Hi,
Thank you for your message of support, daveyam. I hope to be well enough to live an ordinary life. Even if I am not 100% after the op (I doubt anyone is ever really 100%), I will be happy with even 70-80%. I just want to be able to go to the end of my road and post my lettets, buy a bottle of water, just walk around. I have no desire to tske up skayeboarding or zumba. I think, objectively speaking, there is no reason to believe the op went wrong or anything. I just have to give it more time. I think my week four reporys will be more indicstive of actual progress. For now, I will just try to rest, walk in the house, and have nutritious food. Everyday I have my dark moments though. I think that is normal because many people who have posted success stories here also had hard times. It is not a smooth road. Daveyam, did you end up having a discectomy too? I was wondering what your story was?
I would also like to state that posting on this forum has been quite therapeutic for me. Telling family and friends about my problems does not always work. There is only so much they can listen to and say. Here, we are all united by our stories. People from all walks of life had written about their lives. Some of us got better, some of us got worse, and others are livin in hope. I think I could not have gone through this journey without coming here and talking about it. I also feel quite touched by the support I have received. My journey is gar from over and I expect there to be many more challenges before I recover but I would like to say a big thank you tk everyone who has read or responded to my posts.
I think some people need more moral support than others. Some have inner strength. I never did. Life always came easy to me. I guess I never really thought something like this will ever happen to me. In many ways my life just continued until I was unable to cope and at that point I realised I was very unwell. I just became incapable of going out and working. I had to stop studying and I just felt so disabled. This sort of experience is so profound and so cataclysmic, only those who have been through this can relate. I think being here helps us all gain strength, and I for one thank everyone. I hope to continue posting.
I
Hi,
In terms of recovery, yesterday was the worst day. I think since last Tuesday I was tryong to walk more. By Friday, I thinkbI probably exhausted the muscles around the incision. I think over the weekend matters were not helped since I cannot seem to find a rhythm for this whole recovery thing. My walking has been uncomfortable since I had my op because my mucles bevame imbalanced durig the time I had my prolapse. Some muscles are short, others are long. My balance is weird. Yesterday, I was not looking too great. Mind you, I am not really walking that much but I think it may have been a little more than my body can handle at present, since the incision is still fresh.
On Friday I had to visit my nurse who applied a new dressing. There was nothing to report.
I think once I hit the two week mark, I will be much happier. I will only rest once the incision stops hurting and I can walk longer than I was able to pre op without much doscomfort, I will be happy to live with that. My mai problem is that even now my back spasms as I walk. This is very uncomfortable and gets worse if I continue walking or being active. This is very disabling since my muscles get so stiff I feel they will snap. Pre-op this happened because I walked in a weird posture and that would exhaust the muscles and joints around the hips. Now the same joints and hips are inflamed because of the incision and also because my muscles are longer on one side of my body. After the incision heals and things settle down, only then will I know how well I am. People who have leg pain, not to diminish their suffering in any way, often improve much more quickly because once the pressure is off and there is no nerve damage, they just have to wait for the incision to heal. The people who develop postural problems have a longer road to recovery because their muscles are badly imbalanced. They need more time. My right leg is longer so during my walks a lot of pressure is placed on that leg and my knee is getting a real hammering. I hope my body does self correct itself. At present I am just going to try and keep going the way I am. I think I will try and stay up for longer today. I won't walk much but I want to sit for arpund twenty minutes at a time followed by a one or two minute walk. I will go to bed mid-day though and stay there for around two hours. If I start to feel tired, I will return to bed again.
I will keep reportig back. I think once I am stable (I hope that is within the comi g weeks), I will probably stop writing here. I think after I stabilise, it will probably be months rather than days that I would notice postural changes and I think that is a longer term thing so I will eventually start writing about those things. I also feel that even though my posts here maybe of interest to people with disc based postural problems in the future. There is very little information in regards to that. I had a list. That was, in a way, my main and only symptom. There was very little nerve pain (so subtle ot was barely noticeable). There wasn't much back pain either but I just could not straighten out my body. There was an irretractable muscles spasm arpund my right hip. It caused a lot of problems with walking. As I walked my back would seize up. This confined me to my house for several months. I am on sick leave from work and have stopped studying. It is a terrible situation. Since my posture is still not 100% correct, I anticiapte a gradual decline in sy ptoms as posture improves and muacles realign and regain their strength. That won't happen anytime soon so my voew of the surgery in my condition is that I may eventually get better but it will not be an easy rehabilitation process. I hope to see further improvements, but for now I will try to stay calm. I know that does not always work for me, but I will try my best.
Walking is still a problem. I just had a stroll, which was not a long one. However, I noticed a strange thing. The direction I am walking has a lot to do with the stability of my walk. My left leg and hip muscles have shortened. When I walk up those muscles are under more suress and I kind of limp. When I walk down, I am using the longer leg and my walking feels more stable. When I walk down my left side muscles also feel as if they are being stretched. Since I woke up from the operation I felt an odd pulling sensation on my left side. I originally felt that my muscles were being stretched on the left side. To a greater or lesser extent, that i still happening. I think this will be a big challenege in the coming weeks. Sometimes my muscles get faitgued and I look the way I did on my worst days befoee the operation. Yesterday I took a short walk in my small front garden (it is small but it is quite wide so you can walk in any direction).
A neighbour came out to throw out garbage and she said I looked straighter than before. A couple of other people spotted me too and they later told my wife that I looked better, so these things do encourage me. However, this problem is not going to be resolved in a hurry. Unlike people who reported significant improvements within a one month period, I think it would be much harder for me to rebalance because there are plenty of muscular problems. Until these subside I cannot be fully satisfied. My muscles also get really stiff when they are under duress or when they get fatigued and that leads to muscle spasms etc.
I think since I appear to be the only person who has specifically had more problems with principal symptoms being gait related. I am sure my challenges will interest other people as well. I will keep posting but things are far from perfect.
Hi Fella
Seriously, my man!!! You need to take a chill pill!!!
Firstly, you've had the operation, its now time to focus on the rehabilitation period and the time that your body is going to need to recover fully! The fact outsiders, such as your neighbour have noticed an improvement is something to be positive about which if i'm not mistaken from reading a thread a week or so ago you clearly stated you were going to be ultra positive!! I'm a firm believer in thinking and being positive aids the body to recover and heal faster and better!!
Your going to be a father soon and you need to set a good example to him/her from day one!! They pick up quickly on our weaknesses and you constant worry is a weakness! In the nicest possible way and only because i love the expression, 'Grow a pair!' lol!!!
I hope she does not mind me using her as an example but Yogi, or Clare as she has become to me has not worked for in excess of 12 months, been a prisoner in her own home for the vast majority of it, pain from the minute she wakes to the minute her body can take no more and she falls asleep, undergone two failed discectomies (which is rarer than rocking horse *) and now has to undergo a third multi hour operation whereby her spine is to be fused together as a last resort! Currently, she gets around her house in lots of oohs, aahs, ouches etc using something you would expect only a decrepit OAP using in the form of a zimmer frame, pees and *s on a commode and has been unable to be a mother or wife to her son and husband.......and yet she still finds time to look on the positive!! Hope my man, you have lots of hope!! Grab it with both hands and take back control of your life and future!!
You'll probably hate me and misinterpret me but i hope you can see beyond that and see that life is worth living and yours is soon to become a whole lot better!!
Be lucky buddy!!
thanks rob
and as we speak i have just been crying in front of my children as i again have took a turn for the worse something that i don't often do as i try not to let them see me in that way i have a sneaky suspision i may end up in salford before next week if i do get help that i so need i will just stay in bed till next week i really don't want anything to become an emergency as i want to get this op over with and think ahead to good times and get back to my old self.
hopehasgone every person on here has been trying to help you but you seem to bring another negative attitude and plus you mentioned about people who have just suffered with leg pain seem to get over discectomies easier well that's not the case it can take a long time to recover you only need to read emlou posts to know she still suffers with sciatica from time to time, please just stay positive.
Hi Brillo,
Thank you fpr your email. I have also become a prisoner in my own home. I have only worked a few days since December last year. I worked only three days this year. I cannpt really go out. I had to stop my studies. I completely sympathise with Clare, but trust me, my suffering has been terrible. I couldn't walk even short distances. Things may get better but the real recovery is still quite some way away. I also did not mean to say people who have discectomies for leg pain have an easier time. I meant postural problems and muscle imbalances continue months after the op, beyond the operation recovery. As long as a discectomy has gpne well, after the surgical pain has home, they can continue with the physio and pretty much get back to normal. For me, the problem was the scoliotic curve and that will take time to correct itself. The problem is complex because it isbhard to stretch muacles on one side. It makes walking very imbalanced and until things get more comfortable, I cannot really do anything extra. Anyway, I do apologise if I have offended anybody. I have high anxiety but I can't control it. I am sorry that people feel I am always fixating on the negative but I think this is anoher by-product of this terrible condition. I was not always this way. I just want to walk to a local restaurant and have a meal with my wife. I just want to be able to do the shopping for our baby. Yes, that time should come but that does not make these days any easier.
Anyway, sorry for always being negative but I just can't shake off my anxiety. I jusybhope things get better soon. I will try to only post progress from now.
Youll be fine my man! Lifes too short to worry!!
Keep up the high spirits and before you know it youll be on the other side!
Be lucky y'all!
Once again I find myself having to post on one of your posts. For one it is not a competition on who is worse or has the most issues. However you have to understand that in previous posts you stated you didn't have any pain before your surgery it was a postural problem, this is why you are getting such responses. Some of us on here live in huge amounts of pain daily and live on morphine and cannot understand why you think you are so bad. Whilst not being able to stand straight is a problem in the scheme of things it isn't that bad. You also need to see a physio before you start talking about recovery times as guessing doesn't help. So whilst you may not like this post you need to hear it as you are not helping yourself or anybody else who might be thinking of having a discectomy. There is nothing wrong with worrying but to worry needlessly is stupid. Since surgery you have been out for walks, you can sit and people think you look straighter - what more do you expect so soon after surgery! My advice is to go and speak to your GP as perhaps you need help dealing with your anxieties and coming on here and getting advice doesn't seem to help at all.
Wend
Hi,
My GP does not rwally take me seriously when I mention my anxieties. She knew me in better days and she just seems to think I am superman. I did go out for a walk but it was only outside on the road. Sonce then I have had more stiffness in my back. I think what would help me is if people mentioned how they got throgh the first few weeks after their dicectomies. I just don't have a rhythm to these days. I think I have seen a decline because my body feels more tired these days. I asked the physio before O left hospital and he said each day I should aim to walk more than the previous day. This is making my muscles tired and stiff. I think Ibuprofen helped me withbthe stiffness sometimes in the past but not when this sort of thing was at its peak. I was not prescribed Ibuprofen after the op, so I am not sure if I am supposed to take it.
Hi Wend,
I think I also need to point out that it is not just about standing up straight. The wrong posture sends pressure to the joints and muscles in my lower back. Movement makes those muscles fatigue and theubget really stiff. This makes walking impossible. I think muscle imbalances are difficult to deal with because, as you kbow, the doctors recommend walking after discectomies. If your posture is weird then the pressure goes to the wrong joints and muscles and that makes walking harder. The more I walk after the muacles get tired the harder itbgetsband eventually my body starts shaking and it is all very distressing and incomfortable.
Ok i give up!!
so do i nothing we say will ever help everyone walks in stiffness with disc prolapse like wend said you were lucky you never suffered any real pain IBUPROFEN your lucky, like wend said it's not a competition this is the last response you will get from me i have issues of my own everyone has told you to relax i suggest you lie down and thank yourself lucky.
Hope (refuse to use the full monika - way too negative) - when is your baby due? How is your wife? Do you have names yet? Do you know what you are having?
Hi
Ok, now something really has happened. There is a mark on my bandage. It is at the bottom, perhaps blood? Can't really tell. Will have to see my doctor tomorrow. I hope the woind hasn't opened up.
I thabk all those people who responded to earlier posts. I can understand that people do not want to a anynore. I wish everyone the best and thank you for the messages.
As for the baby, yes we have thought of a name. I hope the baby gets my mind of my back problems. I kbow it is hard to believe but normally I never get this anxious with other health issues I have had. I think once the ba y arrives I will be in a mucb better place.