post spinal fusion surgery pain

[mishars]

I had spinal fusion on my L5 5 weeks ago, and i am now hurting now more then i ever did before surgery. My Doc said he had the surgery and was back to work in 2 weeks. At 2weeks for me i was hurting so bad i thought i had messed up my fusion. So i went to see my my doc and had an xray and was told it was fine. He gave me a RX and said it was my last one. So i have had nothing for pain since 3 weeks after surgery. Right after surgery in a drugged state I told him my leg hurts worse (I don't remember saying it) and his answer was " Then we shouldn't have done surgery"
I had no problem with my right leg priop to surgery, but now at 5 weeks i have to drag my leg, and it hurts unbelievably, i can't even lay on my right side. Sometimes it feels like ants are crawling under my skin. I can't sleep, 3 times now my leg hurt me so bad i got physically sick.
Also my Doc's nurse says pain is just a state of mind..........My pain is very REAL!!
Is this normal?
How long should i be on pain meds?
Thanks Dawn

[debs59]

Very cruel comment to make about someones pain problem!! have you had spinal fusion surgery??? I expect not! I am 6 weeks post fusion L4 L5 and it is a long and painful road to recovery and everyone has different pain tolerence levels. I find the bone graft site is the most painful and having to sleep flat on my back every night. The pain is like a burning hot knife passing through the hip muscles and it is just horrible. I see my specialist in a couple of weeks and fingers crossed the fusion has taken as I wouldnt want to go through all this again. Good to find a site with others in the same situation, have any of you had the bone graft pain and how long did it last, Im told it can be anything from 6mths to 1 year. Good luck to all who are about to have the surgery or are like me and recovering from it.

[Cathy F.]

I had my spinal fusion way back in 1986.  I originally hurt it in '81 but not all of my tests were conclusive.  It took 5 years for them to do the surgery.  In the meantime I was begging my doctor just to cut me open and take a look.  Of course he wouldn't do that.  Unfortunately the surgery was a bust.  I still have pain in my back and leg (numbness too).  My doctor has been great though.  He thinks that because it took so long to do the surgery that there was irreversible nerve damage.  Plus, he warned me before hand that the surgery may not be successful.  (You have to remember that this was way back when they first really got into doing the spinal fusions).  
So now I live on Darvocet.  I have been for years.  What I'm afraid of is that I'm building a tolerance to them and my doctor probably won't give me anything stronger.
To all of you that have had this surgery, I know your pain is real.  You need to find a doctor that will listen to you.  If it takes doctor shopping, do it!  Your physical and mental health depend on it!
To the person up above that stated all surgeries are successful...you don't know what you're talking about.  Everyone is different with different pain levels.  Maybe yours is set to high.  I know mine is and I still feel the pain quite a bit even on the pain meds.  Think before you criticize!!!

[rv man]

I went to the pain doc today for my month check up. He said some thing interesting. I thought all this time the reason i couldn't urinate properly was from the meds. It turns out its from the nerve damage. does any one else have this problem?

[pofdog]

  Posting that is hi-jacking this persons forum and would get more replies under your own posted topic.  But to answer your question....YES. And there is more too it.

[Mistii]

I have also had a fusion done on L5 5 weeks ago. I am only 31 and have been suffering with my back for 8 years!! I had a microdiscectomy last year due to severe weakness in my left leg. After this it all went down hill and i still had the weakness and pins and needles in my leg but my consultant said he'd done his job as the pain had gone!!! A couple of weeks later the pain returned and i saw my Doc he prescribed me tablets (Lyrica, Tramadol, etc....) and for the last 12 months have lived on them. My Doc arranged for me to have a MRI scan which revealed there was still some of the disc pressing on the nerve. I had another microdiscectomy 6 weeks ago this was not successful as i was unable to move and the pain was unbearable! Another MRI scan was done and yet again there was still some disc there! So the day after my first operation i was having another for the same thing! Yet again it didn't work so 6 days later i was told that a spinal fusion would be the only thing to help me and that the operation would be done that day! I was also told that the damage done to my left leg was permanent. The fusion was done and after this i started to have symptoms in my right leg. I was told that because i had had 3 operations in a week there was a lot of swelling and it could take up to 4 weeks to go down. Now 5 weeks on i still have the pain in my right leg, my left leg constantly aches, i have a burning sensation in my lower back and still suffer considerable pain!!! I feel for you and i think i know what you are going through, i hope that everything works out for you, good luck and god bless xx          

[tlnurse]

I also have had a spinal fusion of L3-4, 5, S-1, back in 2001. I still cont to have back pain. I work as a nurse and everyday I am in pain. My surgeon took a MRI and that now says that the disc above the fusion has gone bad and that this is "normal" because it is taking all of the pressure of the disc's above it. So now I am looking at another fusion. I understand all of you that are saying you have pain and that nothing takes it away. I am taking Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Percocet everyday. Everyday I get out of bed and can barely walk until I take a handful of meds to kick start the pain mangement. I keep telling myself that one of these days the pain is going to get better and go away but everyday the pain continues and some days is unbearable to the point that all i can do is lay in my bed and hope that the meds i am taking will just put me to sleep forever. So to all of you that think "it is in our heads" PLEASE STOP and walk a day in our shoes before you judge us by saying we are drug seeking or that we have no pain. Our pain is real and it is unfair that we have had a surgery to fix our back pain and now it is worse or as bad as prior to surgery. So to all of us suffering...Pray to God that they will find something to help us. Good luck and God Bless you all
TLnurse