L4 L5 spinal fusion

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joebob254

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I am about 11 months post op from a L2-L3 fusion. Having pain at six weeks post op is completely normal. I was still taking oxycodone at that point. I didnt taper off of pain meRAB until about four to five months post op. I understand not wanting to take the meRAB but if your in pain it might be better. Everyone is worried about addiction and it happens. It can be mitigated by tapering off of your meRAB and finishing with a non narcotic medicine called clonadine. It helps with the dreaded withdrawl symptoms.

I am still having pain this far out. A fusion can take up to a year or two to FULLY heal. Things will get much better with physical thereapy and TIME. Short walks will be helpful but be very carefull to not over do it.

Have patience and take it easy on yourself. This was an extensive and extremely invasive surgery. Give yourself the best chance to heal properly and see where it goes.

Best wishes!!
 
AT 11 weeks you are rushing it still. Patience is the key here. YOu need a good 6 months to heal for a fusion and should really plan on a whle year before you return to normal....
 
You don't necessairly "baby" your back, but you are conscious that you need to be aware of how you bend, lift things, twist...that's why they say no BLT for the first so many months. Most docs give you a weight limit for lifting. because of the length of my fusion (T9-sacrum), I am limited to 25 lbs. now. But that took several years to get to that point. You just instinctively protect your back as you get father along in your healing process.
 
I had my l4 l5 spinal fusion and a buldge on one of my discs shaved down or whatever they do to make it smaller. Anyway, its been 4 weeks since the surgery.
My herniated disc caused hip, leg and foot pain along with nurabness on a daily basis. I had to stop all my excersizes and was getting increased spasms. Doc could not guarantee the surgery would help because I had this problem for 17 years and the buldge was not resting on the nerve. Maybe the problem was due to the herniated disc. The two mri's (sitting and standing) didnt show anything. Even though I knew this, it was better to have the surgery than not. If I still have to live with the original pain I dont know what I am going to do. This was my last straw. I have tried everything imagianable before I decided on the surgery.

Although still in constant pain, I am still having the same problems/pain I had prior to my surgery. Is it too premature to judge whether the surgery worked or thats a good indication it didnt work? Doc told me 9 mos to a year for the disc to fuse.
 
I think it is probably to soon to tell for sure..I had l4-l5 fusion several years ago and it took about 6 months for me to tell a whole lot of difference...it's been all uphill after that and doing great now! :) Hang in there and give it a little time and yes it does take about a year to fuse solid.
 
I was off all meRAB at 6 weeks (weaned off at 5). I take an advil as needed, however I am doing great with little pain now ( am lucky). The physical therapy is now irratating it and causing pain so I have to stop for awhile.

I asked my neuro doc about getting back to normal with excersize. His opinion is diff from my phy therapist. He says that one of his patients after a year go water skiing, etc. He has no problem with it so thats encouraging.

D
 
I too have been fused but from L-3to S-1 w/ all the hardware and it has been over a year and I'm still in so much pain it's not fuuny. The dr now has me on oxycodone with norco to help the pain and it doesn't ,, I just started water therapy again and that seems to help to take off some stress from my back,but we aren't fish and can't live in the water all day but the little bit helps..So maybe that might be something for you to look into,

L-3toS1Fusion
w/all the hardware
plus Laminectomy
Chronic pain patient
medrontic mystim implant
droop foot
 
How about the pain? 6 wks post op and still in pain. I''m going nuts about it and I have a high tollerance to pain. I am trying not to take the vicodin but still have to take one to one and a half a day, especially if I walk a lot to which I am supposed too, however it aggrivates it.
 
It's not unusual to still be having pain at six weeks. You are early into your healing. The nerves are still inflamed and swollen which will account for the pain. It takes time for all of this to settle down.

It's better to take the pain meRAB than to try and tough it out. If you don't take the meRAB, then your body ahs to fight not only the healing, but the pain, and it takes just that much longer to heal....
 
I had the surgery to alliviate the initial pain from my hip, leg and foot not create different pain from the surgery and add to my misery. If I had know this, I would have just suffered with the pinched nerve and lived with it. This I cant live with and will not go on oxycodone. That is just plain crazy.

Very upset/angry and becoming very depressed over this. I have suffered for 17 yrs only to create even bigger issues. What good are these speicialists if they cant figure what is wrong?
 
Its now 9 weeks post op. My whole back, hip and leg hurts now after 3 wks of at least the pain from the surgery gone. I am going in for another xray to see if there is a problem with the hardware. Hope not as I am not going back under the knife.

I really think the surgery was a waste of time as I still have the same problems/pain. This was my last straw. Dont know how I can take another day with pain after 17 yrs dealing with it.

D
 
Were you able to go back to your normal routines? My phy therapist says that to be careful how strenuous you get with excersize because all the other disks are at risk to degenerate because it has to pick up the slack of the other two disks that no longer bend. Do you tend to baby your back now?
 
6 weeks is no time at all....I continued to have pain until 4 1/2 months and then suddenly the pain got better. Actually it got better for awhile and then worsened with PT..., but now I am off all the pain meRAB. I couldn't believe I had to take pain medication so long, but you do not want to be in pain. When the pain gets better then you gradually taper off your pain meRAB. Remeraber don't overdo, but walk as much as you can. It just takes a really long time to recover from this surgery. Listen to your body and it will tell you when you have done to much. The hardest part of recovering from a spinal fusion is being patient, and to go slow. Best of Luck. I am now 5 months post L-4 -S-1 fusion, and am pain-free. I can actually do more now than I could before the surgery. I questioned many time over the first 4 month if I had made a mistake, but now I know I made the right decision to have this surgery. It is harder than anything I have ever done, but am thankful I did it.
 
Its now 11 weeks since my l4/l5 spinal fusion. The pain from the surgery stopped at about 8 weeks post op. I was doing great but had to get up every few hours to walk. I only had the pain that I had prior. Two weeks ago I started getting pain in my lower back and up my spine to the middle of my back. I had an x-ray and everything was fine so I had a cortisone shot last friday. Even with the shot I still feel the pain. Unless the nerves were damaged in surgery, the shot should have worked as all previos shots had worked for at least 3 months at a clip. The shot was painful this time because they had to go around the hardware and also made my voice hoarse and I was very tired for several days after.

So now I still have the pain from b4 the surgery and now different pain from the surgery. I am in more pain now than I was b4 the surgery. Anyone else experience this? I was not guaranteed the surgery would help as they couldnt figure out the actual source of the pain but if I had known it would be worse, I would not have had done it.

D
 
I had a surgery on L4 and L5 in 1994 and was told i would be back to 80% before my ingury. Heard of many that were. I now have excuse not spelled right Spinal stenois and pain from morning until bed at night and hate to get up and try to work because of the pain places on my body nurab sore in parts every morning. Still taking pain pills to survive and told by two doctors will have to until**.one surgeon says he could operate with success another turned me down and said with the extent of the operation dont justify the pain relief keep taking your meRAB. Which is 4 oxycodin tabs a day and 4 methadone tabs a day with two lorazadone tabs at night to sleep. Not trying to bring you down just from the hip.
 
I am hoping to have surgery at L4-L5 and L5-S1 in about Noveraber. I have an appointment to see a neurosurgeon on the 18 of August. I can't wait until they do something for my problems. I have been in chronic pain for over 8 years and in the last 18 months things have gotten much worse. First off I started having terrible lightning like shooting pain up my spine and then in the last 8 to 12 months mleft footy pain has moved out to my waist and down to my bottom. Now in the last couple of months the pain has moved down my legs and into my left foot. This is causing me to have a limp and my pain has been unbearable. I have been so hurt and suffering a lot. I have been managing the pain myself rather than going into the hospital as they do very little for me.
As I realised long ago that the public system was not going to be much help to me so I joined a private health fund. I have 3 and a half months before the 12 month waiting period is up, before they will treat a pre-existing ailment. I am just about at wits end and my family are having trouble coping with my complaints and the extra work they have to do to feed me and do my cleaning for me. I wash my own cloths and do what else I can but it is getting worse all the time.
I sure hope that this surgery will help me get back on my feet a bit and alow me to sit for more than 15 minutes. It is so hard to live a life when I am in bed a lot of the time and having to stay at home a lot. I only go out to go to the bank and the shops etc maybe once or twice a week.
I am seeing one of the best surgeons around even though they are expensive as my family have promised to help me pay for any gap. I also have been saving what I can on top of the cost of the health fund which is about $200 a month. I have been on a disability pension now for the 8 years that I have been in chronic pain. It just gets worse and worse and I really hope my life will change after the surgery.
Allan
 
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