Spinal fusion - was it worth it for your back pain?

My friend said his cousin most likely persisted because he's not much for pain. First surgeon told me try to tuff it out that some times conditions improve as you enter your 60's. I turned sixty, 7 months ago. No relief in site. I live in a four season climate and last December and January felt really good for reasons I can't explain. Last night pain kept me up most of the night. I saw a 3rd and 4th surgeon. The 3rd one asked me why I was seeking a 3rd opinion after seeing 2 of the areas top surgeons. I said because I have lost my quality of life. He said if 100 people come through his door only 20 will be considered for surgery. Out of those 20 only 10 will be successful. A year later surgeon no 4 and pretty much he said what the other 3 said. Sometimes I have to wonder if they do not want to deal with medicare. I use an inversion table, ice packs, tens unit. I walk when I feel good and stay in decent shape. My primary care doctor said lose 20 lbs. which I did but it made no difference in pain. Too me 50% odds was not enough for me to bet on. Also the 3rd surgeon said I might come out of it worse off then when I went in. I hope you find some relief and I am open to suggestions from those who have found relief. Good luck!

In pain terms though I live in agony everyday I do not have any pain free days ever . Before my op I could go several weeks before I was ill with it not anymore . Sorry if that has worried you that's not my intention as I said research as much as possible . I know some people do well with fusion I think it depends on how bad your spine has become but if I were in your shoes I would reach the newer types of surgery . Disc replacement is the way forwards I personally think and you can get this done remember a fusion is for life not just for Christmas ha sorry I couldn't help that anyway good luck keep everyone informed on here as too how you are doing .

Look everything up and always carry a digital hand recorder to all appointments. My daughter had the same problem at the same time. Make sure you only have I rupture. You cannot have a disc replacement if there is more than 1 because there is no stability. She has managed to come through it after many yrs. But had to change professions. She is 23 yrs. Younger than I am. In my experience, most drs. Are more concerned about covering their a$$ than fixing others. Don't expect much pain relief. My pain is worse and her's is not much better than it was. She was lucky to find a dr. Who was only concerned about his patients and not insurance companies. He did a good job considering the mess he had to work with from another dr's botched job. She should never have had a disc replacement. I am not on meds and cannot find any dr. To help with pain. Wish I had pain management. Sorry I haven't been more positive. Pretty much screwed my life. Guess it beats being bent in half. Ask around for doctor recomendations. Back patients walk early in the mornings in the malls. Ask anyone not on meds. They will be more than happy to help. They know what you can be facing and they know their dr. And how they are treated. More importantly, you can see how they are moving and getting along. Ask those in carts and don't go there. Best wishes for your future. Would love to know if any of this helped.

I woke up in recovery after my surgery pain free - and other than surgical pain, am still pain free. I am walking 2-3 miles/day. I am still in my post surgery back brace and have not started PT yet, so I can only see things getting better as I heal. Please do not listen to all of the negative feedback out there! I truly believe that people who have positive experiences rarely comment or visit online message boards - it is the people who still have issues that are online scaring the rest of us. I was truly terrified before my surgery after reading some of the online comments I saw. Thank goodness I trusted my doctor!

I never had back pain in my life until one day in 2005 I woke up and couldn't walk- it was excruciating- it went on for a few days like that and then came back stronger a few more times over the next year- I finally had an MRI and was referred to my neurosurgeon I still have today- I had 3 herniated discs and he is very very conservative with surgery especially with patients that are young- well unless it's something that obviously has to be done- I went through PT, medications- lots of different types, many different injections and nothing- finally in 2007 he went anterior (through my stomach) and placed 5 titanium screws in the L4/5 level- the final test they did was a discogram (by his own words legalized torture) a procedure that gives them a definitive answer that a disc or multiple disc are causing the problem- it was a living hell but did give him what he needed to do the surgery- I can say at about the 3 month post op time I was feeling pretty damn good a I still had pain and he said you always will- as long as it's manageable and u can live a normal life we will deal with that easily- after a year the pain came back with a vengeance so we repeated EVERY SINGLE THING WE HAD DONE BEFORE- including the discogram but I also had a rhizotomy which is where they burn the nerves at the facet joints hoping that the pain may be from them and no the discs- well it didn't work either so I endured another discogram and it showed L5/s1 was the culprit- this time he went in through 2 small incisions in two different spots on the back and placed 3 more titanium screws- this was 2009- again I finally got through the after surgery pains and got back to the manageable pain from before about the end of 2010 I once again started having this incredible pain worse than before- it was more intense in the left lower side but did radiate across the back but mainly lower left side- they figured out it was my left SI joint it had separated - but I still went through many different procedures to see if anything helped- again he hates doing surgery on younger patients - after all the procedures this time no discogram because it wasn't a disc- so in 2012 said ok we have to fix it- I was scheduled for February and 5 days before my insurance company refused to pay for it- I was devastated- I was in a deep depression and literally getting out of bed took 10 minutes this one took the cake by far- we fought them with the insurance commissioner in Tallahassee- our local state senator got involved and fought them but they didn't budge- because my life was non existent and my daughter was getting married in may we finally laid out 70,000 and had it done- it was worth every penny- after this surgery I was back in the gym for two years 3 days a week with a trainer (still had pain but managed it- it will always be there) I had a nasty fall in 2014 where I separated my shoulder and broke some ribs- from there it went down hill- they finally fixed the shoulder in feb of 2015, then I broke my ankle and tore a ligament, tripped over my dog jammed my thumb and had a partial tear in the thumb and then had the amazing ( sarcasm at its finest) peri- rectal abscess that in 5 days grew to the size of a softball on my butt cheek - I had no clue what was going on other that unbearable pain- called my dr he flipped out on me- sent me to a surgeon where I had emergency surgery to remove and drain it- this was not fun- so by September they had me in a walking boot and cast on my thumb- then they tried bone stimulator on my ankle for two months- finally once again I had ankle surgery in feb of 2016- in April they went back in because a suture was rejecting and coming out my skin- so after all this my back was so freaking bad I was able to do nothing- they were treating it as severe inflammation and spasms because of walking off balance for two years- just in December of 2016 finally another MRI- this one was really bad - L3/4 was completely blown and the facet joint were eroding at every level due to severe arthritis and there was ligament involvement and sever canal stenosis- I just had the legalized torture test 2 weeks ago and by far this one sent me over the edge- it's followed by a Ct scan to check where the dye goes once it's inserted through the needles into the disc during the procedure- well last Tuesday I saw him and he said it's bad but I will talk to the dr who did the test- re- review the CT films and call you- he was on the phone at 8 am last Wednesday- he said this one is really really bad and the two levels done in the discogram were both positive- you don't want them to be- but due to the severity of all that's wrong I am having a posterior two level fusion on Thursday the 23rd - he said unfortunately this surgery will have a more painful and longer recovery because he has no choice but to go through the back which will mean muscle involvement- all I know is I'm in so much pain I haven slept in months and cannot wait to get it over with- surgical pain goes away- as long as the fusion works then hopefully I can go back to my normal pain that's managed- so just wondering what you did and how it went- I will also be have a bone stimulator placed over the levels of fusion to hopefully help heal them right and faster- live to hear how you are doing- like I said it's been 12 years of ups and down and surgeries - I have 8 titanuimum screws and trhree titanium blocks inserted into the si joint to help close it- back pain sucks- but I trust him with my life and he has an amazing reputation and puts up with me and my grouchy self so he can't be all bad- let me know if you get a minute- thanks. Julie

The commercials are full of s*** there is a lot of money in this business disability will pay out with or without a surgery I suggest being one without the f****** surgery you do not want to be in my shoes I was the kind of guy that when you asked how I was doing I always told you it was good no matter what it happen somehow I get a sticker out of you you asked me how I'm doing right now chances are you will not get an answer

The wife just had one done about 7 week ago and she only has 3 little incisions where they went in, but she had to have it done because when she bends forward her disc's move forward and back. Hers was for spondolicethis ( might need a spell check). BUT ALWAYS GET A SECOND OPINION, it's your back, not the doctor's.