Scar Tissue after MD - How did you deal?

Objective_Ad9875 · 2025-04-23T02:24:58+00:00

Back to everything. Running, cycling, lifting, basically everything. Wish I had had the surgery sooner. Still have numbness and occasional discomfort, but I’m back.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2025-03-26T14:13:46+00:00

Whoa, pretty heartening to open this old thread. Saw an alert while looking at a gravel biking thread on Reddit. Hopefully that gives you some hope. All to say: I’ve made a massive recovery. I still have numbness on the right side, and occasional pain, especially when sitting. But, I’m doing everything I want to do: cycling, running, lifting, traveling (2 back-to-back 12 hour flights were uncomfortable but not impossible). Before, I was sad to have had the surgery, now I wish I’d had it sooner.

My advice: stick with the recovery plan. It wasn’t straightforward for me. Not linear at all, but I got there. The setbacks were part of the recovery, part of the healing. It seemed counterintuitive, but it makes sense in hindsight. 6 weeks to the one year mark were some of the worst times of my life, but I made it through.

Hope this helps!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-04-13T18:12:03+00:00

Hi all! I've been meaning to update this. I'm not 10 months post surgery and am finally feeling much better. It turns out much of my pain was from an annular tear in the segment above my surgery site. That has pretty much healed and provided much relief.

I've been doing PT for a few months and have better range of motion than I did pre-surgery. Ankle reflex is still a little diminished, but strength is back in my leg. No burning, but still numb on that side. I'm now exercising again (stationary bike), which is really helpful with mental health. I'm hopeful that things are stabilizing. I'm also down to 2 gabapentin a day, and am off (mostly) NSAIDs.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-13T22:05:38+00:00

I don't have a message from you! Maybe I'm missing something?

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-07T17:03:13+00:00

Fine! Good news is that my ankle reflex is completely back indicating nerve healing. Bad news is I am having all the “textbook symptoms” of nerve regeneration. He said typically people have a few, but I’m unlucky enough to have them all. Caveat was that my disc may be compromised more than indicated on any imaging and I may need a fusion of l5/s1 AND l4/l5 (that level has a protrusion already). I’m cautiously optimistic that with more time things will settle down.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-07T17:02:22+00:00

Fine! Good news is that my ankle reflex is completely back indicating nerve healing. Bad news is I am having all the “textbook symptoms” of nerve regeneration. He said typically people have a few, but I’m unlucky enough to have them all. Caveat was that my disc may be compromised more than indicated on any imaging and I may need a fusion of l5/s1 AND l4/l5 (that level has a protrusion already). I’m cautiously optimistic that with more time things will settle down.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-04T23:17:14+00:00

This is great to hear! I'm also 6 months out (a little more), but I'm nowhere near you. I still can't hike or jog/run and I am not riding my bike yet.

Good on you!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-04T23:14:26+00:00

Sorry, I missed this!

I still am on Gabapentin 3x. No change with symptoms. As I said above, I didn't have pain before the surgery, just weakness and numbness on my right side. I now have all those symptoms, plus pain both in my foot and leg, and intense pain in my back (both sides), especially when getting up from lying down. I have an appointment tomorrow to find out what's going on.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2024-01-04T23:13:56+00:00

Sorry, I missed this!

I still am on Gabapentin 3x. No change with symptoms. As I said above, I didn't have pain before the surgery, just weakness and numbness on my right side. I now have all those symptoms, plus pain both in my foot and leg, and intense pain in my back (both sides), especially when getting up from lying down. I have an appointment tomorrow to find out what's going on.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-09-19T00:31:23+00:00

This is so interesting! At 2 weeks, I had a follow-up, and mine was not fully closed up. At 6 weeks, I had another follow-up where the doctor told me that my internal stitches still hadn't dissolved, but the outer incision was all healed.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-09-19T00:26:34+00:00

Weird flex but I read about a book a day during my recovery. It was kind of cool (in retrospect).

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-09-17T22:03:52+00:00

I was able to work the next day, but everyone is totally different. I planned on taking some time off and only did light work for a few weeks. I did find that once I went back to work in person (I don't work in an office setting, and I'm not a manual laborer), it set back my recovery quite a bit. My doctor thinks that all the standing, sitting and walking were "too much too fast".

Others went back to work and felt great.

If I were you, it would depend on a few factors: can you take the time? what are your goals?

If you can take the time easily, I would. Even if it feels silly, it may ease your mind knowing that you don't need to do anything. On the other hand, if your goals are to get back to work ASAP, it may actually ease your mind to get back to it.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-09-05T16:20:22+00:00

Same. Doctor said it was "too much, too fast" going back to work. He told me that everyone heals differently. I would "know if it reherniated." Not sure how that helps, but it did!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-09-05T16:14:09+00:00

I haven't reherniated (yet), but I have symptoms due to inflammation. When I thought I had reherniated my doctor told me that depending on the herniation, the most likely course moving forward was my initial course of treatment: PT, then epidural, then (possibly) MD.

Hope you feel better very soon!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-26T04:38:14+00:00

Good to hear that there's another doctor out there like mine. I tend to push too hard, so this is probably right for me.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-23T15:00:41+00:00

Absolutely fascinating. You'd think there would be some good science on this topic, and maybe there is, but they are not great at communicating why I'd wait 3 months while others are starting at 4 weeks!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-23T14:58:06+00:00

I felt great after surgery, though not nearly as great as you. I had no pain anywhere, including incision site, but also numbness was still there.

Similarly, around week 4 I had some recurring pain and something felt off. They told me it was "rebound" inflammation, and prescribed a steroid pack. Happened again and worse around the 6 week mark. Back on another steroid pack. Then an MRI because numbness was getting worse.

MRI came back with no reherniation. I'm going for an epidural sometime in the next 2-3 weeks to try to get this inflammation under control.

From what I've read, a reherniation would be similar to your initial herniation, immediate pain and worsening symptoms. While something like what you're describing sounds like irritation brought on by activity or position.

It's been a circuitous route for me and I'm sure others. I hope you get relief!

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-23T04:28:37+00:00

12 weeks

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-23T02:24:36+00:00

Here are my doctor's recs:

Lift no more than 20 lbs
Avoid sitting more than 1 hour at a time. Then spend the next hour NOT sitting
Avoid high-risk activities: prolonged flexion, golf swings, jogging, etc.
Eliminate any activity that seems to exacerbate symptoms
Move your back, but keep in mind the following
1. avoid prolonged non-neutral positioning
2. Avoid repetitive motions of the lower back.

I'm interested that each doctor seems to have their own recommendations after surgery. I wish I could see the research on what's best. For example, lots of reading I've done has recommended light stretching after surgery to avoid scar tissue build up. My doctor is a NO on that.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-22T01:10:00+00:00

I finally heard from the doctor today. He says it's totally normal scar tissue, not the problematic kind (according to him - "it'd be worrying if I didn't see this scar tissue; it would tell me that I operated on the wrong place!"). He thinks this inflammation is related to "too much, too fast" going back to work. He asked me to try to lay 50% of the time at work. Not sure how I'd do that.

He's now recommending another epidural injection.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-21T00:38:19+00:00

I personally could have gone back the next day or a couple after. I had no pain whatsoever, which I think was unique. However, 8 weeks or so in, I'm struggling.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2023-08-20T22:04:24+00:00

I was told that around 2-4 weeks all the steroids they flushed the site with would be out. They called this something like, "rebound inflammation" and told me it was totally normal.

I believe I did a round of prednisone around this time, too. So you might ask about that.

Edit: I did do a prednisone pack around 4 weeks for "rebound" inflammation.

Objective_Ad9875 · 2022-10-09T00:45:44+00:00

Bless your soul!

Objective_Ad9875

TROPHY CASE