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This is true and the type of surgery and what is being done will determine the outcome.
I had a laminectomy/discectomy in 2005. I was back at work in two weeks and have had no significant problems since. Yes, I will always have back problems and last year the pain was bad enough to seek out help. I did PT for six weeks and still can do those exercises at home to help alleviate some pain.
Thank God for medical science and practice. I can't imagine living in that kind of pain for any more years than I have to.
If one is fortunate with their back surgeries, good I say..Very Good. I've heard of too many gone the other way. Once done, surgery cannot be reversed as we all know. My neighbor had a lam a couple years ago and so far seems to walk upright OK. He doesn't rave about the surgery, but he doesn't talk much anyway.
Good about your daughter, even though my back started giving me pain over 60 yrs ago I got thru it all and surgery was never brought up to me. Today at 79 soon is a different story, I have a tough time standing in the kitchen for long time etc etc....I talked my 72 yr old brother out of back surgery last year, he's a lifetime golfer, and we hear stories about golfer's backs.
I have two friends who had hip replacements on Monday, one is going on 79 and the other is 90...HOPE they have good outcomes. I live with complications from mine at 72. Thanks again. J
I think the story of standing over the sink is what we hear the most. I know, I usually sit down even to peel a couple of potatoes and in the summer when we can, I am always sitting down, rarely stand more than 5 or 10 minutes. When we are asked to help with coffee at church I hate to say no, but omG how bad my back feels. We have a very large congregation and it takes a long time to clean up after coffee hour. I have accepted my fate, this is one horrible pain I will live with forever. I am not a believer in taking pain meds. I might consider a muscle relaxant though. I will add, I don't know of anyone who has had back surgery and their back was worse afterwards. Nothing is a guarantee and no matter what we choose or how good the surgeon things happen. We just had a friend who's brother had simple hernia surgery last week and died a few days ago.
Then there are chiros who over-adjust you with seemingly no clue as to what's really going on.
I discovered by accident a few years ago that many times taking a fairly strong anti-inflammatory, then trying hard not to aggravate it works.
I was having back back trouble while getting chemo. The big dose of prednisone I got knocked it out, right now.
Don't need anything that crazy.
Just a prescription anti-inflammatory when it flares up and it usually gets better in a week or so.
I ended up in the ER years ago with an anti inflammatory drug, caused a stomach ulcer...so i use caution with the OTC stuff I take. Take stomach protectors from my arsenal of supplements and make sure food in my stomach when I take my stuff. Keep crackers on nightstand for that early AM dose of pain stuff.
MOST of my friends are aging and everyone has back pain, I hear it all the time...as we need to remind ourselves, aging is not for sissies.
If the animals could talk they would say the same thing about their aging bodies.
Cannot caution people enough to read the insert that comes with your medication. Medication has side effects.
I have meloxicam and if I do not drink a full glass of water first my stomach hurts.
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If one is fortunate with their back surgeries, good I say..Very Good. I've heard of too many gone the other way. Once done, surgery cannot be reversed as we all know. My neighbor had a lam a couple years ago and so far seems to walk upright OK. He doesn't rave about the surgery, but he doesn't talk much anyway.
In general people only complain about what is wrong. You will rarely hear anyone "complain" when something is successful.
In general people only complain about what is wrong. You will rarely hear anyone "complain" when something is successful.
Well, of course, and I've heard from many on joint replacement groups. They would not hang there if they had great outcomes. I hung there a lot in the early years after hip replacement and hardly go to them anymore, it's going on 7 yrs and I should be used to the side effects I live with. The main reasonn for hip job for me was a horrific groin pain/mess and now no pain but THREE complications from that surgery. So you take your chances and live with what you are left with.
I believe a major point and there is a lot of info on Unnecessary surgeries.
My back started to give me pain when I was 18 and I'm headed to 79. I have done a lot of back work over 60 yrs and still do my home exercises as best I can now.
Never did a back surgery.
Yesterday on NPR there was a segment that back surgeries are the MOST repeated surgeries out there. I've heard stories about 3-9 repeated surgeries on the back.
Here's the book, I'm not going to read it as I could write my own, but I'm sure I'd agree with all that is written.
I found myself up Late last night, 10PM and later, for me that is now late. Anyway, coast to coast radio had a hour long at least interview with the author of Crooked and she talked about her own back issues for many years and basically the "failed back surgeries" and how unnecessary these are. Then they had call ins from folks with back issues and then I fell asleep. We take our chances big time when under the knife.
In general people only complain about what is wrong. You will rarely hear anyone "complain" when something is successful.
That is a very good point: we all expect things to go right, whether it is surgery, a meal out, a vacation, a job change, thus we do not spend time sharing the good with the world, but let something go wrong and we can't want to share the bad story with anyone who will listen. Think about it: I play a lot of bridge and many of the players are older so have had joint replacements, cancer, stomach problems, etc. The few who have gone wrong we all hear about, the most of us hardly even mention our successful treatments. Other than being asked when I got back from knee replacement how it went I hardly mention it. Even then, I mostly just said, it really went well or it wasn't as bad as I thought, but had it gone bad even slightly I may have had a lot to say. I will, occasionally recommend my surgeon because I think he is the best, most do, but even then probably only if someone asked. I wouldn't just walk into a group I was with and say, if I was asked about my knee, oh it went great and my surgeons name is such and such, but if I didn't like him, I would not hesitate to say, surgery was awful and my surgeons name was John Jones.
A new book sheds new light on the huge back pain relief industry in the U.S.
It's written by an investigative journalist who spent several years looking into finding relief for her own back pain.
"Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry" reveals the drawbacks to a lot of the back surgery, injections and other treatments for back pain.. glad I read it before I spent big bucks on various treatments that, for many people, either don't work, only last for a short time, or even make things worse.
I'm not the author, but think it's worthwhile for people to know more before they undergo treatment for their back pain.
Look, there are potential drawbacks to getting a manicure.
I think you would have no problem finding similar books shedding light on the huge "alternative medicine" quackery industry in the U.S. But they have not prevented me from doing some careful exploring of herbal remedies and the like, in concert with getting a lot of advice from people who are well trained in the field and not simply enthusiastic quacks with no backgrounds in biology, physiology, etc. Some of it indeed works, and some of it has been useless (for me), some has had lousy side-effects and some of it is downright fatal if you do not know what you are doing. Two local gentlemen came close to dying following the herbal regimen suggested by a "healer."
But debunking books are not going to be my health guides. I don't care what aspect of medicine or health care they are jumping all over. They are written for the choir. And they are written to provide shock-entertainment for True Believers.
I have benefited very much from spine surgery. I injured myself twice and other surgeries were an attempt to prevent the deterioration of my spine in old age to the point where I would not be able to walk...never mind the horrible pain. And there have been 2 operations that were dismally unsuccessful.
I badly injured a lumbar disc causing extreme protrusion and increasing pressure on the sciatic nerve many years ago. A laminectomy provided relief for six months, things headed south soon after until walking and sitting were extremely painful. (I cannot claim to have acted as carefully as I should have during recovery, but I was not a fool either.) And finally I woke up unable to move in bed from the intensity of the pain. It was horrific and it was non-stop. An emergency trip to the hospital, and a laminectomy of the same disc and a fusion of two vertebrae was done. This was 1978.
The surgeon was super and personally concerned. Not only was the remainder of the disc collapsed, but it had fragments sheared off that were attaching themselves to the nerves, etc by growing filaments. After my slow and careful recovery, I was out dancing at clubs, doing most normal activities, gardening, traveling and some careful gym work....a normal life for the next quarter century. And by that time plain old age was taking its toll, and finally rather seriously.
It has become clear from the histories of family members over the last half century in one family line that seriously malformed and weak spines have to be in our DNA somewhere. Just far too many people in the U.S. and Europe with very similar problems. My sister died as a child with a serious spine problem.
I did not want surgery (I was poorly insured) in 1978 and I did explore other avenues. Two long stints of chiropractic treatment with practitioners with good reps did not help, and, in fact, increased my level of pain. Various type of exercise were not helpful, and some cause bad pain. Clearly, my spine problems at that time were not of the type to benefit from these avenues of approach.
The causes of back and spine problems are numerous, there are various means of diagnostic imaging and many types of treatment (and,no, not all doctors recommend an express train to the operating table in my experience.) I have had to resort to spine operations for other problems (and an accident), but I have also used some exercises, massage treatments and tens devices, as well as some herbal remedies in these past decades because they have proved helpful....and I continue to so so regularly, I should add. Acupuncture was terrific after I fractured my spine about ten years ago, and it was just as good in the last of the Nineties to relieve post-op pain after an accident that bunged up four cervical discs. So, I am not at all opposed to "alternative medicine."
Whether it is your spine or your chronically upset tummy, I would not recommend rushing into one avenue of treatment and closing your mind to all the others. There are spine conditions for which only surgery is a possible remedy. And there is also the question of how much pain and loss of activity are you willing to endure for how long before you are willing to admit that your status quo sucks and it is time to reevaluate.
There is not just one medical "racket" out there, be it in mainstream medicine or in alternative medicine; just as there is no one and only one "spine problem" which afflicts people. "Hasten slowly" and don't become a fanatic are two good pieces of advice in my view.
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