Sciatic pain after microdiscectomy
Someone talk me down please. Freaking out. The backstory may not be important, but I'm going to give it anyway. If you don't like long stories, you may want to skip to the end or ignore.
Have struggled with lower back pain for 9 years due to a degenerative disc. It was generally mild and manageable with PT, pilates and daily small dose of pain meds.
On 5/15, woke up with severe right leg pain, very new sensation. Started at buttock and went all the way to my toes. Assumed I herniated a disc. Tried to plow through it with hot showers, stretching, massage, all my usual techniques. It got worse. By the end of May, two weeks later, I could barely drive and couldn't bend the leg without excruciating pain. Realized it was time to hand off the ball to a professional.
The whole month of June was spent fighting with the insurance company. I alternated between not eating or eating and throwing up from pain. Dropped 20 pounds. Tripled my intake of painkillers, from 5 mg to 15-20 mg of oxycodone, just to make it through the day at work. The only position that would give relief was standing straight up, which ensured by noon the one leg was still on fire and both were worn out from standing (I get to work at 6a). Anyway, the insurance company didn't want to approve an MRI, fought me tooth and nail. My beautiful wife absolutely went to bat and ended up standing in another doctor's office, refusing to leave until they got the insurance company on the phone and made it happen. Then they didn't want to give me the result(!) until I reviewed it with their specialist, who was on vacation and would be back in two weeks. My wife staged a sit-in (stand-in?) there as well until they released the records, which I took back to my neurosurgeon for review. We went over it together.
Yes, the L5-S1 disc was badly herniated. We tried a nerve block first after fighting the insurance company for approval. It didn't work at all. Three days later I was still rolling around on the floor and clutching at my leg and crying like an infant, which of course scared the children. I still feel badly about that. I begged them to go to plan B, the microdiscectomy. Surprisingly, the insurance company breezed it right through, I still can't figure that out after they were such assholes about the MRI and nerve block.
Had the microdiscectomy the morning of the July 8th. Felt like a million bucks as I came out of surgery, but guarded my optimism as I assumed that the drugs from surgery would mask any pain. When the 9th and 10th rolled by without pain I actually cried with joy (I am a crier, it seems).
The next several days I was without pain and was a good rehab patient, mostly because I was terrified of going back to that dark place I had just emerged from. On the 15th, woke up with my leg and foot hurting again in a similar fashion but on a smaller scale. I panicked because I figured it was coming back. Logged in to some support groups for post-microdiscectomy sciatic pain and to my pleasure, almost every single person said this was normal due to scar tissue and the resultant inflammation. By the time I went to bed it felt good again so I was further encouraged.
Today, the 16th, woke up and it was hurting again. Same way, smaller scale, but more than yesterday. So I'm panicking a bit. Doc said walk as much and far as I can so I walked about a mile this morning. I think it's loosening up a little.
I'm not asking for medical advice. This post has two purposes. One, it makes me feel better to articulate my thoughts, however badly-composed and haphazard. 
Secondly, I just want to know if anyone has been through sciatic pain and the microdiscectomy procedure, and if they experienced the recurring rollercoaster of pain after the surgery.
Anyway, thank you for reading if you made it this far, and I hope everyone here is doing well. 
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Last edited Wed Jul 16, 2014, 03:23 PM - Edit history (1)
As for the MRI, they do have open-air scanners. Not in every city, but they are around. We are fortunate in Memphis here to have two. As backwards as Memphis is it's a great medical town.
For the longest time, I was like you and would tell the doc, anything but cutting. Don't cut me. By the end of it I was bawling and begging for him to cut me. The day after the surgery he called to see how I was doing and I said "I'm a new man! If I weren't heterosexual and married I would commit unspeakable, illegal acts with you." He laughed so hard I thought he would herniate his own disc.
with walking once a day, and doing floor exercises, the pain is largely gone. I am still stiff in the mornings but the pain is mitigated to a great degree. I still don't feel structurally as sound as I did before the blowout, twisting to look at things to the side or behind me can still be adventurous, but progress is being made. I don't even take the gabapentin anymore. It's sitting next to the percocets on the shelf in case of another episode.
I do notice that sitting in a chair will make the back hurt though, unless I sit on a donut. So I sit on a donut and deal with the occasional jokes from my co-workers. Que sera sera.
They would have had to prescibe a lot more than that.
I guess I understand them having to keep you awake, since I remember they bark out instructions from time to time.
I'm ashamed to say I don't know if my surgery was laser or not. I've got a follow up appointment with him on the 29th to discuss the state of things. I'll try to remember to ask and then let you know.
You may want to google around and see where open-air MRIs are available. I checked your profile and it doesn't have your location listed, but here's a tool you can use to see if one is close by.
http://open-mri-inc.com/locations
on edit: Not sure how accurate that search engine is. I know there are two in Memphis. So perhaps this search engine is just for a particular company's machines. Maybe just talk to your doctor. He/she should know where they are.
it is an honest accounting, which is what I wanted. I'm sorry things devolved for you. Don't know what a PCA or blood patch are. I need to do some googling. Best wishes to you - I'll be thinking of you as I plow through this obstacle.
Although I understand chronic pain, it was manageable for years, and so the depression was either on the periphery or non-existent. But the 8-10 week period where I was just in gut-wrenching pain changed the paradigm. I sunk into a very dark place, there were even moments I wished I was single without kids so I could just swallow one of my bottles of pills and not leave misery in my wake. And from what you're describing, what I dealt with wasn't even in the same zip code as what you're up against. I am so sorry, and humbled that you seem to be dealing with it better than I. I think it was my fear of the "new normal," that I'd never be without pain, unable to sit, bend over, or live normally, that caused me to react so badly.
I told my wife my feelings, and I said "you have been such a help to me, it makes me sad that there are single people who are dirt poor and/or have no support group that have to deal with stuff like this, how on earth do they cope." She said "they self-medicate with anything they can get their hands on, they get worse, and they die." I suppose she's right. If I didn't have pain meds during that period, would I have stolen some given an opportunity? I'm not sure but I think I know the answer and it shames me. We need health care for *everyone*.
Thanks again for explaining those two things. Sending healing vibes and positive thoughts your way. 
Do you know if you ruptured a disc again? Were you doing anything the day of or before that might have caused it? I've had to purposefully retrain my body to approach different movements (e.g: sitting, then swiveling when getting in/out of a car.) I've also had to abandon certain training (was an advanced Tang Soo Do student and up until the accident, would spend a half-hour every night whaling on a body bag with my arms and legs, a lot of torsion. That's been replaced by an elliptical and other low impact stuff). Currently pain free and pain-med free, check back tomorrow.
I get what you're saying about it affecting your marriage. For me, it was very humbling to know that I'd reached a point where it would be tough, if not impossible to protect my family if something were to go down. The day-to-day leaning on my wife for simple tasks made me feel a lot of guilt, even though it couldn't be helped. I channeled that guilt into a double-down low-impact routine. I finally managed to leave 15 pounds and a lot of emotional baggage behind.
But that pain... I'll never forget it. It never leaves, always either tapping you on the shoulder or kicking you square in your ass, taunting you. There's nothing you can do about it. I wish I had a magic something for you that could take it away. I guess all I can say is to watch that you don't slip into a dark place. I did for a little while, and it just made things worse. Find a position that offers *some* relief a few times a day, for me it was flat on my stomach, and maintain it long it enough to relax and give your *mind* a moment to relax. The pain will be back, and waiting on you afterwards. Might as well keep it waiting as long as possible.
Positive vibes your way. PM me anytime if you ever need someone to talk to. I understand your pain.
and I am doing pretty well. If I had any advice, I'd say walk, walk, walk. There is something about that gentle, rhythmic non-torsial (is that a word?) movement that helps to calm everything down, including your nerves. Try to retrain your body not to twist in ways that were once second nature - getting in/out of a car, turning around to see who called your name, etc. Try to move more slowly and rotate your whole body instead of just twisting at the waist.
Good luck. I completely understand where you are right now and it sucks. It should get better.
No matter how often I research post micro forums, I always find myself back here, as it is one of the more positive posts out there. I had my surgery August 16th after a year of literally dragging my left leg everywhere and every nonsurgical option out there. I was a senior in college at the time (22 yo at injury) so my parents told me to suck it up and get my degree first, which I am still a week away from due to a summer internship preventing my graduation date. All was well for about a month, and then the pain gradually came back. I have the same pain as before, yet now in the back, leg, and foot. Before I just had sciatic pain. I am in physical therapy but even that seems to set it off and the staff who work on me fear that there is another issue. How do you find ways to manage all that you have been through? It sounds like you are lucky, you have someone that supports your journey through all this mess and makes sure you are getting the care you need. Even though I had surgery, I have little support for my parents, specifically my mother (my mother has threatened to kick me out if I cry out in pain from a sudden nerve flare up because it "brings negative vibes to her"
, or from my (ex) girlfriend and friends, who all think that this is basically like a broken bone or something. Basically, I have no support system in all of this, and am having trouble seeing any positives in life as this immense pain returns. What got you through all of this in these last two years? I meditate and try to sneak in a lift every now and again (I am a stubborn meathead but know my limits now) but those are not seeming to help my rapidly declining mental state. Sorry for the long post, it just seems as though you have a strong mental outlook on life, and is something I would love to learn how to do.
