Hello, I have had back for about 9 months now, and i have had 2 CT scans, 3 mri and numorous Xrays, approx. 5 months ago, the doctors told me that i had herniated discs, so i did 6 weeks of PT and another MRI was taken, this MRI was shown completely normal, and then my doctors re-examined the previous MRIs, I was told that the Diagnosis of disc herniations was incorret and now we are back to square one, although we now have that theory cancelled out. I now have the option to get surgery to "open up" my back just to find out what is really wrong, It hard for me to know what the risks are, because I'm not sure what they wil find..
I having many problems making this decision...
I need a few opinions, please help me. Thanks.
I've heard that exploratory back surgery is *never* a good idea.
Better to wait and get reliable imaging and diagnostic tests, and ONLY go to surgery if there is clearly a problem that is known to be causing your pain which can be corrected surgically.
Boy, that just doesn't make sense to me. If they got in there and discovered that you needed, say, a fusion, what would they do? Fix it without discussing such a major operation with you before hand? Not fix it and then have to go back in again later? With the tests available today, it doesn't make sense to not do some more extensive testing before heading to surgery to "look around" in there! I hope you can get one or more other opinions. This just doesn't smell right.
I am totally agreeing with the other comments. Don't have exploratory surgery for your back. Please, Please, get a second or even a third opinion. And see a spine specialist or a neurosurgeon. You don't want to have people opening you up to see what is going on...there are other tests to determine what is going on. Please keep us posted.
If they go in looking for something and find nothing they may cause something even though they found nothing and thats something to think about.
Ok I have confused my self. YOU need another opinion.
Should i get surgery? 
