Microdiscectomy 12/20/10

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abetancur

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Hello all,

I had a microdiscectomy 12/20 on L4-L5, L5-S1. Before the surgery I was in agonizing pain, I couldn't sit, stand or lay comfortably. When waking up from the surgery the sciatic leg pain was completely gone. The doctor gave me vicoden which caused me extreme nausea. Up until 1 week post surgery I felt great until I started vomiting from the vicoden. The next day I woke up with the sciatic pain again. Not as strong as pre surgery but it was there throbbing. I went to see my doctor the next day to get the stitches removed and he said the incision looked like it healed well. I told him about this new pain and he advised I could've reherniated it. I am only 23 years old and for the past 2 months I've been bed rest. I know its not as long as some of you on here but these past 2 months have been hell. I just got married and am trying to complete college and work and this injury has put a damper on everything. It has made me completely depressed. The doctor started me on a steroid Prednisone. It has not done anything yet to relieve the pain. The surgical pain is gone but the sciatica down my leg has returned. All I want is those 7 days back before I vomited where I had no pain. Any suggestions or anyone experience this before?
 
Sorry you are not having a good start to the New Year.

Unfortunately, it is not all that uncommon to reherniate a disc after surgery. However, before you worry about that too much, try to be patient and give yourself a chance for the tissue to calm down.

Hopefully the pain is coming from the inflammation around the surgical site that was irritated by the episodes of vomiting. Inflammation can be a big problem after any spine surgery and it doesn't take much to set it off. People have been known to rupture a disc by sneezing or coughing, and I would think that vomiting is a more violent stress than either of those. Hopefully it only irritated the healing area rather than causing another herniation.

You are being given prednisone in hopes that is the case. It is a strong anti-inflammatory and will cause swelling to go down. If you are still left with the same pain in another week or so, your surgeon will probably want to take another MRI to see what's going on.

I would suggest you avoid any bending or twisting at the waist, pushing or pulling and do not lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk until you find out what is going on. Drink lots of fluiRAB (water) and go for as many short walks as you can tolerate, unless your surgeon has instructed you otherwise.

Walking is important to healing as there aren't many blood vessels running through the disc area. Walking helps to draw freshly oxygenated blood into the area, and carry waste material away. If you just go to bed, you will not get this exchange as efficiently.

I hope rest and prednisone will take care of the problem.
 
Thank you, this information really sounRAB on par with what I was thinking as I've been doing a lot of research. I guess I will see how I am feeling after the prednisone wears off and take it from there. Thanks and Happy New Year to you!
 
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