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I believe that 6 years is the usual amount of time for problems to reappear. Fusion is not a permanent fix! So I would say that the dominio effect of the fusion is probably starting to occur. Six years was the time it took me to have daily sciatica pain return. Sorry but that is pretty much...

No the one great thing about the mri is that it is painless although a lot find it claustrophobic. Next best is the ct without contrast, then the ct with contrast. Last but the most "uncomfortable" of all is the discogram and it should only be done when surgery has been decided. Most back...

Your symptoms sound systemic another worRAB some kind of illness that has not been diagnosed. I wouldn't slough it off as related to discs in the neck or lower back. You need to have a full physical workup done. Your doctor is correct your symptoms are not related. There are other diseases...

Well I couldn't walk but a few feet without mine. Of course it helps. When you only have one good side it helps the other weak side.

I had a L4L5S1 fusion over 25 years ago so perhaps this really doesn't apply to you. Complications kept me in hospital for 3 weeks. I had severe leg pain that kept me bedridden 3 months after surgery. But it did slowly get better over a period of a year. When they operate they sometime have...

No other healthy adults in the house? Adults can cook heck I was cooking dinner when I was 11 yr old. Maybe you just are little too accommadating. When I first read your post I thought that you were a single person living on their own. But then when I read it again I realized there are...

I can't believe the cost that you were quoted. A couple of years ago I was quoted $800 in Buffalo NY. Are you sure that it costs that much. Maybe you should shop around and see if you can get one at a much lower cost. Just read that the cost in California is $1500 to $2000.

In the immediate future I do not see nursing as a career choice but in the long term that may still be possible. If they took all the nurses out of the hospitals that have bulging or herniated disc there would be hardly anyone on duty. You have one level that seems to be reherniating. That...

Cellulitis can be so bad. I got it from a fall that scraped my knee. I was on IV antibiotics for 3 weeks. A nurse came into my home to change the needle every couple of days and I wore a pump around my waist. Hope that you heal well and the drugs do the job.

My old fusion surgery was full open surgery. There were only screws used (no cages or plates). Bone grafts were taken from the pelvic area. I have a solid fusion L4-L5-S1. This was many years ago and I know that surgical procedures have advanced but by the sounRAB of yours it sounRAB more...

Well I had fusion 26 yrs ago. Complications of infection and bleeding almost killed me. Slow painful recovery of 1 yr then improvement for 6 years. Six years after surgery chronic sciatica came back with limping and some walking difficulty. Now after 26 yrs I have been disabled for the last...

L4-L5 is the level of the spine that bears the largest load when bending. If you have this level fused it no longer takes the load. When you bend the load is transferred to L3-L4 the disc above it. When they do a spinal fusion they must determine if they are fusing to a solid level without...

I was thought to have arachnoiditis a few years ago but that turned out to be not true. The neurologist told me that if I had arachnoiditis surgery was out of the question and that pain management was the only alternative. Surgery can make it worse. They actually have come to believe that a...

What kind of dosage are you taking with Neurontin. I had to get up to 2100 mg to get sciatic pain relief. Narcotics don't address nerve pain and are a waste of time. (Just my opinion). Neurontin can give good pain relief but the dosage has to be correct.

Been on both Lyrica, Topamax, and Neuronton (gabapentin). I found that Neurontin worked the best. I gained weight with Lyrica (huge appetite) and Neurontin (gained weight no real reason). Topamax's nickname is Dopamax and it causes the largest amount of brain fog. You can lose weight on...

I took celebrex for a year but had to stop because it caused high blood pressure. It really didn't help with my leg pain. I now take neurontin (gabapentin) for the treatment of nerve pain.

Get a second opinion. The findings that you have posted do not seem serious enough to suggest you require fusion surgery. Perhaps there is something else that you have not posted. Still please get another opinion before you consider this drastic surgery.

My fusion was done many years ago. Six years is about the time that things can start to go downhill again. That was my experience and it is a common one.

Leg pain is indicative of nerve involvement. Just as a bad hip can cause knee pain or a neck herniation can cause arm and hand pain lower back herniations can cause leg pain. Just look up a dermatome chart. This chart demonstrates the nerve pathways. The pain is called radicular pain. It is...

Usually takes a couple of weeks to get past the dizziness but depending on the dosage it could continue. I take 2100mg a day and still get some dizziness at night when I take 1500mg at bedtime. Obviously my heavy dosage at bed poses no problem with side effects because it helps me to sleep.