Had Microdiscectomy 3 days ago

[tinabae]

I am recovering from L4 L5 lumbar mircrodiscectomy surgery. I noticed after I went home from hospital my foot and leg got numb and mentioned to doctor today but he didn't respond to my question, " Is the numbness temporary?"
I am taking pain meds and moving around more than the first night. I guess my question is did anyone benefit from this surgery long term?? Prior to this surgery my right hip hurt so much it hurt to walk. After 1 epidural injection which helped for about a week, an orthopedic doctor recommended microdiscectomy. Right now it hurts alot. I am really wanting to know from anyone with this experience what to expect and appreciate your comments

[brendanb]

Hi Tina,

I had the same procedure L4-5 over 1.5 years ago, I still hurt everyday all day, I take pandine forte everyday to max dosage recommeded, I recently tried not taking the drugs as I am so sick of them and am worried of the long term effects, I do a deck job and lets just say it is possable but is it worth it without the drugs NO WAY aching, uncomfortable and painful. not sure what to do now have this for life I guess.

Some advice for you - try to keep your social life going it gets to the stage where it seems easier to stay at home and not go out. this can be part of depression, lets face it being in pain all day everyday is no fun and really can work you over emotionally, anti depressents may help! they are not just for treating depression and most have pain relieving properties so maybe ask your doc about that.

Also if you are on codine based painkillers then buy yourself some laxitives, that way you might go poo now and again!!!

As for the benifit of the surgery well some are for it some against it, it really is different for everyone, I am better than I was BUT I take pain medication everyday. The surgery helps get rid of the nerve pain in legs etc BUT it does not do much for your back pain itself,

As for more surgery, I am no doctor but my opinion is - you are in pain now, probably will be in pain after more surgery so why not wait a bit, give it some time and I mean more than 5 months  if you can handle it and see how you are, you can always get the surgery but you cant really undo it!

If you go to Physio therepy when you can and try and get some core strength back this will also help. Bowen Therepy can also be good, DO NOT go to a chiropractor unless you want to stay broken forever!

I hope that helps a little, if you have any more questions post them here I will check back, goodluck (sorry about spelling!)

Brendan

[tinabae]

Good morning missywv..I have an apt with a new primary care phys today to ask for help in resources and conservative treatments. I requested a copy of my MRI and my medical records from the surgeon's office and the med rec's "will not be released until the doctor reviews and signs off on it" I asked why is that and the recept says he like to make sure nothing is 'misinterpreted'. OK then. I was happy to read that it is possible that some herniations reduce on their own. I have some hope that at least it is possible. I guess my goal today is to find a specialist who can look at my MRI results and tell me we can do conservative treatment. My MRI shows herniation measuring 15by8by6 mm at L4-5. I wonder if thats really bad or just bad. missywv, how bad is your restless leg syndrome? Is it really painful?

I just know that I can't go through a spinal fusion where bone is removed from my hip and screws are put into my spine, and the recovery time. Makes me want to cry just thinking about it. Hope to here from you soon. Take care.. hope your RLS is under control and you are not in pain :)

[missywv]

I hate to hear that you re-herniated a disk.........your journey is similar to mine.   I sought relief for hip pain and leg numbness back in March and by October I was so much worse than I was before!  The numbness in my calf and foot since surgery is not any better and for the last several days I have developed restless leg syndrome and haven't been able to sleep. I am really concerned that I herniated the disk below where I had surgery.

I have read online that some herniated disks will reduce on their own after time.....so I am keeping my fingers crossed.  I don't know where to go from here but I am getting very discouraged.

I promised myself that if I ended up having to go the fusion route that I would go with the dynamic stabilization system (neurosurgeon suggested) because I have other discs that are bulging and am sure a fusion would put too much pressure on them.  I have some literature on this and I know there's a lot of information online too.  I don't know if you are a candidate, but maybe you can check it out?  Supposedly this system is an alternate to a spinal fusion but has less recovery time and doesn't put pressure on the discs above and below.  I know that I can't face another surgery any time soon.

Please keep me informed to what you do from here........are you going to a pain management clinic?   I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[tinabae]

Thank you so much for responding. Saw doc yesterday after another MRI last week. He says I re-herniated disk and my best treatment now is spinal fusion. I am terrified of this procedure. I am 37 yrs old, very athletic before this problem 3 months ago. So far my journey for pain relief has led me to more pain than before surgery. I am really concerned about the pain in my sit bone the icchhium? wrong spelling. My gut feeling is that this surgeon only cares about more surgery and not the long term quality of life of patient. I was told before microdiscectomy 3 weeks ago this procedure has a 95% success rate and the Dr.'s own words,"You are a good candidate for surgery and I would recommend this to my own sister" Now he tells me I squirted more disk post surgery and we're going to have to do a spinal fusion so no more disk squirting. I have 2 kids that need their mother....Im in tears and terror thinking about another surgery. What I don't understand is I am in excellent health and never had surgery in my life before, never had a reason to see a doctor even before my disk herniation. Im taking 6-8 10m vicoden, ibuprophin, and muscle relaxer EVERYDAY so Im not in tears on the floor with pain. Oh, and after 1 epidural I went to see the surgeon and told him I felt great for about a week he told me that is only temporary and surgery is permanent. He basically convinced me this was the best option. Now I don't trust him. I so much appreciate your advice and comments , I thank you. I've never felt so alone the last 2 weeks. I can see this kind of experience can make a person severely depressed. I can't go there because my daughters need me to be strong. My question now is, seeing my post op MRI there is more disk on my nerve than pre op MRI. I would be hopeful to know if anyone in my situation sought non surgical treatment(s) and had even a little success, what those treatments are etc... I am thinking of going back for more epidural injections. Anyone out there found light at the end of the tunnel with no surgery treatments for now badly herniated disk which is now taken over my right leg? missywv, thank you so much, I would love to know more about your progress

[missywv]

Hello!  I had a L4/L5 microdiskectomy on Dec. 15th.  After I was allowed up and the leg wrappings came off, I noticed an immediate improvement in my legs, especially the bad one (I had a bilateral extrusion, so was confined to bed for almost 24 hours to reduce spinal fluid leaking since the cord had to be moved twice). This remained that way for two weeks and all of a sudden I had extreme calf muscle numbness and heel tingling.  I called the neurosurgeon last Friday and they said to take ibuprofen every four hours and to ice and heat.  If it doesn't get better, I am to call back in on Tuesday this week.  From what I have read, nerve inflammation from the surgery is common - and the nerve that is inflamed is not the same nerve that was previously pinched.  He warned me before surgery that it may take months for that nerve to fully "come alive" because of the length of time it was compressed - so keep that in mind for yourself, but also watch for signs of inflammation (increased numbness or in different places).  Don't feel bad about calling your doctor's office and ask questions!

I know several people and have read in forums that a whole pile of people have good results from this surgery, so I'm not discouraged yet.  The neurosurgeon did say that because I have no soft disc material left, I would have increased lower back pain, so I am prepared for that (I knew that before deciding on surgery).  You are on that "curse day" (where you curse every time you move lol) the third day after surgery was definitely my worst day and the fourth wasn't much better, by day five I started tapering off the pain meds, but then the muscle spasms started.  By day seven when the sutures came out, I got a stronger muscle relaxant and all was perfect!  I felt wonderful for the next week, except for the small movements - shifting positions in bed or a chair, getting up and down, getting in a car - walking didn't hurt at all and I had no pain in a reclining position.  Don't sit up straight in a chair for longer than 15-20 minutes!  Puts too much pressure on your back.  Sit back in a recliner and you'll notice a huge difference, but still make sure to get up and move often.  After the sutures came out, I was allowed to ice or heat and that helped.  By the end of week 2, I was completely off the strong pain meds from the hospital and back to advil and a small dose of tramadol - buts tons of round the clock muscle relaxants.  By the end of week three (today) - I am only on advil.  I figure once I go back to work hopefully next week, I'll need something a little stronger, but today I don't and it's awesome!

So hang in there, you were still feeling the effects of the surgery and your muscles being smooshed around.  I can tell a huge difference in my muscles now - my stomach muscles sure didn't want to work for the first two weeks, but that is much better as my back feels stronger.  Sitting up in a chair is still difficult, so I'll have to deal with that and move often when I go back to my desk job.

Why did you only have one epidural injejction? They normally do them in groups of three to get maximum benefits, especially if you saw any kind of improvement after the first one.  I had two and didn't see hardly any improvement, then had two nerve blocks.  None of these helped my leg pain, but oh my gosh did they help the inflammation in my hip and that has continued for almost six months (but started coming back right before surgery). There are definite risks from these injections, but I weighed the pros and cons and am still glad I did them.  

Hope you start feeling better very soon and you start seeing some improvement in the leg numbness in the next couple of weeks - hopefully you'll notice a decrease in your hip pain too.