L4/5 Disc Prolapse 2 operations...

[cookie26]

Hi, I'm 32 and have had 2 laminectomies on L4/5, the last was 18 months ago and 22 months before that. I had my first disc prolapse at 17 and another at 24. They went away after physio but the last ones didn't. I've had 3 periradicular injections and an epidural to try and help but nothing seems to. I feel so alone, my neurosurgeon said that if the epidural didn't help there was nothing he could do. I've tried everything else... I'm having difficulty walking due to the pain (in my butt!) and pins and needles in my right leg. It comes and goes. My left leg is still numb from the first surgey and I'm wondering if anyone else has the same trouble. Is this the rest of my life? In my last surgery they shaved out a piece of bone to make room for the nerves but 6 weeks later I couldn't walk again. So I've had a central disc protusion, a recurrent disc protusion (affecting the left side) and a right paracentral disc protusion, all in 18 months. Is anyone else in the same situation? I can only work part time (even then I have to leave early sometimes). Is there any new treatment out? Aaargh!!! Any suggestions???

[alinpain]

im in the same situation as you,two neck surgurys which resulted in a titanium plate and bolts,two lower back surgurys,same as you make room for nerves,i also cant walk very far without bad pain in my butt down my leg ,now my groin,my doc was going to do the fusion in l4 l5,but i told him im having my gorebladder out the next day,he said see him in a month,and day before ill get emg all down my right side,then im guessing ill be in surgury.im seeing him on the 10th of oct,next week.i hope im in surgury by the following week,i cant take living like this no more
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

sounds familar same here
please keep us posted,,,,

[alinpain]

im going in on the 26th for surgury l4 l5 fusion,ill keep you guys informed

[MARGARETG]

best of luck and god bless
are they doing surgery through the front or back?
have you had any other surgery before this one on your back?
hope to here from you soon.
my prayers are with you, best wishes

[alinpain]

thank you for your blessing,i sure need it.as big as i am6"2 240lbs.and im a biker.  lol......im supposed to be tuff,only kidding,yes they have done two dislectamys in my back and felt great but a couple of weeks after the pain started to come back,i also had a two in my neck front and back went thru the front and did a fusion.no problems yet.........it was a year ago.my hand went crippled fromn my nerve being pinched so long,but im not in pain,hell of a trade off.they will be going thru my back,i really  trust my surgen i believe he is one of the best,he works with a great team.i tried to get a second opinion from a spine doc and a another doc they both wouldnt touch him saying he already did four surgurys and he is a great surgen,so im left to trust him and i do.i just wanted to hear other docs saying the same thing
well good luck and god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

well i wish you the best and our prayeres will be with you.
i havent had any surgery at this time the dr. just waiting for me to say go ahead and schedule it...lol
i had an injury at a young age(4) and at the time i shattered my collar bone so the apparent injury was my collar bone, no one detected my back injury until school and then they said i had severe scoloisis and put me a brace which i wore on and off through out my life when i was 9 they wanted to do surgery but it was just to  risky back then (31 yrs ago) so we said no, so im no stranger to back problems and pain never really been 100% pain free for any period of time... well 2 years ago my lower back stared really bothering me and when home remedies didnt help i went to my general dr and he gave me some meds and had a mri done this not halping i went to a chiropractor whooafter 6 wks three x a week being no help want to see the mri and at that time he told me no more adjusting
Nnot with the bend in by spine he'd do therapy but nothing more and that with the degeneration and multiple hernated or bulging disc i should really go see a surgoen( i have 6 either herniated or bulging disc top 2 in my neck, two in the center where the bend is and the bottom 2, the evil ones lol)
so i took his advice and the first surgoen i went to see said he felt i was to young for surgery and if i were say 55 to sixty he'd jump right in but if he did surgery now it woild just have to be done again in ten years. so we tryrd other methods a pain mngmt clinic who by the way never gave out pain meds-go figure all he ever did was order injections, steeriods, epiduruls , nerveblocks, and facet joint a totoal of 8 in 14 months  none helped.. so after that i refused any more shot andthe surgoen pretty much told me there was nothing else he could do i had already change pain mngmt dr's i need something for the pain so i asked them where could i get a second oppion. i just couldnt come to grips with a dr telling you to live off pain meds no other treatment would work so i went to see my surgoen now he ordered a discogram to see wich disc were the problem an l5 s1 were as we thought
bulging tear and also a third that was worse than the other 2 l4 so now he sugested fusion l4 l5 s1
he even sent me for a second oppion a surgoen thats in his building but not part of his practice and he agreed, they want ti go in through the front and replace the thre disc and then go in through the bacl and widen the openings for the scatic nerve on both sides and put a plat there for support?
i have a lot of leg pain numbness pins and needles there very heavy and a rt foot drop inner groin pain
and last but not fotgotton always lower back pain and burning... and with all thos im still a coward when it comes to surgery, i know back and leg pain its familar hurts pretty good but familar, its the unknown that gets me... i told my surgoen im just a coward  he laugherd and said eventually it will be done how old do you want to be going theough it its always easier the younger you are,,,
well hope all goes well with you and sorry to be so negative but its hard to talk to people that cant
relate to a back problem if theve never had one so im just venting to you, but im donme now lol best wishes and our prayers are with you and please let us know how it goes....

[alinpain]

WOW.........how old are you,and dont you want a chance of some sort of life,are you married and have children,i dont have a choice,i dont want my condition to get worse and be kicking myself for not doing something sooner,i do have children and a wife and she cant do this alone,im already on disablity and making one third of the money i did before,have a brand new house trying our best to hang on to it,....and to make things worse my wife had her gorebladder out about a month age and i did a week after,she got BLOODCLOTS  in both lungs almost lost her about three fridays ago,she was in intensive care for three days, and a regular room for six now she is home with bloodclots in her  lung waiting for her body to absorb them,and on coumadin to keep her blood thin for six months......so you see i have to be strong and get better for my family,if i dont we will crumble
so i hope you make the right decision
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

yeah alot of my procastnating is also finacial, and i thought we have bad luck but it sounds as though your really having it rough, and just rember the lord doesnt put know more on us than we can handle, and by pushing these limits we are learning that we are stronger than we originally thought...
so be strong, pray and look at the positive, every material objest we own ir replacalbe, but faith ,love and family are precisious, so even though it hard to grasp you still are blessed cause your not alone.
  be thakful for that every day, and im 40 not to old but my back feels as though its 80 and im really alwas looking for an excuse to put it off another day or month lol ....
but god bless and please keep it positive...

[alinpain]

will do,will post my post op results for anyone interested,so id say first week in november
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

god bless and our prayers are with you.
what kind of surgery they doing?
fusion? well keep in touch and best of luck!!!!!!!!!
what part of the country you in?

[alinpain]

they are doing a fusion l4 l5...............im in new england,providence,rhode island

[MARGARETG]

om in ohio but use to live in salem n.h
and thats my back too l4 l5 and s1 fusion....
did you get the ok from the insurance co. yet?
and is this the first surgery you have gotten?
not nosey just really digging for info that my make my decesion easier, and be a kind ear for
any fuming might need to be done  lol
god bless and happeir days to come.....

[alinpain]

yes i have the state insurance,lost my blue cross ins. when i stopped working,so now our income has went down and i meet the standards for the state.......SO FAR!!!!!!
i have had five surgurys in a year,this will be my six,one of them was gorebladder,i had two surgurys in my neck front and back,with a titanium plate put in with bolts,
i had two lower lumbar disectamys,did good for a while ,dont know if i did something wrong or what,now i cant stand very long or walk to far with out having to sit and then continue,my neck so far im out of pain,but my hand was left crippled from it,i have atrophy, where the muscle just goes away,i cant open my hand,i can close it,but on the bright side im not in severe pain anymore (so far),and by the way, ask away thats what this forum is for,......the only thing im going to different in come back to the forum and tell my story of success.......how is that for a possitive attitude!!!!!
LOL........most people get better and forget there computer pals are still suffering and could use the info on how a person made out AFTER SURGURY to,not only before.it could help in a decision to be made
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

lumbar surgery caused your hand problem or your neck caused it?
i don't know if i can go through with it, ever since they said surgery my back just doesnt seem as bad as it was, before, my husband says it hogwash that im mentally convincIng myself i dont need surgery and I can deal with it, i wonder if the dye from the disco gram can cushion your back?
LOL i dont know it just seems that ive been this way so long and so times i think i know the pain and its fimilar to me i know my limitations, dont get me wrong my back still bothers me sometimes terrible the pain is always there just some times are better than others and the pins and needles are there if i sit or stand to long the key is to get up and move around, the numbness is there and my back has put me down a few times since then, i dont know what to do>>>>>>>>>>>>>
but anyways goodluck and god bless hopeeverything works out for you
isnt giveitback having surgery today?
shes kept in our thoughts and prayers today and through out recovery..

[chadry]

Giveitback goes tomorrow for her surgery. Lets all keep saying our prayers for her. Can't wait for her to come back with her success story.
Take care.
Chadry

[alinpain]

yes i hope she does have a success story,it will be great to have someone reporting something good,and no it was my neck,having the nerve pinched so long,when it was relieved.this is whats left.i keep working it hopeing it will come back someday,and now im having signs of my leg getting week.
so i figure its a no brainer i have no choice if i want a shot at not being crippled in my leg
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

yes if that wwere my option i would have the surgery at the piont the out come cant be nothing but better, so yes go for it and rember the most important person in the operating room is the lord
and believe in him and the strenghts he gives to all those taking care of you...god bless
and you and giveitback are true success stories all ready , to be such a bright light in such a miserable forum and make people see another side of the coin is great, ive always none there are so many alot worse than me and sometimes its eay to lose sight of that, and the good news is i also live where religion and speech are of my choice and a good doctor is always available..
and thank god for that..
and as for the leg i also have wekness in both legs , its like some one tide wet sandbags to my thighs and ankles, i also have a drop foot on the right side (where my toes drop downward as im walking , or i think im picking it up high enough and instead its dragging the ground) hopefully not permanant,,, i just need to set a date to have L4 L5 AND S1 fusion, its so much easier to talk about it than doing it. ill get it done, at least ove quit smoking and thats a start......we'll good luck and god bless you

[alinpain]

yes i also quit smoking almost four months,and you have drop foot,WHY,for waiting so long,have you checked out rbc.org.sorry i know im jumping around over here,but im getting ready to go to the hospital for my pre-admission testing,one more week to go.i pray giveitback is ok,my prayers are with her........and yes i read about the people who are so much worse then i,i pray for them
but girl you need to get moving and get your surgury.let me know
like i told my doc,i trust him and the lord,i got the best team around.............so im going in with a positive attitude,and as they a
re putting me to sleep ill be saying the lords prayer
god bless-al

[MARGARETG]

hey does this quitting smoking get any easier?
and yes the drop foot is from the nerve having pressure on it which is the sensory movement, and apparently i think im picking up and mentally im telling myself to step but if i dont pay attention and sometimes even concintrate diffenttly when walking up steps i will fall up them, ive already fell up one step and broke my hand, other falls ive faired better. and ill go to that site today and giveitback were praying for you god bless and good luck,
by the way are you haing a fusion? and if so where?

[alinpain]

yes,l4 l5 fusion,at rhode island hospital

[MARGARETG]

[MARGARETG]

well thank goodness and i pray that your life gets easier and surgery fair's well,
i will keep you in my prayers and god bless....