I had my back surgery 8 weeks ago. It went well. Let me tell you all about it in case anything helps. I'm not a doctor and don't pretend to know what I'm talking about .
The problem manifested in November of last year. Probably about the time I packed up my mom's house and unpacked it all when she got to Oregon. 327 boxes, if I recall correctly. Many, Many tons.
Like Lightchucker, the sciatica was involved so the pain hit in my lower back, butt cheek and lower leg. At first I could sit OK but had problems when I bent over. It progressed to where sitting was murder. A 5 minute trip by car was agony.
I coped with it by laying on the floor to rest and standing the rest of the time. I worked from home as a computer consultant, so I was able to set a PC on a TV tray on the coffee table to get it to a usable height. I did this for almost 9 months.
First I did the anti-inflamatory, but there was no big change. I was referred to a specialist. that's when they did the MRI
The MRI showed that I had a hefty protrusion at the front of the l4-l5 disc. The MRI report called it a "Large central disc protrusion up to 5mm in AP dimension". That's about a 1/4 inch. I remember being surprised at the size. It also talked of "severe lateral recess narrowing" with "impingement on the right L5 traversing nerve root". In other words a pinched nerve.
They did not do an epidural because of the blood thinners that I take. My neurologist and back doctor played ping pong for 5 months each examining me and sending me back to the other. Bleeding after an epidural can be a major complication. When the back doctor decided to do the epidural anyway I got spooked and got a second opinion.
My second doctor recommended a short course of PT (Physical Therapy) since it had been 8 months since the original injury. The PT did help. The PT was masage, heat, movement and eletrostim. They suggested a "lumbar support pillow" when I had to sit.
Because the bulge was toward the front of the disk, I needed a curve in the spine to reduce the pressure. The PT and lumbar support pillow did well enough that I could drive 10 to 15 minutes with only minor pain. I still could not sit in front of my computer, but things were getting better. One day out of 5 had no pain at all for several hours at a time. When it did hurt, it was just as bad as ever.
This whole time I did not take pain pills. I simply avoided anything that caused it to hurt worse.
At the end of 3 weeks of PT, the doctor told me that a micro-discectomy and laminectomy would
probably fix the problem for at least several years. The micro-discectomy trimmed off the bulge and the laminectomy took off some of the bone next to where the nerve passes through. They also cleaned out some disc fragments that had broken free and were floating around.
The surgery was outpatient under general anesthesia. 2 hours, I think. The inscision is only 1 inch long. I look like I have a belly button in the middle of my back, but that's been filling in.
I have full range of movement again, and the sciatica pain was gone the day of the operation. Of course, then I felt like I'd been stabbed in the back. *
Occasionally I get a twinge in my leg that is reminiscent of the sciatica, but only momentarily. I'm still on "light" duty and am only allowed to pick up 5 pounds. I feel like I'm 100% OK, but I learned to follow doctors' orders.
Degenerative discs run in the family. My son is having problems at the age of 30. He's taking Neurontin for the pain and it is helping him. He's not restricted his movements at all. He works as a manager of a Pizza parlor so he's lifting and bending all day long.
In summary, the PT may help, but it's important to figure out the cause of the impingement and tailor the PT to that. Changes in posture can help too. The surgery can be a godsend IF the conditions are right. If the root cause is muscle tension pulling the vertebre out of position, the PT will be most effective, as will TENS and masage. If the root cause is narrowing of the bone around the nerve, surgery is the only option that I was told about. I was lucky. It worked and only took a year.
Good luck and feel free to PM me if you want to talk about it or just want a picture of the surgey site after healing.
Daniel