Dakmba/ we are in the same boat

[midnitemoon]

I herniated a disk a little over 3 months ago and had to have emergency surgery because the pain was so great.  They said the herniation was so big they should of had a camera in there!  I had hoped that the pain would stop with the surgery, but my nerve is still very angry and it aches like a bad headache all the time.  Mornings are the worst.  Mornings are more like a bad migraine, then as I walk on it it becomes a bad headache.  Only its my entire right leg.  I am taking 30mg of Prednisone a day to try and calm it but I was taking 800mg of Ibuprofin with the steroids WITH a Percocet 10/350 and a Vistoril three to four times a day and I found that combo I was almost pain free.  Then my doctor told me the steroids and Ibuprofin do NOT go together and all I can take is the Percocet.  I find that I really like the Percocet though.  I have only been taking it about 10 days but I ran out over the weekend and have to wait until Monday to get a new script.  I cried.  I don't know if it was because of the anticipation of the pain or missing the Percocet.  I really hope its not because I want the Percocet.   But thanks for posting.  Sometimes it feels like I will have leg pain forever.

[dakmba]

It is comforting to know I'm not alone in this post-surgery mess.  I've taken 8 Advil Liqui Gels today and it's only 1230pm in the Pac NW.  I took my two Norco's at 0700 and cleaned house for the hour and 1/2 that I was pain free.  I even managed to clean and polish all the I have around here. I have huge evergreens around my house and I am forever battling wet pine needles on black tile and emerald green carpets.  

It was about 75 degrees here yesterday and the sun was shining.   You know when the sun comes out here everybody gets outside. You can actually feel your spirits life.  We live in the rain and the grey for most of the year that when we see the sun we GO NUTS!

I had 14  begonias to get potted.  My b/f had already hauled up the huge bags of potting soil to the decks. But my legs were screaming at me about 1/2 way though getting those begonias in.  I was so angry that that one nerve wouldn't leave me alone so I could at least enjoy getting some color around my decks!  It is hard to enjoy anything when your legs feel like someone is running a blow torch up and down them.

I didn't have a herniated disc but the MRI showed that I had a slipped vertebrae which they assumed was compressing the S-1 nerve at L5.  So I had a laminectomy 10 weeks ago.  When I went in only my left leg was affected, now its both left and right.  My surgeon put me on predisolone for 7 days too, I had percocet but called and asked him for vicodin instead.  i don't know why but the vicodin seemed to work better for my pain.  But I would alternate what I took and when just so that I was in the least amount of pain.  Now I am only supposed to take 3 Norcos a day.  I have 4 left and can't refill until Wednesday.  I think that he will also probably drop me down to 2 a day as it seems every two weeks it drops down by one.  I know he is trying to do the right thing by me by weaning me down gently and I wish I could go along with it but the dang surgery failed and now I have to look at other options to get a resolution.  I just hate that this condition seems to consume me.  I think my family is getting tired of asking how I feel.  They already know what I am going to say.

I hope yours heals up.  I could use some good news about a successful back surgery.  Did you have open surgery (cut your back open about 3 1/2 to 4 inches) or minimally invasive surgery?

Thanks for responding!

dak    

  

[midnitemoon]

I had the Microdisectomy and was suppossed to have a 1 inch incision but it came out to about 2 1/2 because of the size of the herniation.  I have Vicodin but I don't even feel like I have taken them.  I have tried 2 at a time with the Vistoril (since I am out of Perocet) but nothing. If only I could take the Ibuprofin.  I have to go 8 days without  Ibuprofin then go back to the doctor to see if i am any better.  I have been off of work about 2 weeks now and the doctor wont let me back until that dang nerve calms down.  I dream of the day that it goes back to normal and I can sit in a chair or car without pain.