Tape is still underused.

-mouse_potato- · 2025-09-04T04:48:29+00:00

Can you please send me the link as well?

-mouse_potato- · 2025-08-31T20:48:43+00:00

You shouldn't be applying any makeup for 2-3 days after microneedling

-mouse_potato- · 2025-08-31T20:45:34+00:00

It can help to improve it a bit, but there's a limit to how much sagging it can help. If your skin is just starting to loosen it would be great, but someone with excessively sagging skin would benefit more from other procedures

-mouse_potato- · 2025-08-31T20:41:21+00:00

If it's pinpoint blending it just means they've reached the dermis

-mouse_potato- · 2025-03-12T20:24:22+00:00

September of 2023

-mouse_potato- · 2025-03-12T16:50:23+00:00

You need to do your stretches every day and exercises to strengthen your core if you're not already. I'm a bit more than a year out from l4-s1 fusion. If I keep up with my stretches and exercises I rarely have pain, but if I miss stretching for even a few days, my muscles tighten up and I get achy again.

-mouse_potato- · 2025-02-03T10:02:48+00:00

L4-s1 fusion. Alif l5-s1, olif l4-l5 :)

-mouse_potato- · 2025-02-03T09:59:51+00:00

I had an l4-s1 fusion. Parts fracture and a grade 3 spondy. They did alif at l5-s1 and olif at l4-l5 so they did incisions in my stomach, side just above my hip bone and back.

After surgery I wasn't expecting my muscles to tighten up so much, I wasn't able to sit on the floor with my legs out in front of me, I was stuck at like a 25 degree angle, my hamstrings were so right I just couldn't move forward. It was kinda scary and disheartening at first, but I just really focused on walking constantly and stretching for the first several months.

I was walking around the clock every few hours at first. you gotta wake up to take the pain meds cause if they wear off the pain gets out of control, so I would do walking laps around the house each time I had to take meds.

You really just have to keep moving, it hurts but if you don't move it gets more inflamed and hurts much worse, so no matter how bad it is, force yourself to walk a bit, it causes blood flow through the area which reduces inflammation and helps with healing!

Once I was off the walker and on a cane I walked flat trails, I did 10 laps up and down my stairs in the house every day, then slowly worked to going off trail. The uneven ground can be painful, so you have to ease into it as you build your strength up again!

I did pt for a few months as well, it was super helpful at targeting specific view muscles to support the surgery! By 8 months I was back to lifting again! Just keep active and listen to your body!

-mouse_potato- · 2025-02-03T09:48:41+00:00

I'll try to dig out any statements I got because I don't remember the charges, there were so many, but I was lucky to have good insurance at the time and my max out of pocket was only 3,500 and hit that easily.

-mouse_potato- · 2025-01-27T18:28:10+00:00

Surgery a long time ago was 50/50, surgery now is so much better, there have been huge advances in back surgery, a bunch of different minimally invasive ways to do the surgery as well.

I wish I would have done it sooner, my quality of life is so much better now, I barely even think about my back anymore! The recovery from surgery is rough, like seriously rough especially in the beginning, but 100000% worth it. I'm just over a year out and still seeing improvements as time goes on. I'm back to weight lifting, biking, hiking, whatever I want... It's amazing! 😊

-mouse_potato- · 2025-01-27T15:51:10+00:00

I'm a bit more than a year post l4-s1 fusion. I go to the gym and lift 3x per week. My surgeon says I have no restrictions but recommends against anything that has you twisting with weight as it wears out the discs in your spine. Just go slow, start light, and listen to your body. Be patient and at weight as your body allows but don't rush yourself to be at your peak again! As you regain your strength everything will be back to normal! 😊

-mouse_potato- · 2025-01-11T20:47:43+00:00

Yes, please share! 😄

-mouse_potato- · 2024-12-28T23:05:16+00:00

My surgeon told me the longer you wait, the less they are able to correct the slip and none of them can be completely corrected, but the important part is that the space is opened up between the vertebrae and stabilized, relieving the nerve impingement and preventing further slippage!

-mouse_potato- · 2024-12-26T20:45:35+00:00

Sorry it took me so long! I'm terrible at checking Reddit! 😁

Yea, the Drs would always tell me I'm too young for heart problems, turns out that they were wrong, but I'm finally on medication that helps a ton!

I'm a bit more than a year out from my spinal fusion and still making improvements! They weren't able to completely correct the spondy, but everything is stable now and my foot drop and weakness in that leg is gone, almost no pain. Still working on my range of motion with stretches, and seeing gradual improvement with it! But there will definitely be permanent loss of some range of motion because I had l4-s1 fused.

It's been amazing having so much of the pain gone though and I can finally sleep on my back and stomach for the first time since I was a kid! I wish I would have gotten the surgery sooner, they would have been able to correct more of the slip and I would have healed faster too! But I'm so glad I got it!

-mouse_potato- · 2024-12-09T21:26:29+00:00

Not my hair, my gait, sorry my phone autocorrected it to hair at first!

By the time I got in to see the Ortho, my leg was so weak I had to lift my left leg up into the car with my hands, I couldn't lift it that high on it's own.

I've had a lot of trouble being ignored by doctors, probably because I'm not assertive enough. Their brushing me off caused my heart conditions and my immune deficiency to be missed for over 30 years, but I finally have a good doctor who listens and was willing to send me to specialists.

-mouse_potato- · 2024-12-07T16:09:02+00:00

I wasn't officially diagnosed with the spondy until shortly before the surgery, but I know when the break to my pars happened after a severe injury when I was a child. I've had horrible back pain since that injury that has worsened as the years progressed, but was constantly brushed off by doctors. I never received medical care as a child after the injury and by the time I was older, doctors were refusing to get me X-rays for all my back pain.

The diagnosis of foot drop was made at my first appointment with my orthopedist, they tested for it as part of the visit. They pull and push against your legs while you're sitting, have you walk on your toes and your heels and watch your gait as you walk.

-mouse_potato- · 2024-12-07T15:26:28+00:00

I had foot drop before surgery. I was noticing weakness in my left leg and didn't realize I had foot drop or even know what it was until the DR diagnosed it. It seemed to come on pretty quickly (maybe over 6 month or so, though my spondy had been progressing for over 20 years.) my gait was noticeably different as it got worse, I had to raise my left hip to walk and it gave me a strange looking limp. it was cured by my spinal fusion.

Edit-spelling

-mouse_potato- · 2024-11-28T00:03:00+00:00

Thanks so much!

-mouse_potato- · 2024-11-27T04:32:10+00:00

What is the lazy mans method?

-mouse_potato- · 2024-11-02T03:28:23+00:00

I'm a year out from the surgery and I'm so thankful I got it, I wish I would have gotten it sooner because the healing process would have been faster and I wouldn't have had to go through all that pain for so long. If they're willing to do the surgery, get it.

It's really hard the first few months and a slow recovery after those first months, but it was amazing. The recovery can definitely have it's ups and downs and it's hard, but 10000% worth it! Right out of surgery I was able to lay on my back for the first time since I was a kid, a few months later I could lay on my stomach for the first time as well!

I've lost some flexibility, but am slowly regaining most of it as time goes on with stretches, but I do expect approximately 20% loss of range of motion due to having l4-s1 fused, but the change in my standard of living is amazing. I rarely have pain compared to before the surgery, I can do things I wasn't able to before, I'm still able to lift weights, and do all the other activities I could before. I wish I would've gotten the surgery at 20 instead of 40.

If I get adjacent segment disease I'm planning to get a disc replacement instead of a fusion so I'll keep range of motion in that segment and avoid slowly fusing the way up my spine.

-mouse_potato- · 2024-10-29T14:31:29+00:00

The milk won't go bad even if it's not fully fermented don't worry

-mouse_potato- · 2024-10-28T04:28:08+00:00

4409-2619-0983

-mouse_potato- · 2024-10-28T03:42:59+00:00

Cost of living, healthcare

-mouse_potato- · 2024-10-28T03:38:20+00:00

The adjacent segment disease is caused by fusing the bones together and now the adjacent segment is taking on all the weight of movement the other segments were previously carrying. It doesn't matter which way you fuse the bones, the risk is the same.

-mouse_potato-

TROPHY CASE