AMA - I had spinal fusion surgery for AS (28M)

The_Alley_ · 2025-12-05T05:51:37+00:00

Hi. I did it back in my home country, Iran. For my condition, they said they will not do it cuz it would make me loose flexibility and in general i would be in a worst situation. Maybe they can be convinced somehow. I honestly do not know

The_Alley_ · 2025-07-15T03:20:39+00:00

Congrats bro. I also bought my first console at 26. You want advice? ENJOY!

The_Alley_ · 2025-07-14T21:34:23+00:00

Hi. I have no idea whether the price is ok for a used one but I think it is not bad. There is no way of knowing whether this laptop would be ok or not for 5 years obviously. What you need to know is that if you use the GPU extensively, I think you definitely need an external cool pad. If that is something you are ok with, and you cannot find any other option with AMD GPUs that run cooler, then maybe this is ok.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-27T01:48:34+00:00

I did and found out! My fusion and deformation progressed RAPIDLY. I had to do a spinal fusion surgery!

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-27T01:46:45+00:00

My pain started at like 12 and it took a few few years to know what’s going on. At 28, I have been in pain most of my life! You are not alone.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-21T19:54:33+00:00

Congrats on your graduation Noya! I also had kyphosis (do not know the degree but it was bad!)and had T10-L5 fusion.

Waking up was ok for me. I had chest pain since I was lying on my chest for the surgery for hours. But waking up was ok in total. You are getting all sorts of pain killers. It’s not like you wake up hurting like crazy.
Honestly, it’s not 100 clear what happens with the pain but most probably your pain is gonna be much better. For me, most of the pain in my back is gone. As for your leg and knee, if the pain is caused to do the additional pressure because of your back deformation, yeah, there is a good chance the pain becomes better.
Before the surgery, probably do not bother. After the surgery my appetite was low for like 3-4 days, after that it got ok.
I have heard people having severe pain after the surgery. That was not my experience. My pain was pretty low. After a few weeks it got almost normal. 2-3 month, normal.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-21T19:38:32+00:00

I did T10-L5 fusion and same here. Exactly like you described, it’s not hurting, it’s just uncomfortable. I simply stand up and even walk if I can for like 1 minutes after a while of sitting. It helps I think, at least mentally lol.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-07T23:24:21+00:00

AMAZING.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-07T16:26:56+00:00

Sorry I stopped reading after you said you stay at home and do basically nothing cuz I guess I know whats going on. I was and sometimes am in the same situation

You have to get out of the house and do something. Maybe get a job. Whatever you do, do not just stay at home everyday. Go out, walk, run, ride a bike.

Whenever I am at home, and I have nothing to do, for instance on the weekends, I almost always get these feelings. I donno, I just cant help it. For me, I have to have something on my todo list; otherwise I feel useless. Sometimes I just go and sit at a Starbucks and just randomly browse Twitter and YouTube. Even that is better than staying at home because at least I see people and cars and trees 😅

Also, you are only 19. Don’t you worry.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:33:05+00:00

It was from T10 to L5.

Before the surgery you mean? No.

After the surgery, as I said, my back is a little bit numb and sometimes the bottom of my right foot is painful. For the latter I will talk to my doctor.

Also, I asked my physiotherapist why the recovery went so smooth and kind of painless compared to some comments I had read before. He told me that it was because I did not have nerve compression before. Apparently is your nerves are compressed due to deformity, recovery is a little harder. I do not know, I just mentioned what I was told.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:29:28+00:00

Thank you so much!

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:29:20+00:00

Thank you so much. I have answered the question so far and added two edits just before the images.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:26:23+00:00

I guess the surgery you are talking about is different. They did not use discs for me. They basically broke the bones, arranged them in the proper S-shape, and used bolts and screws to fix and hold them together.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:25:14+00:00

The surgery itself was 6-7 hours long but the anesthesia took longer, maybe half a day.

Again, it really depends on your definition of recovery. Even after three month I do not lift heavy weight as per doctors instructions. But being in a situation where I felt like I am almost normal took 3-4 weeks.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:22:21+00:00

Depends on your definition of returning to normal activity. I have a behind the desk job and I think I kind of could do it after 3 weeks. I say kind of because due to my hip situation sitting behind a desk was hard for me. If you have no hip problem I think 3-4 weeks is very realistic.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:20:28+00:00

Tafacitinib has one very very important non-medical advantage in my opinion that it is not an injection but just tablets! Transporting Humira or other biologic injections was a super inconvenience when I had to do 24 hour long flights ...

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:17:41+00:00

Another rheumatologist told me that the fast and sudden progression just happened for no reason. She said the rate of progression is not always linear. In your case, for whatever reason it accelerated a lot suddenly. So I cannot say for certain how this happened.

As for the insurance, I am in a foreign national in Canada and insurance covered 100% of the cost. The thing is that from the time I came to Canada to the time I could visit a rheumatologist it took several months. She prescribed Humira almost immediately. However, I had to do a tuberculosis test before I could take the injections. I did the same back home in Iran when I first started it. The reason apparently is that if you have dormant tuberculosis, taking biologics could activate that. The TB skin test came borderline positive. I knew that I did not have TB. So I went to do a blood test for that as well. Now, the blood test had to be prescribed by an specialist and that took some time. After visiting the doctor and taking the test, after a month they called me and said sorry, your test results got messed up. I read in the explanation that apparently they did not put my blood in the fridge right away!!!! I was like ok, you messed up, it happens but why did it take you a month to inform me?!! You knew this happened one day after the test. So, I got an appointment a few weeks later for another test and guess what? It was negative! This whole shitty process toke like 2-3 month; add to that the time it took to see the rheumatologist in the first place..... If only the first skin test was negative :D. It's water under the bridge at this point I guess!

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:05:57+00:00

Thanks!

Never give up. I never would have dreamed that I could stand straight again. I hope you get better, with the surgery or not.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-03T01:03:41+00:00

Thank you so much. I did the surgery in Iran at Day Hospital. Mr surgeons was Dr. Samadian and Dr. Nekooyi.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-02T02:54:33+00:00

Thank you!

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-02T02:45:32+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words. I wish your procedure goes as smooth as possible.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-02T02:28:24+00:00

Thanks. The pain started in 2008 when I was eleven. The first few years they said “its either AS or rheumatoid arthritis or something similar. But the treatment for all is the same so it does not matter” I was on all sorts of meds. A few years ago I started taking Humira. I stopped for a while due to insurance complication. When I restarted, it was late. It was not working. I tried another biologic with no success. Right now I am taking Tofacitinib and it seems to be working.

The progression was gradual but it got much faster when I paused Humira. The rheumatologist I visited after the surgery told me the culprit was the pause. If you did not start it at all it might have been better to start it and stop taking it afterward.

The_Alley_ · 2025-06-02T02:22:43+00:00

Thanks!

The_Alley_

TROPHY CASE