I'm post 8 months lumbar fusion

[wat37]

Hey,
hope all is well, missed you guys. Well, it's been 8 months since my lumbar fusion (L3-S1). I still have not fused. I'm still not feeling as well as I thought I'd be. Still having lots of lower back pain esp. if I sit or stand more 30 minutes. It seems like my back locks up and I can't straighten up. I've just recently started seeing a shrink b/c I'm so depressed. My life hasn't been back to normal. Still taking percocet esp. at night and now I'm on sleeping medicine b/c I'm constantly thinking. Are there others out there that have any similar senerios? Thanks for your support.

[carolynms]

I am 12 weeks post surgery and do not know if I am fusing or not. But, I did go through a pretty bad depression. Did the shrink put you on any anti-depressants? I truly believe my depression was from not tapering properly off of the pain meds. Have you changed how many you take in a day? No one told me you are supposed to taper off of vicodin, and I went from 6 to 10 a day to 2 a day in less than a week. You need to taper very slowly. I also called my OS and asked if I could go back to work part time. He saw me, did some x-rays, and let me go back part-time, with limited duty. That helped quite a bit! I think after something like this, we need some normalcy back in our lives.
Keep me posted, and I hope you start to feel better soon!

Carolyn

[Mark N]

Sorry to hear you haven't fused yet but many times it takes longer than a year. I can tell you from my own experience that it takes 18 months to 2 years before you may start to feel alot better. Some people heal faster than others but It took me a long time to feel good even though my fusions were evident at 6 months. Hang in there and it was a good move to see about your depression.

[simby]

i had l4/5 fused.
At 12 weeks i had signs of fusion beginning.
At one year the doc said i was about 90%.
It takes a long time. And, its only been the last 6 weeks or so that i have been feeling almost normal - its been 15 months now. And, i am still taking pain meds, muscle realaxer and anti-convulsant.
Now, however, the pain is actually pretty well controlled by the meds. Enough that i can function. Not 100% by any means.
I don't have that bone on bone, squishing the nerve pain.
I am about 60% better and now can mostly keep up with the house and visit a bit.
hope you start fusing soon. Do you smoke? I know that can interfere with fusion.

[gsw]

Has your Doctor put a Bone Growth Stimulator on you? At seven months I was not fusing and I had to wear a Bone Growth Stimulator for ten months and I was finally fused at the seventeen month mark and now all is OK. If you are not using a Bone Growth Stimulator then ask your Doctor to prescribe one for you. It is worth a try as it could cause you to go on and fuse and avoid another surgery. Good luck and God's speed to you.

[wat37]

Hey all,
sorry that it's taken me so long to reply the pain has kept me away from the computer. Just to answer some of your questions, no, I don't smoke and I do have a bone growth stimulator. I'm not actually sure what's taking so long for me to fuse. Maybe it could be my poor appetite these past months. I've been having this burning pain in the center of my spine esp. if I twist my waist even just a little bit or if I'm lying down on my side. I'm going to mention that to my doctor. The last time I took an xray was in Aug. it's probably time for me to have another one. Well thanks for responding. Best of luck to you all.:)

[Spiney]

I had surgery at L5-S1 ten years ago. At one year, there was no indication of fusion. This last summer, I required surgery at L3-5 and we discovered at that time that I eventually fused at L5-S1. Go figure.

[LazyDude]

Hey there,

I'm nearly off my pain meds, vicodin & soma. Tried going cold turkey at 5 months and that didn't work at all. Pain, either real or imagined, was too much so I went back on meds. Now at 7 months I'm down to one vicodin and one soma and hope to stop both one or both within the next week or two. I also spent many nights laying there thinking about my back and not sleeping. I'm lucky in that I fused fairly early and now its all about healing the back muscles.

Take care,
Lazy

[uvamomb]

I have read that having trigger point release GREATLY increases the chances of fusion. If you have a pt in your area who is trained in trigger point theraphy, it may be worth your time and money. I hope you all feel better soon.
Love,
Kathy

[gsw]

The burning pain in the center of the back is a good sign that you are fusing. When the fusing process is going on it burns the bones. So that burning feeling in the center of your back is a welcomed feeling. Good Luck and I hope you keep that burning feeling. It only last for about two weeks.

[tiggerpr]

Can anyone else confirm the burning pain meaning fusion thing (from the above reply). Id be curious to know if that was true....

[robinsme]

I am 9 weeks out from L4-S1 fusion. My main complaint pre-op was massive leg cramps every night. Since the surgery, I have had one leg cramp. :D My Dr. says I am showing good fusion. I am physically feeling well, still not as strong as I wish...but over all...well. My issue is really bad depression. I was boo-hoo right out of the shoot. I thought it was due to not being at work since I am a work-a-holic. But it has gotten worse as weeks went by. I am currently taking Topamax which I started taking pre-op for cronic pain moodiness. I was off vicodine within two weeks of surgery, but currently take Celebrex, Flexeral, and Lyrica for pain. I was on the Celebrex and Flexeral pre-op and the Lyrica was given for post-op nerve pain.

My question: Is this Depression common to post-op? :( I can use some advice to overcome it...all I want to do now is sleep and/or eat all the time. Now that my body is feeling better...my mind is in the mud.

[Husker]

A couple of things I want to address. First of all - I've had 4 fusions - 2 neck and 2 back. Never have I had the "burning" sensation. So - I'm not sure if that's true or not. However, I have a high pain threshold, so it may have been there and I just didn't feel it. I've never heard of that, though.

Second, what are you doing twisting in the first place??? Sorry - was the spanking too harsh? :D If you're not fusing, I would imagine your dr. would want you to not twist or bend or lift probably more than a gallon of milk if that. That's just MHO.

Thirdly, depression after surgery, especially spinal surgery, hits me about 2-3 weeks out and then is intermittant throughout the healing process. Everyone is different, but depression - although not fun at all - is very common especially after the assault on your body that spinal surgery is. There's alot at play there not the lease of which is the pain and for some that is constant.

Forthly, are you drinking plenty of water and walking. Strange as it sounds, walking - even a tiny bit - really helps with the healing.

And, lastly, please give yourself time. I don't smoke and wore a bone growth stimulator for the first 2 level fusion in my neck and the 6/7 didn't fuse. Went back in after a year and tried one more time. After a year, still wasn't fused, but the pain was gone, so I didn't worry about it. somewhere in between the first and second year - tada! I fused.

I'm curious how they know that your not fused. The way they tell in the neck is with flexion/extension xrays and check the movement of the spinus process. They don't have that in the lumbar. Did they just take xrays and it's blatant non-fusion - no bone growth at all - or what? Just curious. And, one more thing - you haven't been taking anti inflamatories, have you? They hinder bone growth.

Good luck! I pray your pain gets better and better and that you also have a tada in your life soon.

[luvmyragdoll]

Hello,
I was on topomax post op and had to go off it because I was suicidal from the depression/anxiety. I got better right away after tapering off.
sheri

[Jan]

I'm sorry, my question is about fusion, and I don't mean to poke my nose into your post, but I had fusion in my thoracic spine, 2 mos. post op, using bone grow stimulator. I'm having some discomfort in my back where the surgery was---sometimes a pain, but not burning, and it's more "sore" there now than it was two weeks ago. Could that mean I'm fusing as well???

I've been depressed as well, sometimes crying a lot. I suposed that is from the surgery?

Thanks.
Jan

[gsw]

Jan

I can only speak from my own experiences, but I did have a soreness and a slight burning sensation in my spine at about the two month mark post surgery and I was told by one of my doctors that it was the bones fusing. Many here will say that they never heard of such a thing but I have lived through it a few times. The fusion that I had that took nearly a year and a half to fuse did not produce the burning pain at the two month mark so I do believe that some people do feel a burning pain as the bones fuse.

[Jan]

gsw

thanks for your reply to my question. As in anything else, I suppose everyone is different and maybe that's what I'm experiencing. I hope so.

Jan

[carolynms]

My input about the post-op depression-------------
About 6 weeks post op, and after I was almost off the vicodin, I crashed. I started crying, and couldn't stop. I had nothing to be depressed about--I felt better, I could put on my own shoes, and even tie them:D ,etc. My family would call and see how I was doing, and Iwould say fine and start boo-hooing. I was pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And BT was still down:( !
I googled post-op depression, and there were millions of sites about it. I found it is very common. I have been told alot of it is caused from the general anethesia.
The thing that seemed to help was being free and clear of vicodin and valium, and going back to work part-time. Also, I put myself on a b-complex vitamin, a multi-vitamin, and tried to eat more protien (I read you need that to heal from major surgery). I don't know if it is getting out of the house, or exercise, or getting back part of a normal life.
I think getting help is a good idea, and I hope it helps! I think the depression is the worst part of the surgery.
Keep us posted, and hope the depression goes away!
Carolyn

[Stetson]

I never had any burning feeling with my cervical fusion. The operation was a piece of cake
for a 7 hour operation,recovery was awful ! I can remember 18 months of phantom pains
and I was walking 2-3 miles a day,7 days a week.I am a diabetic and now have C-7C-8
need a fusion.I guess I am one of the 25% that needs additional surgery at some point.
I just had another MRI on lumbar and L-4L-5 has herniation.Surgeon doesn't want to operate because of prior history with fusion.(pain management 04-09) I am off to the hospital for epidural injection to see if we can calm the disk down so I can walk.I've been fighting this and working since 2002 I think maybe it might be time to slow down a bit and maybe put out to pasture and let a young guy have a go at it.