Update on my status, had Anterior Lumbar Fusion on two levels 6 weeks ago, was a great 33rd birthday present at 3 weeks I felt great, then I started to get horrible pain all around my lower back, Doctor said it's form the Enzyme they use to grow the bone, they did not take any bone off my hip to use for the fusion, but rather used just an enzyme that goes in the cages and will stimulate bone growth, supposed to have like a 98% success rate of fusion. Now 6 weeks later I have a pulled muscle next to my spine that spasms and nearly drops me, keeps me using the walker much of the time, but I feel like once that muscle heals I will be much much better. Lowered my pain meds to 10mgs of Percocet every 4 hours so I'm already on less than I was pre-op. Hang in there all, there is light at the end.
The following 2 users give hugs of support to: Markdog33 tinkerbell45 (10-02-2011), tweetyfeety (10-02-2011)
Wow Markdog33- you've been through a lot for a young guy!! I'm no stranger to muscle spasms in the back, & I cringed when I read that! Glad to hear you're feeling better as time passes. take care, TF
Wow you have been thru ALOT for your age but then again what is age but numbers when you feel bad?! I am proud of you for all that you have accomplished and just cutting back on the pain meds is nothing short of a miracle to me. I hope everything keeps going well for you and i hope you will keep mr updated on your progress as time goes by. Until next time TAKE CARE hope to hear from you soon.
I have DDD, Congenital Stenosis, Osteo arthritis, and more. I have a spinal cord the size of a pencil and should be the size of your thumb. The only one that helped me was a Neurologist that I had to beg my Dr to be refered to. He was the only one that said he would help me and he has. After he sent me straight to a fantastic Neurosurgeon and I had three disk in my neck fused with cadaver bone in between and metal plates, a hip done from a labral tear and L5-S1 done a few months ago I feel better. I will in the future look towards more surgery as I still have slipped disks (also known as bulging disks). Get referred to a Neurologist, then to a pain clinic. I do not live pain free, but I have a life where my pain level is not a ten every day. Good luck to you. And God bless
The following user gives a hug of support to Juhangingout: tinkerbell45 (10-05-2011)
The Following User Says Thank You to Juhangingout For This Useful Post: tinkerbell45 (10-05-2011)
Hi guys, i also suffer from this problem. I was a stone/block mason for 32 years,im 49 years old now and was injured early in my career, i kept working till 2002 the pain was uncontrolable by me anymore.I went to a doctor,she sent me to get am MRI and results were 3 herniated discs,and DDD,at that time i was given percocet 10 360 per month,then oxcycotin till november 2009.I tried to cold turkey and bout died,now im on soboxone,which does nothing for pain,and unemployable,gov. wont give me my disabilty,doctors cant-wont operate.I have no option but to go back to pain meds,ya know ya hear about all these great medical advances,well i have yet to see em.I hate to say it but if your in constant pain you have no choice but to become dependent on opiates,give me an option but there are none at least in w.v.It destroyes your whole life slowly,and depression ia an awful side effect,i was always a hustler in my work now im imobile,tired,depressed and going to have to go back on opiates.
Whats the reason they wont operate ? Do you not have a leaking herniation? If there are discs pushing on a nerve or nerves they should do surgery. Is this a regular Dr saying this or a Neurosurgeon:? My Neurosurgeon does not go by what the report says he only wants to see the MRI. He said most descriptions are bs and when he saw my MRI had me in surgery within a week. Nerves can heal themselves but at a slow rate. If they have been crushed for too long they will die and not be able to heal themselves which is my case. MY regular Dr only went by the notes of the report of the MRI and kept telling me to deal with the pain and gave me tramadol which did nothing. It got to the point where I was in extreme pain at work and drove home in tears and went straight to bed. I have never taken Oxycoton as I feel that as I age I will get worse and if I take schedule 3 drugs now I will have nowhere to go when I get older. The operations have helped and with the pain meds I take I now have good and bad days. Prior I never saw a good day and it was years I dealt with it. I was diagnosed when I was 23 I never found a good Neurologist until 44. Good luck to you and keep going to different Drs until you find one to help. Believe me I have gone to many and some even told me it was in my head. Too many quacks and not enough good Drs out there. But they are there, just keep looking. I also fought and won my own SSD. I will give you a clue to get copies of all your Drs notes, MRIs or anything else you have done. They will help. Good luck to you.
The following user gives a hug of support to Juhangingout: dfwlady (10-28-2011)
My Husband and I both have DDD. I also have Fibromyalgia and currently the pain meds are helping both Fibro and DDD. Husband goes to Chiropractor and get tremendous relief. He gets the adjustments, electrode stimulation and stretches on the decomposition table. I will be getting Chiropratic treatment soon to hopefully help my conditions These pain meds are driving me insane. No way would we have surgery. Heard too many horror stories.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Grannygaga For This Useful Post: tweetyfeety (12-07-2011), viv506 (12-06-2011)
at 3 weeks I felt great, then I started to get horrible pain all around my lower back, Doctor said it's form the Enzyme they use to grow the bone, they did not take any bone off my hip to use for the fusion, but rather used just an enzyme that goes in the cages and will stimulate bone growth, supposed to have like a 98% success rate of fusion. Now 6 weeks later I have a pulled muscle next to my spine that spasms and nearly drops me, keeps me using the walker much of the time, but I feel like once that muscle heals I will be much much better. Lowered my pain meds to 10mgs of Percocet every 4 hours so I'm already on less than I was pre-op. Hang in there all, there is light at the end.
Re: Degenerative Disk Disease 
