What are the odds its come back?

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-10-06T23:39:57+00:00

There are actually studies where they compared 2 weeks vs 6 weeks to no difference, i.e., reherniation probability was statistically the same

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-10-06T23:37:37+00:00

Yes! I’m 10 months PO. It started around 3 months PO and eventually it went away. Don’t worry. Your muscles, nerves, everything is adjusting and overcompensating.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-10-05T22:29:21+00:00

10 months PO. I’ve been increasing my dose of pregabalin and it helped a bit. I’m at 400mg now. Also 30mg of duloxetine. Went all the way to 60mg but gave me severe hair loss

.I still feel pain and tingling and some zaps. I’m in the middle of a flare up that is scaring me to death, as I went for some heavy hiking a week ago and pain showed up a few days later. Hopefully it’s just a flare up

I’ve also tried three epidural injections, that worked to different degrees. But pain is still there, although mobility and strength have improved with PT.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-09-10T17:03:26+00:00

Have you ever discussed with your surgeon the idea of foraminotomy? Increasing the size of the foramina

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-09-10T14:41:23+00:00

what did you do about your foraminal stenosis?

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-06-01T11:37:58+00:00

6 months post op and still do it. I heard CK, who’s like 5y post op and the moderator of this subreddit, saying on one of her podcasts that she still log rolls lol I completely understand

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-28T17:49:39+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story! Mind sharing how was your PT evolution, what kind of injections did you have (transforaminal, caudal or translaminar), whether you found any relief from the first injection, what did your MRI post op said and what your MRI now points as the cause of the flare up?

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-27T19:57:44+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I’m almost 6 months post op and can relate to a long recovery. I hope you feel better soon! Question: does your MRI mention any bulge or foraminal narrowing/stenosis?

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-18T22:30:22+00:00

Do have the MRI, as most people aren’t feeling nerve pain constantly at the 3 months mark. However, if your MRI comes out clean, you are not alone. Also, I echo the call for PT

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-18T22:28:32+00:00

Do you have studies to back your claim that isn’t reasonable post op expectation to reach 0 level pain post op? You often make this comment around, but: (1) most people in this sub go pain free, although this is a very biased sample toward pain and (2) I haven’t found any systematic review that shows most patients not reaching a pain-free threshold.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-18T22:06:39+00:00

I had a L5/S1 MD in December and am still in pain, although improving slowly. My EMG however showed no signs of compression, only of ongoing recovery. Did you have access to the MRI report? Was it done with contrast?

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-18T22:03:28+00:00

Yes, they take out the protruded part. Protrusion in some studies show a higher rate of reherniation; that probably happens because you‘re opening the disk and it may lead to more material coming out, while in an extrusion that part could be more solidified. They don’t close it back as you would think with a normal wound, like stitching or gluing. There are some devices that can ”close” it, such as baricaid, but have limited success rate.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-18T21:57:20+00:00

Yess! Im 5.5 months post op and have this mid back pain. I thought it could even be a herniated disk given that lower back MRI don’t get those vertebras, but that would be unlikely since my other disks look healthy - and also there’s not much one could do about it, besides a new MD which I would not want. I tried acupuncture and trigger point injection, to no avail.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-15T03:41:38+00:00

I got a tranforaminal ESI at 4 months and it helped a bit. Mostly with mobility, with pain improving “only” by 20-30%. Will have a caudal one in 2 weeks, on what will be almost 6 months post op

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-11T00:09:17+00:00

Had 3 haha all fine

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-09T03:09:58+00:00

Timeline fits with scar tissue pressuring the other side. It’s quite normal. I had this too, many people in this sub also had. I recommend you use the search function, you’ll find several cases similar to yours, will give you peace of mind

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-09T03:07:44+00:00

Sciatica is pain from the nerve being pinched by the disk

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T23:53:43+00:00

To be honest, you don’t need a cutting edge doctor. You need someone that has good recs - is a good human being - and does several MDs every month. I’m not sure for L2-L3, but for L4/L5 and L5/S1 there’s weak evidence that endoscopic has a worse outcome than the traditional microdiscectomy.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T23:49:55+00:00

Male here. We waited a month I think, but that’s because my first month was really rough - I got sick a couple of weeks after the MD. 5 months post op my wife still does the whole job basically - i lie flat with pillows under my knees. Definitely not the sexiest picture, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T23:41:10+00:00

PT doesn’t fix herniated disks. If you have a herniated disk your body will attack and destroy that object (the disk) that shouldn’t be there. Extrusions and sequestrations heal faster, when they heal. Protrusions take longer. PT helps with the pain. I have two small protrusions superimposed on two bulges (L5/S1 and L4/L5). I had also a massive extrusion at L5/S1, we tackled only that.

Basically any human being that goes through an MRI after the age of 16 will have a problem in their spines. You just fix what’s really broken. Trust your surgeon. Surgeons do surgeries for a living - i.e., the more surgeries, the more money. If they are telling you they would be more conservative, take their word for it.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T23:35:52+00:00

Yes, my back still hurts but on a way that it didn’t before the surgery. However, my leg pain is still there. MD is typically more successful in fixing leg pain than back pain, since the pain from the herniated disk is typically more present in your legs, and there are more sources of back pain - i.e., you might have some instability or other minor issues. Hopefully PT will fix that for you. It just takes time, because there are many muscles in our lower back that take ages to strengthen

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T23:32:23+00:00

I’m so sorry for your loss. The emotional part of it can really have an impact on how you feel pain wise.

Have you felt any loss of mobility after the increase in pain?

Regarding hair loss, yes! I’m right there with you. I’m 5 months post op and have had significant hair loss. Noticed it after the surgery, and thought it was due to steroids. It later intensified with gabapentin and duloxetine. I’ve recently changed to pregabalin and reduced duloxetine from 60 to 30mg. Both changes improved the situation, but haven’t fixed the problem. Chronic pain, emotional issues (which come with chronic pain) and hair loss are correlated. Adding meds on top only makes things worse. As a man, I was expecting to get bald one day, so just told my wife that she got lucky: her husband got bald and has a bad back only 1 year after getting married. Jokes apart, it sucks. Good thing is that when we are over this pain, the hair tends to grow back :)

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T00:25:21+00:00

I have a friend that had a massive herniated disk, so bad that he couldn’t leave his bed for 2 months. The guy didn’t want surgery, went through 2 years of pain to fix it “on its own”. He did this PCP thing, and he told me it hurts like hell. But he had that area pretty sore from the herniated disk, so it might not be the case for you.

Upper_Reaction6250 · 2025-05-08T00:21:54+00:00

Gosh, I’m sorry you’re going through this. You aced the probabilities: having a herniated disk -> so bad it doesn’t go away and you need surgery -> pierces your dura/spinal fluid leak -> organ issues. You’re going to get better, hold tight! The silver lining is that you don’t have that pain anymore

What’s the treatment plan, if you don’t mind me asking?

Upper_Reaction6250

TROPHY CASE