November 13, 2009 - 8:48am
NEWBEE
Hi,
I am a 39 year-old male from San Diego who has been having lower back pain for almost two years now. I've tried conservative and non-surgical treatments, including ESI, spinal decompression, etc. I hate taking pain meds but this is the only way that I can become functional. I am a nurse manager and I do a lot of computer job and paperwork so I spend most of my working hours sitting in chair. I have finally considered surgery, I was recommended to have an artificial disc implant. I know it's kinda new and I want to have some insights and information from people who have had this surgery, I would really appreciate it.
Have a nice day, everyone and hope it's a pain-free one!!
Ron
Hi Ron
Welcome to Spine-Health, you will find lots of support and information on the site, here on the forum members share expereinces, hopefully this will help you to decide what is best for you.
TC
Liz
Born with Familial epiphyseal dysplasia
Polio at 4yrs. Osteoarthritis from age 30
Lumber and cervical stenosis from 1995, surgery of decompression lumber L3/L4/5 S1 1996
chronic pain since 6 years of age
Please provide a bit more information. Is your problem in the lumbar spine?
You can type ADR into the search box at the top of this page and a number of past threads should come up. You can read through them for some previous thoughts on the topic!
As I'm sure you know, ADR is much more common in Europe, and has only recently been approved in the US for certain levels. But it seems from people's experience here on the board, some insurance companies are denying the procedure, or at least, the patient has to appeal it the first time before being allowed to have ADR.
As with any procedure, the appropriate matching of the patient with the appropriate procedure is of the utmost importance to insure a successful outcome. ADR works well for some situations, but not for others....
I have no medical training. Comments are based on personal experience and lots of research and reading.
PLIF @ L4-5 with Peek cage, rods and screws Jan 2008
Lami-foraminotomy L5-S1 Jan 2009
Fusion L3-S1 coming up -- 1 June
It is truly a difficult decision that you face. Surgery is never easy especially so when it comes to something that it so new. You are doing the right thing by researching as much info as you can before making your decision. Have you had more than one opinion? How many of these surgeries has your surgeon performed? How many were successful? These are some of the things that I would ask before making such a difficult decision. Good luck and please keep us posted.
I am in no way associated with the medical field. Anything that I post comes from personal experience only.
DDD, Facet Arthropathy, DJD,Collapsed Disc, Sleep Apnea
PT, Epidurals, Facet Blocks,Medial Branch Block, Rhizotomy,Discogram,Annular Tare L3/L4 Endoscopic MicroD and PLDD,
Methadone, Percocet, Baclofen, Welbutrin
It has been 2 months since I had the surgery and I have felt so much better. I am back working after 5 weeks resuming normal activities with almost no restriction (of course taking into consideration the precautions I was instructed to follow diligently).I am now off from my heavy narcotics which I have voraciously taken prior to my surgery. I am happy about the outcome, they said I was too young to have back surgery but I believe I made the right choice at the right time because I am younger & healthier, it seems like nothing ever happened and I recuperated in almost no time at all. Not 100% better, I have maybe a 1 or 2 pain level on a very busy day (compared to 10 prior to surgery, with pain meds too). I wasn't assured of a 100% relief from pain in the first place, about 8o-85% chance of pain relief was something that I expected from microdiscectomy and that's exactly what my surgeon said to me on my presurgical consult. I know I've achieved my goal and I am really happy about the surgical outcome.
Hi Ron
I'm glad you let us know how your surgery went and that your recovery is going well. To be out of major pain is so good, isn't it. You've done well to be able to go back to work after 5 weeks. Keep enjoying life.
Trish
ALIF L4/5 19th October 2009 - successful
Discectomy/laminectomy L4/5 April 2008 - didn't help
Disc degeneration at L3/4 and L5/S1 with right sided foraminal stenosis at L5/S1 with slight flattening and elevation of the right L5 nerve root.
hi and welcome to the forum!
we are here to offer you support and answer what questions we can. congratulations on a successful recovery. 
good luck and drop by anytime. Jenny 
be impeccable with your word..