Spine lumbar fusion surgery. Anyone else?

TLIF l5/s1 may 28 and still in great pain when sitting. Is this normal?

I had TLIF April of 2024. The thing that worked for me to manage the pain was the PT after 6 weeks, doing the exercises dauily that she gave me, walking lots of short walks and a hell of a lot of patience. I couldn't sit for longer than 15 min in the car without tremendous pain. It all subsided after about a year but really didn't heal until the 18 month mark. Surgeon was honest and said it takes some people closer to 2 1/2 years.

@sexyrexy Had l4&5 fusion 11yrs ago.Was able to remain very active,skiing,gym and small construction projects.Problem is after 10 yrs or so you get adjacent disc / vertebrae usually l3 which I am dealing with now but it did work.Dr doesn’t tell you about that.Also ended up with l5&s1 neural foraminal stenosis which can be very painful at times.76yrs old when I had fusion.

@rockpir
I now have adjacent vertebrae disease above and below and it's only been 2 years. The pain was excruciating until I had an epidural injection L3-4 about 6 weeks ago. I've gone for a second opinion with a neurosurgeon who specializes in revision surgery with people who have had fusion. I'm about to see him in a couple of days for the feedback on results of all the testing. He had originally suggested a TESI at L4. We'll see what he says now.

@chinadoll48
Short answer: absolutely yes! Listen to your body and the instructions from surgical team.

@lessie Sorry about your failed back surgery.As I stated I didn’t have any issues until 10 yrs later.My younger brother had the fusion also and he played softball al over the country for10 years before he developed adjacent problems.I have l3 spinal stenosis and am scheduled for epidural.Hoping the injection will help!

The injection has helped a lot. It started to kick in about 10 days afterwards and I kept getting more and more relief over the following few weeks. The worst of the pain is gone, and what's left is manageable with Tylenol, Advil, and rest.
I don't think the TLIF was a failure. I was miserable before I had it and felt much better within a few months afterwards. I'm just frustrated that when I hear 5-10 years before discussing any surgery, I got 1 year after the hemi-laminectomy and 2 years following the TLIF. But, I'm happy for the people, like you, who get extended relief. For me, the hemi-laminectomy was a total game changer. I could only walk 5 minutes before having horrible pain. Two weeks after the surgery I could walk 30 minutes, and maybe more but the PT and my husband would stop me. It was amazing.

I had a L3toL5 fusion done with a decompression and a TLIF at L4/L5. The surgery went well except for a hematoma that started a few days after surgery and they had to go back in and clean it out And fix it. The pain I was experiencing in my leg before the surgery was gone. But during my recovery (I am almost 3 months post op) at 2 months post op, the numbness in my lower leg and toes has returned. Has anyone else had this happen? A new set of X-rays, CT, and MRI all came back normal. Dr. Has no idea why numbness is returning, other than it can come and go. I just want to be able to walk without assistance from the walker and my wonderful wife.

@biddled1 Hi, I am new to this forum. I had an L4-5 TLIF surgery 5.5 months ago. My symptoms were extreme leg/foot numbness which came on intermittently and quickly, then would subside, then it started creeping into my saddle region. I also developed severe left leg pain. I had had years of moderate low back pain. The numbness was new and concerning, so I had the surgery. It took care of the numbness and leg pain, but I am left with much worse back pain, both above and below my fusion area. I did develop some new foot and toe numbness about 6 weeks ago, which I tied to started gabapentin. So I stopped the gaba and the foot/toe numbness has markedly decreased. My surgeon is reluctant to blame the numbness on the gaba, but he also sees no other reason for the numbness. Are you by chance on gabapentin? I am also wondering if anyones else has experienced increased back pain following a "successful" fusion? A recent MRI shows nothing new and confirms the hardware is secure.

I had T10-pelvis fusion with L4-L5 transforaminal lumbar inter body fusion and L5-S1 transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with S2AI screws. Surgery was March 23, 2026/ Prior to surgery my head, neck, and right shoulder leaned to the left. It was painful to move my right arm more than a few inches. Now, I can raise the arm above my head without pain. Also, and this is weird, bladder leakage was abnormal to say the least. Doctor stated this was due to spine compression. My left leg is shorter than right leg. I had some weakness in left leg and occasional numbness in the groin. Still experiencing some numbness in left leg after sitting more than 1/2 hr. and a signal for me to start moving around.
Gabapentin created unwanted side effects (sleeplessness, swelling in foot and ankle, tiredness, weight gain, depression). It was given to me 3xday for a month. It's not an easy medication to withdraw from, but I did it and hope never again to take it.

For 1-1/2 weeks, 3 months post-surgery, I was experiencing pain and numbness in left leg and back when sitting. Relief came when I laid on my back. However, laying on my back became impossible because the pain became intense and I went to ER. During the wait in ER, the pain became excruciating and I was given Fentanyl, Torodol, and valium. Since then, there's been no pain and no need for further medication. I don't know what caused the pain, but a month has passed and it hasn't returned. My life is now more or less normal after the spinal fusion.

I wish everyone participating in this chat forum a healthy recovery.