hey there, u asked bout my fusion, well I hurt my back 13 yrs ago when I was 21, it went misdiagnosed for 8 years I worked anyway but as still on pain meds, although work didnt know that. (I was a nurse) By 2002 I went to see a consultant in England (I'm in N. Ireland) and he said I definately needed a fusion of L5 S1. The pain was unbearable so I was quite happy to go ahead with it..anything was better than the pain I ws in.. right?? WRONG!! I had the surgery, was held together with Titanium bolts and screws and after 2 wks  hospital (which is a hell of alot longer than your supposed to be there) I flew home. My x-rays etc were sent to him &after a yr he said I was "Fused"
BUT the pain was unbearable... I knew something was wrong but had no one to turn to.. seemed to have been through every consultant. Went to pain clinics , but nothing was working.. I couldn't work, was stuck at home, alone, miserable, single.. felt like ****!!! I then got my old GP to send me to someone... anyone.. I really didn't care and he was pretty concerned so agreed. The first I saw in Jan of 2005 was a Neurosurgeon (same type as had done the surgery) here in N. ireland . He did an advanced MRI and said I WAS fused! I cried for days.. What the F*** was going on???? Then I was sent to an Orthopeadic surgeon who did a CT scan in March of 2005 who said I WAS NOT fused and NEVER had been. I cried, this time with relief that I wasnt actually imagining all of this!!! He did my surgery in April 2005 and when they opened me up he found that 3 0f the 4 screws were falling out, one was so loose it nearly severed my spinal cord. How the hell I'd been walking around is beyond me!! Anyway, he was great. I REALLY thought this was gonna be the end of ALL my problems, although he was honest enough to say that I was always gonna be in "some" degree of pain. But NOT what I'm in now. He said it was gonna be like a roller coaster of pain and he was right, but I saw him last month and he was horrified when he saw me,  I could barely walk and cos my stupid new GP wants me off these meds and he'd been reducing them so I wasnt able to be as mobile as I need to be. I've had another CT scan to see if something else has gone wrong but waiting to find out results. I know this time I'm fused, I really trust this guy, but when you've had a fusion there's more risk of you having another disc prolapse further up. :- ( So fingers crossed, that I am ok. My biggest problem is I thought I was finished with meds. My body's so used to the bloody things its unbelievable. Sounds a bit sick but I'd rather they found the reason to the pain rather than say there's nothing wrong at all!! Sorry I'm just so depressed with all this. Sometimes I just wanna give up and take verything I bloody have and end it all!!
However, for you, honestly don't be concerned about having a fusion though..I mean that. If you have been told you need one then go for it. Everyone I know who has been told they need one and hasnt been mesed about for years has worked out fine and they are back at work and off meds. Wiegh up the pros and cons. How bad is it? How does it effect your life? Would your life be better if you did have it done compared to now?
It really is supposed to be very successful... Guess I just got the shitty end of the deal!!
Look, anything you wanna know in depth, by all means ask. I'd be happy to help. If I cant help myself, I'd rather help someone else!!
If you do need it done though, dont be scared and dont leave it. The longer you leave it the more chance there is of nerves getting damaged too... thats the mess I'm in.
Thanks for readin my post.
Take care
Tin Lizzie2

One more problem with having a fusion - I smoke and the odds of a fusion being successful (for those of us who are addicted to the damn tobacco) are very low.  Some surgeons will refuse to perform a fusion on a smoker.  Can't say I blame them. They don't like to have poor outcomes on the reports they look at every month!

DAK

I would LOVE to talk to you about your experience with your L5 S1 fusion.  I have read so many posts on many sites where the patient ended up in worse pain.

I never had back pain throughout all this.  On St. Patrick's Day 2006 I had a tingling sensation on the back of my right thigh which I thought was a spider bite.  But over the next few days the tingling turned painful but bearable.  I thought I had pulled a muscle so I just iced it down and tried to be patient and wait it out.  Well, about 2 weeks after that initial on set on the right leg I was at a meeting with my staff and WHAM!  I literally flew out of the chair I was sitting in because I had a bolt of pain shoot through my left leg.  It subsided after awhile and we all mumbled something about a pinched nerve, etc. So life went on for a few days but my leg always felt "bruised" after that first jolt.  I had a few more zings after that but the killer day was the time I was at 7-11 and i couldn't reach down and release my emergency break.  The pain was AWFUL as I bent forward.  I had to ask someone coming out of the store (a nice man) to pull the release for me.  I managed to drive home and get myself out of my Yukon.  Thank God I have that vehicle cause all I had to do was slide out of it. I asked my youngest son to drive me to the ER as I knew there was something terribly wrong.  They did an ultrasound to rule out a DVT (deep vein thrombosis). The young doc taking care of me was really really nice as he told me it was sciaica related handed me a bottle of 20 Vicodin 5/500's, warned me that they were very addicting (ohhhhh I know that) and further warned me to be wary of surgeons as they love to perform surgery on this type of stuff.  Well, the rest really is history as most here already know.   I had the laminectomy on Jan25th and am still in agony and taking 4 (sometimes 6) Norcos a day just to be able to function.  I had the mylegram over a week ago and then met with my surgeon this past Tuesday.  He said he is going to confer with a neurosurgeon and will let me know what they think but he told me a fusion would take care of the leg pain.  I just don't think that stablizing that vertabrae is going to change anything.  I think I have piriformis syndrome since one of the indicators of that is NO BACK PAIN and leg pain that doesn't include the feet.  That fit me to a T.  All I know is that I want my life back.  I can live with aches and pains but feeling like someone is running a blowtorch up and down the back of my legs has taken over my life.

DAK

I smoke too and unbeknownst to my surgeon, continued to do so.  THey actually prob didn't believe me b/c they gave me a bone growth stimulator to wear.(which I didn't).  So young and so stupid.  Anyway, I guess the Lord was looking out for me, b/c though I have pain and will prob have problems later in life, that leg pain is gone and was the moment I woke up.   When I am able to get on later, I will write to you and tell u more.  I hope something I say could be helpful.  Talk to u soon, girl.

love tracy

Hey girl, I hope things are good for you.  Sorry to jump in on your thread, but I wanted to tell u that I had a fusion on L5  S1  in November 2003.  It did totally get rid of the leg pain and honestly, now that Im off all the meds, the back pain is not so terrible.  What I worry about the most is that I have had reports from 2 other surgeons that say the scar tissue is reaking havoc and my disc above is degenerating because of it.   I dont know what the future will hold for me b/c of this choice, not sure if I would do it again if given the choice.  Anyhoo, I would love to talk more about this with u but I need to catch some zzzzz before the kids are ready to hit the ground running.  I'll post back to u tomorrow and we can discuss this some more if u would like.  just let me know.  ttyl.

sincerely,
love, tracy