OP

As I said earlier. 
When I had my L4-L5 fushion in 2012 I had no other options. 
The very real possibility of needing another later in life unfortunately has come true for me. 
So 7 yrs later I’ll be having L-3 fused to the already fused L-4 in January some time. 
 

Again....If you have other alternatives, take em. Don’t have surgery unless you’re on the verge of causing other permanent problems that can’t be corrected. 

Is it scary? d**n right it is!
Surgery is always the last resort but it can improve your standard of living if all other options have been tried. 
 

Best of luck in your decision. 
Just BE CERTAIN it’s the best one for you. 
 

 

 

Mike

See more than one doctor.  Years ago I woke up with a bulging disk in my back that I thought was going to kill me.  The first doctor I went to was ready to schedule me for surgery.  I went to see a second doctor and he said I could have strained my back and that is why the disk was bulging. He prescribed pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds.  A couple of days later the swelling was down and I was feeling fine again. 

Some Doc's have been know to fly in formation and head south during winter!!!

Been dealing with back issues for 20 years now. The best thing I've ever discovered to help my back is an inversion table. The table has changed my life for the better. 

With that said, in August I woke up and could barely even move. I waited and used the inversion table and didn't help. I was pretty much bed ridden and couldn't really walk and couldn't lay on my back or sides because the pain would intensify. I had sciatica down my right leg so bad that I just wanted to die. This went on for two months basically being stuck laying on my belly in bed. I was sleeping at best maybe 3 hours and then wide awake in agony. I was being shuffled from doc to doc and nobody was ordering any scans or anything. Finally I got into a specialist and got an MRI, a nerve study, and two epidurals. Here it is 6 months later and I'm still dealing with bad sciatica but I can at least sleep now and lay on my back and even drive again. The MRI showed two herniated disks L1 and L4. My specialist said my only resolution is back surgery now. I met with the surgeon two weeks ago, he informed me that death or paralysis is a possibility. He also said there is no guarantee surgery will help me. He said I could get worse, stay the same, improve a little or a lot. 

 

At this point I don't know what I'm going to do. Opiate pain medicine is nearly impossible to get these days thanks to the druggies, and other medications don't even touch the pain. I take 3 pills a day for pain, use my inversion table, walk a whole lot, and exercise in ways that don't irritate my back. 

 

Good luck. Hope you have a good recovery on whatever you choose. 

 

 

13 minutes ago, SuperDuty said:

Been dealing with back issues for 20 years now. The best thing I've ever discovered to help my back is an inversion table. The table has changed my life for the better. 

With that said, in August I woke up and could barely even move. I waited and used the inversion table and didn't help. I was pretty much bed ridden and couldn't really walk and couldn't lay on my back or sides because the pain would intensify. I had sciatica down my right leg so bad that I just wanted to die. This went on for two months basically being stuck laying on my belly in bed. I was sleeping at best maybe 3 hours and then wide awake in agony. I was being shuffled from doc to doc and nobody was ordering any scans or anything. Finally I got into a specialist and got an MRI, a nerve study, and two epidurals. Here it is 6 months later and I'm still dealing with bad sciatica but I can at least sleep now and lay on my back and even drive again. The MRI showed two herniated disks L1 and L4. My specialist said my only resolution is back surgery now. I met with the surgeon two weeks ago, he informed me that death or paralysis is a possibility. He also said there is no guarantee surgery will help me. He said I could get worse, stay the same, improve a little or a lot. 

 

At this point I don't know what I'm going to do. Opiate pain medicine is nearly impossible to get these days thanks to the druggies, and other medications don't even touch the pain. I take 3 pills a day for pain, use my inversion table, walk a whole lot, and exercise in ways that don't irritate my back. 

 

Good luck. Hope you have a good recovery on whatever you choose. 

 

 

I have a very good fiend that was in the same situation  as you.  His Dr prescribed medical cannabis.  His sleep I priced and within  a week the pain, while not gone was manageable.....More important was how know able the dispensary was.

Back issues are such a common problem, I’m sure we could have an entire forum just devoted to back problems. I’m continually amazed at how many different ways our backs can make our lives miserable. I started getting back spasms when I was a teenager and eventually had to retire early due to a ruptured disc. I consider myself lucky not to to be in constant pain. I hope everyone here finds relief in whatever way they can.

47 minutes ago, NHBull said:

I have a very good fiend that was in the same situation  as you.  His Dr prescribed medical cannabis.  His sleep I priced and within  a week the pain, while not gone was manageable.....More important was how know able the dispensary was.

It's not legal in my state and the stuff made me so paranoid when I smoked it when I was young that I'd never try it again. 

This past week I had all my pre op tests done (MRI, CT, chest X-ray, blood and urine) in anticipation of my second fusion..L3 to L4 which is already fused to L5. 
If all comes out well I’ll be having surgery sometime in the next few weeks.
This time he’s gonna use a cage, with a plate and screws drilled through them holding it in. 
And yes sir, I’m scared as hell. 

As I mentioned in my previous posts (12-8 and 12-15) on this thread, there are no guarantees that a fusion will work for you, but there are also no guarantees that it won’t. 
 

My first one worked and I was pain free for years but the one “side effect” of having one is that you may need another, Thats me. 

I wish you the best in whatever decision you make. 
I envy you, you still have a choice. 
 

 

Mike
 

Mike L.  I wish you the best with the upcoming surgery.

51 minutes ago, TimberTodd said:

Mike L.  I wish you the best with the upcoming surgery.

Thanks Todd

 

 

 

 

Mike

If anything comes out of this thread I hope anyone with healthy backs take heed. Once its damaged it seems it will always be a weak spot.

 

I pray the best for those above. I've been doing some PT trying to learn the does and dont's and things are better. At least I feel better but like alot of other things I think we build up a tolerance to the pain. If I can keep from aggravating the nerve it's very manageable but tough to say when the next episode will have me down again. Good luck to all.