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truck54 11-18-2011 01:59 PM

Will this go away with more time?
 
Hello everyone, I have had a L5 S1 ADR with a prodisc L on August 8th now just over 3 months ago.. My recovery seems at times to be going well.. I have been doing therapy for about 6 weeks now that include the use of a tens unit, stretching and core stability exercises.. My problem is this.. Two times now i have had a sudden and painful return of leg pain that includes pins and needles and dull aching pain down both legs.. The first time it lasted about 4 days and i treated with ice and rest and tens units while eating gobs of anti imflammatories.. I was good for about a month and now here i am again.. The crappy thing is that i was feeling really good and felt like i was making great strides in between these flare ups.. I am now in day 4 of the second flare up and am wondering if this will ever stop rearing its ugly head.. Does anyone know about what i should expect and is this all normal ? Frustrated

jss 11-18-2011 02:25 PM

Truck,

Congratulations on the successful surgery and welcome!

I am two years post surgery next week with two cervical ADRs. After I do something especially strenuous, like a marathon or digging out a tree stump, about every third or fourth time some of the pain returns. The tingling has never returned, just the pain. NOWHERE near as severe as before surgery. The longest it's ever lasted was ... maybe three weeks. This has happened... maybe four times?

I don't know what's normal, but that is my experience.

Good luck, Jeff

truck54 11-18-2011 02:52 PM

Thanks for your reply JSS.. It seems that everytime i have a flare up i start reading about symptoms and i get really freaked out over some of the things that are out there.. I wish could say that there was something really strenuous that i was doing during either one of these flare ups but i cant narrow it down to what i think caused it.. I guess im hoping to hear from someone that these returns are expected at times and will become less and less with time..

herron65 11-18-2011 03:48 PM

I am finding as the weather is getting cold and wet (a typical pacific northwest winter) I get some pains now and then but nothing to bad and a hot shower seems to make it better. I did however over do it a couple time at just after 3 mo and my right leg, thigh and foot did the pins and needles thing with a bit of numbness, took a few weeks to get that calmed down and I also when and had a message done on my glutes had two big knots worked out just were my back meets my butt. That realy helped with the pins and numbness.
Good luck and slow and steady wins the race
Take care
Jeff

Cirobi 11-19-2011 05:26 PM

I'm 3.5 yrs post op at the same level with the replacement hardware and I have definitely had some bad days. I know when I sleep in the wrong position for too long, I wake in some pain. Usually it's when I wind up on my stomach trying to ignore the bladder alarm in the morning. Haha. Of course, this hasn't been a problem lately since I can't sleep on my stomach these days. I always attributed it to the fact that there are other levels of my spine that may become issues later in my life despite the ADR simply because there's degeneration and was concern at the next level above pre-op. Since it wasn't a pain generator, they decided to try to leave it as is.

The only other time I was in significant pain though... was when I single handedly moved about 90 PCs over the course of 1.5 weeks at work. This was done with a cart where I hauled 3-4 PCs at a time on the cart with several of them being moved multiple times during an space reconfiguration. There were a good 2-3 days during and then afterward all of it was complete where I hurt pretty bad. I don't think I would call it severe pain like pre-op though.

I'd think anyone who may have been worse off than I even was might have some weird flare ups like that. It's probably worth discussing with your physicians though, both PT and your surgeon. There might be some kind of alternate exercise path that can help or if there becomes a pattern of when it happens, maybe it's possible to avoid that specific type of motion.

During my own recovery, I played it super cautiously during the first full year even though I had a ton of success with the surgery and recovery. It drove my now husband crazy at the time because he knew how well my recovery went in the first few months, but I insisted on continued extra caution through that first year because of random twinges of pain I'd get. There were times I got concerned because of weird pain I'd feel after doing flip turns while swimming laps post-op but I'm pretty sure it was just part of the healing process. I'll test the theory again once I can fit into my swim suits again after our baby arrives. :)

truck54 11-20-2011 06:43 PM

Thanks..
 
It's becoming really frustrating.. I know it's only been a almost 4 months but I keep reading about so many others that are pain free and then there is the other side that is still hurting.. Before surgery it was mainly one leg..now both ache.. I keep wanting to believe its just a flare up and this will go away.. It feels like a dull ache with pins and needles, mainly while sitting and laying.. I don't notice when walking.. Anyone? How long will it last.. I'm pulling my hair out!!!

truck54 11-20-2011 08:46 PM

Sig
 
Just updated my signiture so you guys can see what work I have had done.. I thought I has done it once already..

Cirobi 11-21-2011 09:13 PM

Keep reminding yourself of the vast array of possible recoveries. One thing I did pre-op was read through lots of the surgical outcomes here so I had a clearer idea of the absolute best possible outcome and the absolute worst possible outcome. This way I knew the extremes but at the same time knew I was more likely to land somewhere in the middle.... an expect the worst and hope for the best kind of approach. It saved me a lot of emotional grief when I did have days where I wondered if I'd made the right choice. I count myself among the lucky ones and am thankful for that with every day that passes.

Some folks have a great first few months post-op and suffer some kind of random setback only to go on to a full positive outcome sometime after that first year post-op. Others still feel pain throughout the first year and go on to have full positive outcomes later on as their body figures things out. Others get lucky and ride smoothly through everything while another group unfortunately has issues the entire time due to other factors that were either missed or not properly considered or any number of possibilities.

Each one of us is different.

Keep up whatever post-op plan you've been prescribed, but definitely keep your docs updated on symptoms you get post-op. It could mean altered medication or PT routines or just extra rest.

Keep your chin up! :beer:

~Sara


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