New to Board - Microdiscectomy - L4/5 - 6 days post op

[kerry88]

Hi, I have been reading through countless message boards and am relieved (if not a little saddened) to see so many people who have suffered from herniated disks and needed this operation.

I will try to give my history as best as I can!! I am 22 years old, female. When I had just turned 20 I woke up with severe back pain that worsened very quickly and went down my leg. I called the doctor who dismissed my symptoms as a pulled muscle (they didnt even give me an appointment!) and told me to stretch it out!! After another day I ended up in tears as I could barely walk from the pain and was eventually seen by the doctors who STILL dismissed it as a pulled muscle! (I blame the fact that I was a student at the time on their poor care,as they do not even offer students doctors appointments without having seen a nurse first to confirm that you are ill!!!). Anyway, an ambulance call out in the middle of the night (I actually felt like I was dying...and would have welcomed it at the time!) and an emergency doctors appointment at the weekend finally led to a good doctor telling me to demand an MRI...which I did. The scan showed 2 disk herniations, one really severe. They referred me to physio as I could not bear any weight on the sole of my left foot and the leg was very weak and numb. The physio helped my strength but did nothing for the pain (I used meds to control it). Basically, I went on with life as I was basically shrugged off over and over again, thinking that there was nothing left to be done....but 2 and a half years later and after a 3rd MRI, I was finally referred to a neurosurgeon! He agreed that my quality of life was really affected (I havent been able to get work, and I helped look after my nephew but as he got heavier it became far too much!). So I was booked in for an L4/5 microdiscectomy, which I had on saturday (25th sept '10). I have never been so scared in my life...but everyone at the hospital was amazing and really looked after me. I woke up in so much pain, and was given morphine. They then stopped this and replaced it with paracetemol and ibuprofen, which did absolutely nothing, so was given tramadol as well. After doing the usual physio tests of walking and taking on stairs, I was given some physio steps to follow and sent home.

Now I am entering my 6th day and I am a little more mobile than I was, and don't seem to be getting any pain, other than what I assume to be healing muscles from the surgery, and the odd twinge down my leg. I am still taking 4 tramadol a day, and 3 extra strong ibuprofen (ran out of paracetemol yesterday). I am still in pain, even on these meds, and I have realised I only have enough to last until sunday. I am curious as to whether or not the doctors would prescribe more tramadol at least (as this definately works the best for controlling the pain) as I am terrified of the pain that will come without it!

I was wondering how long they will prescribe pain meds for? Is there a limit, or is it just for as long as you need it no matter what?!

Also, I am really struggling with walking around....the act of walking itself is ok, but the muscles in my back get really really tense up at the top, and at the bottom of my back it aches....I managed a shower the other day but even that didnt ease the tension! I was wondering if anyone else experienced similar, so at least I know i'm not alone...or has any tips for relieving this, as I feel it is really affecting how much I can walk around for!

Sorry for such a long post! I hope some of you managed to get this far! If so, thankyou! :-) I hope you can offer me any advice or support that you can, I would be very grateful, as I feel like noone really understands what this is like until they have experienced it firsthand! I wouldnt wish any of this on my worst enemy!!

Thanks again,
Kerry

[Kalvin]

Hope you feel better soon, let us know how you're doing.

[kerry88]

Well I got to see the doctor today, they prescribed another weeks worth of tramadol and ibuprofen. So it means I have cut out the paracetemols completely, but now I am getting that familiar pain shooting in my leg, mostly around my knee. I know they said it can happen because of the nerves healing, but I haven't felt anything since the op, an now it is almost a week on! I am terrified of this op not working....I just want to fastforward through this recovery and be better. I need to get a job and earn a living, not spending my days worrying about pain! :-(

[kerry88]

Thanks so much for your reply. I have read about Tramadol online and am aware of people having trouble coming off of it, I was taking two doses four times a day but on my first night at home I went extremely dizzy and was sick, and I was worried that it was the Tramadol. On this dosage I seem to get a bit drowsy but it takes the edge off of the pain, although it was much more effective on two tablets! I have made an appointment to see a doctor today, I am going to see if they will give me more painkillers and possibly something to ease the muscle tension in the top of my back, and hopefully they will help me out. This whole experience has made me very wary of doctors, as I don't want to be shrugged off and then be in agony! My surgeon and the nurse team at the hospital (I was sent to a private hospital paid for by the nhs) were amazing though...I just wish I could make appointments through them, but the hospital is over 30mins drive away!

[Kalvin]

You’ve been through a lot for someone so young. Dealing with idiotic Doctors who don’t want to acknowledge your pain, unfortunately is standard fare these days. And they never want to do back surgery on someone as young as you, but sometimes it’s the only alternative.

It sounds like you’ve made  considerable progress since surgery. I’m not that familiar with microdisectomy recoveries, except that they seem to be much easier. I had fusion at L4-5 and that is a completely different ball game.

I’m also from the U.S. so I don’t know how much of my experience will apply. But typically, they will prescribe for you for in the short term. It’s not unreasonable or out of the ordinary that you would have pain this soon after surgery. If they have a problem with it they could refer you to a Pain Specialist (long term) or your GP might be willing to prescribe for you. I suspect you just need this in the short term, but let me caution you. Tramadol is a relatively weak painkiller and you’re not even taking the maximum, but this stuff can be very addictive among certain individuals, I don’t know if you were aware of this, many Doctors aren’t. When you stop it you might find that you have to gradually lessen your dosage, it really depends on the individual.

Good luck with your recovery and I hope you feel better soon.