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Has anyone had the ACDF surgery on their neck?
Bones, Joints & Muscles | Last Active: Apr 13 7:21pm | Replies (81)Comment receiving replies
Next week I am having ACDF surgery. C2 - C6. I have had neck and facial pain for over 2 yrs. When this started I went to my GP who I had for over 30 yrs. For some reason the doctor I met that day was not the doctor I knew. He had always been helpful, would go the extra mile for anyone. Heck, one year my husband and I nominated him for doctor of the year at a local hospital and he won. That day was shocking to me I told him how I felt. He did not check my neck just leaned against a wall and said he did not learn about this in medical school. He went on to say that if I go to the hospital, they will tell me to go back to my doctor, he said don't. Needless to say I was in shock. Fast forward I saw a few different types of doctors...none of which showed any concern. I was told I had TMJ, I needed a physiatrist, I needed my thyroid removed, nothing was wrong with me etc... But nobody opted for x-rays or an MRI. At this point I went back to my GP. He agreed to see me, but said he would not talk to me about my neck. My husband asked him for a referral to see an ENT. He said he had no reason to do this. It would be embarrassing to him as his integrity was on the line. My husband begged him, he finally agreed for a referral. The ENT put a scope down my throat and said nothing was wrong, he didn't see anything.
My second to my last stop I thought I finally found hope. An MRI was taken. I was told nothing serious. They referred me to physical therapy for 10 weeks. The doctor did note to me that he disagreed with the radiology report. He said he saw a Chiara malformation and wanted to me get a second opinion at a local university hospital near by. No one called. I found another GP, who I explained all this to. She set me up with an ENT. The ENT showed me my MRI and another MRI of a person who had a Chiara. She said I in no way have this. She went on to say at my age I would have known by now if I had one. What a relief. Finally I decided I needed to explore outside of my city for help. I went to Des Moines, IA. There a surgeon looked at my MRI and he also order additional x-rays. My problem is that I have a nerve impingement between c5, c6. I have stenosis and arthritis in the front of my neck. I needed surgery.
I have been through hell for the past 2 plus years. Isolated, in pain and on my own, searching for help. I've developed depression and anxiety. I am a reck. My surgery is next week.
Replies to "Next week I am having ACDF surgery. C2 - C6. I have had neck and facial..."
@hemmingway I want to welcome you to Connect. I do understand your frustration. I was seeing spine surgeons for 2 years and 5 surgeons turned me down. That is when I came to Mayo for a 6th opinion, and that surgeon helped, and did surgery fusing my C5/C6.
Do you feel a sense of relief now that you have a plan? Was your fear about the frustration of not getting answers or about the scheduled surgery? When I went through my first minor surgery, I was very scared and sought the help from a psychologist who did clinical hypnosis and that really worked to help me through it calmly.
When I needed spine surgery, I had a lot of fear that I was working on for those 2 years. By the time I got to having surgery, I was doing fine. Your surgery is pretty big from C2 to C6 which will be a big change. It's always a compromise when you have spine surgery. You won't be able to move like you are used to doing. Did the surgeon explain why you need so many levels done and explain it by showing you your MRI and how much motion ability you will loose?
You may be interested in this discussion I started about facing the fear. That was a big change for me and overcoming the fear changed my life. My spine surgery wasn't as bad as I had imagined it, but it was just one level. I don't know how it will be for you having more levels done. The pain medicine nauseated me, and I found I could tolerate the healing pain fine without it.
Just Want to Talk - "How can I defeat my anxiety about medical tests and surgery?"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-can-i-defeat-my-anxiety-about-medical-tests-and-surgery/
I was told you have acdf surgery if you have pain down the arms in reply to hemmingway
I have had c 5 C6 issues for 20 years.
The facet arthritis is awful.
They are trying to find out again if my pain is from arthrosis of facet joint or
The c4 c5 c6
Disc itself.
Physical therapy only helps if I do a little at at a time and recently the rubber bands made my 20 yr neck back pain worse causing a bit of nerve pain in fingers and goes other places
Once near my nose.
Feet too .
This started a few wks ago
I never had surgery and I am going back to the same neurosurgeon I saw in 2010.
I've had chronic pain.
I believe I tore the longus colli muscle
Back pain with arthrosis in my facet joints
Will read article too
I was fused from C-3 through C-6. After having lumbar sacral fusion, the cervical fusion was a 'cake walk'. There are swallowing challenges early on but these dissipated soon. Obviously one has limited ROM, but these alleviation of symptoms makes the procedure worthwhile. ☮️
I had an acdf at c5-c6 for nerve compression on both sides and a herniated disc. Wish I wouldn't of done it. Just my experience. 3 years post op and I have extensive anterior bone spurring and advanced left facet arthrosis c7-t1. Seems like my disc's are going bad underneath the fusion. Its been some kind of ride. I thought the pain was bad before......I was wrong. Most people seem to really get relief from surgery. Do your homework and ask questions
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Where are you currently located? FWIW I don't think I've ever had a MD act like that.