has anyone had fusion on their spine? Advice please!

VeganInTraining

So a year ago I had a Cervical Lamenectomy for a herniated disk. I had relief from pain for about 7 months before it came back almost full force! Yesterday I saw my surgeon and he said there is still some bulging in disk and that he feels that fusion would provide perminante relief but he would like to wait 6 months and see if it doesn't resolve by itself. My problem? I may not have insurance in 6 months and even if i do have insurance I may not be in the area so I would need to find a new surgeon which I don't like the idea of at all!

Has anyone had fusion? Did it help? Do you still have a good range of motion in your neck? would you recommend it?

He said that if I were older he wouldn't even give it a second thought but that he doesn't like to do fusion on young people unless totally necessary. Currently, I am in enough pain to feel that it's necessary but if it may resolve by itself i'd rather not get put under again. So, do I wait and see what happens and take the gamble on possibly having to get a new surgeon or do I just wait a month or two and go for it?

steveh08

I was 35 when I have to have C7 T1 fused. After having it done I wish I would have not waited so long to do it. It is amazing how much better I felt when I woke up. Yes there was pain, but the pain was not the same. Best wishes and I hope you are pain free before long.

bikermike5094

i rolled a snowmobile 2 years ago and herniated my c6/c7. my doc said it needed sugery, surgery consult said lets wait it out. Took about a year but finally healed up on its own. I did LOTS of research on the subject though and i would have opted for a cervical implant vs. fusion. the Prestige cervical implant looked the best t me but there are other devices out there (bryant). Fusion is the gold standard but over time its shown that fusion will eventually lead to degenerative discs above and below the fusion so you may be chasing this problem for the rest of your life. Implants on the other hand allow for full range of motion and stability. also, if degeneration does occour later above and below, you can stack implants. Europe has been doing implants and stacking for years. the FDA has only recently approved implants in the us, like within the last 10 years and they still dont endorse stacking them. Europe has been doing it for 20 years or more. good ole bearucratic red tape. Do your research!

bikermike5094

having said all that though..Peyton Manning of the colts who obviously has the BEST medical care in the world cause he can afford it just had cervical fusion done a few weeks ago and should be able to resume his nfl career next year.

bikermike5094

Also.. (sorry so long winded) I use a home traction device which really helps alleviate any residual pain i still get once in a while.

http://www.amazon.com/Neckpro-Cervical-Traction-Device-Adjustable/dp/B0002DNL0Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317220098&sr=8-1

VeganInTraining

Thanks for the input guys. Mike, my doctor said that he does fusion on a lot of athletes. Not so much because it's the best but because it is perminant and gets them back in the game quickest so while Manning may be getting the best care it may be that they went with that just because it's the quickest and most perminant. Had I been an athlete he probably would have gone straight to fusion so that I could be back in the game quickly but since he's just interrupting recreational sports he wanted to start with a lamenectomy which doesn't isolate that joint.

Maybe I should see about getting traction i did if for a while before my first surgery with absolutely NO results but it might be worth trying again. That's the other thing, I don't want to go through another year of painful physical therapy wasting my time only to need surgery again in a year....he did say that if i were to get problems from the surgery down the road it would be like 40 or 50 years down the road but he doesn't think that would even be a problem. I'll have to look into the implants and see what the doc says. I feel like my friend recently got an implant.

rsforster

I will be undergoing a C6-C7 fusion on September 4th 2012 at my local VA. I have been suffering with this for at least 30+ years and could finally get the VA to start looking at it about 3 years ago. They tried PT, steroidal epidural shots, traction, etc to no avail. I have been studying this and have not run across these implants but then, the VA wouldn't do that anyhow. Nice knowing that I am not alone on this on MFP and will keep ya'll updated on how mine turns out.

jennnnn2u

I actually had both done 2 years ago at C5-C6. One level was fused and the other was replaced with prosthetic disc. I suffered for about 5 years with on and off pain after a fall. After having the surgery, I SO wish I hadn't waited so long. It's most of the reason I ended up on MFP! I put on so much weight during the time I was injured it's not even funny and that led to problems with my feet, requiring foot surgery.

But I digress...the point is...if the pain is impairing your quality of life, you should do it as who knows what other damage will result from inactivity. The recovery time was LONG (close to a year before I was completely normal again) but now I am pain free with no noticeable loss in my range of motion. Good luck!

NikkiLS28

I had a bi-level fusion (C4-C6) two and a half years ago after dealing with awful pain and muscle spasms for over three years. If it hadn't taken so long to get decent health insurance, I would have done it a lot sooner. I did PT, stopped lifting anything over 15lbs, got fancy pillows, etc. Since I dealt with it so long, the muscles in my neck/upper back got all out of whack. Luckily, I had an amazing surgeon who educated me about all the risks and benefits which made me feel a lot more comfortable. My recovery was swift - driving within 5 days, back to work (office job) in two weeks.

Obviously, I'm not a physician/surgeon, but if you haven't had relief yet, it may not be in the cards for you without more intervention. Good luck on whatever you decide!

MD1Girl

I do not personally have experience with it, but I have seen my Mom suffer and not be able to work after her fusion surgery two years ago. Not only did it NOT fix the problem, it made her worse. When she had the surgery they fused three together. Within two days of the surgery she was in excruciating pain. She thought it was a fluke. Followed up with her doctor. This went on for a period of a year, where they basically told her she was lying and wasn't in any pain. FINALLY, they did an MRI and determined she had two more bulged discs, directly above where the fusion was done. If she could go back, she would not have it done at all. She went from some pain, to daily unbearable pain. They've tried pain management, physical therapy and none of it has worked.The only fix? You guessed it-more surgery. Her thought is if it only made it worse the first time, why do it again? She's afraid if she does it again, she won't be able to walk at all or do the limited things she does. She has put on 80 pounds since the surgery since she can't do the things she could before. I would definitely think very carefully before having it done. Best of luck to you!

wgn4166

Mine was C/4 C/5. My left hand went numb is how we found out. My doctor wanted to take care of it right away. I wanted a second opinion.
Although I was in pain most of the time, I still saw another doctor. He said I could wait a few months if i wanted to.
So he did the surgery, filled the space with donor bone, and screwed a metal plate over it to hold it in place.
That was about 6 years ago.
All has been fine till now. I find my neck getting stiff a lot. If I roll it to ease the tension, I hear a weird popping noise.
If you are in pain, I would go ahead and do it.