Future herniations after previous fusion

[DonnaKay]

I am new here ... all of you seem so friendly and welcoming, so I feel free to ask questions. Thank you in advance for your replies.

I had a fusion (my own hip bone) at C5-6 in 1997. It was an 8mm herniation, and the surgery lasted 4 hours after they had to bring in some kind of special machine to retrieve parts of my disk from my spine. I recovered well ... no complaints on my part.

Last week, I found out I have herniations at C4-5 (3-4 mm) and C6-7 (2mm). I have a very weak right arm, for example it's hard to brush my hair, my teeth (seems uncoordinated), and can't put the car in gear or reach.

My MRI films are at my NS's office waiting to be evaluated, I was hoping today would be the day to get the phone call as to what I am looking at in terms of what the method of treatment will be. I assumed surgery, but then someone mentioned steroid shots? Will this take care of the arm weakness?

My other question concerns whether herniations above/below fusions are common? Have any of you experienced this?

I was in a hard collar for 8 weeks post-op before being allowed to go back to work. I just read where one of you (I'm sorry I can't remember who) had surgery last Friday and is back at work half days already? This seems unbelieveable to me! Has the recovery time decreased so much, or is this a remarkable recovery?

Another question (thanks for reading) - how big were the herniations that you had surgery for? I'm wondering if a 3-4 mm herniation is even considered for surgery. There is spinal cord involvement. Does that make a difference?

You guys may be laughing at all my questions ... I was going to wait to post until after I heard from my NS, but I don't know when that will be. I am also on drugs ... Hydrocodone, Carisoprodol (sp?), and the steroid pack ... so feeling kinda spacey, but happy to have the drugs for the pain!

Thanks again for your input!

Donna

[nero]

Hi Donna,

I have c5-6 herniation that sequestered (broke apart) and pieces are compressed against my spinal chord and fragments moved up the spinal cord to next vertebrae level. I also have c6-7 bulging and was told and read that herniations at c5-6 often when fused often bulge above or below and common to have to reattend 2-5 years laters.

Even a pain clinic dr. retired anathesiologist told me he saw plenty of redone surgeries and that my first surgeon who did not think double fusion was warranted was incorrect.

Now i am booked nov 10 for ACDF with autograft and asked my surgeon about double fusion and he is to let me know. Its very common to have this happen and pre-existing bulges will generally herniate after fusion specifically at that level.

Money is to be made if theY do each separate and its hard to get a surgeon to do both unless you're really lucky. My first surgeon was quite snippy i dared bring it up and said we don't just go in there and look around..when i said i give my permission todo both if necessary... everybody's answer seems based on economics.

good luck NERO

[kcin]

I am the one that has had the great recovery so far. I can't recall if I mentioned in my post but I do work from the home mostly (and am self-employed) so that makes it easier and more urgent for me to get back to work than others. My disc was herniated to the point of spinal cord involvement but they never told me specifically how many mms. I also have problems above and below the fusion so one of these days I will probably be back. I asked the doc on Monday about it and he said it is the million dollar question. It seems to me that they just fix things as they break instead of trying to anticipate a problem.

[Deb F]

Hi-
New here too. Herniation at C6-7 post MVA.
At my 1st appt w/ NS he said that it was likely that if I had surgery, I would have problems in the future above the surgical site. (He didn't mention below ?)
So sorry to read of your problems. Deb F.

[Beeyes]

I asked my neuro that question..He said he has only had a handful return for that reason. He said those people would have had problems with their discs with or without prior ACDF. It pretty much depends on the person. If you have bad discs, they will go bad with or without surgeries. If its an injury type thing that happened from outside circumstances, there should be no increased risk..I plan on taking things much easier on my neck in the future, regardless. I dont want to do this again!! My driving habits have changes so much since my ACDF. I slow down for traffic lights 1/2 mile in advance to lower my chance of getting rear ended. Let the tailgators pass me! I dont care. I actually witnessed a horrible rear ender this morning, just 3 cars ahead of me! I was in shock for about an hour...scary!!

Brett