Discussion
Scrump said:
Hopefully it is just the cold and damp causing you pain. Global warming is your friend!
Been a tough couple of months, the weather really hasn’t helped. Finally got back to the gym today, first time in over four years. Been promising myself that I’d eventually get back there one day, so today was a big step. You certainly can’t store fitness, or strength, it will definitely be a long road back, but hopefully I’ll make some progress over the next few months.Great to get 30 minutes in the sauna, I’ve really missed that dry heat. Hope everyone else is doing ok.
I've been commenting on a similar thread but cant find it so I'll do a little update on this one.
My history is Microdiscectomy (R) L4/5 in 2005. All went well to the point I was able to lead an extremely active life including dismounted close combat tours of Afghanistan, ski holidays, parachute jumps, etc.
Every couple of years I'd get a little twinge but nothing I couldn't manage with physio.
In Dec 17 on a ski trip, the pain came back with a vengeance. I tried to shift it with physio but to no avail.
I was eventually referred for an MRI which showed a broad based herniation on L4/5, a smaller one on L5/S1, dehydration of both discs and a mass of post surgical fibrous growth on the nerve roots both L&R.
I was referred to a surgeon and placed on the waiting list for a revision microdiscectomy which I has on Friday morning.
After the op, the consultant came to the ward and said he'd removed very little disc but lots of scar tissue which he believed was the cause of most of my symptoms. I asked the question of "what next if new scar tissue replaces the old" and he replied that 3rd time round I'd probably need fusion/ADR.
I've been put on 6 weeks sick leave to recover so I'm taking it easy. The pain is only manageable with Tramadol/paracetamol/naproxen/amitriptyline right now. The leg symptoms are still there, albeit to a much lesser degree, and my whole lower back is expectedly stiff. I'm going to go see the physio in a couple of weeks to start low level mobility work.
I'm rambling a bit now, probably the drugs
Hows everyone else getting on?
My history is Microdiscectomy (R) L4/5 in 2005. All went well to the point I was able to lead an extremely active life including dismounted close combat tours of Afghanistan, ski holidays, parachute jumps, etc.
Every couple of years I'd get a little twinge but nothing I couldn't manage with physio.
In Dec 17 on a ski trip, the pain came back with a vengeance. I tried to shift it with physio but to no avail.
I was eventually referred for an MRI which showed a broad based herniation on L4/5, a smaller one on L5/S1, dehydration of both discs and a mass of post surgical fibrous growth on the nerve roots both L&R.
I was referred to a surgeon and placed on the waiting list for a revision microdiscectomy which I has on Friday morning.
After the op, the consultant came to the ward and said he'd removed very little disc but lots of scar tissue which he believed was the cause of most of my symptoms. I asked the question of "what next if new scar tissue replaces the old" and he replied that 3rd time round I'd probably need fusion/ADR.
I've been put on 6 weeks sick leave to recover so I'm taking it easy. The pain is only manageable with Tramadol/paracetamol/naproxen/amitriptyline right now. The leg symptoms are still there, albeit to a much lesser degree, and my whole lower back is expectedly stiff. I'm going to go see the physio in a couple of weeks to start low level mobility work.
I'm rambling a bit now, probably the drugs
Hows everyone else getting on?
Mrs P is still struggling.
After her discectomy and laminectomy in June last year, there has been little improvement. Some of the numbness down her right leg has gone but she now displays sciatic pain down her left which wasn’t there previously.
We saw her surgeon 3 weeks ago and she’s due to have another round of MRI’s in a month but he said that there probably isn’t a great deal more they can do surgically and that it’ll most likely be going down the pain management route.
She’s been through that at several hospitals in London and it helps mentally but her life is pretty much completely f
ked now.
I must admit, I’m finding it increasingly hard to see how there is no more they can do (depending on the scan results).
After her discectomy and laminectomy in June last year, there has been little improvement. Some of the numbness down her right leg has gone but she now displays sciatic pain down her left which wasn’t there previously.
We saw her surgeon 3 weeks ago and she’s due to have another round of MRI’s in a month but he said that there probably isn’t a great deal more they can do surgically and that it’ll most likely be going down the pain management route.
She’s been through that at several hospitals in London and it helps mentally but her life is pretty much completely f
ked now. I must admit, I’m finding it increasingly hard to see how there is no more they can do (depending on the scan results).
pidsy said:
Mrs P is still struggling.
After her discectomy and laminectomy in June last year, there has been little improvement. Some of the numbness down her right leg has gone but she now displays sciatic pain down her left which wasn’t there previously.
We saw her surgeon 3 weeks ago and she’s due to have another round of MRI’s in a month but he said that there probably isn’t a great deal more they can do surgically and that it’ll most likely be going down the pain management route.
She’s been through that at several hospitals in London and it helps mentally but her life is pretty much completely fked now.
I must admit, I’m finding it increasingly hard to see how there is no more they can do (depending on the scan results).
That's not great news. After her discectomy and laminectomy in June last year, there has been little improvement. Some of the numbness down her right leg has gone but she now displays sciatic pain down her left which wasn’t there previously.
We saw her surgeon 3 weeks ago and she’s due to have another round of MRI’s in a month but he said that there probably isn’t a great deal more they can do surgically and that it’ll most likely be going down the pain management route.
She’s been through that at several hospitals in London and it helps mentally but her life is pretty much completely f
ked now. I must admit, I’m finding it increasingly hard to see how there is no more they can do (depending on the scan results).
My sciatic pain is in the R leg 90% of the time but does come on in the left on occasion.
Are ADR or fusion not viable options for her?
In the short term, I have found acupuncture good for pain relief.
Thanks for suggesting acupuncture- to be honest, she will try anything.
I think she’ll end up doing the 4 week residential pain management course up at st thomas’s Again but it’s all mental help, which is great but only seems to last 6 months or so.
We will see what her scans come back as and go from there.
I think she’ll end up doing the 4 week residential pain management course up at st thomas’s Again but it’s all mental help, which is great but only seems to last 6 months or so.
We will see what her scans come back as and go from there.
pidsy said:
Thanks for suggesting acupuncture- to be honest, she will try anything.
I think she’ll end up doing the 4 week residential pain management course up at st thomas’s Again but it’s all mental help, which is great but only seems to last 6 months or so.
We will see what her scans come back as and go from there.
No problem, I was very cynical about it before I tried. I mean, how could sticking little pins in you take away chronic pain? But it did!!I think she’ll end up doing the 4 week residential pain management course up at st thomas’s Again but it’s all mental help, which is great but only seems to last 6 months or so.
We will see what her scans come back as and go from there.
I'm not suggesting that it's a fix for all but if it may give her some relief then it has to be worth a try.
To say things aren’t going well would be a bit of an understatement.
Unbearable pain in my lower back and down the left leg, which is very unusual as the pain was always down the right leg. Left leg is so weak at the knee I can barely stand up, also have pins and needles in the lower leg.
Long story short I’m back on the Tramadol and can’t get an appointment to see anyone worthwhile for two weeks. Gutted would be an understatement.
Unbearable pain in my lower back and down the left leg, which is very unusual as the pain was always down the right leg. Left leg is so weak at the knee I can barely stand up, also have pins and needles in the lower leg.
Long story short I’m back on the Tramadol and can’t get an appointment to see anyone worthwhile for two weeks. Gutted would be an understatement.
I can't remember what procedure you had and when, but try not to panic until you see the doc..... lots of potential explanations. Ructions said:
To say things aren’t going well would be a bit of an understatement.
Unbearable pain in my lower back and down the left leg, which is very unusual as the pain was always down the right leg. Left leg is so weak at the knee I can barely stand up, also have pins and needles in the lower leg.
Long story short I’m back on the Tramadol and can’t get an appointment to see anyone worthwhile for two weeks. Gutted would be an understatement.
Sorry to hear this. Unbearable pain in my lower back and down the left leg, which is very unusual as the pain was always down the right leg. Left leg is so weak at the knee I can barely stand up, also have pins and needles in the lower leg.
Long story short I’m back on the Tramadol and can’t get an appointment to see anyone worthwhile for two weeks. Gutted would be an understatement.
I'm 5 weeks post op today and things seem to be setting down over the last week. I've been down to 100mg tramadol at most for a few days (still using the cocktail of paracetamol/naproxen/amitriptyline)
On a bad day the pains on the right side are as bad as they've ever been but good days seem to be outnumbering the bad for now. I'm seeing the physio twice a week for soft tissue work and ultrasound. Doing daily mobility and nerve sliding exercises seems to help but the worry is still there that I'll overdo it and regress.
I'm taking 1 more week of sick leave then it's back to work (the doc gave me another 3 but I'm going stir crazy being home all day
)Scrump said:
Ructions said:
To say things aren’t going well would be a bit of an understatement...
Keep your chin up.We all knew recovery was going to be a long road and most of us have ups and downs along the way.
I’ve been feeling pretty awful for the past number of months, can’t exactly say when it started but I’ve been getting progressively worse since Christmas. We thought we got to the bottom of it when I was found to be suffering from Pluerisy. A month or so of more medication and that was sorted but I still felt very weak. Doctor tried to tell me I was suffering from depression and I politely told him he was wrong. I most certainly wasn’t going to take anti-depressants. I’ve always been if the opinion that a good walk and plenty of exercise is better than any medication where the head is concerned.
I went to Munich a couple of months ago to the Liverpool game and although I wasn’t feeling great I have to admit I did overdo things a little. Drank too much, probably ate too much and sang until I could barely speak. Nothing really new there, it’s what we do at European away games. But I couldn’t recover, I wasn’t well enough to go to the Porto away leg and only decided on the night before I was due to go to Barcelona that I would actually go, but I probably wasn’t anywhere near well enough to travel. Didn’t have the usual craic in Barca, just wasn’t up for it.
Over the past few weeks I actually felt like I was dying. I couldn’t get out of bed for days on end, I didn’t have the strength to get up and down the stairs at times. I couldn’t think straight. It got so bad that I told the wife that I didn’t want a funeral. Irish wakes and funerals have always made me feel very uneasy, people standing around having a drink and saying how well the dead person looks. When I do go I’m doing what David Bowie did, straight from the mortuary to the crematorium.
The mother in law rang one evening for a chat and I told her everything that was happening and exactly how I felt, we’re quite close, she’s more like the mother that I never had than an in law. First thing she said was that it was my Thyroid and it may have been damaged during the operation on my Cervical Spine. She also suffers from hypothyroidism, though it is quite rare in men. Long story short, my levels were that low that my doctor didn’t know how I was able to stand up, never mind walk. I’m on my second day of yet more meds, but was able to get up this morning and cook a light breakfast and go for a short walk, though I am currently resting for the afternoon. I’m four years into this now, three years since the operation in my neck (C5,6,7, discectomy and fusion) which was considered to be a success, almost 2 years since the L4,5/S1 fusion/decompression, but I can’t say I’m any better off than I was before surgery. Truth be told having the latter operation has changed my life forever. I’m in as much pain now as I ever was and on a bad day the pain can be unbearable.
I haven’t played a round of golf in years, though last summer I was able to hit a few balls. I can only dream of climbing mountains again, I can barely manage the stairs at the minute and some **** stole my mountain bike from the shed over the winter. I’ve got permanent double vision since the accident so I can’t play snooker or pool, something I really used to enjoy, but even without the vision problem my back isn’t up to it. On the plus side I’ve become quite good at darts and thanks to my thyroid issue I’m beginning to look like Andy Fordham
Rant over. Liverpool will comfortably win the European Cup and all my troubles will be forgotten.
I went to Munich a couple of months ago to the Liverpool game and although I wasn’t feeling great I have to admit I did overdo things a little. Drank too much, probably ate too much and sang until I could barely speak. Nothing really new there, it’s what we do at European away games. But I couldn’t recover, I wasn’t well enough to go to the Porto away leg and only decided on the night before I was due to go to Barcelona that I would actually go, but I probably wasn’t anywhere near well enough to travel. Didn’t have the usual craic in Barca, just wasn’t up for it.
Over the past few weeks I actually felt like I was dying. I couldn’t get out of bed for days on end, I didn’t have the strength to get up and down the stairs at times. I couldn’t think straight. It got so bad that I told the wife that I didn’t want a funeral. Irish wakes and funerals have always made me feel very uneasy, people standing around having a drink and saying how well the dead person looks. When I do go I’m doing what David Bowie did, straight from the mortuary to the crematorium.
The mother in law rang one evening for a chat and I told her everything that was happening and exactly how I felt, we’re quite close, she’s more like the mother that I never had than an in law. First thing she said was that it was my Thyroid and it may have been damaged during the operation on my Cervical Spine. She also suffers from hypothyroidism, though it is quite rare in men. Long story short, my levels were that low that my doctor didn’t know how I was able to stand up, never mind walk. I’m on my second day of yet more meds, but was able to get up this morning and cook a light breakfast and go for a short walk, though I am currently resting for the afternoon. I’m four years into this now, three years since the operation in my neck (C5,6,7, discectomy and fusion) which was considered to be a success, almost 2 years since the L4,5/S1 fusion/decompression, but I can’t say I’m any better off than I was before surgery. Truth be told having the latter operation has changed my life forever. I’m in as much pain now as I ever was and on a bad day the pain can be unbearable.
I haven’t played a round of golf in years, though last summer I was able to hit a few balls. I can only dream of climbing mountains again, I can barely manage the stairs at the minute and some **** stole my mountain bike from the shed over the winter. I’ve got permanent double vision since the accident so I can’t play snooker or pool, something I really used to enjoy, but even without the vision problem my back isn’t up to it. On the plus side I’ve become quite good at darts and thanks to my thyroid issue I’m beginning to look like Andy Fordham
Rant over. Liverpool will comfortably win the European Cup and all my troubles will be forgotten.
Scrump said:
Ructions, I don’t know where to start with a reply.
You certainly have a lot going on and to add insult to injury you are a Liverpool fan.
I presume the thyroid problem is treatable once they get doses etc right?
Apparently I should start to feel much better within a week or ten days and then it’s just a matter of making sure the levels/dose is correct. Really didn’t think something so simple could leave me feeling so wretched.You certainly have a lot going on and to add insult to injury you are a Liverpool fan.
I presume the thyroid problem is treatable once they get doses etc right?
And to make matters worse my nephew is getting married on the day of the Champions League final, I’ve been to 5 of our last 6 European finals. Gutted to be missing this one as it’s a gimme. They should just give us the European Cup now and Spurs can go on holiday for the summer.
Chilledbud said:
The more I read about actual people's experiences the more I've gone from 'let's get it done and fix me' to dear god how do I not have it done!
I know that sentiment.I had a microdiscectomy maybe 12 years ago. I'm 36 now. Often had a little back pain which the consultant told me to expect but had a couple of twinges of sciatica in the last year. Two or three months ago now it went nuts and hasn't settled down since, if anything it's just got worse. I've tried the stretches I was given before, walking, etc but nothing's helped.
My wife was in tears last night because I'm back to spending all my free time lying on the sofa so I guess that's my cue to get to the GP.
Update on Mrs P - follow up MRI last month after her surgery in June of last year.
Went up to Queens square and had her consultation- as far as the scans show, the operation was a success.
She tried to explain that she’s actually worse off than before and that she still cannot stand up straight. She is pretty much in a wheelchair whenever we leave the house now.
Their response was a referral back to a pain management clinic. Which could take a year - she’s pretty devastated to be honest.
This will be the 4th pain management clinic at the 4th hospital in London. While still taking a cocktail of drugs including tramadol daily.
She cannot work and it’s making her life at home pretty miserable.
Went up to Queens square and had her consultation- as far as the scans show, the operation was a success.
She tried to explain that she’s actually worse off than before and that she still cannot stand up straight. She is pretty much in a wheelchair whenever we leave the house now.
Their response was a referral back to a pain management clinic. Which could take a year - she’s pretty devastated to be honest.
This will be the 4th pain management clinic at the 4th hospital in London. While still taking a cocktail of drugs including tramadol daily.
She cannot work and it’s making her life at home pretty miserable.
No experience of a Spinal Stimulator, but I did a quick Google search and the surgery to fit is does not seem too invasive so it sounds like it may be worth you giving it a try.
I did use a Tens machine to help with the pain before my last operation and this was mildly effective, so I can see how a Spinal Stimulator would help.
I did use a Tens machine to help with the pain before my last operation and this was mildly effective, so I can see how a Spinal Stimulator would help.
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