Ruptured L5-S1, bone on bone........

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Trans Am Tony

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Its been awhile since I last posted to the board, so I thought I would update on everything....

On 7-7, I was helping my friend move his TV when I felt my back go and had nasty pain in both of my thighs again. That pain is pretty familliar to me, since 2005 I have had constant pain in my back and legs. I have advanced DDD, severe spinal stenosis at levels L2 through L5, and had a micro d on L5 - S1 in 05. When I woke up the next day, the pain was intense!! I went to the Dr. and he gave me oxycodone to help out, and my appt with the surgeon was only a week away.

I saw the surgeon and he has ordered an MRI and an x ray, the x ray I have already had. I asked to see the films before I went home, and they let me. I saw that the L5 - S1 disc has ruptured and has no disc height at all. It is bone on bone there, and the tech says it looks bad. Funny thing is, the pain was more when the disc was just herniated on both sides.

The pain is becoming more and more to bear, the weakness, spasms, and nurabness is getting a little worse. I think I would be in so much more agony if I didn't have all the permanent nerve damage from before. I am concerned about my sexual function. I used to be like any other guy, orgasm in 7 min or so. Now, it takes me like a half hour, and its very frustrating for my wife and I. I have to wait until 8-26 to see the neuro doc again, should I force the issue and try to get things moved up? Please let me know, I'm very worried.........

Thank you for reading,
Tony C.
 
Hi Tony. I remeraber you. There is nothing wrong with calling them and asking them to move up your appointment if they can, and if not, put you on a will call list for cancellations between now and your scheduled appointment.

The herniated disc was problematic likely because it was protruding outward and pressuring it's surroundings as well as discongenic pain as well. If you are bone and bone, your spine above it is working like mad to compensate for the loss of height, and is very unstable at that level.

It sounRAB like you are in for a fusion or ADR surgery. If ADR is offered, I would seriously suggest you reconsider and get another opinion before opting for this. ADRs done in the US dont have a really good rap right now and many have had serious complications and removal of them is quite difficult and can be life threatening.

As to your sexual issue, I am not sure that would constitute an emergency based on your description of the issue. Tony, it could possibly be nothing more than you have a great deal of swelling going on, and it may be interfering somewhat with your reaching the 'goal' so to speak. It is definitely something to mention to the doctor's office when you call them.

You need to quit moving heavy objects, even if you feel compelled to. It's not worth it. That is how I blew out my disc to begin with. Never again. I wanna be healthy from here on out, and nuture my spine health as much as possible.

You hang in there and keep us posted.
 
Hi...I understand completely!!! I had an L5-S1 LASER Discectomy and a Foraminotomy. Before the operation my disc had degenerated to the point where I was bone to bone.

My surgery was on 7-17. I lost 5 weeks of work due to a slow recovery. Its now been two months since the surgery and the pain in my lower back has intensified greatly from what it was before the surgery. The pain is centered in the sacrum and across my right butt and, like I say, is much worse than before. Before surgery I had a nurabness on the outside of my right foot. This nurabness since surgery has intensified and often now there is a tingling sensation whereas before surgery I hardly noticed the nurabness.

To say the least I am very discouraged. The doc told me that my back however was stable and that I didn't need a fusion yet. He also said disk replacement surgery hasn't worked out too well here in the US. He indicated to me that often a bone to bone condition doesn't result in much pain but apparently that is not the case with me. I am now scheduled for a diagnostic neural block. If the pain substantially subsides with the block then in a separate procedure he's talking about cutting a nerve.

I am not having problems with sexual performance, that is loss of sensitivity, but since the surgery I do worry that I'll make my back worse by having sex. The surgery has very much affected my wife's and my sex life ... severely impacted our frequency. I do worry if he cuts nerves that if he cut the wrong nerve it could affect sex. But right now sex is only a minor consideration, the pain I am experiencing is severe and I am on very strong pain medication to manage the pain (30 mg hydrocodone) and that strength is barely sufficient to keep me comfortable. Even at that strength the pain medicine doesn't entirely remove the pain.

I don't know if cutting nerves is really the way to go, I am a little nervous about it. I have been advised by frienRAB to get a second opinion and am planning to talk with another doctor about what I should do.
 
Also consider a consultation with an orthopedic spine surgeon. I have had a lot of luck with OSS on all my spine surgeries.
 
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