Prolapsed Disc

[fneqnuzfixnigheiy]

Hey,

I've had pain in my lower back going down my leg for about 6 months now, after numerous visits to the osteopath i decided to consult my own GP about the pain who referred me for an MRI scan.

The scan revealed that i have a prolapsed disc in the L5/S1 region and the neurosurgeon has recommended surgery. I'm due to have surgery in July which I'm not too nervous about.

I just want to know if anyone has had this type of surgery and how long it does to fully recover? The consultant said i have to stay off work for about 4/5 weeks. How soon will i be able to drive? What sort of things are difficult to do after the surgery for example sleeping? sitting etc

My body movement is fine at the moment, i just find it very difficult to drive and to sit in one place for a long time.

Please reply if you've had the same surgery as I'm about to go through in July

Thanks

Adam

 

[Holiday]

What type of surgery are you having?

 

[gajnbxtx]

I haven't got a clue, the consultant said its a pretty straight forward procedure where they make a small cut in my back to get to my spine.

Op is on a Thursday he said i should be able to go home on the Saturday.

I didn't know there are different types of surgeries?

 

[Alexandria]

Don't do the surgery for herniated disc that include any cutting.

Explore Minimally-invasive spine surgery!!!

 

[Nancy W]

I'm sure Keano has the best of intentions in writing this but it would best to consult with your own medical consultant should you have any concerns regarding your forthcoming operation.

Best wishes
Moonfairy
HPmods

 

[??? c?r??ic is Tonedeff]

Once again, thank you for your advice in this matter. With respect to your obvious knowledge on this subject, such a forum post can only be advisory and with this awareness, The Specialist can now decided whether to pursue this matter or not. I am not saying it is wrong, just appending a note of caution.

I am aware that in previous posts you have said you are not medically qualified but are undergoing research in this field, and I would also point out the site disclaimer at the bottom of the page, and in particular the following:

 

[Valerie X Account #22!]

Guys we don't need to argue over this, Keano thanks for your advice and Moonfairy thanks for yours too.

The consultant did mention about a small cut which has to be made to get to my spine in order to cut off the bulging part of the disc.

Have you had surgery on your spine then Moonfairy?

Thanks

 

[Magnum Heaven]

Hi TS

Lol, re your mention of ‘argument’, as I don’t do them. Being a moderator of this forum, I offer genuine and sincere advice, as deemed necessary.

To answer your specific question, No I haven’t had back surgery, though I have indeed experienced back pain, and for 18 months, so I can certainly empathise about back pain and I read about it with interest.

To return to the specific topic of this thread, keano16 looks to have great knowledge on the subject of back pain. I had to remind myself that he posted on earlier threads that he was a medical researcher rather than a neurosurgeon. Lol. Maybe his own personal experiences of back pain might also provide further help in this matter.

I do sincerely send you my best wishes regarding your future surgery and hope that it will render you pain free.

Moonfairy
HPmods

 

[John Victor]

Are you trying to be sarcastic and ironic with that "LOL"? Yes, I am a researcher but I don't research for profit, I research for prosperity and health. Also, I have a lot of personal experience, as you can see.

 

[LAkers Fan]

Replying as a forum moderator:



Keano16,

As Moonfairy stated in her reply to The Specialist:



so there will have been no sarcasm or irony, as you put it, regarding the harmless inclusion of a LOL or two, merely a desire to remain pleasant in tone while responding to your earlier post #4:



to ensure that forum posts and any advice offered by and to our members remains ethical, unbiased and does not breach forum guidelines in any regard.

I trust this clarifies the position for everyone, since the question of there being any 'argument' here simply does not arise.

Holistic
On behalf of the Healthypages Moderating Team

 

[atredageplegep4]

There are two main versions of decompression spinal surgery,
Open back & Microsurgery

The key difference is that the open back variety starts with a 2 to 6 inch incision in your skin, lower tissue levels, nerves, ligaments and muscles right down to the bones of the vertabrae.

The Microsurgery only requires a 1 to 2 inch incision in the skin, lower tissue levels and nerves. After that, the object of this procedure is to reduce 'or' illiminate the need to cut the ligaments and muscles as above.
However!! This is achieved by incerting tools in to the incision site and forcing the skin, tissue, nerves (and sometimes) muscles apart.
This means, that although the 'initial incision' is smaller, the actual size of the 'working hole' in your back, will be about the same size and would possibly be as destructive!

I would qualify this by saying, that due to the a smaller area of the various levels being cut, the Microsurgery has to be the better of 2 evils!! Also, several posters on this forum have reported 'good clinical outcomes'
after undergoing the micro procedure, see continue reading this thread!!

After the Surgeon gets to the vertibrae, the normal procedure is to 'cut' a window in the your vertabrae (be it healthy or not) to gain access to the
area where the decompression surgery is to take place. This is called a laminectomy or laminotomy, depending on where you live.

After the procedure (be it succesful or not) all these cut, torn, bruised, damaged and athough wise 'buggered' body parts will need to heal perfectly if you are to reach a good long term outcome.

But thats another story, I have to go now, but I will return to continue this thread!

All the very best to you!


SPINELF

 

[Pompal 09.]

SPINELF, allow me to correct your statements.

Surgeries are not divided to OPEN and MICRO-SURGERY. Micro-surgery is only microscopically controlled open back surgery, and thats it.

Currently in world spinal surgery is divided to:
1. Traditional spine surgery (also known as traditional spine surgery, long incision spine surgery, micro-surgery)
2. Minimally-invasive spine surgery

Minimally-invasive surgery is divided in different ways according to different authors, I think that best way for patients from this forum to understand is to divide MISS to this categories:
1. Percutanoues surgery (trough the skin, trough the needle, for example laser decompression, nucleoplasty...)
2. Micro-endoscopic surgery (trough the tubular retractor, like METRx)
3. Endoscopic surgery (trough the canula utilizing endoscope for visualization).

Also, laminectomy and laminotomy are not the same things and they don't depend on patients location. It depends on surgical technique and method that is used in unique patient. Laminectomy includes removing bigger part of lamina while laminotomy includes removing smaller part of lamina.

 

[Freak On A Leash]

Continuing from previous reply:

One of the main reasons that a patient's satisfaction rate is so low after
these spinal procedures, is that all of the levels I mentioned previously
do not often heal completely at post operation. Also, scarring, liesions and other procedure related damage caused during these destructive
operations, add pain and symptoms that were not present before the operation.

Also, because of the need for Surgeons to have an 'approach area' that could be as big as 6 inches long and 4 inches wide in a patients back,
the risk of 'air bourne' infections is 'heightened'.

In addition, the risk of blood infections is also heightened, as high blood loss is not unusual during these open back variety procedures.

Complications due to the required general aneasthetic is as per normal operations.

So, in short, these so called 'gold standard' procedures offered by most UK & US Surgeons, are usually very destructive and all my research over the last 5 years has failed to uncover any authorative peer reviewed medical papers 'or' trial results, that confirm that these procedures are either safe or efficatious for the patient.

However, there are members on this forum who have reported recieving excellent results from some of these procedures, so do your research have a look at these threads. Also, research your Surgeon thoroughly too, as the the outcomes do appear to depend on how determind any given Surgeon is, to limiting the collatoral damage!

---------------------------------------

As KEANO points out in his reply to my last post to you, there are other alternatives to the open back approach, sadly not on the NHS!

I broadly agree with Keano's statements, but not all, however, you need not get tied up in the finer detail of the disagreements that he makes at this point in your research.

Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery (MISS) is where the cutting edge of spine surgey is at!! They utilise micro-endoscopes, miniture & powered cutting tools and state of the art Holium & Yag lasers.

6 years ago there were around 5 spine clinics (world wide) that carried out this procedure, now there are more like 20.
There is still some variety between them, some still cut through the vertabrae (lamina), whilst others gain access to the spinal column, by using the (foraminal opening) gap that naturally occurs in the spinal system. But all MISS procedures, reduce the amount collatoral damage by cutting out the unnecersary cutting and stripping of the open back procedures.

For research purposes, please see these web sites:
www.bonati.com
www.spinal-foundation.org
There are many more similar sites, so if you need more info, please post again!


Also, see this recent video and animation I saw from America:

www.thedoctorstv.com Then click on 'PROCEDURE CAM' and then
select laser spine surgery and laser spine surgery animation.

These sites will give you a good understanding of the methodology behind the MISS procedures. Happy researching!!!


Best wishes


SPINELF

 

[Prerpuropsy]

so after reading your posts spinelf, i am eager to try anything but surgery. have posted as of yesterday on the 'got a prolapsed disc' thread. To summerize, I have an L4/L5 prolapse that I am pretty sure is prssing on some nerves as i have moderate back pain and sciatic pain in both hip areas. I have seen a ortho surgeon who pretty much said its not worth operating on and my problem is im fat! obviously not happy and requested to see another surgeon. anyway, can anyone recommend some alternatives other than surgery and how I go about those. btw,did not have a job when sciatica started and have not been able to get one due to the pain as it has only gotten worse.cannot currently stand or sit more than 10 minutes and cannot walk more than 100-200 metres at a time. currently fighting with the dwp for ESA so not sure what i could afford as far as treatments go,any help/advice would be fantastic if you need more background its all in the other post 'got a prolapsed disc' thread. thanks very much everyone, Lisa.

 

[Joanne A.]

Sorry I haven't responded sooner Lisa!

You appear to be traped in a vicious cicle, you are not alone, and when the Government gets started on it's cuts, it will become a whole lot worse!! You are not allowed treatment to make you better, and you can't get benefit to allow you to be ill!! SO UNFAIR!!!!

Your weight could be a problem, as I am sure, you don't need telling,
but, that should not (automatically) rule you out of a treatment that would allow you to exercise more and with less pain, and vastly improve the quality of you life. So don't let them block treatment for that reason.
After all, which came first, the chicken or the egg!!

In order for you to make an informed choice from available and suitable options, you need definitive and accurate MRI & (load bearing) X-ray scans and reports. I would reccomend that you invest in 'privately funded ones' from clinics that are as far away as you can tolerate to travel (in order to avoid professional bias) away from your Health Trust's area, and then take them to the next consultaion and insist that your Surgeon reviews and explains them with you.

LOOK UP:

Loadstone
BMI
Nuffield
Spire &
Bupa

Prices vary from around £200 up to £800.

Best wishes


SPINELF