I was diagnozed with herniated disc , Is having Surgery the best thing to do?

Question

I am afraid of the result after the Surgery,the doctor told me they will replace one disc with a metal. Please I need a good advice about this !!!

Answer 1

My husband has THREE herniated disks in his back and he isn't having surgery yet. He has done the chiropractic with little results and because of his fear of needles, it took him almost 6 months to work up the nerve for the epideral steroid injections. He has had them twice and is totally amazed at how wonderful he feels right now. He even bent over today and felt NO pain!

Talk with your doctor about alternatives before you decide on surgery. The steroid injections sound scary and do hurt a little, but my big baby of a husband (6' 3" and 320 lbs) says if he had known before how good his back would feel after having them he would have done it a long time ago.~

Answer 2

First, if they have not had the problem, don't listen to them!!!

I had 2 herniated disks, have had 2 surgeries and am looking at posibly more BUT I am working and doing fine. Here is the order in which you must work and the information you need to get BEFORE you do surgery. I will also recommend a couple of alternatives before surgery that was unavailable to me. My disks were L4-L5 (still slightly bulging) and L5-S1 which has been operated on. Where in your back means a lot too.

1. DO NOT GO TO PHYSICAL THERAPY!!! If the disk is pressing into the nerves to your leg, physical therapy will only put more pressure and cause more damage to the nerves. Just what you don't need is someone twisting and turning your body causing more damage than you already have.

2. Chiropractic only works when the bulge is minor which usually is not the case when a doctor recommends surgery.

3. See both a Neurosurgeon and an Orthopedic surgeon. My surgery was done by a neuro after a second opinion from and ortho. With the disk pressing against the nerves, he told me that the neuro was better for this. (This ortho was the doctor for the Atlanta Hawks just in case you thought he was scared to operate)

4. Vax-D may be a viable alternative to look into before the surgery. It has helped in cases where the herniation was not major but it is not covered by all insurance.

5. There is also a newer procedure involving epoxy whereby the disk is removed, mixed with a rubber epoxy material and then re-injected into the spinal cord to replace the disk. This has had good results in the lower back but not the upper back. This is what I am looking into right now if my insurance will cover it.

6. Surgery may be the only way to relieve the pressure off of the nerves to return you to a para-normal existance. You will never be the same. I returned to work in 2 1/2 months after the first surgery and 2 weeks after the second surgery. The first time they shaved the disk and the second time a piece of disk fell into the spinal canal. This was a simple removal with not complications.

The bottom of my right foot feels like it is asleep all of the time. If I walk for a longer distance, my right leg starts to show weakness and I start limping more. I can tell when it is going to rain but with medication I can control the pain levels. I am a supervisor in the transportation department and a large Post Office facility. I have my bad days but before the first surgery it took me 10 minutes to find the least painful position on the couch to watch TV. I had to lay down most of the time. Walking was difficult and the herniation was pressing against the S1 root nerve. My first surgery was in 1994 and I have been a Little League baseball coach since1996. I was in and out of work for a couple of years but only because they could not find a job within my restrictions. You will not be able to lift anything over about 30 pounds, you won't be able to walk long distances, you will have pain when it rains, you will feel some mornings like you are 80, but you will be able to be human rather than a vegetable watching TV all of the time. Good luck and tell me how the metal replacement works. I will have to look into this as well.

Answer 3

Be careful..Be very careful. I have had surgery on a herniated disc. I was told I would be back the work in 2 weeks. That was 4 years and a second surgery ago. I complained after surgery my back was hurting and they wrote it off as normal. Having another MRI less then 30 days after the first surgery show that the disc shattered. Legal issues have been in the process.

But make sure you have the facts. I asked about risks and they laughed, saying what risks. Even look at alternatives, I wish I did.

BTW, I haven't worked in 4 years and can't work the rest of my life. sucks

Answer 4

Surgery is the last resort if you can find no other relief. If you go to a surgeon, they make their living doing surgery, so would always be their recommendation. As was suggested by another answerer, would be advisable to get another opinion from a doctor of Chiropractic. I have lived with no disc at the L.5, S.1 level for more than 50 years and have only had problems 3 times in that period of time. Each time getting chiropractic treatment and continued working'

Answer 5

being a teen i dont know much about the body. im doing human biology and probably having surgery is better than having a herniated disc. my dad has had a very bad back for many years having worked on a mine for over 30 years!!

his back is very damaged and has had 3 discs removed and replaced with titanium ones(metal). he said it was the best thing
that has ever happened he said he would be in more excruciating pain if he never got them removed and replaced
personally i think it is a good idea and my dad is the proof that having the surgery can only make you better.
hope it all works out let me know how it goes
Dave

Answer 6

I have talked to several doctors.
The best treatment I had was for a prescription for tyleon, 800 mgfor 3 months to reduce the inflammation, then 1 a day. (High octane tyleonol, Rx only)
The idea was, reduce the inflammation then re evaluate.
The pain is all but gone, and no surgery is on the horizon, at least for now.
Who knows what will happen later, but for now, 1 high octane tylenol day.
But then, I'm not you.
However, Noooooo way will undergo any surgery without a 2nd opinion.
Good luck.

Answer 7

Husband had 2 herniated discs and has surgery.. had them shaved.. now he has another one.. and this time is doing disc replacement. It's a good solution to a painfull situation. Just don't let them fuse your back.

Answer 8

My brother in law had a herniated disk. It gets to your nerves in your leg because it is from your back. He got surgery on it and is fine now. If it ends up getting worse and painful, Find a doctor that you are confident in for surgery.

Answer 9

If the doctor discussed the procedure with you, he must feel it will benefit you to have the surgery done. Without it, you're probably looking at continued misery. It's not going to heal itself.

Answer 10

Do not do the metal disc....It is an unnatural material....get a good neurosurgeon, not an orthopoedic....I know someone who had the metal disc with bad results....