Discectomy - After the Operation

[cyhxunou]

Well my op got put back a week so i had it done yesterday. I was waiting (sitting down!) in the waiting room for a few hours which seemed like needless last minute pain...i got called down and after some more waiting finally went into the anaesthetics room about midday, got knocked out good and proper (it's quite an enjoyable feeling drifting off and i was quite calm about the whole thing really).

I woke up groggy and blurry eyed in recovery. I couldn't see properly for about a half hour after which my vision cleared and i felt a little more conscious,thankfully. Got wheeled down to a virtually empty ward and got seen about 2 hours later by physios; to my surprise i could stand with no sciatica or leg pain and although my back was a little tight i was very happy that i could walk confidently 50 yards and up some stairs without any real pain. They went through all the exercises with me and after some tea and toast and another hour or so i was able to leave at about half 5, which was a relief. (Though the slight traffic jam on the way home was a bit of a nightmare!)

Later on at night after a small nap, i walked to the bottom of the road with my dad and amazingly had no pain whatsoever, the only discomfort to speak of was a slight pins and needles which still persists now. I went to sleep on my back and to my dismay woke up on my side; which is a much worse position to sleep in. Needless to say my back feels a lot stiffer today despite my physio exercises and 10min walk. I've no sciatic pain so far to tell of(fingers crossed) and from here on in it's all about taking it easy whilst keeping relatively active.

Here's hoping for a full recovery. I'll keep you updated.

{I just wanted to write this account because this thread has been such a useful read for me, thanks to everybody who has contributed}

 

[Heil Spellcheck!]

Hi yes i think i will see doc abt getting extra 2 weeks off. There is no way in hell am i ready yet and my current certificate is valid another 12 days. Not too worried abt what they think at work because another guy had op and was off over 4 months!!

I am keeping to the exercises and hope it will all be well soon. Again sleeping seems to be main problem along with a very stiff and sore lumbar area (i had L5-S1 done)
Going to touch toes results in excrutiating pain.
Did u guys just see GP for extension to sick cert?..I hope it will not be a problem as I have dont know too much on this as never been sick before from work apart from the usual colds everyone suffers.

 

[stephania]

Diclofenac and Iboprufens are similar drugs both NSAIDs or anti inflammatory, NOT painkiller, you may need to discuss this with your doc and get a painkiller added.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Good to hear you are going to get signed off longer, Goodlad.
I went to the GP to get a new sick note after the hospital one ran out. They renewed it with no problem. I have realised just how common this back complaint is and how common the after effects and pains are too - I was fine for the first week post op and then the recovery pains began! Sounds like this happens to lots of people. Wonder why the hospital didn't tell me what to expect though.

I would really appreciate some tips and advice about exercises and physio from you all please, as I haven't been told anything and my follow up appointment with my surgeon isn't for another 4 weeks. I am very stiff in the mornings, in my lower back, hips and upper legs. I also have a numb and tingling foot too. What should I be doing to get moving and help recovery?

I did expect to have physio, but the hospital didn't say anything about it and my GP said they won't refer me as I have to wait and see the surgeon. If I hadn't been so naive about it I would have asked in hospital at the time of the op!

Thanks!

 

[marion.ofsherwood]

Hi there
Well the whole thing for me has been a complete and utter nightmare from the start. No one explained to me what this op was all about. What i know abt it is what i have read on the internet and largely from this very site from all u guys. Even the pre-op assessment was a joke. The nurse who sat the pre-op did not even know what this kind of back surgery was for.
And no I have just read above from Cascara's post that the medication I left hospital with (Diclofenic and Ibrufens) are not even painkillers but Anti inflammatories!!

Explains why I have been sat here like a fool in excrutiating pain for the last for weeks.
I am even more annoyed having read Cascara's post.
Anyway all my treatment has been with private medical healthcare. So yes I have been given physio for what it has been worth. The first session lasted 20 mins. And that was a chat about the surgery itself. No exercises, no nothing. Just a 20 mins chat.
Given that she charged the Health Insurance company a full hours time I felt cheated.
Second physio lasted 30 mins. She got me to lie down on front and said she was going to loosen up some very tight muscles around spine. Well it felt like she was trying to kill me. I struggled to get up, wife helped me to our car , I came home and was in so much pain I went straight to bed. Again another sleepless night . Just like now I am sitting here a 0110am and will be up till 0300-0400 as cannot sleep due pain.

Other than that the physio handed me a bit of paper with some light exercises and that has been it. This is private healthcare.
I wish I had gone NHS.

 

[Yahoo! Answers Team]

I'm so sorry my post wasn't meant to make you angry. At the risk of making you more angry I was actually told never to take Iboprufen with Diclofenac as taking two NSAIDS isn't good. I won't offer any suggestions on painkillers but please ring the nhs helpline and ask them what you can take and what you can get till the holiday weekend is over then go see your gp? Just to clarify the nature of the anti-inflammatory is that they remove or reduce inflammation and so in theory reduce pain that way, but they are not painkillers, those can be taken along side and can help massively

I do hope you sleep or at least rest.

 

[Walamebooxmes]

Hi

Have just read all the posts from the newbies and want to welcome you all to the site. I had a microdiscectomy in june 08 and have many posts on here regarding my recovery.
All I can say is exercise is one of the most important things you need to include in your recovery. The other is patience!
My spinal surgeon actually stopped me having physio following my op as he thinks they do more harm than good with spinal patients.
Pilates is important for flexibilty and improving muscle strength but make sure you find a teacher who has knowledge of back surgeries as it's not something they all learn about.
If I can be more help to any one please dont hesitate to ask. By the way I am a fitness instructor and am 100% fit and teach up to 20 hours of exercise a week!!
Good luck all
Fitbird
xx

 

[ueeruuerissidderw]

i had a discectomy and laminectomy on the 30th march after 2 years of misdiagnosis in the end the pain had got that bad they had me in straight away for the OP and it was done the very night at the QE in Birmingham i had full paralysis in my right leg and couldn't feel my right foot and was taking tablets like sweets, that was a month ago and my recovery was swift but in the last 5days it seems like ive got pain back, i have pain where my kidneys are and in my groin. These where the same pains that started the whole journey 2 years ago and am worrying that it might be the disc out again. What i need is some advice as to if these pains are just part of the normal healing or if there could be something wrong again.

Any help and advice would be great.

 

[imeazunxivsihuetd]

Hi Polly and welcome

From your post I think you might find a lot of reassurance if you researched all about discs, discetomy and laminectomy so that you understand what happened, what they did to try and fix it and what may be happening now. Discs do not slip, they bulge, herniate or protrude, they also do heal quite slowly. But if you are saying you were pain free and your meds havent changed and now you are in pain then something has obviously changed?

 

[Father Christmas]

It had bulged out a lot but id had totally stopped taking any med's a while back as i felt better the pain isn't as intense, infact no where near what it was im just worried that this might be the start of it all coming back. I have had the pain for around 5days now and i have done nothing at all just sat around but am wondering if exercise may help as i haven't been doing any, i am meant to have psycho at the hospital but haven't had a appointment so am concerned that i may have missed the appointment.

Ive done the reading and fully understand what has happened to me thats why i wonder if they may just be healing pains.

 

[hihihiii!]

Hi polly69, my disc relapsed 4 months after the op....and I exercised like crazy! I'm inclined to agree with whoever mentioned not doing physio straight after the op. You waited a long time for a diagnosis and your body has a lot of recovery to do now, which might explain what you're feeling now. Mention the pain and physio to your GP and in the meantime try and keep yourself moving, I hope it settles down soon. Good luck.

 

[Jesse J]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, i hope you are right and the pain is just that healing pain and not the disc again it seems weird that after only 4weeks that the problem would happen again. I only started taking my meds again yesterday so they should help and i will be seeing the Doc tomorrow so maybe that will shed some light on it.

Im worried sick about this i have my family holiday coming in September and ive been away 3 times with the pain and it ruined my hols as i couldn't do anything that the kids wanted to do because of pain, no one seemed to know what the cause was. First it was a strained muscle then a kidney stone then a infection till finally they send me for a second MRI but this time on my back. This highlighted the disc out and then as soon as i was seen at the QE i was rushed in for surgery but by this time i was in horrific pain my whole leg had pins and needles and i had no reflex response from my right foot i also had bladder weakness. so its a frighting prospect.

 

[wanoattancied]

I know that feeling of panic....very well, Wouldn't it be nice if we could describe our complaint in language the experts can understand, some kind of agreed code, so they know what we're talking about and we (might) have a chance of understanding them. When I was suffering a lumbar disc prolapse I had to go through the physio route to a consultant. I told the physio I was getting nerve interference in my arm when I did the leg exercises....strange but true. She told me that wasn't possible, but later told me to stop the exercises as I must be 'wired up funny'. Months and months later I had an MRI on my neck where I had multiple abnormalities.....see, I knew there was something wrong!

Oh, and while I'm in a typing mood. Its taken me a long time to accept that the back problems were not as serious as they seemed at the time. Its fear of the unknown that makes things a hundred times worse, and the fear of paralysis certainly made me anxious. Hoping that will reassure you.

And I can definitely sympathise if you have young children to look after, mine got so fed up with my constant moaning they left home. Or maybe it was about time they left anyway. If there is a chance of getting extra help from visitors, take as much as you need!

 

[dpoxvdcl]

This went on for 2 years and i was told time and time again that it was muscular and nothing more serious than that, in my own mind i knew it was as you know your own body and if something feels wrong then it usually is. Last night i started loosing sensation in my right foot, so i rang NHS direct and they said i needed to speak to a on call doctor 10minutes later someone rang and said the doctor has looked at the notes and has decided that you should go to A&E straight way.

I got the Missis to take me there and we where left sitting about till 3am till i was finally seen by the Doctor, i was then examined and the Doctor decided that it was muscular and that i had pain in my kidney area and not in the back, eventhough i explained that 2 years ago this was how it all started the exact same symptoms but she assured me that it was nothing serious and went to speak to another Doctor who agreed with the diagnosis, so i had no choice but to except this and went home hoping that the symptoms would go and i would be back on the mend.

I don't believe that they will go more likely that over the next few weeks they will get worse and worse as they did before but we will have to see.

 

[I hav no life and idfc]

6 weeks today i had L5/S1 discectomy....still in pain. Back is stiff and I still think the original back pain has not gone. worse than that the leg pain is back.. Came back after 5 weeks gradually. But defo it is back. Saw physio last night and she too could see I am in pain. She is writing a report for consultant to see.
I am due to see the consultant Monday morning firs time after op. I have kept a diary of the last 6 weeks. Still cannot see myself going back work just yet with the pain I am in. Off to see GP in hours time and hope he gives me extended sick certificate as my 6 week one after operation runs out today. Worried sick as my employers have been calling wanting to know when I am back. They did not even ask how I was - just "when are you back?". As explained in previous posts I am a Aircraft Maintenance Engineer so involving heavy duty work.
Getting that guilty feeling being at home sick. That felling they think I am sitting at home and nothing wrong with me.
This whole thing has been getting me down

I dont quite know why but today I feel bad. Really bad. At home alone. I want today to be over and tommorow I want to rid of this pain.

 

[sweetjone]

polly69 and goodlad, I'm really sorry you're having a bad time, I feel exactly the same as you but I probably have less pain to deal with. And the feeling that everyone at work thinks you're having a good skive.......yep. I think all sufferers feel that way too. I just want to mention a theory I have about post op pain, I haven't mentioned it before but its time I gave it an airing.

When I had a micro discectomy I was told they would do a nerve root injection to ease the post op pain. I've been wondering if that injection is responsible for feeling so brilliantly pain free....and then a few weeks later return to the usual, and unwelcome, pains. Any thoughts on that post oppers? I always try to understand what's happening even if it makes me an annoying person for a while (or longer).

For nearly two years now I've had short episodes of double vision and dizziness, I've hated it and am reluctant to go out alone. Even so, I never mentioned it to my doc or the neurosurgeon in case they thought I was making it up....anyone else feel like that? Ive now had a letter from my doc wanting to discuss an abnormality in my cervical vertebral artery (revealed in the MRI). I've just looked that up and it actually causes the vision problems and dizziness, well I'll be blowed! That must mean it could be treated.....now that does feel better!

Progress is painfully slow but I think it happens....eventually....take heart sufferers.

 

[drgnrdr451]

im sick to death of the pain, it feels like i have really dad stitch after running and also like ive been kicked in the balls that dull ache you get but this doesnt go after a few minutes its constant and that knocks you about because walking hurts and my foot feels weird i think people are fed up with hearing the moaning about constant pain. Ive lost the physio letter so have no way of knowing when i should have gone, but i have a doctors appointment Friday and hope that will shed some light on this pain . Im hoping that these are just pain from the post op so ive started taking the pain killers again but i to am sometimes feeling dizzy.

goodlad

I totally understand how you feel the days draw on and you wish it where over hoping that the next day the pain will go away but it doesn't. I have jobs that need doing round the house and am scared to death to do anything incase it gets worse im now looking forward to bed so i can be pain free for 8 hours. Anyway i hope you feel a little better tomorrow.

 

[semBubsussy]

It's been such a welcome reassurance reading the posts on this site.
I am now 9 weeks post op, as mentioned in previous posts, for the L5 S1 discectomy.
I had no pain for the first week following the op. After that I got some pain but put this down to recovery.
Now I am getting the same pains as before the op but they come and go whereas they were constant before and I couldn't move.

At the moment, when I wake up I am so stiff between my lower back and thighs and cannot move. I am also getting pains in my leg when I try to turn over in bed. Not getting much sleep. I also get pain in my leg / foot / buttock / ankle as before the op but this comes and goes now rather than being there all the time. Still hurts like he'll though!

I started taking the amitriptyline again and it is helping, but I am back at work as a head teacher and I know they don't help me think straight!

The 45 minute drive to work also leaves my leg and back in some pain too.

I have to see the surgeon for my post op appointment at the end of May and think I might ask for another MRI just incase the op didn't fix the disc problem, but I have read that adhesions on the nerve can cause similar pains. Has anyone had experience of this?

Thanks

 

[mrs_g2]

Hi sjj, just thought I'd mention that I started taking amytriptiline (?) for the crazy nerve irritation in my legs. I was advised to take one in the morning and one at night, but now take 2 at night because I couldn't cope with the way they made me feel.....half dead! I changed the dose myself but the doctor hasn't altered it. Just thought I'd mention that in case you think a night time dose....even taking just the one, would be better. I've discovered that particular drug, originally an antidepressant, is used to help people cope with chronic pain and for nerve problems. You have to decide where you fit into that.

I think two other people have had problems with adhesions, I suppose its a grey area because it won't show up on MRI scans, to my knowledge. My nerve troubles are linked to an annular tear, recently discovered through MRI, there are loads of reasons for the problems you have but time will make it all a bit clearer. Hope it settles down soon.

 

[Arizona Indian Doll]

I am new to this forum and have found many of the posts extremely helpful. On February 12, 2011, I herniated the disc in my L5/S1 while at work as a police officer. I was chasing a ciminal through a back alley and I ended up getting stuck mid stride in 3 feet of snow. As I fell forward I grabbed a fence to try and prevent my fall, I folded in half and fell to the ground in excrutiating pain. My wife, whom is also a police officer and was involved in the foot pursuit as well, caught the bad guy just after I went down. She had a tough decission to make; go after bad guy or assist her helpless husband who was screaming in agony on the ground. Thankfully she made the right choice to catch the criminal.

Anyways, I don't mean to bore you all with how I came to be laid up for 3 months with a herniated disc in my back. As a result of that fall, I ended severely herniating my L5/S1. I underwent a laminectomy/discectomy on March 26 2011. Before the surgery I was training to become an amatuer bodybuilder, working out everyday, and was making amazing progress. And now, in the short few months that I have been off, everything that I had worked so hard to accomplish is diminishing before my eyes daily. I try to walk daily, usually for between half to one hour. To be quite honest, it feels better to get out and walk, and exercise. I can't run of course, but at least i can do something. What I find is that sitting is the worst. It seems to cause more pain than anything. I have yet to start physio, however I see my surgeon on Wednesday and hopefully he gives me the go ahead to start. If I could also recomend one more thing, it would be to invest in a good quality back brace. I have worn that thing religously since the day I was released from the hospital. It prevents any kind of twisting and turning which is harmful to your recovery.

I am finding now that when I wake up in the morning, I am feeling fairly stiff and sore. It is now 6 weeks post-op and to be honest with you, I have no intentions on going back to work until I feel that this injury is fully healed. The worst part of this injury is how it has played with my mental well being. I feel very angry that this happened, and the more I think about it, the more depressed I become. I want so badly to get back in the gym, and getting back into the phyical shape I was in before this happened. And the longer that I sit at home doing sweet bugger all the more upset I get. If anyone has a timeline as to when I can start back training 100% again that would be greatly appreciated.