Everyone I've talked to said it either made things worse or didn't help at all. A friend of mine has been through 4 and said he hasn't noticed any improvement. Thanks.

 

I have a customer who has had multiple surgery's and went from bad to worse. Last year she was temporally relegated to a wheel chair. She can hardly walk and only does so for short distances.

My wife is an RN and does not recommend back surgery.

 

Man.........that's bad.

 

Depends on why the surgery is being performed...

A few years back, I blew a disk in my lumbar (L4,S1) - literally. A piece of the disk, about the size of a pea, blew off the disk and lodged itself in the nerve bundle that runs down the spine in that region.

I had a most heinous case of sciatica and was bedridden for 3-months - the only neurosurgeon in the area who was qualified to do this kind of surgery was backlogged. It was the single most painful period of my life (and I have a fairly high tolerance to pain due to all the other things that's wrong with me.) I could not move and it felt like someone was holding a branding iron to the side of my right leg 24/7. Just going to the bathroom was an effort - I had to drag my leg behind me as I had no other feeling in it other than sheer pain and no muscle control.

After the surgery, I woke up and was in bliss - I almost cried for joy - For the first time in 3-months, the excruciating pain in my leg was gone. At that point, I didn't care what I would have to endure later on - all that mattered was that I was finally able to walk again and that I could finally get caught up on some very much needed sleep. Could've done without the catheter, however...

I had a diskectomy and I now have a dead disk in my back. I have to be careful how I lift things (that's what started the whole mess in the first place) and I have to be mindful of my posture but, overall, I have had very few problems since the surgery.

 

I have not, but I know a fair number of people who have. It seems to be kind of a crap shoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and occasionally things get worse.

Seems to apply to back surgery in general.

 

A lot depends on the surgeon as well. I have had disc repair surgery in my neck...I couldn't lift my arms without shooting pain and/or tingling sensation shooting down them. After nearly 7 hours of lasering/cutting/re-aligning I no longer have the pain. I can sleep laying down, even. I would recommend my surgeon to help you...don't know about any others.

 

I broke my L5 35 years ago. My doctor advised me to not have surgery as long as I could live with the pain & had reasonable use of my back. He was a well known bone specialist. He said it would cause me to lose flexibility in my lower back to operate. I use physical therapy when I have back problems with great results. It only works if you do the work at home but its cured every bone or joint problem for me. If you think you need surgery be sure you get several opinions & use a doctor with a good success rate. I know too many people that have back surgery & are worse off after it.

 

I had a severely herniated L3-4 disc, and a blown L4-5 disc. I was totally unable to walk without pain, hardly could stand, even laying down was painful. I had the surgery, as there was really no other option. Am I back to total normal? No. Do I feel better than I did before the surgery? YES! I still have issues and pain, but I can have a semi normal life that there would have been absolutely no way to have without the surgery. I had held off for over 12 years, then it was to the point of no return. I have residual nerve damage due to the many years of beating on the nerves. I do have to state that surgery is a last resort, a good chiropractor can make all the difference. I had held off the trouble for a long time due to chiropractic care. At the time my back failed, I had not been going in every 3 months as had been my pattern before that, which had made the difference, and I was working two different jobs with overtime at one. I had a pinch that just wouldn't go away for a few weeks before the morning it failed. Once it failed, there was no other realistic option. if it is just simple pain, I would go chiro first.

 

I went down a staircase at home, in 1991, with my (then) 1 year old Irish Setter, Clancy.

He and I tumbled down the steps after he knocked me off balance.

I have some really great orthopedic surgeons.
They didn't want to operate, unless it was a 'last resort'.

Well, after 4 months of therapy, exercises and countless meds, they operated.
L4/5 disk was removed and a 'synthetic' disk was put in it's place.
I had titanium 'eye bolts' and rods (2-1/2 lbs worth) screwed into my spine, and a spinal fusion from bone in my hip.

I lost a year and a half from work because of this injury.

Am I better than before surgery???? Yes!
Am I better than before injury?? Uhhh. . No!

I take meds every day. Every day. Now, just so there's no misunderstanding, I HATE drugs.
What I take is Ibuprofen that I buy over-the-counter. Ibuprofen takes the 'edge' off of the pain.
Every day is different.
Today looks like a 12 pill day, so far. I took 4 pills at 7:00 a.m. this morning, and I took another 4 pills at 12:00 noon.
I'll probably have to take another 4 around 7:00 p.m., or so.

It also doesn't help that I have about 1-1/2 lbs of titanium 'cage' and strap in my neck, from a 'freak accident' in 2001. C5/6 disk, C6/7 disk and C6 vertabra were removed and a 'cage' put in, then a strap was screwed in, between C4 and C7!!
What kind of freak accident, you ask??????

My (then) 5 year old son broke my neck!