Surgical solutions to chronic cervical/back pain

@jenapower My husband has fusion and graft of C 3-4, 4-5, 5-6 two weeks ago. He had severe spinal cord compression from herniated discs. The surgery was successful and he has no more numbness and pain. Down the road he will need to have 6-7 done . I know your post goes back write a few months ago. Have you had any surgery done?
All the best,
Jen

I am writing to discuss pain control following low back surgery. The neurosurgeon said that the surgery would stop the pain I was having before surgery, but there would still be pain from the muscles and nerves. I now find I am having sever muscle cramps ranging from my waist to my knees. It seems as though there is a muscle or series of muscles that run around the body mimicking the half circle of my hips. That is the source of my pain. I am currently on Tramadol and muscle relaxants and they help, but there is still breakthrough pain. My husband has begun massaging the area 1-2 times a day. We have a borrowed TENS unit that helped one day, and aspercream lotion and patch. Is this usual following back surgery in the lumbar region? Has anyone else experienced this follow-up pain? How have other people managed this pain? Thank you for anything you can share with me.

hello, you may want to 'Google' Game Ready. If you can afford to rent a machine called Game Ready,
It will help with swelling. It cost my x-colleague $565 for 2 weeks rental (Canadian), worth every penny, she said and insurance paid half.
She is also on disability.
I wanted to let you know.

Thank you @tessie. I will check that out.

Hello!
OK, this is my third and final try to post a reply. I don't know what is going on???????? I will try to start again.....
My issues began about 10 years ago. I had pain from my shoulder to the tip of my fingers. I saw several doc but no one could figure out why I was having this pain. I finally saw a spinal doc who figured it out. The pain was coming from my cervical spine. One shot and PT and I was good to go for a couple of years. When the pain returned, another shot and PT and I was fine.

A couple of years later, my lower back started to give me issues. Walking and sitting became painful. I had several non-surgical procedures done but nothing worked. I finally went to see a doc at Johns Hopkins. He said that my cervical spine was actually worse than my lumbar (my cervical spine was not giving me issues at the time). He told me I would need surgery on my cervical spine. Not if, but when. I wasn't ready to do anything so drastic.

I tried 3 different pain docs to treat the lumbar spine. Nothing really gave me any relief for more than a couple of days or week. I was going to get a spinal stimulator. I went through the trial and had no success. In between all this, I retired on disability because I could no longer walk or tolerate the pain. In addition, we decided to move to a warmer climate. I asked the rep of the stimulator company to suggest a pain doc in my new state. I wanted to continue with the stimulator. I tried this new doc. He felt I was not ready to go with the stimulator so we went back to shots which didn't last much longer than they did before.

Out of frustration, I researched and found another pain doc. He found the right spot and has been giving me lumbar epidurals for the last 3 years. I usually get 6-10 weeks of relief if I watch myself and baby my back. A few months ago, my cervical spine started to act up again. This time violent headaches was added into the mix. I only got them when I was sleeping and they woke me each morning. He tried a few different things but nothing really worked.

I finally decided that I did not have any quality of life and the constant pain was having an impact on my mood as well. After more research, I found a neurosurgeon. He suggested we start with my cervical spine since I have been able to get some relief with injections on my lumbar. I told my pain doc and he didn't seem to happy about my decision to have surgery. He had led me to believe that he had done all he could for my neck.

Anyway, about 5 weeks ago I had disk replacement on C5/6. The headaches are gone and so is most of the pain. I still have pins and needles in my forearms to fingers if I do what I am doing right now, too much typing. Next week I will go for my 6 weeks post op check up and we will discuss if we will take action on any other the other disks in my cervical spine and what he has in mind for my lumbar. I know I am doing well with shots in my lumbar, but I am concerned about steroids over the long run.

By the way, I am not really sure why I have these issues. I can only guess why they started. I believe some of it is hereditary since my brother has issue and my dad did, too. I also believe that improper weight exercising might have impacted the situation, too. Finally, good old aging.

That is my story. I hope it helps some.
Happy Sunday!

Marie,
Many, many years ago I went to a physiatrist for what was then called TMJ and for Fibromyalgia. Basically, this doc put me on lots of vitamins. I really cannot remember what else she did.

Hi Marie,
I just had disk replacement in C5/6. My neurosurgeon told me up front that if he did a fusion, it would weaken the other disks surrounding C5/6. He said I would need more surgery down the road. He suggested the replacement and if I took care and not do stupid things (my words, not his), I should be good to go (as far as these and surrounding disks are concerned). I do have other cervical disks with issues so I don't know if I am done with cervical surgery, yet.
Good luck to us all!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

Thank you for posting. I have lost sensation in some fingers on my left hand. My spine doctor tells me that this is due to cervical spine discs issues and I need surgery. Rather scary! Good to know your surgery worked.

@jenapower Thank you for posting. I have degenerative disc disease and severe systemic osteoarthritis. I had 1 cervical disc removed and the two vertebrae fused in 2002. It worked wonderfully for relieving the pain but left some loss of range of motion. Over the intervening years that range of motion has evened out with the other side. About a month ago I finally had surgery to remove a facet and fuse the two vertebrae in my lumbar spine. That surgery worked wonderfully for removing the pain of impingement on my spinal cord. However, the post operative pain from the muscles disrupted by the surgery was every bit as painful as the spinal impingement had been. I was given a muscle relaxant, as well as an opioid with fewer side effects at my staple removal visit. They did not take care of the muscle pain. I begged my husband to deep massage the most painful areas and got some pain relief. He talked to a few people and borrowed a stimulator (commonly called a tens unit) and electric massager. He also made a trip to the store and brought home aspercreme lotion and patches. The stimulator had very little effect on the pain and his hand manipulations were actually better than the electric massager. I received the most relief from a professional deep tissue massage and aspercreme patches. Now, 4 weeks out, I have been able to go 2 days with no opioid or muscle relaxant and one day without the aspercreme patch. I have also been able to start walking for up to 10 minutes with only mild achiness.

As for your problem with receiving too many emails, my only suggestion would be to open an email account with gmail, yahoo, aol, or some other free provider and use that account for your Mayo Connect notifications only. Than you can read your normal emails and only go to your Mayo dedicated account when you are ready to scroll, delete and read.

Good luck to you on all accounts.

Thank you for sharing your story. It sounds like things are going well for you, now.
I have many of the issues you do....degenerative disc disease and systemic osteoarthritis.
I had 2 discs replaced in my cervical spine about 5 weeks ago. For me, the nerves that were disturbed during the surgery has been the most disruptive. Now, almost 5 weeks out, I am feeling much better.
I take shots for my lumbar spine. As a matter of fact, I go tomorrow for my shot and I cannot wait.
When I go for my 6 week post-op, we will discuss if he feels I need anything more with my cervical spine. We are also going to discuss my lumbar spine. I worry about all the steroids I get.
I also take opioids and use creams with lidocaine. Each takes the edge off but nothing seems to get rid of the pain.
I used to get massages, too, but now I am afraid they might mess something up. I'll have to talk with the neurosurgeon about that, too.
Well hope your progress continues.

Good luck!!!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)