Spinal Fusion Surgery – Good or Bad Experiences?

@sb6088 you need to build acceptance in your body systems if you’ve never used cannabis. Here are a few sites to read that will help answer your question and hopefully educate you on the benefits of cannabis for chronic pain. You should begin with the last site I posted first.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574562/,
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7204604/,
https://www.cureus.com/articles/106551-the-use-of-cannabidiol-in-patients-with-low-back-pain-caused-by-lumbar-spinal-stenosis-an-observational-study,
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2022.0143,
https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/medical-marijuana,

@mayr
It sounds like you are being dismissed/discriminated against due to your age and being a female. Can you take someone with you to help you advocate for your care and improved quality of life?

Do you have any symptoms of heaviness/clumsiness in arms/hands/fingers, noticed a change in your handwriting (sloppier than normal), dropping things more often, bladder/bowel control issues, heaviness in legs when walking?

Have you read your MRI report in detail to see what is called out as impressions by the radiologist? It should show if you have osteophytes/bony overgrowths, herniated discs, vertebrae slipping over the one beneath, compression of spinal cord/nerve roots and the levels affected? If not, please get access to this report from the place you got your MRI from and have family/friend review it with you and look up medical terms to help you understand what it all means. You can also ask ChatGPT what your results mean in normal terms.

Have you had a MRI of your lumbar spine, too?

@mayr
All of your symptoms matter and the surgeon should not dismiss new symptoms and worsening quality of life. Your symptoms are similar to what I had and I had my spinal cord being injured with the compression. Injury of spinal cord at the cervical level can become permanent if not decompressed. This compression is called degenerative cervical myelopathy.

@dlydailyhope Yes I have heaviness in my legs and numb feet plus tingling fingers and my handwriting and typing are not good.
MRI report showing of any seriousness is c3c4 uncovertabral hypertrophy causing severe foraminal narrowing.

c5 c6 uncovertabral hypertrophy causing severe right and mild left neural narrowing.

c6c7 Disc osteophyte causing severe left and moderate right neural foraminal narrowing.

My surgeon says not to worry everything looks good. Second opinion with another dr which he says everything looks good.

That is frustrating since I am still having all these problems 7 month out from ACDF fusion which went well and healed perfectly.

My husband is not very good with doctors but he has made a new appointment with a new surgeon. Also he has gotten an appointment with a surgeon down in Mt Pleasant SC that has a very good rating with his patients so hopefully out the next two one of them can help me.
Thank you for your concern. I appreciate it. I will continue with physical therapy at home and hope that helps until I get an answer.

@mayr

It seems you have some severe foraminal stenosis at multiple levels and would need to explore foraminotomy surgery options to decompress nerve roots and address any osteophyte bone growth if affecting nerves. How is your vertebrae strength? Do you have osteoporosis or are your bones strong? How does your hardware show up in your MRI and has anything collapsed compressing nerve roots and foraminal space?

Here is what ChatGPT says about getting foraminotomy after ACDzf surgery.

Considerations for Foraminotomy After ACDF

Indications

Persistent Symptoms: If symptoms like pain, numbness, or weakness continue after ACDF, a foraminotomy may be indicated to relieve nerve compression.
New Issues: Foraminotomy can also address foraminal stenosis or new herniations at adjacent levels post-ACDF.

@jenatsky
Thanks for all the info, very pertinent to the use of cannabis for chronic pain and from highly reputable sites too.

I have used cannabis but it was about 40 years ago and from what I hear todays pot is nothing like what I used back in those days. I understand its much stronger so I have to be more knowledgeable about the type I'm getting. I think they're very helpful in the dispensaries too choosing the right one for my particular situation.

Again, thank you, very much appreciated!

@sb6088 if you reside in a MMJ state the products are all labeled with strengths.

The part that can make it challenging is everyone’s experience is different. My experience is a posterior cervical laminectomy with fusion C3-6. I saw multiple docs with different approaches but this seemed the best route to take. My right leg had started giving out, kicking when lying tremors right leg, hand arm and right side overall. Felt very stiff at same time. Surgery went well, long recovery and a lot of PT to fully reactivate right leg. Coming up on three years and pain is worse but gained a lot of strength and function. There are times when the pain is bad and I question it but I know I made the right decision. My decision was pretty easy 4 doctors I saw before surgery all said the same the long term outcome would be organ failure. All I can say is ask questions and get as many opinions as you can. Best of luck