Back Surgery

[CATNHAT]

Antone have any kind of back surgery in the L4-L5 region? What kind of surgery did you have? Sympoms? Did it work? Who did you see?

I have serious chronic back pain from football injury from 20 years ago. Goes out about evry 6 months--serious pain with left leg numbness, dop toe, and excruciating pain in lower back. So bad that I can hardly walk.

This sucks and am looking for a solution.

Any recomendations??

Thanks

[Nix]

Try spinal disc decompression. I have heard nothing but good things about it.

I had a spinal fusion and some hardware put in about 5 years ago at age 23. I'm now 28. I work fulltime in a warehouse position.

Think real hard and try all you can and make surgery YOUR LAST OPTION!

I know they are comming out with new things now that I didn't have as an option at the time.

Also try working out and strengthning your "core" meaning your mid section ie abs and such.

The stronger your core the more supposrt you get on your spine.

Both my older brothers have the same thing as I do and our years of hard labor didn't help either. We all have the fancy arthritis know as Degnerative Disc Disease (DDD) for short.

Like I said I had two of three bad discs removed from my lower L5 L5S1 region or whatever it was and the third one is still in there causeing me problems daily. I was told that In ten years give or take that I would have to have the third one worked on. We'll Ive beeen avoiding that and will continue to as long as I can.

Other than that the surgery itself I would consider a success, I work play softball run and fuck around with minor to moderate back pain. The only drawback and bad luck that I had with my surgery was that I have such severe nerve damage in my mid section that I can never have kids. Its not that I can't get it up, I can fine and even "get off" but nothing comes out if you catch my drift. I was told that the nerve damage was so bad that there was nothing that could be done. Well 5 years later and its still the same, the wife and I were devestated more so me when I found out for sure cause' we wanted kids. I still feel its my fault cause' its my body and had I treated it better I woundn't be in this position. So that is something for you to think about if you don't have any kids or want some in the future. Just food for thought, I wouldn't wish it on my own worst enemy.

When my back went out I lost feeling in my left leg and my siatic nerve went CRAZY and still does.

I have a permanent 20lb weight restriction for the rest of my life and Iam technically 20-25% disabled but I don't let it keeep me down.

If you go into it keep your head up and it will get better.

Any questions feel free to ask cause' I have been throught it all brother.

Best wishes and hopefully a speedy recovery!! :headbang

[Trutildeathxxx]

what ever you do avoid st lukes in milwaukee, my dad had his spine fused and some hardware put in and the doctor fucked up and prescribed the wrong meds and didnt do proper follow up and he ended up dying due to complications with meds. he was bed bound for a couple weeks and was never prescribed blood thinners. He got a blood clot in his leg and eventually moved to his lungs.

[Prince Valiant]

Surgery for that region is generally fairly successful...and CLEARLY you have the indications for surgery.

Perhaps the most highly regarded spinal surgeon in the region is Dr. Clay Frank. If you wish, I can PM you his office number. It may take a while to get an appt...but such is the case with many of the more highly regarded surgeons.

He is the "doctor's doctor" and is used by many of the local pro and college teams by their various team doctors when back issues are in play.

[supra213]

Dr. James Stoll..... period. I wouldn't see anybody else.

[Nix]

Dr. James Stoll..... period. I wouldn't see anybody else.

james e stoll,thats who did mine,very nice and straight forward. i couldn't be happier.

[Irish]

I have a Herniated (spelling?) Disc in my S1/L5 area... I would try the epedorals (spelling again) before surgery. I was popping 8-12 advil in a 24 hour period because of the pain. It sucks when you can't do something as simple as put your socks and shoes on without being in some kind of weird azz yoga type position to eliviate most of the pain.

I had the shots, laid off of lifting heavy sh1t for 8 months or so, and am about 95% normal again. Letting someone move my spinal cord around when it's not a life or death situation is more trust than I am willing to give to anyone short of Jesus Christ himself.

[Prince Valiant]

Stoll is also a very well regarded surgeon.

[CATNHAT]

Thanks for the feed back gentlemen, I sincerely appreciate it!
I actualy saw Dr Clay Ford about 13 years ago nad he said avoid surgery if at all cost. He did not see anything on my MRI that warranted a surgery. He said-Good news and bad news. Good news was he did not see anything wrong, bad news was that he did not see anything wrong. At the time, I believe he was the orthopedic surgeon for the Carolina Panthers so I know he knows what he is talking about.

I had an MRI this morning and I have bulging discs in L4-L5 and L5 LS1 with Stenosis.

I see Dr Stoll tomorrow morning. My neighbor just had surgery and hea said what I have is worse than his problems. Hope not.

I wish everyone the best of luck with your conditions and hope everyone is able to continue leading a normal productive lifestyle.

Thanks again!!

[HRSEPLA]

I have bulging & "torn" l4-l5 -s1, Then pain was crazy, couldn't put on my socks and shoes, couldn't sit at all, Then I had 2 steroid injections, 1st one didnt work , 2nd one curled me off the table, doc said I think we hit it! That was 4 years ago.
Helped 95% Which I will take anyday over a bad un- reversable surgery, I race bikes now again, and can do pretty much everything i did before I just limit how much I lift and am very cautious how i move my back.
My brother & father and a few other people i know had surgery and ALL of them wished they never did!!
until I see hundereds of people that have the same surgery done successfully I will never do it. You can't replace what you were born with.
Yours are just bulging , strengthen that core ( I thought this was crap at first but its actually really important & works!), Ice it plus take advil (anti-inflamatory) at night so it shrinks back.
I have heard people whos "torn" discs healed back up even. So there is hope just be patient.

Just my story good luck with what you choose.

-Tina :-)

[GRAMPS SS]

Dr. James Stoll..... period. I wouldn't see anybody else.

great choice.....DR Stoll is one of the best in the country..he has people come to him from all over....top notch.....
he fixed my wifes neck....can't even see the scar anymore....she was his nurse when she was at Columbia....he will be doing her next op as well....

CONTACT HIM....NONE BETTER.......

[Prince Valiant]

Well, with the back, it is one of those things that they PROVE that nothing else works before it's considering surgery.

IE, will the doc might not be optimistic that physical therapy will work (or he/she might be optimistic), hey, what's the harm in trying it? If it works? great! If not then...

...maybe a single or a series of injections might be the course of action...and if it works? Great! if it doesn't? Well...then....

...maybe more test are warranted. Check to make sure that the hip isn't involved, or that it's not the piriformis muscle as it crosses the sciatic notch, or perhaps the psoas muscles, etc...

Basically, ANY time you hear the success story in which "I was told I needed surgery...but blank or blank cured me!" then it's proof that surgery wasn't needed. Surgery is for when a mechanical defect has occurred/worsened that can't be corrected/alleviated by more conservative means.

But, how do we know when surgery is indicated? When NOTHING else works...and of course, one's condition could be so bad that pain relief isn't part of what's considered a successful outcome. It might simply be for greater protection, less degeneration, perhaps improved function, etc (pain relief is actually RARELY part of what's termed a "successful outcome" with many surgeries, instead being just a happy benefit if it occurs). This can partly explain why some just are never happy with their surgery, even if it's need was proven and wholly indicated. (no denying that bad surgery's occur, I've seen more than a few).

But, never take it that "Blank worked for me...I only trust that" or that "Blank made things worse for me...I'd never do that". What's true for one is NOT necessarily true for the other...and for the back, this seems most apt. We tend to talk of back pain in generic terms...when there are literally hundreds of conditions and hundreds of different "kinds" (based on age, condition, congenital differences, etc, etc, etc) of backs making their literally thousands of different approaches to the variety of individual backs out there.

Working specifically with backs in PT, oftentimes I cautioned the patient what our goals were...IE, help the patient "live" with their back (teach them the do's and don't's, thus helping them protect the back) and put them on a program to keep the back strong/flexible and in as good a condition as possible...and THEN explain the realistic outcomes (IE, this may or may not work, however we do this because etc, etc, etc).

There are some conditions in which the doc says "need to go in" in which a 2nd opinion should be sought. I do worry about the overly aggressive doc who always wants in...THEIR the ones I caution against.

[CATNHAT]

Mine are torn as well, I just did not mention everything that was in the MRI report. My has to put my shoes and socks on, tie my shoes. It hurts severly to cough, sit stand lay down, walk, just about everthing. And when it is really bad I cant stand on my left foot. I "drops" like it is paralyzed to the point wher I can not lift my foot.

Also have stenosis. I need to do more research on that. Also the report says Degenerative Disc Disease.

Getting first shot this morning and beginning steroid pack right now.

Hope this works--I do not want surgery!!

Thanks!!!

[HRSEPLA]

Yep I was just like you! And I was pissed off but hey I have a friend in a wheelchair so I could never fell sorry for myself for too long.
2nd shot worked for me, Thank god, I know that the pain may comeback but for now I'm doing great! And I will keep doing what I am till D- day comes. And at that time I hope there is some great back surgery that will cure all.

Good Luck I hope all goes well for you
Tina :-)