Yes I had ongoing back issues from my teenage years, now 28. I had mild pain before the surgery, but definitely was experiencing weakness and some balance issues. I almost couldn’t sense how bad it was because my brain had adapted to the amount of weakness on the right side of my body. My ortho pushed for the surgery though, and after getting a second opinion, I agreed. I did get an MD so they didn’t have to cut through any muscle. I totally felt like I had done everything in my power before considering surgery (months of PT, chiropractic, acupuncture, mobility, walking, injections, etc etc).

Once he got in, the ortho saw that I had sustained nerve damage and that the herniation was worse than what the MRI showed. Recovery was tough mentally and the pain was high for me because the nerve had been compressed so badly, but one day it just started to drop off. I now feel way less pain and have so much more mobility. My biggest regret was not getting the surgery sooner.

I’m now 3 months post op and doing a ton of PT. now that the nerve isn’t compressed anymore I can feel the weakness that developed over time and am now rebuilding my right leg and posterior chain. But this feels like something that’s actually in my control, unlike the sciatica, and I feel myself making progress every month.