newby with questions post spine surgery

[Nutmeg]

Hi,
I just found the site and wanted to sya hi and ask a question.
I had a bilateral disectomy and nerve root decompression at L4/L5 and L5/S1 8 weeks ago after 2 years of problems with prolapsed discs at both levels which didn't respond to any conventional treatment such as physio and chiropractic.

For the first couple of weeks I had quite a lot of sciatica as a result of the surgery. This settled down and by 4 or 5 weeks post surgery I had no sciatica at all. I've started to do walk a little again and do normal things like go shopping although my standing time is limited by lower back pain if I am up for too long. I started physio 2 1/2 weeks ago.
About 1 1/2 weeks ago (about 6/7 weeks post surgery) I started getting a little sciatica again, which is getting a little worse now, although it isn't as bad as before the surgery. I was wondering if anyone knows whether this is normal and is cause I have been trying to do too much or if it is something I should be conserned about. I'm not due to see my surgen for another month or 2, and because of the way it works in England I can't just phone and make an appoinment or speak to my surgeon.
Has anyone had a similar experiance and do I need to worry about this and get my regular doctor to speak to my surgeon?

Louise

[rosedee]

Hi Louise,

There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't phone and leave a message for your surgeon with his secretary expressing your concerns. He can then either speak to you directly (no reason why that can't happen over here), arrange for you to talk/see a more junior doctor who would be able to advise, or get his secretary to pass another message to you. If you feel it would be helpful, you could always ask his secretary if you could fax/email a letter with your concerns to him. Although it often seems (and sometimes is) the case that it's not possible to access our consultants on NHS in between appts., it is always open to you to try one or more of the above.

Alternatively, if your GP is good/supportive you could ask him/her for guidance. Have you talked to your physio about your concerns? Again, s/he should be able to offer advice and you could speak on the phone if you don't have an appt. due. Your physio should certainly be able to help you work out what is doing too much and what you need to do to facilitate your recovery.

Remember, its still very early days in your recovery and all sorts of pains come and go during the process. I found it hard knowing what were the normal pains of post surgery recovery and what were not - I think this is probably inevitable. But it is important to get the information you need to enable you to not be too anxious about things unnecessarily.

Hope you manage to speak with someone soon

rosedee

[Jessica]

Welcome Louise,
You should certainly check back with your doctor. I thought I would share my returning nerve pain experience to possible ease your mind a bit.

At 3 months post op, my nerve pain had almost disappeared. As I returned to more physical activity, it began to hurt again and worsen to the point of what felt like a huge regression in my recovery. I asked the same question you are asking, "did I re-injure something or is something going wrong?". My doctors and physical therapist have told me that the nerve is not completely healed and can easily become aggrivated again.

Best wishes on your recovery.