sorry another bad back post

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vchapman

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I have been to the hospital about my bad back today and the doc has offered to operate on it.
Has anyone had an op to fuse discs and what was the outcome?
Sorry, I know it's not horsey but it effects me while riding.
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ask them to put in writing what the odds are ........a friend of mine had an opp on her back ........and i know it wont be what you want to hear but it wasnt a good outcome
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My mum had her's done about 20 years ago and she is.........Not as tall as she was when she went in, but she was back at work within 6 weeks, but remember that was 20 years ago, so think it will be less recovery time for you.... sorry can't help you otherwise, but I know what you are going through.... Good Luck
 
I know one guy who had this op, he is in the second hand furniture business and is still lifting heavy things post op, so it is not as restricitve as you might think..another managed to put off the surgery with quite aggressive physio and an exercise regime..so much depends on individual cases, although I am guessing if your consultant is suggesting it, you are some way beyond having discs shaved and the like?
 
ask them to put in writing what the odds are ........a friend of mine had an opp on her back ........and i know it wont be what you want to hear but it wasnt a good outcome


Did she try anything else before the op?
 
Thanks guys

Very worried as I am not very brave at all.
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Also not very tall so if I go for it then hope not to lose any height.
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I was offered this 20 years ago, when I was 17 (and also told to give up riding!!) However I declined due to the recovery time (I'm sure it's less now) & carried on riding. I've since been told it was the best decision I could have made.
I have regular Chiropractor treatments & I ride regually - 1 horse a day, 4 days a week & 2 horses at weekends. If I have any time without riding I find my back hurts more.
Yes I still have some bad days, but as long as I keep my back strong, I can pretty much do what I want. Although I don't sit straight!
Not sure how bad your condition is but go through all the options before you proceed.
If you decide it's for you I wish you all the best.
 
My ex had it done, and it worked very well for him, he regulaly plays silly muckers on the ski slopes, goes to the gym etc etc.

I would be very surprised if a doctor would put anything about an op in writing - there are always risks with surgery, only a foolish doc would say anything else.

I would get a second opinion, and ask what happens if you leave it 1, 5 10 years - is it something you can decide to have done later? I have been advised I can put it off, but I know others who didn't have surgery at the time, and now it is not an option for them.
 
I'm having an op on my back soon. Bulged, ruptured disc that is pressing on the sciatic nerve.
Tried all other treatments including 4 months of physio and nothing has worked so surgery is my only option. I'm really scared too.
 
What are you having done exactly? I have 3 prolapsed discs and they have been offoered an op but i'm unsure about what to do. Are you managing to ride at the mo? Mine is causing me pain and leg weakness, I have good days and bad but i'm still managing to ride 2/3 times a week but the next day my back is not too good. Sorry to hijck the post but i'm really interested about others having this op as I'm not sure what to do.
 
It is very complicated but I have 4 discs that have degenerative disc disease, 3 of which have bulged, one of the bulged has ruptured, this one disc is pressing on the sciatic nerve that is causing very bad pain down my right leg.
I'm not sure what the op involves exactly yet, finding out on the 8th but it not going to be very nice I've been told.
My pain is worse in the morning but once I start moving about, I can muck out 3/4 horses every morning without too much problem. I do still ride, it doesn't hurt too much if I have moved about, warmed up first and if my stirrups are short, I ride in jump length, if I don't warm up first, walk is very painful and I need to keep standing up. My leg is weakened from it too. Very hard to leg yield etc.
I can not sit down at all, not even to eat tea. So that is my main reason for having the op. I've had it for almost 7 months and I really would love to be able to sit down and drive without pain.
 
I am very sorry to hear that you have a bad back and have been offered surgery. I will briefly tell you about mine in the hope that it helps you a little....

I had a very nasty riding accident and smashed my back up real bad. The bones healed however the discs had been irrepairably damaged. I had a procedure called a "provocative discography" done which is where they inject a dye into your discs under live xray pictures. It was a very painful procedure but gave an absolute diagnosis. In my case the discs had no fluid in them at all and as fast as they injected the dye, you could see on the screen that it was leaking out just as fast. The discs were knackered and irrepairable, I was in unbearable agony, unable to walk and wanted to die.

I had an "anterior instrumented fusion with correction for kyphosis" procedure done 8 years ago. It was not a route I chose lightly, I was in incredible pain and virtually unable to walk to the point where I really didn't have a choice.

The procedure was to remove the discs altogether and inset a metal cage in the gap where the disc was. The cage is screwed into the base of the spine and secured to the vertabrae above and below. Inside this cage they placed some mashed up bone that they had taken from the inside of my hip/pelvis (known as the donor site). The metal work provides stability and the idea is that the live bone grows and knits and eventually fuses/welds the vertabrae together.

The surgery was very major and the recovery time was long, hard and very painful. I would like to say that it was a life saver and a miracle, and to some extent it was - I can walk again, and have ridden and hunted/competed since.

However, 8 years later I am looking at having more surgery as the op was not 100% succesful and the vertabrae have not successfully fused. Knowing how bad it was for me the first time round, I really don't think I can go through it again and will continue to put it off until once again I have no choice.

That's not to put you off though, I'm just being totally honest. You need to weigh up the pro's and con's. Talk further with your consultant, get a second opinion, find out the exact procedure that your consultant wishes to perform and research it thoroughly (mine was the Brantagan cage and method). Only once you are fully informed of the facts can you make an informed decision.

In summary, I don't regret having my surgery at all. It was a lot harder than I had envisaged or prepared for and it wasn't a miracle cure however it has greatly enhanced my quality of life (I may never swing from the chandeliers or win Badminton but I can walk, wipe my own backside and pootle round the block on the back of a horse).

If you would like to talk further, please feel free to pm me. xxx
 
I had an op on my back in Feb '04. I had one collapsed disc and one that was protruding, pressing on my sciatic nerve causing agonising pain right the way down my right leg.
Admittedly my op was to cut away the protruding part of the disc and not to fuse any vertebrae but I have to say it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
I was lucky in having an excellent consultant, one of the best in the NHS, but I was only in hospital one night after the op, was driving after 3 weeks and riding after 8, competing Elementary after 16.
I am now back competing at PSG again and a lot of people have said better than before.

Of course every injury is different but I can only speak from my experience. I was also very worried about the possible outcome and wheelchairs had been mentioned at one point but that may have been to shock me into following doctor's orders re. not lifting, riding etc.!
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Good Grief that sounds horrific! I'm glad you are better now, even if you will need more surgery in the future. I'm glad my isn't nearly are bad as yours.
 
Thanks very much for sharing. That is close to what I am having. They are not sure if they can scrap away my bulging disc because it has ruptured but they will do more MRI scans to find out if it has settled enough to do it. If not they are talking about removing the inflammation from my nerve but I'm not very happy about that as surely it will come back as they bulge will still be there? I shall find out on the 8th.
 
Hopefully they will be able to settle things down for you. Consultants do not offer these ops likely as they are a major operation with the potential to causee further nerrve damage although with the cases that I tend to see there has been a benefit. The disc bulge and pain is worse first thing in the morning as the disc rehydrates overnight so there is more to press on the nerves. As the day progresses this reduces further. The discs tend not to like sitting as it increases the pressure on them so causing increased discomfort. When riding you tend to sit in a correct position rather than slumping so as long as there is not a large disc bulge / proapse it can ease the pain.

The main idea of the operation is to reduce the pressure on the nerve and hopefully allow the nerve to recover enough to return to as normal function as possible (reducing numbness and returning muscle strength). The majority of ops I've seen seem to help the leg symptoms however some do still have a residual back pain afterwards. You certainly should not be doing repetitive heavy lifting in a forward position as you are likely to cause more problems further down the line.

Speak to your consultant and find out wha his success percentage is and what he expects the outcome for your op will be - good luck

If they fuse the vertebrae then they use metal work and tend do put in bone chips which over time will fuse the area further preventing the possibility of the metal work moving.
 
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