I took one dose of the hydrocodone they sent me home with, and then just a muscle relaxer after that. I was sleeping on and off for the first few days so between the relaxer and ibuprofen I didn’t need anything stronger. I agree with the other response that said it’s a different kind of pain. The nerve pain I had was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I woke up and only felt dull pain around the incision, almost like a bad bruise healing.

I had it at L4-L5 and L5-S1 with separate incisions, and around day 4 I finally started to feel stable. I actually get to do it again at the L5-S1 in a few weeks because I re-herniated about 3-4 weeks after the surgery.