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What are people's experiences with spinal fusion surgery?
Spine Health | Last Active: Jun 30 3:25pm | Replies (222)Comment receiving replies
Thanks so much everyone, excellent advice that I will take to heart. I think my fear has taken over somewhat, and I will work hard to reverse that. No PT ordered as of yet, 10 weeks out, of 4 months order in a back brace and only told to walk as much as I’m able. I was told my bones are soft, assume that refers to osteopenia. Once the brace comes off in May, I’m asking for PT, I agree that’s so important! Building my core up, it’s been gone for a long while, Lol. I don’t want more surgery, but my neck was a close 2nd to my lumbar pain. I hope I can use PT again to relieve it. No more epidurals or ablations if I can help it though!
Replies to "Thanks so much everyone, excellent advice that I will take to heart. I think my fear..."
@ga29 When I complained to my spine surgeon, years after my lumbar surgery, about the pains I was having in my neck, He had an epidural done .... then a few days later he asked it that helped... No it had not... so he said ... You have "Cubital Tunnel Syndrome"... that is your elbow "crazy bone"... The spine surgeon said that he did not "do" limbs.. so an Arm surgeon fixed the problem out patient...So Epidurals are handy .. positive or negative... Ken
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@ga29 Are your doctors doing anything to improve your bone quality? That would be a factor in future spine surgery. Bone quality determines how well screws will hold if they need to place hardware. You might ask questions if there is a reason you are not absorbing enough nutrients. Are you on any prescription medicine that can affect this? Do you have enough calcium in your diet? Have they checked your blood calcium levels? My mom had a problem with her parathyroid glands that pulled calcium out of her bones and elevated blood calcium levels. That made her bones brittle and she fell and fractured her pelvis a week after the surgery that removed the bad parathyroid. It is worth asking why your bones are soft and what remedies could help. If you can make things better, you'll be in a better position if you do need another surgery.