Mico diskectomy and sciatic nerve pain

I am a 32 year old female who underwent a micordiskectomy two weeks ago.  I was having terrible sciatic nerve pain that pysical therapy and chiropractic care was not touching.  After two ER visits they finally did and MRI and saw a bulging disk at L4/L5.  I was admitted to the hospital the next day and had the surgery.  I felt great for a few days, but now the sciatic nerve pain is coming back and getting worse day by day.  I am getting to the point where I cannot sit for very long without pain.

Is there hope for further recovery?  I have four children, two of which are very young and need their mommy!  The lifting restrictions are a challenge with them, but I am fortunate to have lots of help.  I am wondering if I am doing "too much" too soon - would this increase the discomfort?  

I have my follow up appointment in a few weeks - hope to have some answers then but if anyone out there has some advice/experience I would appreciate it!  Thanks!

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question.  Usually, recovery from a discectomy procedure takes time (standard is six weeks) and as everyone is different it may vary as well.  Most of the times, one may experience back and leg pain during the recovery period. However, essentially you should avoid prolonged sitting, lifting heavy objects, bending, twisting and excessive exertion for the first three weeks. It is not like that you restrict all activities but you should gradually increase your physical activities over this period. Additionally, common complication of a discectomy is that there is a possibility that another fragment of disc will herniate and may cause similar symptoms. Therefore, endoscopic microdiscectomy is appropriate in some specific situations, and you may check this with your treating neurologist. Hope this helps.