I just read your post, and could not believe how much it matched my situation. I am a 59-yead-old female, and I spent years in pain following a back injury I received working on the job as a police officer. I have undergone several surgeries, to include joint replacement surgery in both thumbs. I have a very high pain tolerance, and nothing ever puts me down long. My lower back pain was more of an ongoing annoyance that kept me from being about to run and work out like I wanted to, so I underwent spinal fusion surgery last Monday (03/31/2025). Since coming home from the hospital, I have pretty much been bed-ridden. Though though the surgery pain is pretty much gone, the sciatic pain I have now in my legs, back buttocks and lower extremities is unbearable. I, too, am on all the same medicines, though I have weaned off the Oxycodone due to the severe side effects. The pain comes in these waves or episodes, mostly late at night and very early in the morning. All I can do is lie there and cry because it’s so unbearable. I finally couldn’t take it anymore so I took the Oxycodone again, and then I wound up in the emergency room dealing with the side effects. I am depressed and terrified now that I’ve made a huge mistake having this surgery and this might be my new norm. I am worn out and am thinking I wish I hadn’t done this.