hi there
im 27 years old. i've been getting ocassional sciatic pain for 6-7 years which has increased over the last few months to a point where i can only sustain walking or standing for about 5 mins. at this point i get sharp pain down my left leg/buttock and my leg will go tingly, then completly numb. CT scans & an MRI show i have a disc out at L5/S1 which is compressing the left sciatic nerve (also a bulge at L4/5)

i've undergone 2 months of physiotherapy, and one month of traditional acupunture. both therapys seem to only provide short term relief, and now both therapists agree with my neurosurgeon that surgery is probably my best option - that my pain isnt likely to be cured conservatively as it has been there for so long.

i do want to explore all other options first though as i consider surgery a last resort. a friend suggested 'laser acunpuncture' (similar to 'deep tissue' acupunture) which targets the deeper muscles

does anyone have any info./success stories with this?
im concerned these methods will only provide temporary relief and my symptoms will return months/years later..perhaps with the disc in a worse state?

my other concern is that i've been told the longer i put off surgery, the less chance there is of it being a success..

Just wanted to say, be real careful in deciding the surgery. I know someone who had this and it didn't do anything but make things worse. Some PT specialist are pretty good and others not so good. Keep checking around for a good one that helps. Haven't heard about lazer acupunture though. Have you ever tried that "blue stuff" with the emu oil in it for the pain? Suppose to work good on sciatic nerve pain.

Welcome Sydney ! I too had the L5-S1 herniation. I really had no choice but to have the hemilaminectomy because the disc was pushed so far into the Sciatic nerve that NOTHING would even touch the pain. That was on the right side. The surgery was successful in that I no longer have the right side sciatic pain; however, the neurosurgeon that operated on me did not send me to any type of physical therapy afterwards - didn't even mention it - nor exercises. As a result in December 2000 my lower back started hurting and has gotten chronically worse ! I kept going back to him and he would tell me that there was nothing more he could do for me - that I had to lose weight ! Well, I did lose weight and guess what? I AM STILL IN CHRONIC PAIN ! Anyway went to numerous docs, had 2 more MRI's - went to an orthosurgeon who wants to do a fusion. I don't want another surgery. My last resort - Pain Management. I am currently being treated by a wonderful pain management doc. She thinks I will eventually get better, we are just trying different things. The last thing we tried recently was facet block injections (a form of epidural) that were EXTREMELY PAINFUL ! AND DID NOT HELP AT ALL ! On top of my low back pain, my left buttocks and leg now have sciatic pain. The pain management doc feels that (after examination) the periformis muscle is tightening on the sciatic nerve. I am going for another MRI within the next two weeks to make sure nothing is herniated. In the meantime I am taking MS-contin 30 mg 5 x day and hydrocodone (10/325 mg) 2 every 4 hours for pain.

Good luck to you in what ever you decide to do. I do believe that the longer you wait the worse things will be. As far as the outcome of the surgery? WHO KNOWS ! No one can predict that unfortunately. They tell you odds and chances, but the ultimate decision is yours. Keep on researching - get as much info as you can and then make your decision.

http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Hang in there !


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I just finished my document on my spinal fusion back surgery. I had the same symptons as you except in my right leg. I will have it up for you tomorrow andi t will be worth reading.

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Linda
linda534ss

sydneygirl, before you do surgery try calcium and magnesium citrate supplements. Has done wonders for my back pain, which has been nerve and muscle. I no longer have back pain.

My overall experience of having an L4-L5 spinal fusion surgery has been successful. Most of this success is finding an excellence surgeon, a patient who is motivated and disciplined enough to follow doctors orders to the "tee" and WALKING. I was diagnosed with a ruptured disc that was pinching a nerve, in January 2002. The first neurosurgeon I went to, put me on oral steroids which didn’t seem to help any and my follow up appointment, he said there’s nothing else he could do for me. I had a second opinion with Dr. John Marouk and he wanted surgery to be the last resort so, he sent me to a "Pain and Evaluation Treatment Clinic”. My first steroid injection in the back helped but within a month, it came back. After almost five months of pain medication such as Oxycontin, steroid injections and other pain injection treatments, nothing seemed to help if anything, it made it worse. At this point, your ready to do anything to get rid of the pain. The next procedure to be done was a pressure test…these are not fun! After getting the results, I went back to my neurosurgeon to discuss surgery. Dr. Marouk then suggested a Spinal Fusion with a bone graft.. He explained every step of the surgery, what he was going to do and what to expect afterwards. In my own words of how the surgery is done---Doctor will take a piece of bone from my hip, bone graft, and will fuse it together with screws and bolts. Since I’m a smoker, an electrical bone growth stimulation was put in to promote healing. To read more information on this, please go to: http://www.askjeeves.com/index.asp and type: What is invasive or noninvasive methods of electrical bone growth stimulation?, then click on the first link: Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators (Osteogenic Stimulation.

My surgery was scheduled for November 14, 2002. A couple of weeks before my surgery, it was hard to get out of bed mentally and physically. The day of my surgery, as they were taking me to the surgery room, I was crying my eyes out. That night, after a four hour long surgery, recovery and waking up in your room, I stood up. The next day I got out of bed and had to drag my right leg to walk. I had to use a walker because of the pinched nerve I had and yes, I was scared to death. However, later on that evening, I was walking with my husbands help and the next day I was using the side rails along the hospital wall. I got to go home on the third day and for the first week at home, you wish you wouldn’t of had the surgery. I feel for anyone having to do this alone and I don’t think I could of made it through all of this if it weren’t for my husband, family and friends. I couldn’t be more happier and pleased with the results and very grateful to my Dr. Marouk. It is so nice to walk pain free.

After three months of having my surgery, I started having pain and there were some exercises that I couldn’t do without hurting. After talking with Dr. Marouk and discussing why I’m hurting during certain exercises, he suggested I have a myleogram…these are not fun either. After getting the results, we found that I had a screw that was close to an artery. Dr. Marouk then suggested having my instruments, screws, bolts and bone stimulator, taken out. On June 20th, 2001, I went in to what was suppose to be an outpatient surgery but ended up staying three days in the hospital. When Dr. Marouk went in to take everything out, he also found that I had a screw loose and a lots of scar tissue. When removing the scar tissue, he couldn’t believe how much I had, it tore a little place in my sack where your spinal fluid is. So now, I’ve been laying in bed, for nine days now, with a spinal fluid leak. It’s getting much better and after talking to Dr. Marouk today, I’m suppose to wear my back brace, take it easy this week and see him on Friday. I’m sure this kind of luck won’t happen to everyone such as, three days before my surgery I was laid off, a month after surgery, I had a slip-n-fall, two months later I had viral meningitis, which took them three spinal taps of getting my fluid to test, having my instruments taken out and a week later, getting laid off again with the same company that hired me back.

I would suggest to anyone to have surgery however, always get a second opinion, ask questions and do some research on the doctor you choose. Even when your in the office for an appointment, ask other patients waiting how their surgery went or what they think of the doctor.

I hope this helps in your decision and if you have any other questions, please let me know.

Thanks and God Bless,
Linda

hi guys

thanks so much for sharing your experiences and advice. i really feel for what you are all going through and also very scared of making thing worse by getting surgery!

but after trying a few sessions of laser acupuncture, and even anti-depressants (my doctor thought stress could be a contributing factor), im not noticing any significant change.

i suppose at least i have tried every alternative possible, and now just need to accept the risks of the surgery, which looks inevitable if i am to try and change my current debilitating lifestyle!

i'll let you all know how it goes.

two years ago i had herniated discs in the l4 l5 area. the pain was immense. i too had the numbing in the leg, and was loaded up with pain medication. i had an mri, emg, the whole works done. the dr s were ready to do surgery. i then found out i was pregnant, so i went looking for alternatives. i found one on the internet called VAX-D.

Hi Sydney girl,

I have a different situation, neck c5/6 disc bulge with some nerve pain but I do find stress does ignite the pain considerably. It sounds like surgery should be looked with the nerve pain and there is lots of info from people who know here. It may also be worth looking at Yoga or exercise to relax and rebuild strenght along with any other ways to reduce your stress.
Mel