Discectomy

[KR2013]

Hi 👋🏼 I've been diagnosed with an extruding disc at L5/S1, and at a a hospital appointment yesterday (to follow up after a 3 week hospital stay in April) my consultant recommended that I have a discectomy. I had a caudal epidural using x ray guidance during my stay, but it gave me only around 3 or 4 weeks of partial relief, and he said they won't do another.

Whilst my symptoms aren't as bad as they were leading up to my hospital admission, the nerve is clearly still impinged, so I'm happy with the plan to list me for surgery as I can't bear the thought of it all kicking off again, and just want to get my normal life back.

Just looking for anyone's experiences of having a discectomy/micro discectomy, particularly the recovery.

Thanks!

DD (20) was very unlucky to get a stubborn disc bulge and ended up having to get a discectomy last year. Recovery was fantastic - she woke up from surgery in no pain and was walking around completely normally as soon as she got back up to the ward. A bit of an increase in sciatic pain for the first week or two but that is to be expected. Just have to take it easy, lots of small walks etc and you’ll get there

Hi, I had to have an emergency discectomy and decompression surgery in December. The recovery was okay but I found it really hard looking after my toddler. The first two weeks I could barely walk however by 2 months I was almost back to normal. The surgery left me with some nerve damage down my leg and foot but the I’ve had lots of physio on the NHS so I’ve learnt to walk okay with it.

I would be really careful after surgery as I reherniated the same disc 3 months after surgery and am looking at another operation this year. All in all, I’m glad I had it as the nerve pain was agony before the surgery - just wish the effects had lasted longer.

Hi OP, I had a microdiscectomy a few years ago for a significantly bulging disc. Before the surgery I was in a lot of pain, couldn't stand up straight, my back was in constant spasm and I struggled to walk. After the surgery I felt completely back to normal.

I realised that I had forgotten what it felt like not to be in pain (I had thought that I woke up each morning and had a brief glimpse of being pain free before I moved, but I was actually just in less pain!).

I had to be very careful for weeks afterwards and wasn't allowed to lift my toddler, which was very hard. I am still very careful now as they noticed on my MRI that I had another slightly bulging disc and I absolutely do not want to revisit that level of constant pain.

I hope the surgery helps you and that you feel better very soon

I had a disectomy 2 years ago and it was the best thing I could've done. I had been suffering on and off for 15 years, only ever for a couple of weeks at a time until the last time when it just was unrelenting pain for 2 months. I was fortunate enough to go private. I woke up with zero pain bar the incision. I took paracetamol for about 3 days and then didn't have any pain at all. I was walking straight almost immediately and within a couple of weeks I was going for 30 min walks around my (relatively flat) neighbourhood and building it up in speed and duration. At 2 months I started Pilates and yoga to rebuild my strength and haven't looked back since. I hope you have a similarly speedy recovery!