Herniated/Bulging Disc - Surgery, Pain Management, Other Treatment Options? (constant pain, skin)

[Mulerider]

Sam I Am. Who is a good surgeon in Arkansas. I have a herniated disk and have had shots and all. I am going to get a 2 nd opinion before surgery. Do you suggest anyone? I live in Arkansas.

[pinetar10]

I had a microdiscecotmy in L4-L5 and L5-S1 eight years ago at 19 years of age. I pretty much just chilled for the 3 months after. I had the surgery in May, and since I was a college student, I had no responsibilities that summer, so I just relaxed and recuperated with physical therapy. I then started working out again and lifting weights in late August. I have been in pretty good shape since then. I lift weights regularly (still cannot do back squats or deadlifts). I do get stiffness in my back at times when playing baseball or standing for long periods of time. I do get pain from time to time if i sleep laying on my stomach on sometimes on my side.
Overall though, I am happy with my surgery and how I have been doing.
Thing is though, I am always conscious of my back and when lifting things, I am always careful to contract my abs and back muscles and to lift with my legs.

[Roselvr]

Are you male?

Originally Posted by pinetar10

I had a microdiscecotmy in L4-L5 and L5-S1 eight years ago at 19 years of age. I pretty much just chilled for the 3 months after. I had the surgery in May, and since I was a college student, I had no responsibilities that summer, so I just relaxed and recuperated with physical therapy. I then started working out again and lifting weights in late August. I have been in pretty good shape since then. I lift weights regularly (still cannot do back squats or deadlifts). I do get stiffness in my back at times when playing baseball or standing for long periods of time. I do get pain from time to time if i sleep laying on my stomach on sometimes on my side.
Overall though, I am happy with my surgery and how I have been doing.
Thing is though, I am always conscious of my back and when lifting things, I am always careful to contract my abs and back muscles and to lift with my legs.

[Buckeye in SC]

Hey, haven't read everyone's posts in here, but I was diagnosed w/Cauda Equina Syndrome Feb. 2007 after suffering 2 smashed discs into that nerve and spinal column. I was unable to walk for a while - more so due to an idiot neurosurgeon who said it wasn't serious and then proceeded to do an unneeded surgery that didn't address/correct the actual problem, and it cost me nearly a week of rehabilitation and remaining in that state. Fortunately, I have a lot of PT's in my family and they told me to get a 2nd opinion immediately which I did, and had the 2nd surgery done by an orthopedic surgeon who relieved the pressure on the nerve. I was in the hospital for nearly a month when it was all said and done, and had to use a walker for about a month once I was release, a crutch for about another month, and wore AFO's the entire time until finally by mid-May I was able to walk w/out any support.

Thankfully, I didn't get my back fused (like the first moron doctor thought would be eventually needed) and am pretty much totally back to normal - which is amazing for someone w/CES - the only lingering effect is my right foot's inability to evert. However, I've learned to adapt, and actually just jogged 5 miles over lunch not even 2 years later now!

I thank God, b/c if you read about most people w/CES, they have a lifetime of lingering issues, such as uncontrollable bowels, numbness in their extremeties, and sexual problems to name a few. If you have any extreme numbness or lack of movement in your extremeties, get it checked right away, time is of the essence when it comes to these types of injuries. While a lot of people can manage w/herniate discs only causing discomfort and not needing surgery but just therapy, exercise and rest, there are also some cases that need immediate attention and/or surgery.

[Mulerider]

I just had 3 injections. The needle does not hurt. The medicine does hurt when it is injected. The more inflamed you are the more it will hurt. It feels like a brain freeze( from eating ice cream)but it is in your leg and goes all the way to your foot. The 2 nd and 3 rd shot didnt hurt near as bad. I thought it was worth it. I got a lot of relief but didnt solve the problem. I am probably 80 % better.

[pinetar10]

Originally Posted by Roselvr

Are you male?

yes i am male

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by pinetar10

yes i am male

I wondered if men had better luck with spine surgery then women due to their body shape
you were also young when you had it done, which also may be why it was successful

[tao]

Originally Posted by Roselvr

Exactly what surgery did you have done? I'm sure they fused you? Did they only use a cage or did they add rods?
What cage did they give you and did they harvest bone from your hip?

I read the other post you linked to but I don't see that you said what surgery you had.

I didn't have a fusion, just a very invasive discectomy. My disc herniation was so big they had to cut through my muscle to cut it out plus they rooted around and removed fragments that they found once they got in. They also directly injected my nerve branch with steroids. It was a horrific experience, especially since I didn't go under the anaesthesia fast enough and I couldn't breathe until they intubated me...while I was awake. When I woke up I was in the worst pain of my life, far worse than my gallbladder removal surgery the year before. They didn't tell me they cut through muscle nor that they injected my nerve branch with steroids, so the level of pain I was in when waking up was totally unexpected and shockingly severe. They kept pumping me full of Dilaudid (which I also had with my gallbladder pre-op and I was told is 7 times stronger than morphine) and it didn't even touch the pain. I'm still in the healing process and I'm still in pain but it's not as bad as it was before. I've been having trouble with my foot for the past month and a half and plan to see my doctor as soon as I can to see if it's related to the nerve damage I sustained by having put off surgery for as long as I did.

I don't enjoy talking about this or posting about it - I'm still traumatized by everything I've bee through health-wise over the past few years...but I tell my story as a cautionary tale. If you have a herniated disc and you're told you need surgery don't put it off. Find a highly recommended surgeon (with a perfect or near perfect success rate) who communicates with you clearly and get a full account of what to expect. I was kept in the dark completely for my surgery and was unprepared for what followed.

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by tao

... If you have a herniated disc and you're told you need surgery don't put it off....

This bears repeating, imho.

I fought severe back pain for about 10 years, always being told "surgery is a last resort." Finally I was pretty much bed-ridden, crawling around the house on my hands and knees, doped up with percocet for the last month while I awaited a Chymopapain injection. This was in the early 1980s -- maybe '83 or '84 -- only a few months after it became legal in the U.S.

That worked with limited success, and I was able to go back to a fairly normal life. I walked 50-60 miles per week for exercise.... until it went out again in 1991. I was scheduled for a discectomy three times this time around.

The first time was cancelled when my surgeon offed himself the night before.
The second time, a month later, I felt like I was getting better, so the "new" surgeon cancelled it the day it was planned. That was a big mistake, as it hit harder a month later. I ended up overdosed on percocet (didn't know how many I'd taken) and was found on the floor of my hotel room. (I couldn't crawl into bed.)

The surgery was a major success. I still have a little numbness, especially if I stand in one place for long, and I have weakness in my right ankle and limp if I walk for more than 50 yards, but aside from a couple flare-ups that lasted a week or so, I've not had any severe back pain since '91. The nerve damage, of course, was caused by putting off the surgery for too long.

--------------

My father had a discectomy in the early 50s when he was 40 years old. He also put it off as long as he could and ended up with minor nerve damage. Then in 2002, at the age of 89, he was again in such pain from it that he couldn't get around. The doctor told him that the surgery would probably result in losing the use of his legs, because he had so much scar tissue from the first surgery, but at that point it was the only option. He spent the rest of his life (two more years) in a wheel chair.

[Roselvr]

Sounds like you had a $hit doctor. No one should have to go through that.
I had a discography years ago that was similar. 1st needle went in ok, the 2nd hit a nerve/muscle and that was all she wrote for me.. about 2 hours on the table without proper medication.. horrible, and with no results. I can imagine the pain you were in just from what I went through.

Sounds like you had it done recently (no time to sift back through posts to see). I wonder why they didn't use a less invasive procedure.

Originally Posted by tao

I didn't have a fusion, just a very invasive discectomy. My disc herniation was so big they had to cut through my muscle to cut it out plus they rooted around and removed fragments that they found once they got in. They also directly injected my nerve branch with steroids. It was a horrific experience, especially since I didn't go under the anaesthesia fast enough and I couldn't breathe until they intubated me...while I was awake. When I woke up I was in the worst pain of my life, far worse than my gallbladder removal surgery the year before. They didn't tell me they cut through muscle nor that they injected my nerve branch with steroids, so the level of pain I was in when waking up was totally unexpected and shockingly severe. They kept pumping me full of Dilaudid (which I also had with my gallbladder pre-op and I was told is 7 times stronger than morphine) and it didn't even touch the pain. I'm still in the healing process and I'm still in pain but it's not as bad as it was before. I've been having trouble with my foot for the past month and a half and plan to see my doctor as soon as I can to see if it's related to the nerve damage I sustained by having put off surgery for as long as I did.

I don't enjoy talking about this or posting about it - I'm still traumatized by everything I've bee through health-wise over the past few years...but I tell my story as a cautionary tale. If you have a herniated disc and you're told you need surgery don't put it off. Find a highly recommended surgeon (with a perfect or near perfect success rate) who communicates with you clearly and get a full account of what to expect. I was kept in the dark completely for my surgery and was unprepared for what followed.