Frustration with Recovery ACDF

cattymo73 · 12-24-2013, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garyR

I am on my 4th week after acdf c3-7. I have an aspen (hard) collar 24/7. I could not sleep in my bed, I am a "side sleeper" due to some sleep apnea issues. Last night I don't think I got an hour of sleep. I kept waking up everytime I dozed off. I felt like I could not breath. Started panicicking. I am trying to sleep in a recliner because I found it impossible to sleep in bed. Is there anyone that has had this experience? If so, do you have any advice?
I recently cut down on my pain meds (Norco). last night I tried taking one Norco tab to see if it would relax me. It had no effect.

Hello there!

I am a 40 year old woman, and in August I had c5/6,c6/7,c7/t1 fused.. so I guess it's only been 5 months.. immediately after the surgery, I was so incredibly miserable because, in order to create space in my vertebrae to introduce the bone grafts, the dr. had to yank up my spine.. and disrupt all of the muscles along with it. it was so collapsed for so long, so. it was a miserable recovery needless to say. i spent an entire month sleeping upright in a recliner.. i felt sitting like that helped my muscles adapt to their new position and create some relief from their screaming..
so, i support sleeping upright, and understand it..
ICE is amazing. I"m in love with ice.

2 levels fused perfectly, and about 3 mos ago i started noticing a sharp pain on the left side. had an xray, and the bone graft at c5 had totally collapsed. i also started noticing a ton of 'clicking'... not like muscles poping. totally different. like, the hardware was creating these noises..

i've had 2 xrays and one ct scan since. pain is still dominant on the left side. sharp pain. not like i had before. not sure what to do.. we might refuse c5. would rather have a nice high space between than a collapsed fusion...

anyone else?

i hope you feel better!!

ginnie · 12-24-2013, 04:44 PM

I do understand what you are going through. Have faith that it will get better. Can you find or order a GEL incline pillow. This allows the collar, and for you to sleep in your own bed. It may help you. We are all so different as we heal. I am fused the same as you C3-7. I reversed the curve of my spine, so I presented much the same way you did. Hopefully there will be a real good result a few more months from now. It was 6 months for me, before I really started to feel better. May your holidays be filled with less pain, and healing. ginnie

ginnie · 12-24-2013, 04:45 PM

The post was for you Gerry, and the person I answered. Wish you all the best. ginnie

Dubious · 06-11-2011, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenchfri1003

Hi to all.
I am 4 1/2 months post-op at this time. I am pleased that once the day gets started and I have completed my exercises I have decent ROM to the left and down a bit more limited right and very limited up. My strength is still poor. Generally I use 2 lb weight at home to complete exercises. There is one that I use a 5 lb weight for. My son still carries the heavy groceries and the laundry basket. If I try to do either then I will suffer with neck pain, tightness, knots or tingling in my shoulder blade region and muscle spasms. When does this end? I want to be able to complete every day activities without worrying about how I will feel. As stupid as it sounds I want to be able to clean the bathroom thoroughly including scrubbing the tub and really washing my floors. Tired of the superficial cleaning. I would also like to be able to plant a vegetable garden and my flowers. I guess I am just feeling sorry for myself. I know others have it much worse than I do. I am also concerned about levels above and below the fusion. I know that everyone heals at different rates....

*************************************** **********
12/9/2010 ACDF C5-6 C6-7 with plate, screws,
BMP & bone fragment filled cages
2/14/2011 trying to go back to work as a teacher
2/17/2011 starting PT
wearing bone stimulator 4 hours a day
DDD, arthritis, herniated disks, pinched nerves
3 months saw a little bit of bone growth (YEAH)
4/15/2011 Home Tens Unit

Dealt with the pain and issues for more than 5 years
tried PT, chiropractic, acupuncture, cervical epidural shots and selective nerve root blocks prior to surgery

Hi,

It really sounds like you are doing fairly well at 4 1/2 months S/P 3 (vertebral level) fusion. That is a rather big surgery and it WILL just simply take awhile before you plateau. I had a C5-6 fusion and I can say that at 4 1/2 months, I was still sore, stiff and with very weak neck muscles. For those who realize improvement, they say that at 15 months, that you will be about as good as you get. For me that was pretty much true. I am 3 1/2 yrs S/P fusion and am certainly better than before the surgery but no where near perfect. I am happy though with regards to the neck outcome.

In so far as wearing out the levels adjacent to the fusion, conventional wisdom and simple logic would suggest that more stress would be transferred there. Could be, but on the other hand there was a study published a year or two ago that found that accellerated degenerative changes adjacent to a fusion did not experience with any greater frequency than non-surgical controls. Doesn't really matter though since you are fused now, does it?! Can't really undo the surgery!

walshka · 06-22-2011, 06:50 PM

Tomorrow I go for my third post-operative visit to my surgeon after having C-4-5, C 5-6 and C 6-7 fused in mid-March of this year. When I woke up from surgery, I no longer had screaming, horrific, unbearable nerve pain... but honestly, it still hurt. And each visit, my surgeon tells me how great I am healing and how fabulous my range of motion is and the scar in my neck is healing and I keep repeating, "But it really hurts. I don't want to run a marathon, I just want to clean the kitchen floor.

I went back to work (I took off two full weeks and then worked half-days for a week, though the surgeon said a week to ten days would be plenty for me to take off) and I now have to believe I rushed back into work too soon. I just have a desk job - I work at a computer all day - so you would think it would be easy.

No, not so much. Gradually, especially over the last couple of weeks, the pain has been getting worse and worse, this time on my right side rather than my left, until I almost cannot take it anymore.

This is just unbelievable. I don't want to exercise - if doing housework hurts, why would I do something repetitive and pointless that hurts? Physical therapy (I had tried three different types of therapy before the surgery, I haven't done anything since) is even more pointless.

I am 59 years old and I have probably taken a total of two sick days in 41 years of working. I never take aspirin, much less heavy-duty painkillers. This is just becoming unbearable, though. I really can't go into that guy's office tomorrow and hear how great I am doing. Really?

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenchfri1003

Hi to all.
I am 4 1/2 months post-op at this time. I am pleased that once the day gets started and I have completed my exercises I have decent ROM to the left and down a bit more limited right and very limited up. My strength is still poor. Generally I use 2 lb weight at home to complete exercises. There is one that I use a 5 lb weight for. My son still carries the heavy groceries and the laundry basket. If I try to do either then I will suffer with neck pain, tightness, knots or tingling in my shoulder blade region and muscle spasms. When does this end? I want to be able to complete every day activities without worrying about how I will feel. As stupid as it sounds I want to be able to clean the bathroom thoroughly including scrubbing the tub and really washing my floors. Tired of the superficial cleaning. I would also like to be able to plant a vegetable garden and my flowers. I guess I am just feeling sorry for myself. I know others have it much worse than I do. I am also concerned about levels above and below the fusion. I know that everyone heals at different rates....

*************************************** **********
12/9/2010 ACDF C5-6 C6-7 with plate, screws,
BMP & bone fragment filled cages
2/14/2011 trying to go back to work as a teacher
2/17/2011 starting PT
wearing bone stimulator 4 hours a day
DDD, arthritis, herniated disks, pinched nerves
3 months saw a little bit of bone growth (YEAH)
4/15/2011 Home Tens Unit

Dealt with the pain and issues for more than 5 years
tried PT, chiropractic, acupuncture, cervical epidural shots and selective nerve root blocks prior to surgery

ABBB · 03-24-2012, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walshka

Tomorrow I go for my third post-operative visit to my surgeon after having C-4-5, C 5-6 and C 6-7 fused in mid-March of this year. When I woke up from surgery, I no longer had screaming, horrific, unbearable nerve pain... but honestly, it still hurt. And each visit, my surgeon tells me how great I am healing and how fabulous my range of motion is and the scar in my neck is healing and I keep repeating, "But it really hurts. I don't want to run a marathon, I just want to clean the kitchen floor.

I went back to work (I took off two full weeks and then worked half-days for a week, though the surgeon said a week to ten days would be plenty for me to take off) and I now have to believe I rushed back into work too soon. I just have a desk job - I work at a computer all day - so you would think it would be easy.

No, not so much. Gradually, especially over the last couple of weeks, the pain has been getting worse and worse, this time on my right side rather than my left, until I almost cannot take it anymore.

This is just unbelievable. I don't want to exercise - if doing housework hurts, why would I do something repetitive and pointless that hurts? Physical therapy (I had tried three different types of therapy before the surgery, I haven't done anything since) is even more pointless.

I am 59 years old and I have probably taken a total of two sick days in 41 years of working. I never take aspirin, much less heavy-duty painkillers. This is just becoming unbearable, though. I really can't go into that guy's office tomorrow and hear how great I am doing. Really?

Hi, I had acdf at C4/5, 5/6 and 6/7 on 2/21. I developed excruciating nerve pain in left arm POST-OP and had it for 15 days before it started subsiding. I had no nerve pain pre-op...just a dull ache in left arm. I was terrified thinking that the surgery had caused additional problems, but, now, I'm thinking that the nerve was irritable from being 'jiggled' during surgery and the fact that I had had the pain for almost three years pre-op (assault). I, too, was prescribed PT but have found that it causes pain...we have to listen to our bodies and do what works for us. I cannot do anything repetitive for very long with activating the pain across C6/7 where the worst herniation was. My immediate post-op pain was, also, excruciating; and I had to have strong pain meds which made my blood pressure drop dangerously low. I am just now starting to feel better. My PT and home health nurse think I should be able to do more at this point and have contacted the NS to ask that my x-ray appt. be bumped up since it is scheduled for one month from now...just to try to determine what is going on. Bottom line: listen to your body and do not let anyone dictate how much you do.

Sally Mae · 04-13-2012, 10:55 PM

Those of us that have to sit in the same position for the majority of the day and work on computers are more likely to have neck/shoulder problems to begin with. I didn't realize that my 'desk job' was going to be so challenging either after I returned to work from my ACDF. I could not tolerate more than 3 hours per day at first and had to gradually increase my hours. I work full time now (3 months post op) however, I have a lot of pain and have to use heat and ice throughout the day. This recovery has been very difficult.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABBB

Hi, I had acdf at C4/5, 5/6 and 6/7 on 2/21. I developed excruciating nerve pain in left arm POST-OP and had it for 15 days before it started subsiding. I had no nerve pain pre-op...just a dull ache in left arm. I was terrified thinking that the surgery had caused additional problems, but, now, I'm thinking that the nerve was irritable from being 'jiggled' during surgery and the fact that I had had the pain for almost three years pre-op (assault). I, too, was prescribed PT but have found that it causes pain...we have to listen to our bodies and do what works for us. I cannot do anything repetitive for very long with activating the pain across C6/7 where the worst herniation was. My immediate post-op pain was, also, excruciating; and I had to have strong pain meds which made my blood pressure drop dangerously low. I am just now starting to feel better. My PT and home health nurse think I should be able to do more at this point and have contacted the NS to ask that my x-ray appt. be bumped up since it is scheduled for one month from now...just to try to determine what is going on. Bottom line: listen to your body and do not let anyone dictate how much you do.

jpugliese22@gmail.c · 08-23-2021, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABBB

Hi, I had acdf at C4/5, 5/6 and 6/7 on 2/21. I developed excruciating nerve pain in left arm POST-OP and had it for 15 days before it started subsiding. I had no nerve pain pre-op...just a dull ache in left arm. I was terrified thinking that the surgery had caused additional problems, but, now, I'm thinking that the nerve was irritable from being 'jiggled' during surgery and the fact that I had had the pain for almost three years pre-op (assault). I, too, was prescribed PT but have found that it causes pain...we have to listen to our bodies and do what works for us. I cannot do anything repetitive for very long with activating the pain across C6/7 where the worst herniation was. My immediate post-op pain was, also, excruciating; and I had to have strong pain meds which made my blood pressure drop dangerously low. I am just now starting to feel better. My PT and home health nurse think I should be able to do more at this point and have contacted the NS to ask that my x-ray appt. be bumped up since it is scheduled for one month from now...just to try to determine what is going on. Bottom line: listen to your body and do not let anyone dictate how much you do.

I too had acdf at C4/5, 5/6 and 6/7 surgery and am 2 months out. I have an intermittent extremely painful numbness in my left hand that is unbearable when it appears. Much stronger and painful than before I had the surgery. It really happens most when I lay down. I have had 4 or 5 nights where I literally don't sleep a wink. I try every position known to man. The only thing that helps is getting up and walking around. This is torture and completely disturbs my quality of life and effects my ability to function effectively at work, as a parent, husband etc etc.

Is this type of pain normal 2 months out? Does it go away? The doctor said structurally the surgery couldn't of gone any better. The pain I feel is excruciating and has me somewhat depressed to think that this is my new reality. I am an active 53 year old ex athlete that was (is) very hopeful that I can have a better quality of life and be active again.

ginnie · 03-24-2012, 04:06 PM

Yep, I want to do those things too. Loosing function is terrible to go through. I want out in the garden, and to do more too. I am fused C3-7 so I know what you go through. Just do a little at a time. I will go outside this afternoon and just puts around a bit. I wish you all the best. ginnie

frenchfri1003 · 03-31-2012, 03:24 PM

Hi Ginnie,
I wonder how much more if at all you have lose of ROM due to the extra level being fused. I am fused C5-6 C6-7. On cold rainy miserable days, I am so tight it makes driving tough. I don't feel as if I turn my neck as well. DO you have the same feelings? I am hoping to plant a little bit this year. I have had issues with RSD and numbness in my hands and feet.
So the saga continues. Have a painfree day.

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