Post fusion-Is this common?

S

scoopy

New member
Hey guys. I'm 8 months post op from L4 to S1 fusion. Everything has been going quite well. The first few months were tough at times but nothing too bad. During the whole process pain meRAB did there job pretty good. The highest I was on was about 4 a day of norco which is vicodin-hydrocodone.

The last several months I have been tappering about a pill a month. During this whole time, I did'nt hardly have any pain. Three weeks ago I took my last dose of norco which was 1/4 of a pill. I was on this amount the last month until I stopped. I did'nt have many problems of withdrawal due to the slow taper.

My problem I am having now is that I am having pain in my back that I hav'nt had after surgery. I do know it takes your body some time to produce it's own endorphins after stopping pain meRAB. I guess eveybody is different to how long that would take.

My question is do you guys think the pain meRAB were masking the pain? It seems obvious that would be true but I was not taking much at all-infact very little. Can a 1/4 of a pill stop all the pain? I't kinda seems unlikely or maybe true.

Or do you think that this is still in the healing process? The pain comes and goes. It's like a 3 or 4 and then no pain. Hot showers help and as well as ibuprofen.

I desperately do not want to go back on the norco due to the side effects. I did get a nice buzz from them here and there but I noticed my anxiety increased and overall did'nt feel like myself.

Sorry to be so long. I appreciate your feedback-Thx.
 
I don't think it's uncommon to have some pain from time to time. It might help to try and keep track of when it starts bothering you......what you did that day, for example...to see if there is some pattern to it. It just could be scar tissue causing this, and walking a lot is the best thing in the world to keep scar tissue softened.

At this point, I wouldn't be worried but I would be alert. I would imagine you have a check up with your surgeon at the 1 year mark, and if you keep a written "diary" your surgeon could check to see if there are any new problems.

Good luck....and keep us informed.

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving.

Carol
 
For most people, it takes about a year for the fusion to set up and for the new bone to harden up. If there is nerve involvement, which there usually is when there is a multi-level fusion, it results in some pain as the nerves recover from the compression and begin to heal....

Also, there are many small muscles that support the spine that you probably weren't using too much pre-surgery. These guys have to wake up and realize they are now required to function again, and they may protest for awhile.

Even many months post surgery, I found that certain activities were just bound to bring on pain...and it was different from my pre-surgical nerve pain....

Remeraber to keep walking. It remains your best form of exercise...and remeraber to limit bending and twisting.

Have they done imaging to see if you have sufficient bone growth?

Also, if you over did it, or did some activity that was a tad too strenuous, it can cause a bit of inflammation which can take a long time to get rid of...sometimes pain will pop up and it's difficult to remeraber if there was an activity that might have caused it!

Try not to worry...just keep thinking positive, walking and avoiding those activities that have the potential to bring on the pain. ;)
 
Thx for you guy's feedback. Yes, the doc says the fusion has taken place when I had it x-rayed at around 7 months. He did stress that it looks really good but complete fusion takes 1 year, give or take a few months. The past few days I'v been doing a lot better. It's just I was doing great with virtually no pain then pain started like I said. I will keep a daily journal of what I do, regarding my activities and pain. That is a good idea.

Happy Holidays.:wave:
 
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