Help! Need Back surgery. [Forum Archive]

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Help! Need Back surgery.

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Posted by: dbo

I went to physical therapy for 2 herniated disks. It made my back worse and now my leg and foot go numb if i sit. I have constant pain in my lower back, buttocks, and down my right leg. I was told i most likely need surgery. I see a nerosurgeon on June 4.
Has anyone experienced this problem or know someone who has? I would appreciate any knowledge you could offer. I heard that many people having back surgery have only gotten worse. I don't want surgery but I can't live with this pain.
Thank You in advance for your help.

Posted by: J'Bo

hey dbo its jbo...

sorry couldnt resist

Posted by: Prince

I had a friend that had a hernated disk. He was in extreme pain and was taking morphine via Rx. He finally had surgery and everything went well, no problems thereafter. He was in and out of the hospital within two days. They want you back on your feet ASAP after the surgery.

Posted by: dbo

I was on viacadin, percacet, and now demerol. Demerol is the only one that helped the pain, but only a little, and i have trouble staying awake. I don't see any other option besides surgery. Thanks for the info.

Posted by: IronClaws

Hello dbo,
I'm glad i've come across this forum. I've just started posting here (IronClaws).
I have a similar situation except not as bad. I was feeling a pain thoughout my whole left leg for over a month. So I took painkiller and finally when my Med.Insurance started I went to the doctor and got the MRI and rest of the stuff done. Turns out, I got 2 'protruding' discs in my lower back. Luckily, the pain by now has stopped in my leg, and the doctor told me to do some phys. therapy and not to lift anything heavy in a bent over position (such as deadlifts) or with heavy weight over my head (such as squats and military presses) to avoid stressing my lower back and making the problem worse.
I'm really pissed because before all this happened I was ready to hit the weights really hard with Deadlifts, 20-rep Squats, and what they refer to as 'Dinosaur training'.
I'm afraid that if I go on with this I may regret it in the future.
I also seek a good answer to my situation.

I r o n C l a w z

Posted by: Rich46yo

Ive had 7 operations on my lower three levels. First the intial surgerys made the whole thing worse. I'd have been better off never seeing a surgeon. Be that as it may there are certain patients who need back surgery, only they are about 1/2 of what surgeons say need them. What Im saying is there are surgeons who will cut your back at the drop of a hat to make money off your carcass. The reasons for this are two-fold, #1, they want the money, and #2,prosecuting a successful malpractice case against a back surgeon is almost impossable.

Just by listening to your symptoms it looks like your going to have to seriously consider a surgical intervention. Such symptoms, when they dont respond to therapy and rest, arent good. Most of all the numbness. Here are my recomendations.#1, Go to at least 3 neurosurgeons/neurologists and get opinions. #2, dont talk to them like they are God, and you are a serf. Ask them man to man how many of these operations they have performed and what their batting average is. #3, Only have the surgery performed at a major teaching/Neuro hospital. These shit little neighborhood hospitals will kill you faster then you think. They have many,many more complications then the major teaching hospitals have. Go out of state if you have to.

Remember that a good surgeon will do as little as he has to during the operation. If some surgeon starts talking about a major fusion go to another one and ask them what he thinks. Be aware that a properly diagnosed lamanectomy procedure has an upwards of 90% success rate for a first operation. A fusion from 65% to 75%,"successful means the patient says it was worth it 6 mos hence".

""""I don't want surgery but I can't live with this pain. """""""""

This says it all. But never,never say to yourself "it cant get worse then this with surgery". Yes it can!! It can get much worse. And with each surgery after the odds of success go down dramatically. Im not trying to scare you. I just dont want you underestimating back surgery. Gotta go to work, let us know whats decided. And all the best...........Rich

Posted by: Metalman777

Dr. John Sarno!! Let me tell ya, I had similar back problems that you folks have here for years.. I tried everything.. Basically it got to the point where I was in bed most of the day.. I was afraid to sit, stand, walk , run, exercise, lift, sex, everthing.. Well I was listening to howard stern (I know what your thinking

) and he had similar problems to.. He then saw this Dr. John Sarno and well few weeks later he had zero back problems ZERO!.. So I bought his book and well, a few weeks later I was totally free of back pain.. I'm telling you guys, buy this book its called healing back pain.. Its no gimmick.. 1 word of advice tho.. Keep an open mind when you read his book.. Its no bullshit trust me , I'm living proof

Posted by: bandaidwoman

Like rich said, you will need to get more than one opinion before you embark on anything so drastic. As for wether to get the surgery at an academic center or not...it depends on the region. In Georgia the academic neurosurgeons don't want to touch backs at all and only want to concentrate on the brain (much more glamorous and more research funding) so the best back surgeons are actually in private practice. Talk with you doctor about it and ask him or her, if this was your mom or dad, who would you send him or her to?

I will tell you that even some of the worst looking MRIs can get better without surgery. Thus, exhausting all non surgical avenues is a good idea as metalman can attest to.

As for surgeries that cause things to get worse..... many times the surgical site forms extensive scar tissue that in of itself cause compression on the spinal cord or exiting nerves despite a successful decompression of the herniated disc. ( Thus, it is not so much the skill of the neurosurgeon as much as the individual's genetic predispostion for forming such scarring and can be very hard to predict.) A good surgeon will be honest with you about the numbers. Depending on the site, number of discs involved , the type of disc damage, other surrounding pathology such as spondylolysis, spondylolistheis, facet arthropathy etc. many times they can only gaurantee a fifty percent success rate (because of uncontrollable variables such as the above.). Be wary of the ones who gaurantee 100% success rates. Good ones will also ensure you undergo a trial of epidural injections or other non-operative modalities before they recommend the ultimate fate of surgery. And by all means, don't be afraid to question them and ask for numbers. Bear in mind, even among doctors, neurosurgeons are known to be the most difficult to deal with....basically because they have to be one of the smartest and go through 10-15 years of inhuman, boot camp training working 120 -140 hours a week , 11 months of the year and only survive by losing a certain amount of their humanity. Those that regain it are a special breed.

Posted by: gryyffen

http://www.prolonews.com, this site is about alternative therapy for back pain, have heard it works, I am going to give it a try for my herniated cervical discs.. for us lifters any surgery in the spinal areas is tricky

Posted by: rockingf57

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbo

I went to physical therapy for 2 herniated disks. It made my back worse and now my leg and foot go numb if i sit. I have constant pain in my lower back, buttocks, and down my right leg. I was told i most likely need surgery. I see a nerosurgeon on June 4.
Has anyone experienced this problem or know someone who has? I would appreciate any knowledge you could offer. I heard that many people having back surgery have only gotten worse. I don't want surgery but I can't live with this pain.
Thank You in advance for your help.

Dear dbo-don't do it-i have/had 17 hernia disks from neck to lower bk-so u know how 2 hurt-i had 2 lower disks removed-a cage w/cadiva bone & 2 rods & screws put in -1 yr & 5 months ago-next was surgery on neck then middle of bk-my pain was a 50 plus-1 to 10 didn't even come close-i don't know what state ur in but i would ck out NUCCA- a upper cervical doctor will know what this is-the day i went to talk to the doctor, was a 3hr drive 1 way-no meds-& even a return of my money if i felt this treatment didn't wk.how many drs do that?first one i have met in 53 yrs.i was a 20 plus or more & walked out at 1 plus-yeah i told the dr. he was a witch dr.i have had 4 treatments 1 aweek & i am a whole new person-yeah i know ur thinkin "right lady" but this is so true-wish i had met him 1yr & 6 months ago-2 almost sudcides-one before surgery & 1 after surgery-still don't know which was worse pain wise-but i do know NUCCA does work & just not for bk pain - it works for alot of things-it would take a whole nother page to say all the things it can help with-i will ck bk & see what u think.

Posted by: Prince

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandaidwoman

Bear in mind, even among doctors, neurosurgeons are known to be the most difficult to deal with....basically because they have to be one of the smartest and go through 10-15 years of inhuman, boot camp training working 120 -140 hours a week , 11 months of the year and only survive by losing a certain amount of their humanity. Those that regain it are a special breed.

wow, I did not know this.

When I was first diagnosed with my S1-L5 herniation (got an MRI) I went and talked to a neurosurgeon. I went to this surgeon on a friend's recommendation who he performed back surgery on. He was awesome, very young too, he answered all of my questions thoroughly, did not rush me at all, he even demonstrated some ways I could train my back without putting pressure on the discs! Using a back model he showed me exactly how he would do the surgery and explained it completely. He did not tell me to have surgery, in fact he was against it. He said let's try some other non-surgical therapies and see how I feel in 2-3 months.

Posted by: tanu

Most people will have back pain sometime during life. And 90 percent of these people will get better, without treatment or with conservative therapy for four to six weeks. Only 5 percent remain disabled longer than three months.

In most situations, an operation won't be considered unless conservative measures have failed, and even then surgery is not often indicated. Back surgery is usually reserved for times when spinal nerves are compressed, causing numbness along the back of your leg.

Many types of problems can reduce the amount of space in the spine, so nerves become pinched. The disks separating the bones in your spine can also bulge or rupture (herniate), which can irritate nearby nerves. However, many people with bulging disks have no pain.

To relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves, surgeons can remove portions of bone to widen the narrowed area in the vertebrae. Removing the gel-like interior of ruptured disks also helps relieve pressure on pinched nerves. Sometimes the entire disk must be removed, with the adjoining vertebral bodies fused together surgically.

Types of back surgery
Different types of back surgery include:

Diskectomy. This involves removal of the herniated portion of a disk to relieve irritation and inflammation of a nerve. It's done as an open surgery and typically involves full or partial removal of the back portion of a vertebra (lamina) to access the ruptured disk.

Laminectomy. This procedure involves the removal of the bone overlying the spinal canal. It enlarges the spinal canal and is performed to relieve nerve pressure caused by spinal stenosis.
Fusion. Spinal fusion permanently connects two or more bones in your spine. It can relieve pain by adding stability to a spinal fracture. It is occasionally used to eliminate painful motion between vertebrae that can result from a degenerated or injured disk.

Vertebroplasty. During this procedure, your surgeon injects bone cement into compressed vertebrae. For fractured and compressed vertebrae, this procedure can help stabilize fractures and relieve pain. With a similar but more expensive procedure — called kyphoplasty — a balloon-like device is inserted to attempt to expand compressed vertebrae before bone cement is injected.
Artificial disks. Implanted artificial disks are a treatment alternative to spinal fusion for painful movement between two vertebrae due to a degenerated or injured disk. These relatively new devices are still being studied, however, so it's not yet clear what role they might play in treating spinal disk disease.

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