Parrotnutz, any more update from your appts? I had my pre-op today for the surgery on 26h. I’m replacing only one disc, C4-5. It’s supposed to be a very simple, straightforward surgery, taking about 45 minutes. They might discharge me that day, or maybe the day after. Strange I’ve lived with this pain for so many years, now with the surgery on the horizon, I cannot seem to wait any longer. I am so very ready to get this over with.
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I saw a neurologist <not surgeon> the other day, basically learned nothing new. Have follow-up with surgeon the 22nd and will update then.
You are having surgery the 26th of this month? Bet you cannot wait. Please keep me posted on how it goes, please!
Adriane
Ahhh all the dr. appointments and waiting… Yes, the surgery is 26th of the month. I have decided to use the spine surgeon and not the neuro surgeon. I like the staff of the spine surgeon much better (much more proficient,) plus the hospital used by the spine surgeon is better. Both doctors are supposed to be very good. I sure will keep you posted. I hope that you will get good news soon.
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Gloria, hope your surgery goes well. IMO, having confidence in your surgeon (regardless of specialty), staff and hospital make a huge difference.
I ended up with 3 surgeries during my 3 week stay (way more than a single disk :eek: ). I vaguely seem to remember hearing comments about my surgeon while I was in the OR prior to anesthesia that he was nit picky 
I was happy with that (from OR staff). Not even sure it happened (better living through pharmaceuticals did affect my memory) as I wanted someone who was nit picky if they were digging around in my spine
Keep us posted!
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Good luck with your surgery Gloria. I woke up from mine and all my pain was gone. It was amazing! I hope you have a great outcome.
I had artificial disc replacement between C5 and C6 almost four years ago, and although I still have a bit of chronic aching in my neck, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had horrible tingling and nerve pain down my right arm to the tip of my fingers and doc said surgery was the only option or deal with permanent nerve damage. My disc was fully ruptured. I still have another one that is slightly herniated but FDA regulations (at that time) would not allow a double replacement, so I’m hoping that one stays intact until the FDA lightens up a bit. Clearly no one on that team has had nerve pain
My recovery time was about two weeks of doing nothing, but honestly I felt so much better IMMEDIATELY after surgery that recovery felt like a breeze. The biggest challenge was mobility in my neck, which will likely never be at 100%, but it got progressively better over 6 months following the surgery. I now do yoga regularly and a miraculous PT from time to time.
I am not a fan of surgery and tried all other avenues - massage, PT, acupuncture, drugs, exercise but surgery was truly required in this case. Feel free to message me if you have additional questions!
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Thank you for your good wishes, Where’sMyWhite and equisusan. I’m very ready…
Falkortheluckdragon, like you, I have one herniate disc and one ruptured disc. The disc I’m replacing is the ruptured one. I asked docs about replacing the other one, but both shook their heads, so I guess they don’t think I need it yet. It’s strange about the regulation. A friend had three levels of disc replacements years ago. However, at that time, hers was considered an “experimental” procedure so probably the regulation did not apply.
Like you, I have gone through a whole slew of conservative treatments, weekly massage, physical therapy, exercises, etc. I have been a pretty active person, going to gym five days a week: Yoga + Pilates + cardio. This pain never abates, and despite regular exercises, my strength is actually failing:(. At this point I think surgery is my only option.
As to recovery, I’m hoping to return to my Pilates and Yoga one week post surgery. Is this too aggressive? When were you able to return to work (office work).
Gloria, I planned to be out of the office for three weeks and could probably have come back within one. I chose two because I plan events for a living and had a major event the end of the second week. I did a lot of prescribed walking during my time away from the office.
Your doc will clearly give you the proper parameters, but my experience was that I could not lift anything, particularly over my head, for 5 - 6 weeks. I actually am still really careful about NOT lifting things I shouldn’t to attempt to keep additional injury at a minimum. The biggest challenge was range of motion and not being able to turn my head enough to drive. I had people drive me around for an extra week. I live in a mid-sized community and my commute is 11 minutes, so I felt like I could manage the fairly straight line pretty easily, but riding in a car was probably the most uncomfortable for the weeks post-surgery. I didn’t take narcotics for long after surgery (if at all, can’t remember for sure) but took a lot of ibuprofen daily for a while (maybe even a full year). Long trips in the car still make it pretty achy, but I will take that discomfort over the nerve pain anytime.
Again, your doc will let you know for sure about pilates and yoga, but it might be pretty aggressive to try to get back within a week. I have never done pilates but do yoga often, it probably depends upon what your yoga practice consists of - you definitely won’t be doing a vinyasa or flow class that soon, but perhaps a yin or restorative would be good if you’re on the floor and very careful with turning your head quickly. I would err on the side of precaution and wait - you only get one chance to recover properly!
Hoping for two level of disc replacement to be approved before my next one goes! Let me know if you have other questions, and let us all know how it goes! Excited for you to be pain free!
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Gloria, as above noted, do what your Dr suggests regardless of how you feel. Ask about a physical therapy plan, if they have recommendations or find out about a safe return to exercise so you don’t ruin all their good work
Keep us posted!
Hi All,
Been a busy week. Saw the pain management doctor beginning of week and that was useless in my opinion. She has told me no riding, no heavy lifting, no working out, etc. In other words, sit and do nothing!! Has never, ever said perhaps you should see a surgeon and consider the route!!
Saw Neurosurgeon for second visit, had images done he ordered. He just wanted to see my radiograph images of flexion and extension that no one had ever bothered to do. We went over my MRI again, also. He told me what he would do. C5/6 remove the one disc and fusion. For several reasons he would not do a replacement disc on me. the one disc is the one pressing, and boy I could see it on the MRI!
I am “only” at the point where I have tingling and have not developed weakness, yet. He said I would not need a collar after surgery and no driving for a week, only. Should be back riding, hopefully in 3 months.
He did not push me one way or the other. Of course he did say if I want to lead as active a life as possible he recommends surgery. Told me to think about it and let them know. I like him a lot and checked him out and he checks out well.
I did also get an opinion from a neurologist <who has nothing to gain from me, lol> He looked at my MRI and said "Boy is your neck a mess!! Also said I am still at the point where it is my decision, but did note that nothing I have done, PT, meds, etc did not make it better.
I have important personal commitments I cannot put off the next few months so am thinking sometime in September I should go ahead with surgery. This is such a hard, scary decision to make, but I don’t want to wait until this gets much worse to commit to surgery.
Gloria, much good luck to you! I will be waiting to hear how it goes for you!
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Adriane, yes, any surgery is scary and, IMO, surgery on your spine is even scarier :eek:
A friend of mine said some, I thought, wise words… any spinal surgery is elective (leaving aside traumatic injury). At some point you may elect to do that surgery. Only you can weigh the benefits vs risk. You know your quality of life now, you don’t know your quality of life afterwards but at some point, worth that risk
Sounds like your though processes are on the right track.
Two level disc replacement was approved by the FDA in 2012ish. Mobi C disc only. Not sure if others are approved for two levels now. Insurance companies were slow to approve the two levels but quite a few people have fought them and got approved. In Europe they’ll do more than three levels. In the US I think they only do 3 or more levels with a fusion still.
Heres the slogan of most of the people that I know who’ve had spine surgery including myself: “You only get one chance to make your first decision for spine surgery and it probably won’t be your last.”
I think that’s too aggressive. I know it’s a little 1 inch incision but it is major surgery. 6 weeks before PT was what my surgeon requested. I could walk even on a treadmill before that and I was encouraged to use my neck but no PT for 6 weeks and no riding for 3 months.
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Hi Parrotnutz
Sounds like you finally found a good neurosurgeon and have a plan. I wanted to update you on my situation. I saw an orthopedic surgeon last a few days ago and I was a bit discouraged. She basically said because I don’t have any pain, tingling, or weakness down my arm on my right side (where the C5-C6 herniation) is, the chances of ACDF curing my neck pain is low. She said if I had radiculopathy (pain/tingling. numbness, or weakness down the extremity), she could practically guarantee a good result. So that is good news for you!!! She encouraged me to try the gabapentin, but I’m still too afraid to try it.
I’m not quite sure what my next steps are. I’m still getting acupuncture and doing stretching exercises. I’m very discouraged because it is painful to ride at more than a walk, or do much of anything without pain. But I’m not giving up!
Keep us updated!
And Gloria, I hope your surgery was successful
Just to update, I have been going to physio since the beginning of June and it has helped quite a bit. He does some manipulations, some traction and acupuncture. I go once or twice per week. I also do exercises that involve pointing my chin down towards my chest and some that are aimed at addressing my bad posture (I have the classic desk sitters bad posture, the result of which is excessive pressure on the back of my neck)
I have gone from almost constant pain and tingling in my right arm and shoulder to tingling about 20% of the day and no pain. Not perfect but better than it was.
FWIW, yes, gabapentin can have side effects and can result in dependencies. I’ve been on both gabapentin (for maybe 1-2 years ago about 5 years ago) and then switched to pregabalin (Lyrica) with a low dosage 5 years ago. Am I dependent, I don’t know. I do know that my nerve “pain” got worse when I tried reducing the dosage. It doesn’t make me sleepy and I haven’t noticed any of the other side effects (doesn’t mean I don’t have them, just not noticeable if I do ). For me, the risk of side effects and dependency is worth the quality of life that I do have vs living with the nerve pain if I don’t take it.
Only you know if you want to take the risk but IMO, it’s not always the evil drug that some make it out to be
Look at alternative therapies… acupuncture, Alexander, Feldenkrais or other body work modalities. Feldenkrais kept me off the surgeon’s table for close to 10 years…
Hi, I thought I’d give you guys an update on my disc replacement (C4-5). The operation was on June 26 (so slightly over two weeks ago) and lasted about 45 minutes. The surgeon told my husband that they almost needed to do a fusion as the artificial disc that was the smallest manufactured, was just very slightly taller than my natural disc( by 1 mm.) Luckily they were able to get it squeeze in. So officially I’m slightly taller now, lol.
Anyway, the surgery was a success. I stayed overnight and am very happy with the hospital and the staff. The efficiency of the hospital staff and responsiveness of the nurses made my stay there so much more pleasant. In fact, I was in such a high spirit immediately post operation that it was almost a shock when I started to get sick at home. I was throwing up starting the day after I returned home. It was most likely due to oxiCotin.
I started working 9 days post surgery from home. I’m an IT so my job involves sitting at the desk and doing nothing else. I returned to office today. Doc told me I should be able to return to normal activities two weeks post surgery, but I am going to hold off my yoga and Pilates until I have the followup later this week. I am hoping to return to riding in two weeks. This is probably the biggest advantage in disc replacement over fusion, as fusion will require a much extended recovery.
So far the pain in my left shoulder is almost gone. There is still a lot of residual tightness around my left shoulder and the resulting pain from the tight muscle, which I hope will eventually go away. Strength is returning to that area, which is a relief. I think I will give acupuncture a try to see whether it can relax the muscle, now we know that underlying issue is resolved.
Brooklyn Born, that is disappointing. Did your doctor explain why ACDF will not work if your symptoms are isolated in neck pain? Also, have you tried inversion table?
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Mozart, I am so glad your pain and tingling have been reduced so much, and without surgery! Yay! I too am doing exercises to fix bad posture. I may look into some traction therapy or some milder chiro work than the one I had. I think acupcunture may be helping a bit (I’ve been doing it once a week now for a few months). But I recently returned from a trip to Maryland (8 hour drive), and it set me way back in my pain.
Wheresmywhite, I know that gabapentin may help and maybe I should give it a chance. I know I can always stop it if I don’t like the side effects or it doesn’t work. I guess I’m a bit a a weeny when it comes to new medications because I am sensitive to many of them. But it may be worth it to try it if the I can’t resolve this pain issue. i am so glad it worked for you. that gives me hope! I currently trying acupuncture with limited success, I will consider The Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais. I know posture is crucial to resolving neck issues. Thank you for your sharing your experience!
Gloria, I am so happy to hear your surgery was a! success and that you got to have a disc replacement rather than a fusion. that wasn’t offered as an option to me, I think she implied that there is more going on causing my neck pain that just a herniated disc (which isn’t bad enough to cause nerve pain or numbness down my arm). I also have bones spurs, which could also be removed. And then general arthritis (not really sure what that truly means). I guess the data don’t show enough success with spinal fusion when there are no radiating symptoms down the limbs from the cervical spine.
It’s pretty frustrating but I am trying to address the residual issues such as muscle knots and spasms, which of course add to the pain. I even called my regular doctor to ask her about a medical marijuana prescription ( for lotion or pills, not to smoke), but she doesn’t do it (It’s legal here in MA). Maybe I will look into the inversion table. do you go to a chiropractor for that? I know I’m not having my neck cracked again!
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We just returned from Colorado from sending two horses there for training. I was so tempted while there to get some marijuana to help with the muscle knots and spasms. I had used some before and it helped tremendously. If not for the fear of testing, I would have continued. I cannot have it show up on my employee screening. Too bad it is no legal in Oklahoma.
As to inversion table, no, we didn’t get it from chiropractor. We bought it online. It now parks at my living room. I don’t think it helped my neck, as my C4-5 was too far gone, but in conjunction with Pilates, Yoga, and inversion table, I was able to successfully get rid of herniate disc on my lower back. If you have not tried it, maybe you can give it a try. The principle is rather similar to traction, which is to lengthen your spine. If you do get it, don’t hang yourself upside down at the first try. A very gentle inclination is enough. You can increase the degree as time goes on.
Get lots of opinions and make sure they take x-rays! Not one of three neck surgeons ever touched my neck or did x-rays. They relied on MRI’s. First guy said get surgery, other two said not bad enough yet. I suffered for years with daily migraines, upper back and neck spasms, throbbing in my ears, nerve pain, numbness and tingling. Few years later, I saw a sports medicine doctor. He actually did an exam and touched my neck. Said I had subluxated vertebraes. X-rays confirmed what he said. So my neck had been out of alignment for years, which is why the MRI showed a disk bulge. The sudden dental/bite issues suddenly made sense. A upper cervical spine chiropractor took x-rays, treated me, and fixed my neck. Because my body was held in that position for so long, I still can have muscles spasm a bit too easily and migraines. Keeping shoulders back while on computer and elsewhere helps. I now see a traditional chiropractor as needed, main focus is occiput and jaw position.
