Constant back pain, hip pain, groin and skin after Laminectomy and L4 L5 fusion

Hi, ask your physio about hydrotherapy, my fusion was years ago. I suffered similar pain to what you have for a long time.

I was absolutely terrified of going swimming, frightened I’d twist something, or fall. But it was the best thing I ever did, loosened my back a lot, and the more often I went the stronger my back felt. Now many years later, still have DDD plus arthritis, but honestly water is the best thing.

Four months still sounds early to me in the post op period for that big a surgery, I'd expect pain.  I also think you should sell be in PT and with this much pain the pool would be the best place as it takes away gravity.  The only way you are going to not end up as a failed back surgery is to fight your way back to a healthy back through physical therapy, massage, stretching and exercise.  Otherwise you are looking at a lifetime spent in a pain management clinic like the rest of us on this forum.  I wouldn't disagree with the updated MRI.  You do have a lot of pain to account for.  However, I wouldn't let that take your eye off the prize of getting back to health through the hard work in physical therapy, and take home homework!  Good luck.

Thank you "allaroundanne" and "Laura 3333". I have been thinking of trying swimming but I would need to join a gym to have access to an indoor pool. I want to give it a try first before I join. The other issue about swimming is changing into and out of the swimming suit. I know that sounds silly but I still have a lot of trouble with dressing the bottom half of my body. It isn't pretty. LOL.

Physio is going well but slow. I am not able to go as quickly with the exercise as he would like to see. My therapist office doesn't have access to hydrotherapy. And he said I shouldn't be on the treadmill.

I also started back to my massage therapist. She helped a lot. She suggested ultrasound therapy. The aching in my left leg and the pain in my left foot can get so bad I need to remove my sandle or slipper and sometimes socks.

And the pain in my back hips and thighs is wearing me down. Physically and emotionally. I am thankful that LTD isn't pushing me back to work.

I forgot to mention I was also diagnosed with spinal stenosis. But I believe this is the same as DDD. And that I will be 58 this August. My back problem started bothering me 3.5 years ago.

Laura3333 hiw long ago was your surgery and do you still have the pain? And are you working?

I appreciate your positive and informative posts. 😊

Hi Laura..I agree it is nerve pain. I still see the surgeon we talked about Lyrica. I was on it before surgery for a short while and I couldn't tolerate the side effects from the medication. He said there are people who can't tolerte it, but there is no other mediaction out there.

So, here I am.

Thank you for listening. I now take it one day at a time. Some days are better then others and the PT tells me repeatedly not to over do it.

That is a very difficult one for me. LOL.

Cathy

Hi Laura.

Gabapentin is the generic form of lyrica and I had serious side effects with both. I am not able to take it. I take tramadol slow release and occasionally a muscle relaxer. Other wise nothing else works. Like you I don't like pain medication like opioids.

I am in Ontario Canada. I am hoping I can cope with minimal meds. But we'll see. Today is a bad day.

Great chatting with you.?

I agree that it’s way too soon for you to be so active. Do light strengthening activities the pool is a great idea. Also, hot/cold therapies help. I really didn’t start feeling better/good until after 6 months. You can just google low impact lumbar exercises there are plenty but avoid any trunk rotations. Sounds like your core needs some strengthening.

Curious, when you lay down and feel the pain is it in a certain position only? And are you sure it’s your hips and not at the fusion site? Pain can transfer and sometimes be tricky to isolate. After my L5-S1 fusion when I layed on my back I felt a lot of painful pressure near the fusion site. It’s nearly 3 years post op and it’s still there. I used to sleep on my back but now I can’t. I have seen 4 different surgeons and all of them are clueless as to why that hurts and most of them brushed it off. Probably because they didn’t have an answer. Early on I had hip pain too but eventually it went away after the core strengthening.

 Oh and don’t bother asking for an mri they won’t do it. It’s rare to get one done once hardware is in you. Ct with mylogram (sp?) is what they would do. It’ll show any spinal cord impingement. It’s not pleasant at all so make sure you really want it. 

One more thing about the meds sorry. I tried all the nerve ones and none helped. I liked the Tramadol but found that if I didn’t take it I got horrendous withdrawal symptoms. Worse than any opioid I’ve ever been on. Maybe try soma (strong muscle relaxer) with some Tylenol to ease your muscles. Just muscles spasming like crazy can create a lot of discomfort. Good luck! Post op is awful. 

Two things, Lyrica is't gabapentin. Lyrica is pregalbin and gabapentin is neurontin. Two totally different drugs, even two different classes of drugs used for different things. Second, if your fusion was done with any metal and not just bone, then that's why you can't have an MRI. The MRI would cause the metal to come flying out of your body towards it's big rotating magnet.

Oh and I just saw the Tramadol post, tramadol is an opiod, that's why you get opioid withdrawal symptoms. It is marketed as one of the mildest opioids, and it is, but it happens to have a few little side problems it can cause that other opioids don't that make it uniquely problematic. Tramadol messed with serotonin metabolism causing it to accumulate in the brain, if you take another drug that increases serotonin levels in the brain, like Lyrica, you can get a very serious, sometimes lethal disorder called serotonin syndrome. Not enough doctors are aware of this syndrome and too many chronic pain patients get put on too many of these serotonin enhancing drugs that they risk serotonin syndrome.

I did not know that about lyrica. And 2 different kinds. Thank you.

Good to know about the Lyrica and the tramadol..that could be why I didn't tolerate it very well.

As for the metal in my back the surgeon did mention it was titanium and I can still have an MRI if needed and No I didn't need to worry about travel. That I wouldn't set off any alarms.

My sleeping positions is on my side. Sometimes on my back because my hips hurt so much and now my knees are starting. I think it is because I have been realigned and other joints are starting to hurt.

Physio is going well but slow. However it is helping. I have more mobility but still very far from where I would like to be. Or need to be.

Thank you everyone for you input. It helps me cope better..

Cathy

It’s going to be awhile just have patience. I can completely sympathize with how frustratingly slow recovery is and no matter what they tell you your mobility will never be as good as they say it will. If you stay vigilant with your stretches and core strengthening it will get better but you really need to be OCD about them. It sucks but there’s a lot of us right there with you. 

Take care.