discectomy in 3 days. I am 20 yrs old and rather worried

[anna3125]

Hi everyone

First of all I want to thank everyone on this forum. I am learning way more here than through my doctor or my neurosurgeon.

I am a 20 year old female, and have had sciatica for 6-7 weeks. I am unable to stand, walk or sit and am often even eating lying down. i slept all my time lying on my bed. It is pretty depressing for a university student and I feel like I am missing out on alot.

For the last 2 weeks I have been taking a cab to school and sitting through class drowsy out of my mind from tylenol 3s.

I was wondering if there was anyone around my age that went through a discectomy and how the surgery has effected your life, etc. I am a university student, so will have to return to school soon. they will accomodate me with allowing me to walk around and lie down as i wish, etc.

will I be able to walk carrying a light bag (20 min walk to school)? take the city bus? drive? or take a cab? i hope that i can go to places in 2-3 weeks post op.

currently I am suffering with bad sciatica pain (left leg, all the day down from butt, cant walk or stand for long) and am taking a lot of tylenol 3s to deal with the pain. the t3s make the pain slightly better, so I have to deal with it 24 7.

It was a big help to me reading someone's post-op stories, so I am hoping that I will return and post how my surgery went and how it is post-op. I hope that it will help someone like me some day. Please feel free to share your stories as well, and I hope that I can share a success story with you all!

 

[Unimanmachinist]

I'm a 23 year old male. I had a discectomy done 10/10/10. Felt great for two months then the spasms came back along with the pain thy started in the right buttock and calf. Dr. Wouldn't let me drive for 6 weeks but did tell me to walk as much as possible. Idk how soon you'll be able to walk 20 mins to school but I wish you the best of luck. Just a heaRAB up make sure you have help in the hospital because the first couple day suck even with the pain medicine pump.

 

[twohands]

anna3125,

Although I'm older than you, I can say that everyone has a different amount of pain post-op.

After having an L4/L5 fusion, I was walking 1/2 mile at 2 weeks post op and 1 mile (broken into 2-3 shorter walks per day) at 3 weeks post op. Other people can hardly walk for the first 3 months after having a fusion. I know you're having a discectomy vs. a fusion, but this shows the difference in healing rates.

Chances are that by 2-4 weeks post-op you'll be able to walk 20 minutes unless there are complications.

Sorry you're in so much pain right now, but focus on how much better you'll likely be after your surgery and you'll get through it just fine!