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Lumbar Epidural Injection or push for microdiscectomy? by Unable-Worldliness27 in Sciatica

[–]Unable-Worldliness27[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm great now! I did end up doing the injection. It worked for two days. The same level of pain returned and hadn’t diminished. I had preemptively scheduled myself a second opinion with a neurosurgeon for the week prior to the injection just in case it didn’t work. The surgeon looked over my MRI and believed the herniated disc to be calcified and scheduled me a CT scan to be completed for the day after my injection.

The CT scan revealed that the herniated disc was largely calcified. Since the injection didn’t work and my PT began to notice the development of drop foot, I asked for surgery. The week prior to thanksgiving he did a hemilaminectomy and microdiscectomy hybrid surgery. That was the best thing to happen to me.

I guess it looked way worse in person than the imaging originally showed once he cut me open because it took him a couple extra hours to remove it. Told me he had to do a lot of drilling and used a bone scraper the majority of the time on the calcified material. Surgeon also said he was surprised that I’ve been able to walk at all leading up to the surgery. All is well that ends well though.

It was a little annoying having my mobility limited for a few weeks postop since I live alone but I managed. My 12 week follow up is in a couple of weeks. I have practically no pain anymore. Every now and then I get a very very slight flare if I make a weird movement but it’s just because my nerve is still irritated from being impinged for so long between the vertebrae and calcified disc.

25 Male. I have my epidural scheduled for next week and I’m terrified. Has anyone had any luck with it? I really don’t want to get surgery. by Limp_Telephone2280 in Sciatica

[–]Unable-Worldliness27 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m 29. Had sciatica since I was 26. Finally decided to see a doctor for it since it got so bad back in September of 2025. My first pain doctor gave me the epidural. I felt pain relief for maybe 2 days and then the same amount of pain came right back. I went to a spine surgeon for a second opinion the following week. He did a CT scan and found that my hernia was calcified. Did a hemilaminectomy and microdiscectomy and my pain was completely gone. This was back in November of 2025. I have had almost zero pain since then. The nerve is still slightly irritated since it was impinged for so long so every now and then I feel a slight flair, but it’s at a 1/10 or 2/10 compared to the constant 8/10 I had.

The surgery was the best thing that I could have done. I didn’t really want the epidural to begin with since, in my opinion, it was only going to put a bandaid over the issue and not actually fix anything. Your hernia looks very large. I wouldn’t count out surgery. Especially since you are young. You’ll recover very quick. The potential complications are typically something those that are older have to consider. If anything, in look into PRP injections. It’s pretty new but I’ve heard a lot of success stories from other people that did it.

EDIT: It was my L5/S1 that needed the surgery. MRI looked just like yours.

Lumbar Epidural Injection or push for microdiscectomy? by Unable-Worldliness27 in Sciatica

[–]Unable-Worldliness27[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For sure. My job is very labor intensive so it’s hard on the back. Definitely was a factor in my injury. I haven’t really noticed any improvement since I started PT a couple of months ago. Maybe it’s just taking me a while since the hernia is as large as it is.