Hipshot,
Good your out of the big body shop, hope the recovery continues as it's supposed to.

Put ear plugs in place before going through the metal detector next time you travel commercial air.

:D
Bill:

I've been told that the Titanium will not show up on the metal detectors, but if it does, just show them my scars. They'd probably think I'm trying to moon them and then I'd really get in trouble.

I've been dealing with two herniated discs (L4 &L5) for 5+ years now. I've had numerous treatments, chiropractors and such. One of the most important things I learned is avoid medication as much as possible, especially the opium based stuff. When it first happened, the doc I went to put me on all sorts of meds, and me being the trusting soul... I learned of the side effects of this stuff after the wife left me. (she's back now) That stuff really messed me up bad. Bottom line is, after some counseling and stopping all the meds they had me on, I'm feeling much better now. The back still gives me a lot of problems, but I can mentally deal with them now. The depression caused by the pain meds and muscle relaxers, combined with the anti-depression meds really effected me. I'm retiring in 7 months and am thinking about some sort of surgery. That sort of stuff is the only thing that scares the hell outta me. I guess I'm concerned with being able to walk again. My two bro-in-laws had surgery, and both were better afterwords, but went back to work and now they both need it again. I don't want to make it worse, so I'm really stuck as to if this will help, hurt, or worse. Any thoughts?

This is best left for a doc, but I have been dealing with similar problems now for over 30 years by personal choice to meet professional requirements. Everyone is a little bit different, but in my case I have learned to compensate with the use of my arms and legs (until the knees went bad) to accomplish most everything physical I need to. The problem with that is that it has led to other problems with tendonitis in my arms and shoulders. So I guess what I am telling you is that the decision is obviously yours, but not all docs are created equally so find a good one that specializes in your problem or you might just be compounding your life with other problems further down range.

Anyone had the same situation where their back muscles cramped up in the morning (a cold cold morning) and they just couldn't move or even get out of bed?

This isn't so much a hernia problem but lower back problem (pinched nerves?) and the inability to stand up straight after a long tab..

:confused:
Col Jack's got the right idea, but for what it's worth - the spinal fusion I went through is one of the smarter things I done in my lifetime. There was no disc between L5 and S1 in my back. It was completely crushed and actually had an air bubble where the core of the disc would normally be. I have degraded discs between L3-L4 and L4-L5 which will now degrade faster because of the surgery. Any time you take some mobility out of your spine, you induce more stress on the other discs.

You need to talk with your family about quality of life and what you'll do if you have the surgery. Your doctor should inform you of what to expect. If the herniation isn't too bad, it might be fixed without doing a fusion. If they have to fuse the vertebrae around those two discs, then that's going to put a lot of load on the disc above the fusion, so you need to be aware that your problems are not over.

The doc told me that if I had all three discs removed (L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1) at one time, then my recovery would be a lot longer and the actual surgery would have been a lot rougher. I spent 6 hours on the table for a single fusion (done with minimal invasion). The triple fusion would have been a two-day operation and they would have had to open me up considerably.

Think about it - and good luck with wharever you decide to do.

Thanks guys, a lot to think about. The quality of life isn't the best right now, and it seems I spend most of my off time trying to relax things enough to be able to get up and do another day's work. The wife mentioned today that it is not a good way to live your life. It's getting to the point that I feel I have to do something, but I also don't want to come out of it paralized or worse. Probably the hardest decision I'll ever have to make. It's a hard thing to live with, but at least I can walk now. Sometimes the pain is hard to take though. So many positives and negatives it's hard to choose. With my retirement date approaching, it might be a good time to get something done. The doc discussed the fusing, rods, replacement discs and all. I'm not sure which to go with, but I know fusing normally ends up killing the discs above and/or below the ones fused. Decisions, decisions, right? Anyone around here try those replacement discs? That sounds like a possible way to go.

Update
 

Well, tomorrow marks the 5th month since my surgery and everything is going extremely well. For the first time in almost 30 years, I am almost totally pain-free (maybe 95%). It still bothers me when I'm standing for a long time, but as long as I can walk around, it's great!

Update on my boy - looks like he's in for a bit of medical problems. It only took the Army 5 months to get around to doing an MRI on his ankle. You know - the one he hurt back in early November playing paintball while on his mid-tour leave from Sadr City. He missed the last few months of his tour and is now getting ragged by the members of his unit who returned last Sunday.

Anyway - it's good to be back. Missed you all.

Hey Hipshot, welcome back. I went through all the pre-op testing yesterday, and met the Doc that will be opening and closing. Seems like a pretty good guy, and they are going in from the frontal left side, so as not to have to actually enter the stomach area. He said recovery is a lot better with that approach. My D-day is set for April 1st, so I'll let you know how mine goes. My doc said my disc is in the same shape as yours, the bones grate together, which is where most of my pain comes from. Hopefully this will give me some relief too. Plan on taking it real easy for a while, so right now I'm getting things done around the house that I won't be able to do for a while.

Glad to hear yours turned out well.

GROG

grog,

Best of luck my friend!!

RF1

Welcome back Hipshot. Glad to hear the back is better!

Happy to hear things are going well for you Hipshot, welcome back!

New Life to this old thread
 

I am no doc or medic, just talking about my personal situation here. I agree with all of the previous folks as far as ways to combat lower back pain. Weight control, fitness level, core strength, shoe inserts, inversion table, massage..... all good things and definately things to do before resorting to the surgical options.

I just had the same surgery (fusion at L5-S1) that Hipshot had done. I had the surgery done at Walter Reed just over 3 weeks ago and so far, so good. I was able to walk 4 miles today and get some stretching done and am down to very small amount of pain meds.
The reason I wanted to revive this thread is that I have been mis-diagnosed since at least 2003 when I had my first MRI done. I have endured every medication previously mentioned and a couple more (Tramadol takes away your manhood and my wife made me stop taking that one). I have had PT, injections, shoe inserts, massage, acupuncture, and more.
My pain doc at Womack finally figured it out. The diagnosis from the MRI's was always incorrect because my problems were caused by the instability or movement between L5-S1, pinching nerves and grinding bone and basically being a major pain in the ass. When you get up on the table to get an MRI, they give you a pillow for your head, and even stuff one under your knees and everything is perfectly unweighted and aligned.
Once I got X-Rays in twisting and weighted positions, the neuro guys suddenly thought I had a major problem and needed immediate surgery.
If your having these problems and your doc does not order X-Rays of your back in multiple positions, pitch a fit until they do it. It made all the difference for me.

WDC,
Don't know if they are in your area of the woods but there is a group that streaches the back ,looks like a torture rack!Patient is hooked up to a computor with a chain,computor is fed info,you are in recline position & computor slowly tightens chain & you get streached.It used to be called "Back to Back" .Ck it out it works,I did it years ago.Hope this info may help.
Take care,
Jim

Axeman,

I've been batteling lumber and nerve root pain for decades. Documented L5-S1 disc herniation with very little space left between the vertebra. I've had x-rays, CT's and MRI's. Each study calling for an MRI, also included a Lumbar X-ray series. MRI is a great tool for soft tissue studies, X-rays are better bone studies, IMHO. I've never considered surgery as a option simply besause I have no clinical neuro findings ( muscle wasting, loss of bowel or bladder control). I too have lumbar and radiating pain as Broadsword describes. If you consider the anatomy of L5-S1 and look at the position of sitting in a car seat, it promotes the action of L5- sliding anteriorly ( forward), and creating some nerve root issues along with back pain. Happens to me all the time.

In July I had a syncopal event related to my cardiac meds. Fell pretty hard and blew out L1-L2. Diagnosis was made with X-rays and MRI. Pretty clear rupture, but still in all I've been able to manage with conservative treattment. I am a firm believer in Physical Therapy. I go religiously, and do everything they tell me to do, the way they tell me to do it. It's not easy being on the other side of the treatment team! With posture and core training, many things get better with time and work, at least for me. I'm finding I have to really think about what I am going to do and just how to do it. What usually gets me in trouble is some simple little thing; like pulling on some socks, or twisting just a bit to pick up anything.....bang, big mistake....get the ice...get the Motrin...use your head!

So much for my woes., and my $.02.

Be Well!!

RF 1

It's been a while since I updated my condition here, so, here goes...
The surgery went well, and other than pulling a groin muscle on the last day in the hospital, I got home with no other problems. I had to get a lift chair to get my ass up and down, and actually slept in it for a few days. After a few months of recovery, and taking all the meds and health suppliments recommended by the doc, the pain of the surgery went down, and the back pain returned.

The doc said that there were three possible outcomes to the surgery, either I would get better, stay the same, or get worse. I guess I stayed the same. Now I have two hollow "bolts" where my L4-L5 disc used to be, with flexible rods and screws. The pain is exactly the same as working a full day, and getting home before the surgery. Quite depressing...

The quality of life was getting pretty bad there for a while, and listening to my 6 year old daughter describe me as "grumpy" got me motivated to fix the problem in any way I could. Watching the waif and daughter go out shopping on the weekends, and leaving me at home because I can't take the ride...

So I met with the family doc last year and told him everything I was going through, and that something had to change. We had the MRIs, X-rays, and every other test, and no one could tell me exactly where and what the problem was. All I know is, the pain is like someone hit me in the lower back with a 2x4, constantly. Hard to sleep more than a couple hours without waking up and changing position, and hard to get to sleep. Lots of leg craps, and depression.

He recommended we try a few different pain meds to see if any of them actually gave me relief. First, we tried Oxycontin. Nothing but a headache. Next we tried Morphine. They were like tic tacs. No reliefe at all, even the strong ones. Doc says some people Morphine does not help. Lucky me... Next we tried Percocet. Nada. No relief. Then Savella. Big time rash. No relief. Then he put me on a Fentanal patch. I put the patch on at 9pm, and that was the first night I actually slept all night without waking up in over 6 years. When I woke up, the pain was GONE. Hydrocodone dulled the pain, but this stuff made it completely gone. A day later I started a PT program, and dropped 35 lbs like it was a rucksack. Three months later I was 35lbs lighter and sleeping like a teenager. Awesome. I have been on the Fentanal patch for a year now, and the pain is back, but nothing like it was. I can still function, and the weight is still off. I still do the PT program (walking with 5lb-10lb dumbells for 3-5 miles @ 3.2-4mph) It does not stress out my legs and does not stress the back like jogging. Best part was, I was able to resume life with the wife and daughter, and am no longer described as "grumpy" by the most important girl in my life. ;)

The doc put me on the 50mcg patch every 72hours with Cymbalta 30mg every night, and Gabapentin 300mg 3x a day. This worked for me, and made me feel like a normal person for a year now. Not saying this will work for everyone, but might be an option for those with chronic pain like me. I plan on getting in touch with the doc and doing another series of MRI and X-ray, just to see if anything has changed back there, and to make sure the screws and rods are okay. GROG