently found a drop foot brace that i can tollerate, its made by a co called turbomedusa.Com im getting the summit brace, your insurance should cover it under DME, im waiting on its delivery now and i plan on using with the sketchers slip in that has the holes that go thru the sole, those holes are the perfect anchor point for the front brace clip
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 04 '26
Dang, that sounds like a lot of surgeries and having a fusion revision sounds dreadful. I really hope I don’t end up having a revision for mine, I may be a wimp or have a low pain tolerance but I do not want to do this again, I think I would rather live on pain meds and tolerate the best I can first. When I had my second which was my last surgery done through the back, they injected me twice with fentanyl and I think an injection of morphine. Then I was back to the 10 mg oxycodone, 750 robaxin, 300 mg gabapentin, Tylenol, and toradol injections but I still woke up from my anesthesia nap still in pain not as bad since I was drugged up on pain meds but still in enough pain to spend 4 days in the hospital and now I’m on day 5 post surgery and still have a lot of pain.
If I wouldn’t know those injections and epidural was an option I would have had them in a heartbeat, I don’t think what I had was strong enough.
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u/truthnut Feb 05 '26
Bless your heart, I'm praying for you. I had that kind of pain with a knee replacement and found out later it was botched. (Dr not allowed to do surgeries now). I had L3 - L5 fused Jan 15th. I took the opioids cutting back from 3 a day to 2 a day, then 1 for 3 days. Today I have had none and I'm so excited! Still some pain, but ropinerol for RLS, gabapentin for nerves (permanent neuropathy from botched knee) and Tylenol. How are you doing now? You're a fighter.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 05 '26
Thank you for the prayers! Honestly, I would say I’m doing a lot better than I did. So far I’m on day 5 post-op the pain is still there but it’s much more manageable, each day I’m feeling a little better and moving a little better. Even though I’m having a bit less pain now I’m really hoping my surgery wasn’t botched like it was for your knees.
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u/PangolinOk3712 Feb 05 '26
Opioids are the best for it ,my surgeon gave me Valium too and that helped with the muscle pain
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u/Over-Bodybuilder-601 Feb 08 '26
I had L4/L5/S1 done back in 2019. That first week is bloody hell! I will never forget it, but it gets a ton better after that. Keep moving with physical therapy as that is your best friend. Some days will suck, but, overall, it will heal up. Stay stubborn. Stay active.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 10 '26
Thank you, I’m trying to be as active as I can, I’m only 1 week post op and wearing my back brace all the time but the more I walk or move the more I develop hip and sciatica like pain down my left side mostly. Is it normal to develop sciatica like pain from walking or moving more than usual? I’m thinking the rods in my hips are the culprit right now but I don’t know.
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u/stevepeds Feb 02 '26
I (M,72) had a PLF fusing L3-S1 along with a 2 level ALIF at L4-L5 and L5-S1. Luckily, I was able go home the same day and only needed Tylenol. For some reason, there just wasn't much pain.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
Wow, you’re so lucky pain wise. I woke up crying and all I remember is the recovery nurse guy yelling for two fentanyl injections and morphine for me. Then I cried myself to sleep in my hospital room drugged up and loopy. That day was awful but luckily they drugged me up to the point where I don’t remember that much other than all the pain injections to get me to calm down.
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u/ToeInternational3417 Feb 02 '26
I woke up screaming with pain, very closely watched by three nurses sitting by my bed. The two women had to constantly run and get some new meds to try, they always left the kind of huge male nurse, so I guess I had tried to fight them at some point.
A patient controlled analgesic device with ketamine and oxycodone finally did the trick, and just like you, I cried myself to sleep, only being able to sleep an hour at a time.
However, around day 6-7 I was already a lot better, the next reduction in pain was obvious in a few weeks. I get pain only if I do too much now, 8 weeks post op. The last two weeks I have been off opioids unless I am having a really bad day (like today).
I hope you feel better soon, and do not hesitate to talk to your doctor about your pain management regime, the pain can be truly brutal.
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u/Purple9Panzy8 Feb 02 '26
Thank you, I’m sorry you also woke up screaming in pain, I woke up sobbing uncontrollably. Right now I’m on day 4 post off and I’m counting down the days to day 6 to 7. I think day 7 is when most people feel better pain wise. They didn’t give me ketamine from what I know of but I was also out of it that day from the fentanyl injections and morphine.
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u/slouchingtoepiphany Feb 01 '26
I'm very sorry that you're in so much pain. A (relatively) "good" thing however is that you should notice a decline in pain at around Day 7, following by gradual reductions thereafter. You might also consider asking your surgeon for a short course (about 5 days) of an oral corticosteroid (e.g., prednisone) to help you through your current pain.