[MistikalKitty]

Hi all,

I am new to the forum, and wanted to say first of all that I hope everyone here whether you are here for yourself or support for someone else. I hope that you are all well, and blessed with the best treatment options available.

I am 26, almost 27 years old and had my first surgery.... for spinal stenosis at 14. Things went ok for a while before I started having severe pain again off and on. It was so hard because doctors didnt want to believe me because I was so young. Finally they sent me to pain management which was a joke. I went through hell for over a year before they did an MRI and saw that i had a herniated disc at L4/5 which in 2004 was fixed with a simple surgery.. and the results were unbelieveable. I went from a part time receptionist job who coul hardly make my short 20 hours a week... to a full time receptionist at the same company and working my way up to a senior accounting rep with them. I felt like I was on top of the world and I'd say about 90% pain free. Of course I had some arthritis and scar tissue, I also had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.... but I dealt with it.

A year ago, I totaled my car, and immediatley started have unbelieveable pains.. it continually got worse and an MRI showed another herniation at .... you guessed it! The L4/5 level as well as L5 S1 level. Now my doctor said this was not the cause of the accident however the accident triggered the pain and set it off. I since have moved from FL to MA where I am getting married and have seen 4 neurosurgeons... and received 4 different opinions leaving me soooooooo completely confused I cant understand it.

One said physical therapy.. made it worse. Second said oh I'll do surgery if you want but dont know what the outcome will be. The third said there is no disc left to replace and my options are disk replacement or spinal fusion which he strongly advised me not to do.... claiming since I am so young he didnt want to do that. The last one said... after two surgeries your films look remarkable.. dont have surgery... its post op.

I am so lost and confused I cant begin to explain!! I am on percs, oxy contin, and ocassionally ms contin with no relief. I have burning and numbness from my lower back to my toes, both legs... all the time. They sent me to pain management I tried all their injections which made my pain worse. I am trying to get in to see one more doctor before I give up on this... to see his opinion. Is spinal fusion worth it in my case? Is there way too much scar tissue? I dont feel that I am too young for this... and I cant figure out why the doctors dont want to do the surgery, if spinal fusion is my only option I feel strong enough to try it... I just want relief. I am supposed to be so happy and enjoying this time in my life, planning my wedding.. looking into starting a family soon after, moving into a bigger place. Instead I am in constant pain, unable to work to bring an income in, and no doctor willing to help me.

That is my story.. I hope that someone may have some advice for me.. I am willing to hear you out on any comments you may have... any information about spinal fusion good or bad. Thank you all for reading my post... and I hope that everyone finds peace in whatever may be bothering them.

[kiwimike]

Originally Posted by MistikalKitty

Hi all,

I am new to the forum, and wanted to say first of all that I hope everyone here whether you are here for yourself or support for someone else. I hope that you are all well, and blessed with the best treatment options available.

I am 26, almost 27 years old and had my first surgery.... for spinal stenosis at 14. Things went ok for a while before I started having severe pain again off and on. It was so hard because doctors didnt want to believe me because I was so young. Finally they sent me to pain management which was a joke. I went through hell for over a year before they did an MRI and saw that i had a herniated disc at L4/5 which in 2004 was fixed with a simple surgery.. and the results were unbelieveable. I went from a part time receptionist job who coul hardly make my short 20 hours a week... to a full time receptionist at the same company and working my way up to a senior accounting rep with them. I felt like I was on top of the world and I'd say about 90% pain free. Of course I had some arthritis and scar tissue, I also had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia.... but I dealt with it.

A year ago, I totaled my car, and immediatley started have unbelieveable pains.. it continually got worse and an MRI showed another herniation at .... you guessed it! The L4/5 level as well as L5 S1 level. Now my doctor said this was not the cause of the accident however the accident triggered the pain and set it off. I since have moved from FL to MA where I am getting married and have seen 4 neurosurgeons... and received 4 different opinions leaving me soooooooo completely confused I cant understand it.

One said physical therapy.. made it worse. Second said oh I'll do surgery if you want but dont know what the outcome will be. The third said there is no disc left to replace and my options are disk replacement or spinal fusion which he strongly advised me not to do.... claiming since I am so young he didnt want to do that. The last one said... after two surgeries your films look remarkable.. dont have surgery... its post op.

I am so lost and confused I cant begin to explain!! I am on percs, oxy contin, and ocassionally ms contin with no relief. I have burning and numbness from my lower back to my toes, both legs... all the time. They sent me to pain management I tried all their injections which made my pain worse. I am trying to get in to see one more doctor before I give up on this... to see his opinion. Is spinal fusion worth it in my case? Is there way too much scar tissue? I dont feel that I am too young for this... and I cant figure out why the doctors dont want to do the surgery, if spinal fusion is my only option I feel strong enough to try it... I just want relief. I am supposed to be so happy and enjoying this time in my life, planning my wedding.. looking into starting a family soon after, moving into a bigger place. Instead I am in constant pain, unable to work to bring an income in, and no doctor willing to help me.

That is my story.. I hope that someone may have some advice for me.. I am willing to hear you out on any comments you may have... any information about spinal fusion good or bad. Thank you all for reading my post... and I hope that everyone finds peace in whatever may be bothering them.

Hey mate

Sounds like you are getting quite varied advice, i'm no doctor but all i know is that once i had exhausted all other options to rid the terrible pain that i was suffering,surgery was the only option and it was the best option for me. The first surgeon i spoke to said don't do it, so i ended up delaying it by a year (wish i hadn't!) saw a second surgeon and told him my story and how horrible my life was and he said lets do it, i know i can make you better he said. Now i know every case is different and surgery is scary but it changed my life for the better in so many ways!.

I started a thread on this site not long after my surgery, you can read about my story on here and i have also tried to answer as many questions as i can from people.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread15857.html

I hope that helps and all the best!, your not alone mate

Michael