Discectomy in 2 weeks, L4-L5, Severe Sciatica HELP!!

[anna3125]

Hi everyone-
I am hoping to get your opinion/thoughts on my situation, and please feel free to share your experience. I would love to hear from you.

I am 20 years old, (young, i know. Not sure why I have this, because I haven't been in a car accident or anything like that-) and have been living with pain for about 6-7 weeks now. My sciatica pain is severe. Most days I get through sedated by T3s or percocet, which does not relieve me of pain, just makes it a little more bearable. I do not want to be living in a dizzy/drowsy/nauseous state any longer, and cannot stand or walk for more than a minute. Even going to the washroom or making food is too much and I spend all my time in bed. As a student, I want to be able to go to class and be awake, and want to be able to walk places and hopefully get over this pain issue.

So I decided to get surgery ASAP.

My herniation is 4mm (also said 8mm somewhere..) and L4 L5 and also S1? Sorry I am not so familiar with the terminology, the MRI was taken before I had to move back to the city where my school is, so I haven't had much time to discuss it with my doctor. My family doctor and a neurosurgeon both recommended surgery, and the neurosurgeon said the epidural may not even be of help because of the size of my herniated disk.

I know surgery has risks and should be last option, but the anti-inflammatory pills did not help and my leg pain (left leg, from upper butt down to ankles. feels like it was run over by a car, but is also burning. Foot/Ankle/outside of thigh are all nurab, pretty much no sensation when touched)

I have to wait MONTHS just to have a consultation with a doctor that does the minimally invasive one, so have decided to go for the regular surgery which will be in 2 weeks. I want to know what you think of this- from my understanding this is not the riskiest surgery...?

Also, how is the pain AFTER the surgery? (Leg nurabness, sciatica and surgery pain, etc) and also how soon will i able to drive and go to class? I would be allowed to walk around and stand in class. My classes are 1.5hrs in length (3 of them a day) with 20 min breaks in between. Im hoping to get a disability parking spot so will not have to take the city bus.

How can I recover fast from the surgery? how did your surgery go? what really is the difference between the regular and minimally invasive? my neurosurgeon said the scar size was the biggest difference.

thank you in advance for all of your help.
please give me all of your advise/opinions. they mean alot to me!

 

[anna3125]

p.s. also i have severe constipation that comes from dehydration effect of codiene plus not being able to move around. Ive been lying or sitting for most of the day, even sometimes have to eat lying down and have not been able to go to the bathroom. And even when i try, stool is really dry and it hurts and often bleeRAB and I get nothing out. I think i have to try laxatives.. I tried ex-lax but didnt do anything

 

[CupieCAKE]

Sorry you are in so much pain. Have you done an oral steroid pack? That might shrink it enough to make it more bearable.

I had two discectomies. It's going to take your nerve some time to recover, and you will probably have some lingering pain and nurabness for a bit afterward. For my last surgery I had a 24 mm free fragment of herniated disc material removed during my discectomy. It was crushing my nerve causing a nurab foot and excruciating pain. When I woke up from the surgery I felt so much better....I got up and went home a couple of hours after I woke up, rather than stay in the hospital. There really wasnt too much surgery pain...the pain i had before the surgery was so much worse. Within just a few days I was driving my daughter to school again. The feeling in my foot slowly came back over the next six weeks. My restrictions were on lifting, bending, and twisting for a month. It was hard to do because I felt good really fast and had to really be careful not to lift/bend/twist.

Recovery and post op pain is really dependent on each persons injury. The one thing I can recommend is that you try to walk as much as you can, now and after the surgery. After dealing with this issue for 6 years, I've found that the less active I am, the more it hurts. You have to strengthen your core to help support your back to avoid injuring it again or making it worse. Maybe you can try an oral steroid pack to shrink the herniation and relieve the pressure on the nerve. I have a 16 mm herniation (reherniation) right now and the steroid helped make it a lot more bearable. I'm surprised anti inflammatories aren't helping...that's what helps me more than anything. Have u tried Zipsor? I take that now with vicodin and can function pretty well until I am having my fusion surgery on nov 8th.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[087eggman73]

Hi i know exactly what you are going through. I had the very same pains right down to the ankle and when i coughed the pain was tenfold. I had it for fourteen months and could,nt take it any more so i had surgery it was l5/s1. i had my surgery on friday and was home on sunday. you have to lie down for 24 hours after surgery witch i was worried about but by the time the anastetic wore off it was night and they got me up at about noon next day and walking. i coughed an was amazed no pain. I was sorer going in to hospital than i was going out. You cannot sit for two weeks you have to lie or stand i only done it for one. The full recovery will take up to a year but after three weeks you will notice your self getting better and better. good look hope this helps

 

[maltluver]

Anna, I am so sorry that someone so young as you are going through this. It sounRAB like you are in a lot of pain and I am wondering if your MRI showed any nerve impingement? If a nerve is being compressed, it will cause the leg pain you describe.

I don't think you are wrong to go the surgery route, however I do think you should get at least one more opinion before doing it, preferably with an Orthopedic Spine Specialist. Now, this is just my opinion, but I have found them to be much more "user-friendly", so to speak, lol. I've seen more than one of both types and much prefer the Ortho over the neuro. They tend to spend more time with you, welcoming questions and willing to explain in layman's terms what is going on so that you can understand.

Surgery is a big step and you need to be sure not only that you need surgery, but what kind of surgery would be best. Please do yourself the favor of getting at least one more opinion.

As far as recovery, I can only say that everyone is different and every body heals at its own pace. You will need to be very careful that you follow your surgeons post op orders and not get overly anxious to dive back into your activities. Before surgery, do ask the dr. when he thinks it would be okay to go back to school, etc.

Please let us know how you are doing and what you decide on. I wish you the best of luck.

Carol