Discectomy - After the Operation

[Granidiarne]

Hi Melza, Yep, Ive got modest expectations on my rate of recovery having learned from this forum. I think it must be easy to get over ambitious on good days so I wont get too excited when everything is fine and try not to get too 'down' on the bad days. best of luck getting your work situation sorted and congrats on the appeal.

Al x

 

[Teo]

Hi alistair really pleased your op went well and that awful sciatic pain went it is a wonderful feeling to come round from the op and it has gone ,to voice what everyone else has said take things slow and take each day as it comes ,i loved my 20 week scan it was fab we found out we were having another boy they said he was very active when they scanned me and boy were they right he never stops he is 18 months now and demolishes the house within seconds !!!!!take care claire x x
Hope everyone else is ok,i decided to do a little !!!!! tidy up today bad idea my back is so sore but i thought if i did everything this morning i could relax this afternoon as my little one was at nana's and my eldest was at a valentines disco straight from school until 5pm but we have had really bad heavy snow all day so the school decided at 12.30 pm they were going to close the school resulting in very happy children and not so happy parents he breaks up for half term today also as they have a teacher training day tomorrow !!!! x x

 

[Nightmary83]

Hi All,

**** day, have had some back ache all day due to more DIY. Also i have just been told that our baby has a 1-25 chance of downs. Going for a talk at hospital tomorrow.

Feel ****.

Olli

 

[Tofu]

Awww Olli, sorry to hear you are aching, i too have been off all week cos my back is aching.
I wish you and your wife&baby well and hope that the news is good tomorrow

 

[Spring]

hi, can any1 help?
i have been coming off the morphine (mst morphine) i was on 140mg a day and also taking oramorph (liquid morphine) i have managed to reduce it to only having 30mg in a morning and 20mg at night and completely stopped the liquid morphine, the thing is am really suffering with bad stomache cramps, is this normall?

DR told me he wants me to reduce it as much as i can before my op in 2weeks, but the cramps are really getting bad.

If anyone can help, or has had the same symptoms it would be really nice to know.

Thanks, with love to everyone, Jayne x x x

 

[lassa_fever]

Good luck for tomorrow Olli.

Glad to hear you had a win at work Melza, and hope you are back at work soon Ali.

I have had some sciatic pain return this week (Noooooooo!) but hoping it goes soon. I had 'traction' today at the physio. It is a bit like being on a stretching rack. Actually that's exactly what it is - not sure that I feel better for it yet as think I got a bit too stretched for the old L4/5 to handle. The idea of traction is to unsquish the spine. I'm sure there's a more technical term for it.

Hope you all have a good weekend.
We are hoping for a better one here after the tragic bushfires last weekend.

 

[TONY S]

Hi Jayne,

I have had experience of morphine withdrawals. I didn't have stomach cramps, but had other symptoms, sweating, vomiting, restless/fidgety limbs, insomnia.
Abdominal cramps are also a symptom of withdrawals, so it looks to be that your stomach cramps are due to your morphine decrease.

How long have you been reducing your morphine? Going from 140mg mst to 50mg a day is quite a drop and you say you have stopped the liquid completely? Was this a gradual decrease or stopped outright?

I am so sorry that you are suffering honey, I know what you are going through xx

 

[MEZA!]

Hi Ollie, just read your post and sending the very best vibes I have (top notch!), whatever the doctors and experts say....they can be wrong on occasions. And even if they're right I don't think they can be 100% about the eventual outcome as far as your baby is concerned, only time will tell.

Best wishes

I hope the bush fires are under control now Subi, I find it hard to believe someone would have started them deliberately but then....maybe not. What is the world coming to! Hope everything is okay where you are. x

 

[clove1971]

good luck tomorrow olli. please let us know how you get on...

jayne...i had awful stomach cramps when i came off the morphine and dihydrocodeine. i think this was because i was really constipated while i was on them, which was for months, so when i came off them, the opposite happened. also felt really sick and had no appetite. silver lining to that cloud was a stone in weight loss. didn't last sadly, but it was an ok trade for feeling better.

i am feeling blue today as another month with no pregnancy goes by. keep trying to feel grateful that i am healthy and not in pain, but the lack of control is so hard. i think i have been more affected by the back issue and lack of control that went with that, than i ever would have imagined. i am finding anything to do with my body all a bit stressful!

hope you're all well.
lots of love,
jess xx

ps...have now passed the 6-month post op deadline that i was so worried about after my consultant told me the nerve had been sprayed with cortisone that would numb it for 6 months. am touching wood here, but feels like even though this has probably worn off, the sciatica hasn't come back. phew! has anyone else been told similar things??

 

[Cesar]

Hi All,

Had some more test done for the baby so will get the results back on Monday.

As for my back is all gone wrong on the left side. I was doing some stretching last night and my ribs have cramped up, finding it hard to take a deep breath. The crap thing is i only saw the physio on Friday. I think lots of heat packs on to try and get relax it. Also back to work tomorrow after a few days off, that should be fun. "Hold on love i'll be there in a sec, just hold your breath a bit long while i try and walk."

Olli

 

[Meggan]

Olli - my thoughts are with you & yiur wife for tomorrow. Sorry to hear you are also having problems with your back again.

Jess - my thoughts are with you too

Ali - sorry to hear you are suffering again.

Melza - Glad to hear you won your appeal. The NHS is such a helpful organisation to work for .... NOT!!! After my last meeting I was on such a high. My manager was happy with the plan & we had a lengthy chat about the registrars indecisiveness at the hospital. Then out of nowhere I get a call on Friday to inform me they want another meeting & have contacted the occupational health doctor to ask if i am a suitable candidate for ill health retirement. That was a huge kick in the guts. Timing was ****e as i'd also discovered the previous day that mother in law has breast cancer. I don't know if i'm strong to fight them anymore I am going to look at moving elsewhere, in fact I have an interview on Tuesday.

To eveyone else hope you are okay

Tracey xx

 

[The Man Book]

olli

haven't posted for ages as up and down and feeling sorry for myself, but have religiously kept up to date with reading your posts and I wanted to send my best wishes and prayers for you, wife and baby.

Last Oct. after months of probs seeing anything with one eye it was discovered that I had a cataract. I had already spend hundreds on glasses over the past few months and dispite returning to opticians just told you have to get used to varifocals. Anyway the waiting list to see a consultant was 7 months, followed by 2 years for actual op. So decided to go private. Amazingly I was seen the next day and had the op within a week, all went really well It is great to have a op and then complete recovery, not quite so my back and leg, but overall ( touching lots of wood) I am OK-ish. I have had a lot of scares, lifting 18 month old, twisting to put in car seat, high chair etc and suffered worrying days of pain afterwards. However I stretch for 20 mins twice per day, olli you were always my inspiration, from pre-op to early post op, with your stretches and general upbeat attitude. I think as others have said aching will probably remain for me, but is managable. I am slightly older than most and don't know if this is good or bad. Apparently after 55 discs become fibrous and unlikely to prolapse, one thing to look forward to.

Anway just hearing about Jade Goody makes you appreciate what you've got.

All the best to everyones especially you olli and family


Howie

 

[Impedesaitaps]

Hi everyone, I know that some of you are having a really bad time with life and wish I could make everything better for you...but I can't, I can only send you my very best wishes and hope we all get to that lovely place called 'normality' some time soon.

Tracey 1, did I stress that my meeting was only a verbal agreement, I don't trust them with carrying it out for one moment. There is something else to add but shall have to send a private message for that, check your inbox.

Sorry you're suffering again Olli, you are obviously an active person and need to keep fit for your work, for both reasons I know you would like to see an end to these back problems. It's all so frustrating....and scary, I might be a little on the mature side but I can't bear the thought of not returning to my busy acitve little self. But that must be the same for everyone, I think thats where the real fear is when we get 'The Pain' again.

The nerve irritation has eased from my legs recently, but probably because I had awful pain in my neck and shoulders for a few days, this is from sanding down a sideboard by the way. I just have to try and do things okay! I think my impatience will be my undoing in the end.

I hope whoever reads this post is in a better mood than I am at the moment, don't ask!

xx

 

[Bumdiundmup]

Hi Melza - thanks for that I will keep checking my inbox. I'm very interested in what you have to say
Tracey

 

[oliviaa?]

Hi All,

Best of luck with the test results today Olli, hope you get some good news.

Im now 6 days post op and seem to be doing well, I have the very slightest of nerve pain after sleeping or after I have lay on the floor but nothing to worry about (I hope). I can walk without restriction but I am so stiff, need to work on that, especially the ham strings.

Dressings come off on Thursday, then seeing my physio early next week.

Take care everyone, Al x

 

[Stefany]

melza...just wanted to send you a quick healthypages hug. sounded like you maybe needed one. not sure why your previous post says you have a 'failing memory' at the bottom. hope that is fixed soon

lots of love to all xx

 

[Low]

Hi all I am an early 40's guy and had a disectomy operation on Dec 30th 2008.

I have suffer from lower back disc problems since being kicked in my back in 2003 but after each 'spasm' it tended to settle down and I guess I just got used to it. However in Oct 2008 I had a terrible pain in my left leg,followed by a MRI Scan in Early Dec showing a massive prolapse in disc L4/5. I paid for a private consultation the next week and due to the concern of the Specialist I was 'fastracked' on the NHS for an Op just after Xmas. I realise that I was very fortuante to be operated on so quickly and was in Hospital for 3 days. I think the op was a success at the time and after the op my leg felt a lot better ie no terrible pain.

Obviously my back etc was sore after the op but was up and about after a week.

What concerns me is the total lack of advice from NHS etc about what I shoiuld/ shouldnt do.

I booked a physio session at my GPs four weeks after the op,where she was very concerened about the lack of move,ent / strength on my left leg. She then spoke with the Specialist who advised her to give me no further physio or excercises until I saw him at the end of April

Now seven weeks after the Op my left leg is so weak I can harly stand on it,my lower back is very unflexible and I am at a loss as to what I should do.

Mayube I am just being impatient. I have tried swimming and this seems manageable but am concerned that I am overdoing it.

I have been reading the posts here for a while and have admiration for what some of you folks have been through

Is it a case of a nerve in my leg still not 'back to life' so to speak and has anyone else been told to lay off the physio

thanks for reading this and any help would be apprecaited

 

[shedaisyluv]

fossway,

My advise would be to get walking. Small amounts at first then build it up.

Keep swimming and try walking in the water.

Do lots of stretching. 2 or 3 times a day.

You need to get the nerve working, this may be painful at first but you will get used to it.

I walk about 200m 3 times a day for the first week and by 4 weeks i was doing 2 miles twice a day.

I would also go back to the hospital and ask to see the person who did the op, they should help you out.

I believe in a hard work rehab program.

Cheers Olli

 

[The Tank]

Test came back and it all good. The baby is not downs.

Right i think its time for a pint or 2.

The back has eased off, and the cramp in the ribs has gone, i must have just over done it. still got some aching in my lower back but i have managed to do 20min on a crosstrainer today so its not as bad as i assumed. I think lots of heat and some good soaks in the steam baths at the gym have helped, also it got alot better the more i did at work, to me this says you must keep going even if its just a little everyday.

Thanks for all the support.

Olli

 

[Tayler]

Ah thats great news Olli (and wife and baby!)...Fantastic

Jayne....How are you doing hun? Have the cramps got better?

Alistair, hope the recovery is going well.

Melza, any news on your scan yet?

Tracey, how is you? Have you managed to get your scan yet? How did your interview go today?


And to everyone else, hope you are all having a good and relatively comfortable day