Hi Chouston & welcome to the spinal boards

I so very sorry this has happened to you. Sadly there are many people who the same thing has happened to

As for the knee I too was told I needed knee surgery for torn meniscus. That was last year and finally according to my Drs I wore the meniscus off and did not need surgery - now this year it is my other knee. I am holding out as long as I can before I give into surgery for it.

I held off on back surgery at first as of situations like yours - now about 6 yrs later the Drs don't want me lol

None of us can remove your pain, however I hope you hang our around the boards and make friends with some of us other spines. I have found a lot of information here and a TON of support !

I am so sorry to hear that you are yet another member here with failed back surgery. I hope that you are able to get some type of relief from your pain soon. Good luck to you and please keep us posted.

I also am very sorry to hear that you fall into our "failed surgery" category. I will tell you that you will find great suggestions and support here. I know I have. Do you have a pain management doctor or anything at this point or are you still dealing with the surgeon for your pain management? If you are still dealing with the surgeon at this point, you may want to look into an actual pain management specialist. For me at least, the surgeon only "dealt" with me for so long before he told me there was nothing else he could do for me and that is not where you want to be if you are not prepared. How long has the pain been at an 8-9? Lauren.

i am truly sorry for your pain and i am feeling like like there is someone trying to tell me something about ADR surgery {not to have it} there was another member on here the other day with a cautionary tale of ADR he was ok for a year then bingo back to square one ..and there's no much that can be done for replacement /replacement surgery IE to replace a replaced disc is very hard work both for the surgeon and patient.what are you going to do??
STRAKER

Interesting posts. I, too, feel like I've been stabbed in the back by a medical system that favors hugely expensive, invasive and painful surgeries that have a very low success rate. The surgeons don't tell you the truth about how low their success rates are. They might even lie. My pain management doctor says he's seen 5,000 fusion patients with an average recovery of two years. And yet the surgeons keep telling you you'll be back to work with greatly reduced pain in two to three months.
There's a new book out called Stabbed in the Back. It may be very interesting; haven't read it but it discusses the medicalization of a societal epidemic (back pain).
I hope we all get better despite the insanity we've been put through.

he thought that i was going to let him do the ADR on me ..he took grate pride in informing me that /quote /..i have only done 4 of these operations ..it would be good practice for me !!end quote ...at this point i turned to my wife and said we find a more experience surgeon ..again an example of the surgeon want to perform expensive operations just for personal gain and very little thought for the poor patient ..i have found that when you go back to see the surgeon with a problem ..they are less than helpful and blame you for the surgery not working! its ok for them they don't have to live with the consequences .ie the constant pain and disability .
STRAKER

all

I have had lower back problems for about 3 years now i have herniated disks i have gone form physio to spinal injections for pain A/Z of meds and had 2 Discectomies was on the list for my 3rd at a 50% of working and now my GP is saying i was a perfect candidate for the Spinal fusion because of all the problems with pain and my back i had a MRI on the 5th October 09 after i complained i was still in a lot of pain and something doesn't feel right to this they said that i only had my 2nd op on the 20th May 09 and i have to give it time is all in my head I think NOT after the MRI they found i have significantly large disk prolapse at L5/S1 AGAIN

And this is the 3rd time this has happened i am so up for the fusion because it was a end to it all
i just want my life back no meds be happy with my children and husband not a monster because of the constant pain in my left leg and lower back
i have pins and needles my leg keeps giving way

anyway my surgeon called me today
after myself and my GP sent him a letter asking about the fusion now
He said i am now off the list for the 3rd Discectomy and were discussing the fusion on the 26th Nov 09 great i thought until................
i stared reading up on it and finding in to detail what some people have gone though and the problems that have happened to
i am starting to doubt it now

i just don't know what else to do please help
am i doing the right thing ???????

If most of you learn anything on forums like this.

Be your own advocate.
Buyer beware.
Do your own homework.

Don't let 1 doom and gloom thread turn you away. By the same token don't find 1 good thread and go charging ahead.

Before you agree to a life changing event, surgery, make sure you know absolutely what you are getting into.

Also keep in mind that most who post on these forums. Especially the newer members. If their first posts are - the doctors ruined me. They are here to vent and want to tell all that doctors are all evil. You need to balance out those kinds of posts. Many on here are here to talk about their failed surgeries. A lot less are here to talk about their successful ones. They simply moved on.

All I am saying is keep some perspective.

Graham

It is always difficult to understand that if the second surgery was less than successful the next one would carry that potential of consecutive disappointment, the decision you made at the time was a brave one and for those for whom it did not work we could all look back and reflect that the decision we made was the wrong one. We all enter surgery with the same hope and expectation of improvement and it is upsetting when the outcome of progress does not even address our lowest of expectations.

Even the knowing of what this procedure has been lest than successful would not now make that underlying pain go away, if you had carried on as you wee without invasive surgery you may well have only been prolonging the inevitable of having surgery later, you went into surgery with a pre-existing condition and the remnants of previous surgery, that took some gut to make that decision even though with hindsight you feel it has not turned our as one might have hoped, even expected.

True failure is in not living your life now, we all wish things had been different or better and no retrospective investigation or reflection will help you move towards the future, I have had my own failed fusion 20 years, I am trying to live my life with what is left and keep that understandable sadness contained so that it does not influence or impact of how I behave or look to the future. Wishing will not make things better and we have to be proactive in finding a life through all this continuing angst, it is not easy simple or fair.

No amount of research would guarantee you surgical success and why some fail has yet to be addressed or explained. In making that decision to have consecutive surgery you could have not endure doing nothing at the time, your 4/5 level may well have become worse and you exchanged that for the chance of improvement, every failure has a story to tell and you are surviving, it is not always comforting to know that others are in similar positions, only that together we do understanding what living this existence can be and the need to survive.

I would never discourage anyone from having that chance of improvement based on my own circumstance and as said, those successful stories are not always acknowledged here, we all have to work with what we have now, however disappointing that is.

Take care… John

I am responding if I were in your situation and based upon other threads I have read it seems that people who go down the path of multiple surgeries always seem to me to have one thing in common.

They seem to always be going back to the same surgeon.

IMHO I would go to other doctors at this time and get more opinions. I really do not know the amount of pain you are in but I would deal with it if only to get more opinions from experts outside my area also.

There was a great thread by someone here who flew all the way to CA to have his surgery done the way he wants it. I really sense from most who are having bad luck at surgery are really not in control as much as the doctors are simply putting them through the system.

I know it is easy to talk from where I am as I have no surgeries and hope for none but I think you should at minimum get several opinions going forward.

Btw, I do agree with the poster who said we only see the bad reports here as the good surgeries go on to other places and no longer want to carry this baggage. But I would say in also that surgery should always be the last option and not the first and it should be more than one doctor telling you that you must have it.

-js

I also regret my surgery. I am so depressed. I wake up every morning wishing it was different. Wishing I have the strenght to move on, to love life again, to be able to be happy or useful, to be able to give classes, to give a hug, to sit down for a while, to speak and enjoy a conversation, to enjoy a movie, music, a good read... I perceive everything so different. Even thinking of a good breakfast... a coffee, a walk in the beach... This changed everything... is so strange. I have looked for help. I swear I am trying. Wish I could be as strong as many in here.

I found that as long as I focused on what I could not do, then I stumbled in my recovery. When I focused on what I could do no matter how mundane it seems to others, like brushing my teeth or changing out the toilet paper when it's empty... I started compiling a list and daily it grew until I realized that there's so much I can do. My mental outlook improved, my recovery improved and in time I found that I can do much of what I thought that I would never be able to ever again.

"C"

Thank you hanglandc. I feel so alone in this journey. He told me I will be an 80 percent better and I feel an 80 percent worst . Little a knew that even though I had pain it was bearable, I was functional. And now is intolerable... I have to fold my cloth, it was such an easy task before surgery...
Thanks again.

zig I don't know you but I am SO very sorry you are suffering

Was your surgery a long time ago?

Can you not get more help for your pain?

Is there anything else that can be done to help you?

I am not being noisy

I do care & am just trying to understand more

i am referring to my ALIF ,big mistake .i know its early .but theres too much damage been done in the operation and i still feel lousy .check up in 3 weeks .