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Anyone ever had spinal surgery?

  • Thread starter Clint
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  • #41
in general, Americans want a pill or shortcut to solve their problems and go to the doc that is gonna promise them that.....as a result alot of unnecessary surgeries get preformed and scrips get written......instead of putting through the effort to do without and do what needs to be done to fix the problems and not the symptoms.....a whole lot of doctoring is based on symptoms and not problems....been through this and seen it first hand which is why im in worse shape than i should be.....

unless its an emergency and yah dont have time if the first doc yah see says the only solution is getting cut get a second and third opinion.....aint no doubt about it i will defiantly need both knee joint replaced at some point but after going through some idiots focused on the symptoms ive now got docs that are focusing on the problem and trying to do whats best for me in the long term, not trying to give me 8 months relief and then im gonna take a bigger slide into hell.....

sometimes surgery is the only answer but beware docs that want to slice and dice to fast.......
 
  • #42
I agree ... But when two different doctors tell me I have to get it or else... I'm inclined to listen lol.

Know you guys weren't talking about me... Just clarifying. I normally wouldn't get surgery some place like my spine. It's connected to my brain lol.
 
  • #43
i figured you were smart enough to figure that out Clint......i know im walking the tightrope trying to put off surgery and it sounds like your far worse than me so surgery is the likely answer but than the question becomes what kind......whole lot of knee surgeries could give me relief for 4-18 months but when that period is over ill be worse off than had i been at the same point had i not taken surgery.....when 3 docs in three different hospitals are telling yah the same thing its time to listen up....
 
  • #44
If, for you, surgery will only last 4-18 months, and you'll just need it again, and again, and again in an unending cycle for recovery, relief, and more surgery, I'd just keep coping with medication and forget the surgery until the highest safe dose of pills stops giving relief.
 
  • #45
the other big problem is its very rare that surgeries can be undone the surgeries i mentioned remove material from the knee to smooth things out....dont take long to run out of material and once you do your screwed.....better off letting it slowly wear down at a natural pace....long term its the same amount of pain just stretched out over 15 or 20 years instead of condensed into 7....

and thats the main point i have its rare that a surgery can be undone so make dang sure going in its the correct surgery for your condition.....smoothing up the joint was not the correct surgery for my condition but a couple surgeons convinced me they knew what my problem was and that was the solution....
 
  • #46
Well, I'm getting a triple laminectomy next Friday. The doc said it's very safe and is like one of the easiest and safest surgeries on the spine. He also promised me lots of good dope afterwords so I don't feel the pain lol.
 
  • #47
best of Luck to you Clint, keep us informed
 
  • #48
He also promised me lots of good dope afterwords so I don't feel the pain lol.

hate to scare yah but i gotta call BS on this.......3 knee surgeries, one appendectomy personally.....my wife going through a bone spur removal where the achelles tendon was partially unattatched and ovarian cyst burst and my daughter got a screw in her knee to put two pieces of bone together....aint one of the damn things been without pain from the word go......everyone of them has been a race to stay a head of the pain to keep it to something yah could hopefully deal with....unless they are gonna hook yah up to a heroin drip there is gonna be pain....especially after they send yah home and there is no more morphine injections....
 
  • #49
He said I'd have a morphine pump while I was in the hospital for about three days. I was exaggerating/joking. I know there will be some pain. I asked him about getting hooked and he said blah blah blah this is what these meeds were made for and we can taper as I heal blah blah blah so I'm not really worried about that aspect. Or the surgery, he said hea done like three thousand like this and only four people had complications, so I'm very confident.
 
  • #50
morphine pumps are your friend, ask your family to push the button for you when you are asleep
 
  • #51
The morphine pump was not my friend. They upped the amount of morphine the pump deliveree and i was still in agony.

Then I was introduced to my new buddy Dilauded.

I am home now and hurt like hell. I have evwn more numbness than before but i can walk much better already. They sent me home with even more percocet, dilauded, and some valium. Im not sire why they gave me valium so i think ill save it for when the republicans win the next election.
 
  • #52
Good idea, but actually the valium is for muscle spasams, which you'll get because of how they manipulated your back muscles during surgery.
Best of luck in healing
 
  • #53
find out Friday if im gonna be joining yah though what would be done to me is alot less invasive and a simpler fix
 
  • #54
The morphine pump was not my friend. They upped the amount of morphine the pump deliveree and i was still in agony.
Wish I had seen this thread earlier. A friend had major surgery & was given the choice between pills or the pump. He chose the pump & it always ran out too soon & he was stuck for a period with very little relief. When I talked to the nurses off to the side, they told me they always recommend the pills because they last longer & provide more relief - just take longer to have an impact. They said the people with the pumps always have more issues with pain....
 
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  • #55
As anyone who has been in chronic, severe long term pain knows,
pain medicines do NOT take the pain away. It may distract you from it,
or at the very best, help you to deal with it, but it does NOT make it go away.

The good news is that in many cases, pain meds can help you to deal with the pain,
whether short or long term. But remember, when you are taking a narcotic, your body
will get used to it, whether via building up a tolerance to it or a dependence on it.
Those are different than becoming addicted, but they are things that will have to be dealt with
at some point.

Whatever the situation, it is best to keep yourself at the point of experiencing a level of pain that you can feel, but deal with. Do not try reaching a point (when using the medicine) of no pain at all, nor going for the "good feelings" it might provide. That is expecting too much from the meds, and is not something they can provide (if for any length of time), without also having negative effects down the line (Like them not working eventually, or needing more.)

Pain meds can be a Godsend, but can also bring hell if you try to take advantage of their effects.

Good luck on your recovery. I hope you can find a pain-free place in the future, hopefully without meds. (I am not against pain meds, but it makes for no life having to take them.

:water:
 
  • #56
Tomorrow I go see the neurosurgeon for a follow up.

I had an easy and enjoyable two weeks on pain medication and muscle relaxers and then I decided to stop to see if I really needed them, even though I was told to take them every three hours (six on the Valium) even if I don't feel like I need them so that it will prevent me from needing them in the first place. I didn't need them so I decided to save the two weeks I had left over in case I hurt my back again, that way I won't suffer while waiting on an appointment.

A took like six ibuprofen a day for a week, and for the past week I really havnt needed anything ar all. My worries about getting hooked on pain pills were totally over nothing. I did become addicted to those trashy tv court shows, however. When I stopped taking the dilaudid, percocet and Valium there was no withdrawal or anything.

I am very happy to report that I am up and walking like nothing ever happened, the foot drop is gone, and the only problem that persists is some residual numbness, and I have pin and needle sensations that didn't exist before the surgery. I don't think I need any physical therapy but will probably go at least once if my doctor makes me. I will talk to my doctor about increasing the neurontin or preferably ask for some samples of lyrica since I've read great things about it helping with this problem. The neurontin he gave me originally had six refills left on it so I am assuming he expects think it will take at least six months for it to go away, if it goes away.

It's not painful but it's very frustrating and annoying. I hope medicine can help alleviate it, but I do not want any more surgery since this problem, while frustrating and unwanted, isn't affecting my ability to walk. I appreciate things like going to the mailbox or kitchen now.
 
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  • #57
very cool Clint......told yah the concerns over addiction were really not applicable to your situation.....im currently sitting on the couch as i had back surgery last Friday though far less invasive than yours.....im also recovering well and doing alot better than i thought i would be......ive got a long road of doing nothing till the hole in my disk scars overs......atleast another week on the couch....surgeon would prefer i took another one or two weeks off after that even but i work for myself and look alot of juggling to get the 2 weeks on the couch.....
 
  • #58
Good luck! I hope you recovery quickly.

The biggest reason I was concerned about addiction is because I assumed it would take months to recovery from something like spinal surgery... it just seems so serious but it wasn't a big deal at all. I guess I've got age on my side.

Laying in bed/ on the sofa was easily the worst part of the whole ordeal for me... my parents watched me like a hawk and wouldn't let me do anything.. if I dropped something they wouldn't let me bend over, I couldn't walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water, I couldn't pick up a half gallon of milk... being waited on constantly and chastised for doing anything involving the slightest bit of movement or effort was the worst part.

I go to the neurologist in about an hour to see what's up with these sensations and numbness I've been having (a bit paradoxical lol.)

Clint
 
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  • #59
the wife would be doing that with me but she is at work and i am at home so she has lil say :D

on the numbness and stuff before going into surgery i was told that pain would be the first to disappear, tingling after that and numbness last.......and that during the healing process any of them could come back to some extent due to swelling during healing in the area.....not something to worry about unless its worse than before surgery or still present 4 months down the road.....

as far as the surgery itself, with three knee surgeries under my belt i was figuring on the back surgery being the the worse of the bunch as it was going to involve removing muscle from bone and grinding the bone in areas, actually its been less painfull than the knee surgeries.....
 
  • #60
Whoa, somehow I missed this, Clint. (Not much spare time for the forums lately.) Good to hear you're pulling through. Sorry to hear about the tingling - that's bothersome. I developed a condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy after a nasty flesh wound on my pointer finger. The cut went deep enough to damage (but not kill) the nerves and apparently made them kind of panic-prone, as my doctor explains it; ordinary sensations now make that nerve tweak out and send faulty information to the rest of the nerves in my arm. When it becomes aggravated I get this weird, tingling, gauzy sensation that creeps up my hand and arm and sometimes all the way into my neck and face.
Do the physical therapy. For as long as your insurance will pay for it, do it - those people are invaluable. After I got the cast off my leg I was right back on my feet, but because I was getting around so well they didn't order PT and I've been lopsided ever since. Three or four years later I'm still working to fix it, mostly because I don't know how to fix it. Correcting imbalances and postural problems related to surgery/extended convalescence is something you should really allow a professional to do.
Being laid up with parents around doesn't sound too fun. When I busted my leg I conveniently had a friend moving in to rent my spare room anyways, so my mom didn't have to dote on me too long. We went out and got a stool I could sit on in the shower and a backpack so I could take things from room to room without my hands full. Between my roomie being there to help drive me around and my ninja-like ability to operate machines and grasp small objects with crutches she felt comfortable leaving me to look after myself once I'd had the bones set and cast put on. That week was actually a lot of fun - I hopped around on crutches, didn't have to help my friend move his stuff in, and we ordered pizza or went out to dinner just about every night. :p
Anyways, good to hear things are looking up, more or less. Best luck with your neurologist.
~Joe
 
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