Anyone have recent surgery for herniated L5-S1 disc?

Question

My neurosurgeon wanted to do a fusion right off the bat but I wanted something less invasive to start out with so he is going to do a "scrape" first. It's coming u in a few weeks and wondering if anyone has had this done recently and how they are doing.

I did get second opinion.i trust this dr. and the herniation has been there for 6 months now and is fairly large with nerve root displacement. no foot drop, just slight sciatica and back pain. can't walk upright now!

Answer 1

I had surgery for a L5-S1 herniated disc in March. I don't know what a "scrape" is. I had a microsurgery laminectomy/discectomy. No spinal fusion. You might want to get a second opinion on the surgery.

I am doing very well post-surgery. I am walking better, and the pain is gone. I was back to work in about 10 days. Driving in 2 weeks.

The most important thing is to get a good neurosurgeon. If you don't feel confident in his abilities, consider going with someone else. A bad surgeon can really mess you up.

Answer 2

I had a discectomy operation about 4 years ago and up until a few months ago I would say that my back recovered about 80 %. Currently though my back has been pretty fecked up. Im not really sure how I hurt it but it seems to be in the L5-S1 area that I had surgery on.

I just had xrays done and I have a appointment with my original surgeon on June 1st. The pain this time around is WAY worse then when I had the initial injury.

I would definitely see into naturopathic techniques and be patient because its a known fact that whether you get the surgery or not your results will be very similar. The only advantage to surgery is usually the pain is dramatically lowered after the initial operation. GET AN INVERSION TABLE! I dont know why my surgeon and doctor didnt tell me to get an inversion table 4 years ago but my regular doctor suggested that I do and I found a used one on craigslist for 80$ and it definitely helps.

Well im almost out of characters to type so good luck

Answer 3

Well, that sounds quite serious. If there is any possibility for you living another two months without surgery, then do so and:

Go for a manual one-time treatment called Atlasprofilax. The effect on the self-healing power of the body is simply amazing - own experience. :-)

Herniated discs may recover as the pressure on the spine will be much better distributed. And for sciatica it's known that the nerve stops to produce wrong information after a certain time due to the liberated information flow.

The treatment is available in California and Europe only - it's really worth travelling far for the one treatment in your lifetime.

Consider, that the surgery is a definitive solution - and specially at young age the result will be, that soon the neighbouring discs will be herniated as well.

Answer 4

I personally have not had this surgery; however, I am a physical therapist and can only recommend a second and third opinion. Back surgeries and neck surgeries are typically the poorest outcomes of all of the different surgeries. Make sure you have utmost confidence in your surgeon and ask why he/she believes the fusion is the way to go. There is possible some very legitimate reasons why that was suggested first (foot drop, large herniation with extrusion and significant arthritis, instability...). Either way, get a second opinion.

Answer 5

Two of my patients have got spinal surgery in India.One was treeated for spondylolistheis by spinal fusion and the other for disc protrusion by microdiscectomy.Both of them are very happy with the results.Their pain and other symptoms due to nerve compression have totally gone.

Spinal Surgery is very cheap in India.There is one company that is very famous in India that arranges spine surgery for foreigners in India.They are called the Forerunners Healthcare.I read a lot about them in the Newspapers and about their patient stories.I have also read that they arrange financing for american and canadian patients as spine surgery is not covered by insurance.They also have photos pasted of their International patients.You can checkout their website.

The cost savings are incredible.As a doctor i personally believe that your spine surgery can be easily handled in India as the quality of healthcare available here is simply best in the world.The surgeons are USA/UK trained and facilities are 5 star.both my patients had gone to India through the forerunners healthcare company.The spinal fusion patient stayed in INdia for about 20 days and the microdiscectomy patient for about a week.hope this helps

Source(s):
http://www.forerunnershealthcare.com

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Don't do it, you'll be crippled for life, I know several people who have had thier procedure, and none of them can walk or stand upright. Not to mention the pain pills they have to take all day! Best of luck to you!