Lumbar Microdiscectomy

[angrymissy]

After months of back agony and developing a nice little tolerance to percocets, I've had enough and a surgeon has decided to do a Lumbar Microdiscectomy on L4-5 later this month.

Has anyone had this surgery and can you give me an idea of how the recovery was? I was told it will be outpatient (but might have to stay overnight) and since I work from home a week off work with recovery in 4-6 weeks. What I'm really wondering is how long I'll be totally crapped out in bed, and how long before I can do things like walk the dogs, drive to the store, pick things up etc.

I've been seeing wildly different accounts online from people regarding the recovery time for this. A person I work with had it done and said they took 3 weeks off work... but that could be because they don't work at home? Trying to prepare for aftersurgery and know this is a common procedure so hoping someone here would know.

[Chigworthy]

I had a discectomy (L5 I think) in 2005. I had been having severe sciatic pain for years after multiple lower back injuries. Vicodin was prominent (and disgusting).

The surgery went fine. I was admitted at about 8 AM, did preliminary stuff like blood work, and was in the assless gown in no time. They started an IV, gave me an injection of pre meds (Anesthesia), then started anesthesia in my IV. I woke up about 4 hour later. It seemed like about 15 minutes, but it was very nice to wake up with my wife at my side. I was in a recovery room for a few hours. They made me piss before I could leave, to make sure I could. There was a dull ache in my back, and I felt very stiff. The 2 hour drive home was not bad, but I was definitely still a little dopey.

My parents met us when we got back, and my mom remarked that it seemed like I had grown a few inches. This was due to the stiffness; I was holding myself up very straight.

The next few nights, I was still using vicodin for the pain from the surgery. My sciatica was completely gone. Sleeping was a little rough, but not unbearable. You'll be doing a lot of grunting when you move.

Eventually, I healed, and my sciatica has pretty much disappeared. I'm not without pain, though. My hamstring cramps very easily in certain positions, and my lower back is achey quite often. I also have some lasting nerve damage that has not improved at all. The sciatica was down my left leg, now the outside of that leg has some significantly numb spots, and the pinky toe and outside edge of my left foot is very numb.

About a year after the surgery, I was working out at the gym very regularly, targeting my core strength and lower back muscles. My achiness almost completely went away. I've since gotten pretty lazy and my back aches quite a bit, but I'm confident that if I started working out again, it would go away. I do have some regrets that I didn't try more physical therapy before I did the surgery, but the sciatica was unbearable at the time.

I think the worst thing about having the herniation was the dependence on painkillers. That shit is nasty (as you probably know). Make sure you wean off of it as soon as you can, because those hooks run deep.


Edit: I realized I didn't fully address my recovery time. I was pretty hazy back then, but like I said, the first week, I was pretty stiff, but not so that I couldn't get around the house or walk around in public. I think I laid of driving anywhere so I wouldn't have to turn my neck and back too much. I'm guessing that 4-6 weeks of taking it easy would be very generous and realistic. As far as walking the dog, if your pup is well-behaved and doesn't pull or yank on the leash, I could see doing that pretty quickly, maybe 2 weeks?

[angrymissy]

Yes, one of the main reasons I'm scheduling surgery quickly is that I've started having to ramp up the dosage of my percocet because my body is becoming tolerant and pain getting worse. I've gone from 2 5mg a day to 4 7.5mg a day. My doctor told me at the last appointment that when I go off them, we'll have to taper me down. I don't want to go down that road for any longer, so surgery it is. Plus they make me all hazy and shit and I don't like it. The painkiller train is fun for about a week, then it gets really f'ing old.

The leg pain is what really kills me. I can actually deal with the back pain. It's the shooting nerve pain I can't take. The doctor told me he can most likely get rid of that with this procedure, and that the back pain could be helped with PT and exercises. He also said the back pain "feeds" off the nerve pain and vice versa, so eliminating one will help with the other.

It seems like all in all the procedure was not that bad for you then. I think I will stick with a week off work and see how it goes.

[Chigworthy]

Yes, one of the main reasons I'm scheduling surgery quickly is that I've started having to ramp up the dosage of my percocet because my body is becoming tolerant and pain getting worse. I've gone from 2 5mg a day to 4 7.5mg a day. My doctor told me at the last appointment that when I go off them, we'll have to taper me down. I don't want to go down that road for any longer, so surgery it is. Plus they make me all hazy and shit and I don't like it. The painkiller train is fun for about a week, then it gets really f'ing old.

The leg pain is what really kills me. I can actually deal with the back pain. It's the shooting nerve pain I can't take. The doctor told me he can most likely get rid of that with this procedure, and that the back pain could be helped with PT and exercises. He also said the back pain "feeds" off the nerve pain and vice versa, so eliminating one will help with the other.

It seems like all in all the procedure was not that bad for you then. I think I will stick with a week off work and see how it goes.

The chronic lower back pain I have now is completely manageable. It hurts pretty much every day, but the gauntlet of sciatic pain was so much worse, I rarely even take an Ibuprofen these days. But that shooting leg pain was crippling. I remember being at my old job, supervising an expensive landscape installation, and having to run to a bench and lay down on my back in the middle of a design meeting with the client. It was not good.

Have you had surgery before? It is a little frightening going under. Hopefully, you've met you surgeon beforehand, and are comfortable with him/her, as that helps. I went to meet a surgeon for my back surgery, and got a horrible vibe from him. He looked and talked like the inept doctor from the Simpsons. Needless to say, I requested a different doctor, and was more comfortable with that one.

Hopefully all goes well with you. It is a very common surgery, so there's really nothing to worry about. If you plan on strengthening your core/back once you've recovered, you will probably be close to 100 percent after. 5 years later, I really have no limitations physically, although that little ache is always there as a reminder to lift and move smartly.