Has anyone had a fusion with BMP that didn't take?

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ms_west

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I was told not to take the anti inflammatories until I was fully fused. I have not had any in two years.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I do have hardware in at both levels. I keep thinking maybe its the hardware causing the pain. I am so frustrated (as most of you on this board are!) I'm a nurse in an oncology clinic. My sick time is done, I had to get Cobra, and right now it doesn't look like I'll be going back for awhile. I think the hardest thing is filling my time. I watch tv, crochet, I am a photographer also, so I have computer work, but obviously I must be hyper, because I'm still going nuts!! Well, enough complaining. Thanks again for the responses. He doesn't want to see me for 3 months. I thought that was a bit odd, since I'm having so much pain..........
 
Lorie, we don't know what autoimmune disease my bf has because its never been properly diagnosed. He has a history of Graves disease (thyroid disease) but I doubt thats the disease that caused this. He just saw a new rheumy last week and goes back to her this Friday so she will hopefully have some answers for us so I will keep you posted. One of the doctors in the spine center where he had his surgery told him that the BMP failed because of an autoimmune disease. Had they known it before his surgery then they would have just used his own bone. BMP is supposed to have a very high success rate.

Lynne
 
Marie,
I'm so sorry to hear your story. I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I'm a few years older than you, but I've always been very active. Have you gone for other opinions? Is your hardware still in?
 
I didn't take any anti inflammatories for 16 weeks. I am 6 months post of after plif, and dynamic stabilization between 4 and 5, Fusion with BMP between 5 and S1. I am worse than before surgery. I saw the Dr a few weeks ago, and he doesn't want to see me for 3 months. I can't believe I still have so much pain. I can't walk for more than about 20 minutes, standing is difficult. Many nights, or most nights, I'm back and forth between the bed and the couch.
What is the normal time frame for BMP to fuse?
How do they actually determine if it is indeed the hardware causing the pain?
I heard the Hardware removal was an easy procedure, but do you have to be at
about 12 months out before they make that decision?
I figured I'll just ask my questions here, since I seem to be getting more intelligent answers here than from my Dr. My physician is at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. Hes supposed to be a top spine Dr. He takes care of the Chicago Bulls, and I think some other sports teams. He says he doesn't have any idea why I'm having this much pain. But then he turns around and says "See you in 3 months" I'm not a wimp. I actually had a bilateral breast implant surgery under local anesthetic! (That was crazy!
 
hi once you fuse the hardware is useless.its also more stress on the spine by removing the hardware.my doctor says its the worse thing anyone can have in the body.I hope you feel better soon.
 
Just curious. I'm 6 months post op L3 4 dyanmic stabilization and L45 fusion with BMP. I'm in daily pain. I haven't gone back to work yet. He just did a CT that he said looked good except the center area wasn't fused, but no broken hardware. He can't understand why I'm still having so much trouble walking and standing. He said hes never had this in his 20 years of practice........... I'm pretty tough generally, but I am getting very sick of it at this point and want to get back to normal. He has me on 2 antiinflammatories and vicoden. I finished my PT, and do the exercises at home.
 
The Dr. would not let me take them the first 12or 16 weeks, but hes the one thats prescribing them now.
 
Hello Pamela.........
I am not trying to be rude or bossy and I have not read the replies you have already received but one very important fact that I must tell you even if someone else has is that ANY ***anti inflamatories or ANY kind of arthritic medication will as a matter of fact disrupt the fusion process regardless of what type of morphogenic protein base they used and regardless of what bone powder they used,being yours from your hip or from a cadaver, or even if there was sufficient ground vertabrae bone from the ones they fused post laminectomy, or decompression if indeed they did that. Stay away from the IBU's and Mobics and Celebrex or any Cox-2 inhibitors,Advil, etc....
Your rate of healing will be greatly effected.
Good luck to you and remeraber to rest...rest...rest...
Renee;)
 
If you have arthritis, what do you take for the inflammation and pain while waiting to fuse?
 
I just want to ditto what ReneeMarie said, only because it is very important to know this. I know 2 people who did not know this fact and used Aleeve for pain after the fusion. Both of them had their fusions fail and were very upset that their Dr. had not mentioned this to them. I was told that I could start taking Aleeve or any other anti-inflammatory after 3 months. I know, Pamala you are at 6 mo., but for those who are not there yet, this is important to know.

Good luck,
Lorie:angel:
 
Thank you, I would appreciate any info. that you might find. I was also told that the BMP was the most likely to fuse...my 1st was with the bone shavings from my spine and mixed with my bone marrow. They said this was better than using my own bone from my pelvic area. I wonder if usining my own bone may have been able to fuse. I guess I will never know:confused:

Auto-immune disorders are just so under studied and many Drs. just have no idea about how they can affect your health.

Thanks for replying back to me.

Lorie:angel:
 
I myself had an anterior fusion with BMP & intrm. in October 2006 that did not fuse and had to have a posterior fusion with BMP and intrm in May 2007. New surgeon said there is growth but it is hard to tell just how much being that the previous doc put soooo much metal in my spine!!!
 
My Dr. said the same thing, to absolutly have no anti-inflamatory meRAB. for 3 mos. It was very difficult because I have arthritis an Fibro. and I was in a lot of pain and Tylonal did nothing for me. I know I have a friend in the same situation and her Dr. told her that because of her pain, it would probably be alright to take Aleeve and she did not fuse. She was so upset with her Dr. for telling her she could take the med. Please be very careful.

I don't know what to tell you about getting through the arthritis pain. Have you tried biofreeze? It may not take away the pain 100%, but maybe give you enough relief till the 3 mo. period. The closer you can get to that point, with the anti-inflammitory, the better.

I will keep you in my prayers.
Lorie:angel:
 
Ditto on anti inflammatory here. My doctor said not to take any of those until I was fused. I too went thru some inflammation and my Pain Management doctor (with surgeons permission) did an epidural and it worked. If it didn't work there was talk of hardware removal and I sure didn't want another surgery so I am very happy that the epidural did the trick!
 
Yes my hardware is still in, does it stay in or do they eventually take it out? I'm still waiting to hear from my lawyer about 2nd opinion, since its WC they take forever to approve anything.

I go next Tuesday for my epidural injection, hopefully I will get some relief.

Marie
 
Your surgeon is telling you the same thing that mine said to me. They have to wait a year before they can remove the hardware (or even before they can state that the hardware is what is causing the pain). That is because it could take a year to fuse completely. The average person will start to fuse at about 3 mo. The fusion continues to harden for at least the next 9 mo. and in some people, they continue to fuse in 2 years.

Your pain, like mine, could be comming from other things. It could be that you have SI joint or other joint dysfunctions, a problem with extreme muscle spasms, scar tissue etc. If it does turn out to be the hardware, by taking it out, that will help almost immediately. But doing that before you are completly healed could cause more pain as well as more problems.

I was also to to continue to come back to see the surgeon every 3 months. I remeraber asking the same questions that you are asking. If I am in this much pain, then why is he waiting so long to see me. The nurse said that it takes time for a change to show up on the X-rays and it would not do any good to come back in a few weeks. I know that is hard to hear when you are the one in pain daily. Is your Dr. keeping you on meRAB? I was one who had a surgeon that insisted on weaning you off meRAB. w/i 2 mo. after surgery. I was left to deal with the pain by using Ultram, which did nothing. It wasn't until I happen to have a follow up appnt. with the 2nd surgeon that assisted in the surgery, and she insisted on putting my back on oxicontin until the cause of the pain could be found.

I wish you the very best. I think your Dr. is telling you what Drs. routinely tell their patients, but as I told my Dr. I am not a text book case and I did not intend to be treated like one. I hope you are able to at least have some sort of med. while they make you wait the 3 month perioRAB in between visits. Use this time to continue to ask questions here and do what ever type of research you can. Then when you go back in 3 month, you can tell the Dr. what you have heard and wonder if you extra pain could be due to...and list all the things you have learned. I found when I did this, it made the Dr. have to stop and answer the questions, take the time to consider each, and make him realize that you know what you are talking about and that he can't get away with generic answers to you.

I wish you best,

Lorie:angel:
 
Pamala, it is possible that the hardware are causing addnl. pain, but as far as my Dr. told me, he would not be able to make that call untill 1 yr. post op. My daughter had a ankle surgery that needed screws in it. She was getting worse as time went on and a year later she had the screws out and her pain was gone as soon as the surgery pain was gone.

Good luck.

Lorie:angel:
 
Lorie,
Thank you for such an informative response. I would have thought all this was part of the healing, but the Dr. told me this is the first time hes had this in 20 years. He said most people have some relief from their preoperative days. I'm definately worse, and I never had that day where I thought "Oh my gosh, I think its better!". I find it hard to believe that his track record is that clean.............. I know hes reputable, but hes a guy that skirts around the questions. At first he said, I'm totally confused here, I don't understand where all this pain is coming from. At the end of the visit I asked, "Could the pain be because I'm not totally fused. He said Yes, yes. very quickly. He kind of contradicted himself in that brief 10 minutes. I do have Vicoden, and it does take the pain away. I am concerned about getting dependent on it so I do ration. I was on it for about 9 months preop, not daily, and now for 6 months after surgery. I will try to be more patient. My family wants me to call. I told them exactly what you said. That, in 3 or 4 weeks, what changes are they going to see in those films......and that its not going to do me any good. Any way thanks for your response. This board is great! What did we do before internet!!! I am a nurse, but ortho is out of my field. I'm an oncology nurse.
 
Pamela,

My boyfriend had a two level fusion in Deceraber 05 and the doctor used BMP but it never took. His body must have attacked it because he has some autoimmune disease. Anyway, he had another surgery and bone was grafted from his pelvis and that did fuse but he is in more pain than ever.

Lynne
 
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