Had the same issues, felt like a truck was parked on my right leg. Two discs fused at the age of 25. Now some 43 years later I've had a pretty normal life, raced motorcycles, still ride 150 miles a week on my bicycle with only occasional issues. I've heard the bad from other people but i'm glad I had it done.
One of my coworkers said “someone could get rich by having a yard sale of Titanium after you bite the bullet”
Thanks for that; I’m glad to hear some positive. Seems like most of what I have been hearing are horror stories. But it’s really the same as anything else. If someone has a bad experience with a vehicle/vendor/appliance/whatever, you hear about it one way or another. Rarely does anyone make the time or effort to “say, I had one, all is ok”.
I feel your pain. Well, maybe you feel some of mine. I’m 1.5 years out from having this mess internally braced with some nice ti plates and screws. I’m most likely looking at a fusion in the future but I’ve decided that in a year if I don’t have any more ROM, about 20° total right now, that I’ll do the below the knee amputation and get all sorts of fancy feet. There’s a clinical trial right now in Boston that is showing great results, so hopefully I’ll qualify for that or the procedure will become widespread soon.
I had the same surgery for my l3-l4. My left leg stopped working and I had unbearable nerve pain for 3 months before I had enough. After the discectomy my main pain was gone but I had weird hypersensitivity of the skin which hurt to touch on my leg and shin and trouble sleeping at night from throbbing down my leg. At exactly 2.5 months I was able to start cycling and that's when things got better fast. I would say I'm 98% and that 2% I'll get back with time. I'm only three months out from the surgery and I never realized just how much pain my back was giving me before until after surgery. My back is the best it's been in 20 years and I'm basically pain free. The only problem I had was from the anesthesia, it made me not be able to pee for two days so I had multiple catheters which sucked especially with an enlarged prostate.
WTH causes all this disc deterioration, herniated discs, etc....? Physical injuries, motorcycle crashes, genetics?
From what I gather, all of the above. I think it is typically caused by excess trauma (sports, crashes, intense exercise, etc). But there are studies saying there could be a hereditary factor in play also.
I don't think left to get surgery that quick. Lol. They do that in the market next to to goats. Which is probably the primary reason he did it there.