I had a spinal fusion 3 months ago and now I am in more pain than before my surgery. I was wondering if anyone else has had this surgery and how has it worked for them. Just to let you know I have had spondylothieses, I mispelled that sorry, wich had caused my slipage.

Hi,

I am sorry to hear about your pain. We all know what it's like to have to endure suffering at the hands of our own bodies. I cannot relate to your exact case because I have not had fusion before, but I am sure someone will be along soon to share their stories and offer encouragement.

I just wanted to let you know, I hope you feel better soon and even though we are hurting and get down on ourselves, there is always something to smile about.

Hottrodd

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* 27 years old, male
*Chronic upper back pain for about 6 years, recently getting really bad, really stiff in the morning takes forever to get going, lasts all day everyday.
*Crackling sounds from rib cage area across upper and middle back when stretching.
* Pain, tightness and burning all day long, usually ranges from a 4 through 9 depending on the day and how my body wants to react. Usually it's at least a 6/7 all day recently, used to be an annoying 3/4 all day, which I lived with but hated.
*Problem areas are mainly around breastbone area of chest, across shoulder blades, dead center upper back, upper shoulders and back of neck. Feels as if it's muscles and bones/joints, possibly ribs.
*Muscles spasms, had a couple that were severe enough to go to ER, felt like I was having a heart attack, pain radiated through upper back to chest area.
*Taking Vicodin 5/500 Soma 350 and Celebrex 200, which also helps somewhat but not to where I am not bothered by the pain, burning, tightness ect..
*Chiropractic 3 years, PT on and off again, all of which produces results that do not last for more than the day I have them.
*Can't remember any trauma I had that would have caused all this. Don't understand how it's getting worse.
*Can't really do anything, lifting, heavy physical ect.. Try and walk and stretch when I can.
*Still undiagnosed and waiting

There are two people posting here who have spondylolisthesis. One, named sweetandlow, had fusion surgery to correct grade III spondylolisthesis. The other, named StillWater, is considering fusion surgery for grade I spondylolisthesis. You can search their usernames for posts of theirs, or perhaps you could start a thread "sweetandlow and StillWater: Fusion surgery for spondylolisthesis". They are both delightful and thoughtful people.

hi- i had (perhaps unecessarily) a C5-6-7 two level fusion with my hip bone andi can not think of anything bad enough to call the pain. i substituted one pain for another in my mind. i have 11 screws and 4 plates in my neck. the n/s cut me anterior and posterior. i got a torn rotator cuff from all of this. my surgeron just quit her practice and left nuerosurgery altogether to become an eye doctor instead. this doe not look good. the rest of my back hurts me now as the fusion has put added stress on other parts of my back. this was something she did not tell me went i had the op done. it was horrible. she may be looking at a lawsuit from me. i will not say who she was or where this happened. BE VERY careful about who you let slice you up.....she had top credentials and was in practice for about 17 years with some 5ooo ops under her belt. be careful there are alot of knife happy surgeons out there looking to make some money as there are only about 200,000 of these kinds of ops done each year but some 7000 doctors who are n/s. there isnt enough people to go around for all the knife happy doctors.

by the way, i can not turn my neck past 11 am on a clock or past 3 pm. it will never be the same as before as far as the range of motion in my neck! keep this in mind before you have someone touch you. she did not show me any video of what was to take place in this operation nor was she helpful to me after the operation if i needed to call her after hours she was not available. she told all her patients to 'call the emergency room at your nearest hosiptal or go there. I would never have her touch me again but she cant now anyway as she quit her practice altogether!

Hi rlcowboy http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wave.gif

I had posterior fusion with hardware almost 1 year ago for level 2 spondylolisthesis. the first 3-4 months were very difficult. At 6 months, I tried to begin exercising regularly but noticed I was having more swelling and pain after exercising and felt I had a hardware problem. I was able to convince my doctor to perform another surgery and he discovered I had a loose screw and removed the right side hardware. Ever since the hardware was removed, my back is doing great. The only problem I currently experiencing is som* sciatic pain which I cannot understand since my back feels so well.

The best thing is to keep a positive attitude and stay in contact with your doctor if you feel you are not getting better.

I hope you get to feeling better soon http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/t_up.gif

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Spondylolisthesis - level 2 L5/S1
Pars Defect
End Plate Separation
2 Nerve Root Blocks (no effect)
L5/S1 Posterior Fusion with hardware (no BAK cages due to lack of disk space) - August 2002
Right side hardware removed due to loose screw and rod rubbing against facet joint - March 2003
Can now say I am better than prior to the fusion!!!!


[This message has been edited by L5S1 (edited 08-06-2003).]

It takes a long time to heal after this major surgery. Consider asking your surgeon for xrays to see if all the hardware is in place correctly and if he can refer you to a pain management doctor. Your surgery was done to correct a 'mechanical' problem with your spine and unfortunately the pain often stays afterwards. Depending on one's age and physical condition, it can take 6 months to a year for you body to recover from the cutting. Hang in there and I hope you get some answers soon.

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Had posterior lumbar interbody fusion at L4/L5/S1 on Jan. 30,'01 with 6 pedicle screws, 2 Steffe plates, 4 Brantigan carbon fiber cages and my own hip graft for spondylolisthesis. Wear leg braces (afo's on both legs)for drop foot from nerve damage.