Has anyone here had back surgery????

[408WS6]

Night and day my friend. Youve tried the steriod injections and like youve stated thats only a temp fix. and is less responsive each time. You you a respected spine surgeon and get it done. Back problems are no joke and dont fix themselves.
Just did a 10hr fusion case today (T11-L5), poor lady

You are right. The first set of injections seem to work, but now they don't last much time at all (maybe a few weeks). And those are not cheap! Thanks for all the support guys!

[KahanaReef]

Yes it does. What makes it worse is that the pain is now radiating down my legs and even my testicles are in pain. I asked my doctor about this to find out if this is a separate problem and he said no, its likely nerves that are being compressed by your vertebrae and it is connected to the testicular pain. Feels kinda like someone kicked me in the balls. But the Vicodin helps alot with this, but the back pain is still there even with the Vicodin. The Vicodin works funny in that it just makes you not care that you are in pain.

My husband had the same. Often felt like someone kicked him in the nuts. He also did all the meds and shots. And like you said, mostly just a temp fix or a diversion from the pain more than a pain reliever after a while.

Acupuncture helps a lot of people. Before going under the knife... it's worth a try.

Good luck to you!

[gjb]

I've had three surgeries. First two were lumbar lam's - third was fusion @ 3 levels (L4-S1). I regret the first two, but not the last one. Fusion changed my life from a drugged out haze to pain free living, but it was THE WORST THING I'VE EXPERIENCED. Took about a year to recover fully, but I don't regret it.

For the fusion surgery, they opened me up in the front, removed all the disk material, re-gapped all the levels and inserted bone graphs. They closed me up, flipped me over and installed titanium rods and screws to hold everything together. 10 1/2 hours in surgery. The kicker is that I grew 1.5" in height following - I was a tick over 6' going in, now I'm 6' 1.75".

Honestly, I think the stretching was the hardest, most painful part of it.

Good luck, man. I know exactly where you're at.

G