Learn me back surgery

I was in a pretty serious car accident when I was 19. When I was recovering in the hospital the doc told me that my back would never be the same and that later in life my back would start giving me trouble.
Well, it's 20 years later and it's here. Over the last 6 or so years I've had as many occasions where I end up on my back, unable to move for a few days at a time. The pain is terrible. It's the worst pain in the world. It's worse than child birth, I know because I was born once and it did hurt, but not this much. (I said that to my wife and she informed me that she has hit me before, and being laid up only gives he more time to aim so I better knock it off. I did).
Any way, I've tried the chiropractic route and that may have slowed down the progression but it's at the point where I need to do something. It's time to see a medical doc. Some folks have said I should never go to a medical doc because they'll just want to operate, and that the operation will leave me in worse shape. No idea if that's true or not, but I'm also hearing about laser surgery. Has anyone been through it?
At this point I am not sure if it's a slipped disc, or a pinched nerve, or a combination of the two. I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just input from your experience or someone close to you.

I read somewhere that disc surgery was generally less successful (long term) than non invasive procedures, but that's heresay on my part. I think the only sensible thing to do is to go through the diagnosis and see whats happened over the last 20 years, both to your back and to the science of back repair.

You want to try and avoid back surgery.

I had back surgery about five years ago. Really wasn't fun, but I had a bulging disk and it was pinching a large nerve running down my leg. After about a month or two with my g.p. trying to figure out what was going on, I got sent for an MRI. Then six weeks of PT which did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Finally got to see a specialist, who looked at my MRI for about .002 seconds and said "You need surgery". It took care of the nerve issue with my leg, but my back pretty much hurts every day. Got the good news at the follow up with my surgeon that I have "degenerative disc disease" and will pretty much always have issues with my back.

As for the surgery itself, it was pretty close to out-patient. I checked in early in the morning for the prep and was home before dinner. I was pretty much confined to the lazy-boy/bed for a week or two (got to be awesome at Madden football) then started slowly regaining my mobility. The key to getting back on your feet is walking . . . a lot. Took almost eight weeks before I could get around well enough to go back to work, and my job is pretty much an "office job". If I had a physical or factory job, I'd say add another month or two on top of that.

Cliffs: Not the worst thing in the world, but its not a miracle cure either.

I can only say this: I do not recommend doing it yourself.

A guy I used to caddy for was a surgeon, though not a back specialist. His thoughts on back surgery were you don't do it until you're calling into work 3/5 days a week.

I also have a bulging disc resulting in pinched nerves. My back always hurts but sometimes it is so bad I can't do anything. My doctor said if I can live through it he won't even think about surgery; his thinking is that while they can move the nerves or clean out the area it won't ever be new again and will always hurt either way. They've tried steroids in various doses and while it works for a little bit I'm usually back to the same point before to long. I'm only 32, but rode BMX till I couldn't anymore in my mid twenties and quads after that till recently. My back hurts just looking at a BMX now.

My mom and uncle (her brother) have degenerative disc disease. Both of them let it get to the severe stage before having surgery, and they both said when they woke up from surgery they instantly felt better.

In my moms case her chiropractor is the one who said she should go see the spine surgeon. You know it's bad when the chiropractor says "I could treat this never ending problem of yours for years and constantly rake in the cash, and I really want a new Porsche 911 turbo, but you should turn around and go straight to a real doctor." Paraphrased of course.

BTDT

Contrary to what you've heard it's tough to get them to recommend surgery. They go through all kinds of other treatments before they'll actually cut you.

The type of surgery you get depends a lot upon what & where your injury is.

I've had so many friends that had their backs fused and seen the issues with that - loss of mobility, the need for further surgeries as the bone continues to grow, etc. That I opted for out patient micro surgery - of which there are several kinds of those.

The less they cut on the muscles of the back the easier and faster the recovery.

They have the itty bitty electrical wires that they insert and burn off the offending bulging disc.

They have the itty bitty cutting utensil that goes in and cuts the the offending bulging disc.

They even have teflon or silicone or something replacement discs. Now that's the way to go!!

Relief was instantaneous and I'm going on about 15 years with no further complications.

My office mate is a surgeon - he just had a herniated disc. His preference was for physical therapy, but we was in a lot of pain and starting to lose mobility so he opted for surgery. He was out for two weeks. Four more weeks of light activity. He has another week or so before he's back in full action.

Dr. Hess wrote: You want to try and avoid back surgery.

FWIW I concur

I have a herniated disc in my back, I've ended up being down for days because of it.

Herniated disc, slipped disc, sciatica, pinched nerve are all names for the same thing. A disc in your back gets a bit squashed and the bulged out part pushes on a nerve.

It's a soft tissue injury and will get better on it's own with time.

My chiropractor is also a REAL doctor, he's an orthopedic surgeon.

What he does when I have a real problem with my back is writes a prescription for lidocane, then injects it into the acupuncture points in your back. This relaxes the muscles so he can do a proper alignment and then send you home to rest and get better.

It's way better than the "I've given you and adjustment, now come see me every week for the rest of your life" standard chiropractor treatment. Usually I'm back on my feet in the next day or so. I've only had it bad enough for multiple visits once.

He says that he doesn't recommend back surgery until it's bad enough to make you pee your pants.

Your mileage may vary but I would get multiple opinions from real doctors.

Dr. Hess wrote: You want to try and avoid back surgery.

Guys. listen to the doctor.

I've pushed it off because of the horror stories. Now though, it's becoming at least once a year when the pain is so severe I'm laying the the floor, unable to move anything but my legs without yelling out in pain, I mean yelling. I'm not a wuss either, I broke two knuckles in my hand and finished the day at work....as a mechanic. Imagine using an impact when you have two broken knuckles
This weekend was the most minor. As long as I stayed still I was ok. The last time I was unable to support my own head as I tried to adjust my position, my wife had to lift my head and move it for me. There was about 30 minutes where I wasn't even able to swallow.
The back-cracker said I have degenerative disc disease, but I do think it's time to start getting opinions from other docs.

......I do have a bore-scope and an assortment of needle-nose pliers and diag cutters. Grassroots back surgery?

A close friend of mine just had back surgery. He had a herniated disc and they were able to do the procedure through a one inch incision. He said the pain relief was instant. He had to take a few weeks off work while it healed up, but says that the pain is 100% gone.

A coworker had an out-patient procedure done to fix a disc problem. In about 5am and was home for lunch. It worked and he has had no ongoing issues. Before he had the surgery he went through the chiropractor and steroid injection route with no relief.

I would guess (no research) back surgery success is 50/50. You don't want to have it until you just can't go without. Kind of like Crohn's surgery.

You need a Teeters Hang Ups!