Spinal Disorders & Back Pain For discussion of all spinal cord injuries, spinal issues, back-related pain or problems.


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Old 04-05-2011, 09:46 AM #21
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Default After stopping Gabapentin numbness to legs occurred

My neuro told me to wean myself off gabapentin over a two week period. He did indicate that I may have to go back on them for a few months if nerve pain resurfaced (which it did) while the nerves healed. Interested in hearing from others on this. I was surprised (actually not very happy) when numbness to both of my lower legs appeared.

Dave
Calgary
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Old 04-05-2011, 01:53 PM #22
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Default surgery

[I too am grateful for the site. I had fussion twice, the last C3-7. If I could make a suggestion as others have, if you can opt. for donar bone, or other material. Coming from your hip is more pain. The surgery for me was difficult, but now I am glad I did it. 8 months post op. Be good to yourselves. ginnie
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Old 04-07-2011, 06:48 PM #23
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I had similar news regarding my neck,,I had to put off surgery until specialist said it was ok to operate(due to swelling around spinal cord) This was 5 yrs after having original accident,SCARED TO DEATH is how i felt. I weighed up the options and read lots of forums on life after acdf surgery. I had it done finally. My life now is alot better than before surgery although it is not without complication. I have constant neck shoulder and arm pian with pins and needles. I have odd breathing irregularities,,and do not work anymore (i tried but could not work full time anymore) If i had my time over,,I would STILL have the surgery .GOOD luck with whatever you choose to do simon.
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Originally Posted by MJC1977 View Post
Alrighty...I''m here because I went to the doctors about two months ago for a stiff neck. Two days later I had severe weakness in my right arm. Back to the doctor, several tests later turns out I have a herniated disc C4-5 could be more so the doc says. What I want to know is if anyone has received a similar diagnosis and put off the surgery for any extended period for any reason. Any input would help greatly.
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Old 04-17-2011, 11:52 AM #24
Laurie64 Laurie64 is offline
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Default Waiting adds problems to the list!

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Originally Posted by MJC1977 View Post
Alrighty...I''m here because I went to the doctors about two months ago for a stiff neck. Two days later I had severe weakness in my right arm. Back to the doctor, several tests later turns out I have a herniated disc C4-5 could be more so the doc says. What I want to know is if anyone has received a similar diagnosis and put off the surgery for any extended period for any reason. Any input would help greatly.
Hey - I'm nearly 5 mos post-op from multi-level acdf surgery (c4-c6). The surgery itself, with major complications, is a breeze. I felt great the day after surgery and returned to my full-time job in 4 weeks. So, I would not recommend putting off the surgery if that's what your doctor recommends. I went years with the three herniated disks and other issues in my neck and back. Pre-surgery, my pain was concentrated on my left side (neck, back, arm, hand). Now that I'm in physical therapy, my pain is primarily on the right because unknowingly I had been compensating for the left side with my right. The bottom line is that you are continuing to damage your back in places that you think would not be impacted, and undoing all of that when you finally do have surgery is extremely difficulty and doubly painful.
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Old 04-19-2011, 11:48 AM #25
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Originally Posted by MJC1977 View Post
Alrighty...I''m here because I went to the doctors about two months ago for a stiff neck. Two days later I had severe weakness in my right arm. Back to the doctor, several tests later turns out I have a herniated disc C4-5 could be more so the doc says. What I want to know is if anyone has received a similar diagnosis and put off the surgery for any extended period for any reason. Any input would help greatly.
Hi,
I put of having a 3 level ACD&F (c4-c7) for 7 yrs. Kept working my same job. My job consisted of working on a machine that involved a lot of quick head movement, and good control of my hands, arms and upper body. Needless to say, I finally went in for surgery on Dec. 01, 2010. After 3 months in a neck brace, and now 5 PT sessions, I am suffering more pain then before. Intense headaches starting on the left side of my neck and running up to my left eye. Can't sleep, cause I can't get into a position that doesn't strain my neck. Total numbness in my right hand and fingers. Shooting pain in left shoulder (never had that before surgery). Legs get tired after about 100 yards of walking.
I suppose what I am saying is, if you intend to have the surgery, don't put it off. Obviously my putting it off for so long caused more damage then could be fixed. Wish I would have listened to the NS now.
Also found out this morning that my company no longer has a position for me. They let me go. So, now I am out of insurance, a job, and who knows what.
Whatever you decide I hope things work out the best for you.
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Old 01-29-2012, 01:01 PM #26
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Originally Posted by Joce1982 View Post
Hi I'm Joce from Australia, I've just turned 28.
I got my ACDF surgery 2 and a half months ago on C5/ C6. I immediately noticed that the pain I've had in beween my shoulder blades since I was in a car accident 7 years ago was GONE, it was wonderful, I was so grateful to my surgeon. But I've had a lot of neck and shoulder muscle pain ever since. I was careful not to lift pretty much anything for about the first 6 weeks, and as I've gotten more involved with life (ie- shopping, washing the dogs, cooking, housework) the pain in my neck muscles seems as bad as it ever was after my car accident Turning over during the night is particularly painful, and I'm always rubbing very stiff tender muscles in the back of my neck that weren't really a huge problem before the surgery, but are very bothersome every day now, despite taking 2 voltarin 25mg tablets with every meal and in between taking 20mg of codeine, also I might add, the painkillers don't actually seem to help that much- I'm very much in the habit of taking them after 7 years of agony with an undiagnosed herniated disc. I FINALLY saw a physio yesterday for the first time since the surgery (for $28,000 the hospital costs did not include one) and she has me doing some excercises that will apparently strengthen the "little" muscles between the vertebrea, as I'm relying on the "big" muscles to do my lifting in my neck. So we'll see how that goes...
Hi Joce,
I can very much relate to your muscle pain that you’re experiencing after your ACDF surgery. I live in Marietta, Georgia and I had two severely herniated discs in my neck, with almost two years of trying everything to relieve pain – I had 5 steroid injections done and had a ton of physical therapy and chiropractor work done, which nothing helped to reduce the constant pain I was in, that shot down my left arm and into my left fingers, from nerves being pinched in my neck. I was really miserable from this pain too, for almost two full years. So I finally had to have a two-level ACDF surgery done on August 22, 2011 (discs C-5/6 and C-6/7 were removed and the vertebrae fused, using material from a combination of my own bone shavings and bone donated from a bone bank). When I woke up after about 2 1/2 hours in surgery, that constant pain, shooting down my left arm and left fingers was GONE! I was so relieved; however my shoulders, shoulder blades and neck were killing me! It was as if my muscles in my neck, shoulders and in-between my shoulder blades were pulling and were stretched so much. I stayed overnight in the hospital and then had 6 to 8 weeks to recover at home, with my surgeon and his assistant saying to me to give it time for my muscles to “get used to” the new spacing between my vertebrae, because before the surgery, my two discs that were removed had been much narrower, when compared to the other discs, so the new spacers inserted between the vertebrae during surgery, were taller than the original discs. I was also instructed by my surgeon's assistant to wear a hard plastic neck brace (which I purchased myself for $175.00) for the entire recovery time (6-8 weeks, which I wore this brace for 8 full weeks to be on the safest side and to follow doctor's orders). I was also told to not drive at all, no lifting and primarily to do nothing that could aggravate the bone fusion, allowing the bone transplants to grow between the vertebrae in my neck. So I was more than cautious for the entire 8 weeks recovery that I went through. I was also taking Oxycodone four times daily to relieve the severe muscle pain in my shoulders and neck. I slowly came off the pain meds around the 6th week. I also had to go on a muscle relaxer medication called “Cyclobenzaprine” – 10mg. This helped a bit, but the medication made me really groggy the next day (I would take this at night before bed). I returned to work 8 weeks after surgery (returning part-time for 2 weeks). I also had an ergonomic assessment done at work, a few weeks following my return, which the assessment recommended to replace my office chair, install a keyboard tray and install a monitor arm, to help better support my neck and relieve my shoulder muscles. This happened about four weeks following the assessment and I'm now getting some relief as a result of the new office equipment. However, I'm still having quite a lot of muscle pain in my shoulders, in-between my shoulder blades and in my neck, which I never experienced before having the surgery done in August. So I can totally relate to your muscle pain that you're felling, because I'm having the same pain as a result of the ACDF surgery. I'm also now in physical therapy and have been getting deep muscle electric pulse massages, twice a week. Also, based on my physical therapist’s advice, I’ve started muscle needle therapy, where my physical therapist injects needles into several trigger points I have in my neck and shoulders, trying to "break up" and dissolve these trigger points. It's a painful therapy, and so far I'm not really feeling significant improvements as a result, but I'm told to give this time, so I’ll keep at it. So, that's where I'm at after five months since the two-level ACDF surgery. I’ve definitely had significant relief from that constant pinched nerve pain, shooting down my left arm and into my left finders, however, since this surgery, I continue to deal with constant muscle pain in my shoulders, neck and between my shoulder blades, which I'm hoping PT will give me relief. I wish you the very best and really hope your muscle pain will subside through continued PT and other exercises, like I hope it will for me. God bless you.
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Old 02-03-2012, 12:02 PM #27
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Smile acdf surgery

I too have a herniated disk, but it is c5 and c6. I have been in severe pain since a car accident in October of 2009. I have been on Lyrica - 50 mg and the nerve pain has helped a little but I am normally 120lbs and have gone up to 132lbs. I have not wanted surgery because the disk was bulging at first and the second MRI showed herniated. The pain in my arm after two surgeries has not gone away and my neck pain is getting pretty severe after two and a half years of agony. I will be having a ACFD in the coming weeks because my doctor told me that it has been much too long to have pain like this and it must be pinching the nerves in my neck. I was beginning to feel like a hypochondriac. Too many symptoms from this herniated disc. He told me that bone spurs form and start pinching the nerves and all of the symptoms of pain that go along with it. I have chosen to have the surgery, it is exactly like the one that Peton Manning of Indy had. Sometimes it needs to be done twice, it if does not fuse properly. I am very scared but have chosen surgery as my last alternative to alleviate the pain. I was an extremely healthy person until my accident. I am sick of taking pills, but the lyrica has helped me to sleep at night, with less headaches. I guess this is better than what I had before. If you have too much pain after a year of before, I would reccomend seeing two surgeons, and see if both agree to your surgery. There is live video for this procedure on line, I have watched it and am scared but I hope that all will go well. I will post after my surgery for all to see, the after effects and if it has alleviated my pain.
So maybe you need to wait, if your pain is not extreme. I also had three sets of cortisone shots, with the third destroying my neck with pain. Still don't have a clue why. I hope this helps you. Carleen
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJC1977 View Post
Alrighty...I''m here because I went to the doctors about two months ago for a stiff neck. Two days later I had severe weakness in my right arm. Back to the doctor, several tests later turns out I have a herniated disc C4-5 could be more so the doc says. What I want to know is if anyone has received a similar diagnosis and put off the surgery for any extended period for any reason. Any input would help greatly.
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Old 02-18-2012, 08:40 AM #28
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I don't blame you for being nervous. I was too and found this site and received alot of information. I am Post 7 months. C3-7 was done, my first at C-6-7 failed, so the whole if it was done to fix all of it six years later. It was a difficult proceedure as I reversed the whole of my cervical spine until they were almost lying folded over on each other. For me the pain wasn't good after the surgery. I was in bed for two weeks and only really started feeling human after the second week. I came back to this site briefly at two weeks to say hello and that I survived it. Now 7 months later all is much much better. My pain meds are almost down to nothing, I have been weening off ms contin for all of the 7 months. Good luck to you. I hope the outcome is successful and that your pain is reduced. I was scared too, litterally shaking when I first got on line here, frantic. There were alot of people who coached me through all the highs and lows. Be good to yourself too, while you go through it. Insist on good pain management for after the operationtoo. ginnie
Hi, I will be having ACDF at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7 this coming Tuesday. I am terrified. I have no family and will be using this site as a support system, hopefully. The neurosurgeon said that he is going to use 'caging'...I have tried to research that but do not understand what it is. Does anyone know what this is? And can anyone tell me what items I should take to the hospital to make things a little easier?
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Old 02-18-2012, 01:54 PM #29
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Default Dear ABBB

I have indeed been thinking about you. I know you face this surgery this coming week. I have been praying for you. This cage is to secure the graft with your disks. I had a little differnent things done. I have rods, and screws placed, different side of the same coin. do you understand? This is just another way of going about stabilizing you spine. There are just two methods they use to get you to fuse, and make your spine strong again without the herniated disks and all the bone spurs getting in the way of you having a better life. while they work on you, all the things that are wrong will be addressed. Look up this cage item on Google. My only concern is that the vivid photos may frighten you. I did not look at my actual surgery until I finished with the proceedure. I knew what they were doing to me, but I didn't want to view the actually surgery until I was again on my feel. I didn't need to be freaked out any more than I already was. My opinion is that you are already really anxious as I was. Wait till you are well, and know that this cage will stabilize and correct your spine and allow you to heal.
The other part I am concerned about is your lack of help at home. I wish to heavens I was your neighbor. You really should have someone with you at least the first few days for meals, bathe, and comfort of not being alone. I even had my housemate bring my meds to me, as I didn't want to get up. I was up in the bath that had my water drawn for me. that first bath was heaven, and helped me feel better. I wore my collar most of the time except for sleep and in bed. Please get a neighbor, call your church, or get the community to respond to your needs. I would call the church if you are really alone and ask for this service on compassionate grounds. I don't think a church, any church would refuse a help request. Let me know how it stands with you on this issue. I am here for you to talk to. Please PM me if you want. Be at peace, and put your faith now into your doctors, that they can restore you to a better place in life. I am praying for you right this minute. ginnie
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Old 02-18-2012, 04:08 PM #30
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Originally Posted by ABBB View Post
Hi, I will be having ACDF at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7 this coming Tuesday. I am terrified. I have no family and will be using this site as a support system, hopefully. The neurosurgeon said that he is going to use 'caging'...I have tried to research that but do not understand what it is. Does anyone know what this is? And can anyone tell me what items I should take to the hospital to make things a little easier?
ABBB,

I answered your question about the cage a couple of days ago.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post852384-83.html
You can find more by googling: acdf with fusion cage

Using this site for support is ok; that's what it's here for, but you may not be in any condition to use your computer during the first few days following the surgery. I encourage you to start building a more comprehensive support team/network for the future. I posted a schematic of what one might look like here.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post805681-5.html
Click on the thumbnail image to see a larger view.

Ginny and others have commented that you may need help during that recovery period. Since you have no family, and may not have a church, contact your local Visiting Nurse Service and/or Friends In Service Here (FISH) or call the hospital and ask about services/organizations that may be able to help you.

You can also call the hospital to find out what items to bring.
Google: questions to ask before surgery
Google: questions to ask before neck surgery

Doc
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All opinions expressed are my own. For medical advice/opinion, consult your doctor.
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