What are people's experiences with spinal fusion surgery?

Amanda is right on. Talk to your neurosurgeon about the pain. Your Parkinson’s may make taking pain meds problematic. I hope your surgeon and neurologist talk to one another.

May you live long enough and well enough to hit an eagle or two with your grands! Stay positive, man. It doesn’t cost anything for us to love one another, regardless of our beliefs.

I’ve been avoiding spine surgery for years

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Thank=
you so much Amanda. I do appreciate your thoughtfulness in moving my post =
into an existing group. I had surgery on June 16; follow-up with neurosurge=
on on July 8; started PT on July 13; cancelled a few PT sessions due to ext=
reme dizziness (diagnosed as Vertigo); PT sessions now focused entirely on =
Vertigo August 4; next appointment with neurosurgeon is not scheduled yet. =
When we saw him on July 8, he said it is customary to experience some conti=
nuance of pain in the shoulders post surgery, but did not go into details. =
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I had a fusion between L3 to L4. There was no problem afterwards, even though the underlying problem, later discovered was a lymphoma B cell at T11.

My understanding is, if you take an NSAID for relief, it is not recommended for permanent relief. So, I take a 500 mg acetaminophen (tylenol) every three hours, every day. I don't go over the 4000 mg per day limit, printed on the bottle.

Thank you, kind sir! So, how long do you anticipate following this regiment? Months or years?

I anticipate following this regimen the rest of my life.

Jan 2023 My mother is age 78 with 70 degrees of scoliosis and degenerative spine and spondylolathesis and just completed L3-S1 spinal fusion ALIF. It was successful with standard nerve pain following. we are in the wait and see phase. But so far she did well. She is have right leg burning and nerve sensation. very aggravating she is on meds and gabapentin. started on cymbalta today. If nerve pain doesnt let up they will do a nerve block to see if it lets up. anyone else have experience?

Yes, I had similar situation with surgery L4-S1 ALIF & PLIF 360 fusion and after affects. Had both nerve blocks and hardware blocks. It turned out for me that tthe hardware screws at L4 and L5 were pressing on nerves and 2 years after the surgert and doctors were satified that the fusion was successful and stable, i had the screws removed on both sides. Very easy 1 hour outpatient procedure. That was 10 years ago. I'm 66. I woukd certainly ask about thatt after she is fully healed and nerve blocks dont resolve the problem. Over the course of 12 years, I have had mlutiple rhyzotomy's to burn off nerve endings ( lasts 4-6 months) on injections on the L4 nerve root, which continus to be a problem. Also, since you mentione pain down the leg, that implies the sciatic nerve, which could be the SI joint ( I have had mine fused) and I also have piriformis syndrome- the piriformis muscle gets inflamed, causes pressure in the Sciatic nerve, so I get steroid shots for that every 3-4 months.
Hope this gives you something to investigate.

What does ALIF & PLIF stand for? Thanks.

Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) surgery aims to fuse two levels of the lumbar spine by taking a surgical approach from the front.

Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF) aims to fuse two levels of the spine by taking a surgical approach from behind the lumbar spine