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Back Fusion: Sucess Initially, but Pain Now....

This same question, in essence, is posted in another forum, if that's okay. I thought 2 forums that directly related to this problem might increase the response as it will be seen by more members.
So, my sage starts with a back fusion, L4-L5 if I remember my anatomy correctly (last vertebra connected to next to last vertebra) performed in June, 2011 (age 64, very good health otherwise). After recovering through the summer and going to physical therapy, I had absolutely no back pain; it was as though I'd never had a back problem ! For almost exactly 1 1/2 years, I worked outdoors in my rose garden, did just about all the things I'd ever done (I've always done my own yard work, work around the house, etc...,  unless it was too specialized). I felt really good this whole time, and never had an inkling of back pain, leg pain, any type of pain, no symptoms or signs that anything was not right. I had signed up to start working out with weights at the city facility, which had very good equipment and was priced moderately too, starting January, 2013.
Well, late December 2012 I started having extreme pain in the bursa of my hips (outside of hips, I think that's the trochanter?), and my lower back was starting to hurt almost all the time. Things just got worse from there, and I had 3 MRI's done in 2013 plus several series of X-rays. I even went back to the doctor who had performed the surgery. My family physician and the doctor who had performed the surgery could find nothing wrong, the fusion still looked good.
I am practically a recluse now, as I spend most of my days on laying on a heating pad. Although I don't like taking a lot of drugs, 2 7.5mg vicadin/day have become pretty common for me. I have no other problems at this time. I try to walk on the treadmill, but this often seems to get my back hurting again and cause the hip pain to come back. Now the strange thing about this: towards the end of the summer season (late July, August), this pain seems to just 'go away' of it's own accord. Then I'm able to pretty much start doing many of the things I had done before, although I try to take it easy. However, in late December or January of the next year, the pain in the hips and hip area, and lower back come back for some reason.
I'm 5' 11" and did weigh 216, which was obviously overweight. In June, I started a diet after watching "Forks over Knives", and several other similar works, plus reading Dr Esselstyn's book on heart health and reading "The China Study"; in other words, a vegetarian diet with no oils intentionally used, no white sugar, no processed foods or fast foods ever, but plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, plus many carbs that are allowed. My weight dropped to 192, and I've been walking on the treadmill, and although losing weight hasn't cured the problem, it sure has seemed to help. Strange thing this year though is, it's already October, and my back is killing me. No reprieve this year.
The ONLY thing that I can think of that I might have done to have caused my problems is that in November of 2012 I was on the treadmill, and was just trying different settings (I have always run, then later jogged, then used a treadmill), and ran the treadmill up to 6 mph, as this used to be a pretty std pace for me when jogging (usually 3 mi 4-6 times/week); well, I remembered I had run 6 minute miles without much trouble into my early 30's, and just to see what it was like, I did run at a 10 mph pace for a couple of minutes. This treadmill activity lasted no more than 15-20 minutes, but I did pound the treadmill pretty hard at the higher speeds. This is the ONLY THING I can think of, other than some other normal explanation, if there is one, that could have caused my present problems.
Any and all comments and advice are appreciated. I do not want to live on drugs for the rest of my life, and if I really lose my mobility, I'm pretty much done for, as this will affect so many things. I don't mean I'll give up, I just mean I'll have to come to terms with this and find other ways to exercise aerobically and for strength, and learn to live with the condition, which is not at all appealing.
BTW, if I've left anything pertinent information out, please feel free to let me know. Thanks !
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the reply; it's just strange for doctors to look at current MRI's and X-Rays, and state "everything looks fine", when it obviously is not !
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7721494 tn?1431627964
If you had L4-5 fused, then L3-4 and L5-S1 take on extra stress because they're doing the work of L4-5.

Many people experience this "fusion cascade" experience. After 24 months or so, they present with prolapses of the discs adjacent to the fused site.

You will probably need another MRI, and hopefully you won't need another surgery, but be prepared -- you may.

Best of luck.
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