View Poll Results: lower back surgary
yes have the surgary
9
69.23%
dont have the surgary
4
30.77%
Voters: 13. You may not vote on this poll
back surgery
#11
#12
#13
#14
Are you not picking up what these guys are laying down? Surgery is a risk and your going to have to deal with this whether you have the surgery or not.
Im not an expert or even knowledgeable but thats what i get from the ones that know about this.
Have you looked into pain management?
Good luck - youre awful young to have back problems already - I hope you can get it fixed!
Im not an expert or even knowledgeable but thats what i get from the ones that know about this.
Have you looked into pain management?
Good luck - youre awful young to have back problems already - I hope you can get it fixed!
Last edited by Dr. Evil; 07-30-2010 at 05:25 PM.
#15
Surgery now or surgery later. Your life has just changed.
I used to carry my son on my sholders when he was little... Did it all the time, got to where he would duck under doors and such...
I could only do it every now and then with my daughter, because it would hurt my back...
No matter what you have to change everything you do.
I used to carry my son on my sholders when he was little... Did it all the time, got to where he would duck under doors and such...
I could only do it every now and then with my daughter, because it would hurt my back...
No matter what you have to change everything you do.
#16
#19
I popped L4-L5 back on June-4 of 2007. Had to go through the B.S. of x-rays before getting the MRI's that showed the mangled disc, waiting almost 4 weeks total. Then had to wait TWO MONTHS to see the neurosurgeon to decide if surgery was the answer. Turns out it was the only option.
By then, I was praying for someone to either cut me or shoot me. Between the pain of the actual disc, and it's mass pressing the sciatic nerve against the vertebrae killing my leg, it was impossible to function. The pain was horrific and I couldn't get away from it, no matter what position I tried. I couldn't sit. I couldn't stand. I couldn't lay down. I couldn't walk from room to room in my house without a cane. A wrong step would result in my legs just folding up under me and I'd hit the floor. Had to sit down to take a **** because I couldn't stand long enough. Couldn't take a shower. Had to take a bath and have my wife help me in and out of the damn bathtub. I had a constant lean to the left side due to the contents of disc being squeezed out the right side like a tube of toothpaste.
The docs had me on a steady diet of Percoset, Flexoril (muscle relaxer due to the extreme spasms) and industrial strength anti-inflammatories while I waited. The drugs didn't even seem to faze the pain. Or maybe they were the only reason I didn't end up chewing on a shotgun barrel. I don't know. All I know is I couldn't wait for the specialist to cut me open.
He did, on Sept 11 (yeah...9/11) and when I woke up 2 hours later, it felt like I was on vacation! THE PAIN WAS GONE! With the magic of scopes and lasers, the incision was only about 1 1/4 inches long. He was able to repair the remainder of the disc, clean out all the little pieces that were swimming around in my spine and he ground a groove in the vertebrae for the sciatic nerve to retreat to from the swelling. I was up and walking 8 hours afterwords, though I leaned the opposite direction for a few weeks due to the muscles not being used to holding me straight for over 3 months, went home the following morning and was back to work in a little under 5 weeks. He said the same procedure 7 years prior would have taken 3-4 months to recover from due to the 7-8 inch incision and muscle damage from the surgery!
I didn't need anything stronger than Alieve for the pain, though the muscle relaxers still came in mighty handy for a month or so. Today I say my back is probably about 90% of it's original strength and it likely won't get better than that. I'm able to do most everything I want to do and have full range of motion. Can still touch my toes, even with my fat belly in the way! I just have to slow down and plan ahead on what I really want to do and maybe find an easier (and less painful) way to get things done than I did before the injury.
In short, if you can't function and the specialist offers it as an option, consider the surgery.
Check out the deflated disc and resulting sideways curve of the spine in the MRI image below.
By then, I was praying for someone to either cut me or shoot me. Between the pain of the actual disc, and it's mass pressing the sciatic nerve against the vertebrae killing my leg, it was impossible to function. The pain was horrific and I couldn't get away from it, no matter what position I tried. I couldn't sit. I couldn't stand. I couldn't lay down. I couldn't walk from room to room in my house without a cane. A wrong step would result in my legs just folding up under me and I'd hit the floor. Had to sit down to take a **** because I couldn't stand long enough. Couldn't take a shower. Had to take a bath and have my wife help me in and out of the damn bathtub. I had a constant lean to the left side due to the contents of disc being squeezed out the right side like a tube of toothpaste.
The docs had me on a steady diet of Percoset, Flexoril (muscle relaxer due to the extreme spasms) and industrial strength anti-inflammatories while I waited. The drugs didn't even seem to faze the pain. Or maybe they were the only reason I didn't end up chewing on a shotgun barrel. I don't know. All I know is I couldn't wait for the specialist to cut me open.
He did, on Sept 11 (yeah...9/11) and when I woke up 2 hours later, it felt like I was on vacation! THE PAIN WAS GONE! With the magic of scopes and lasers, the incision was only about 1 1/4 inches long. He was able to repair the remainder of the disc, clean out all the little pieces that were swimming around in my spine and he ground a groove in the vertebrae for the sciatic nerve to retreat to from the swelling. I was up and walking 8 hours afterwords, though I leaned the opposite direction for a few weeks due to the muscles not being used to holding me straight for over 3 months, went home the following morning and was back to work in a little under 5 weeks. He said the same procedure 7 years prior would have taken 3-4 months to recover from due to the 7-8 inch incision and muscle damage from the surgery!
I didn't need anything stronger than Alieve for the pain, though the muscle relaxers still came in mighty handy for a month or so. Today I say my back is probably about 90% of it's original strength and it likely won't get better than that. I'm able to do most everything I want to do and have full range of motion. Can still touch my toes, even with my fat belly in the way! I just have to slow down and plan ahead on what I really want to do and maybe find an easier (and less painful) way to get things done than I did before the injury.
In short, if you can't function and the specialist offers it as an option, consider the surgery.
Check out the deflated disc and resulting sideways curve of the spine in the MRI image below.
Last edited by dieseldude03; 07-31-2010 at 07:01 PM.