Hi everyone,
I have never posted here before as I live in the UK and we now have our own ADR site. However I used to be a frequent visitor to the USA ADR Support forum until I somehow got locked out. Also I wasn't making the kind of recovery I had expected or hoped for and was finding it increasingly depressing to read about other people playing football etc 6 weeks post-surgery.
Yesterday I was surfing the net, decided to 'pop into' ADR Support and somehow managed to post a message. Mark picked it up and asked me to post it here - so (with one or two changes) here goes.....
I hope my story will help some of you guys having a slow recovery.
After 5 years of chronic, severe, disabling LBP with no diagnosis, in spite of 4 MRI scans and a host of other diagnostic procedures, I heard about the Alpha Clininc in Munich and finally was diagnosed with multiple ruptures to L5 S1.
I was ecstatic to finally get a diagnosis and, through ignorance, not at all afraid of the surgery! I was so desperate to get rid of the pain that had taken me to the verge of suicide. In September 2005 (over 18 months ago) I had one level ADR surgery (ActivL) with Dr Zeegers.
For at least a year my back pain was only slightly reduced. The only improvement post surgery was that the pain didn't always start up as soon as I woke up, so I could sometimes lie in bed in the morning and read for an hour or so without pain. Also it was never as excrutiating as it had been before surgery. Sitting, which had been impossible for 2 years, was easier so I could drive a bit but I still couldn't walk far and any standing was hell.
I didn't regret having the surgery as there was some improvement but it was not at all what I had hoped for. I was a good candidate - 'only' one ruptured disc, good bone density, slim, previously athletic, 51 years old and in otherwise good health - apart from the ubiquitous depression.
By last summer - 10 months or so post surgery, I was back in the depths of despair, convinced it hadn't really worked and there had to be something else causing my pain. I'd been back to Germany but Dr Zeegers hadn't been able to identify the cause of my continuing pain. He'd injected my facet joints but that didn't help at all. I came home and continued 'doctor shopping', went back to hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, anti-depressants, acupuncture, specialised back strength training - all to no avail.
In September 2006 I went to see John Sutcliffe, one of the top spinal surgeons in London who runs a private clinic. What I liked about his unusual set up is that he works closely with a team of medics including a pain specialist, an osteopath, a podiatrist and several physiotherapists. This team meet every two weeks to discuss any difficult cases. He was happy with the look of my surgery but agreed to discuss my case at one of his team meetings. This is what I was hoping for and he agreed that I should attend.
It was very informal and I sat in the middle of this group of medics who had already examined my pre and post surgery scans and X-rays. They fired questions at me, looked at the way I stood and walked and very quickly the osteopath and physiotherapists agreed that my pain was almost certainly postural and muscular - in layman's terms that I was standing with too much lumbar extension putting pressure on the lower back and also over-using the large outer muscles along the spine whilst the smaller paraspinal muscles were not being used at all.
I have now had 6 to 7 months of weekly physiotherapy and do about 30 mins of specific excercises every day. Through the subtle programme of this fantastic young New Zealand physiotherapist I have gradually learned to use my body differently and the pain has gradually diminished. It hasn't gone completely but there are parts of days when I have no pain at all, the first time since January 2000! And when I do have it, it is NEVER as bad as it was. I'd say on a bad day I'm 60% better and on a good day 80% better.
I can walk
fast for an hour and a half or more, cycle at least ten miles, stand more easily (this is still the hardest thing) sit in the theatre or a restaurant. I'm still taking pain killers every day but less than half the amount I was taking even before Christmas. I'm not ready to stop completely yet, mainly because I'm paranoid about the pain coming back, but I'm hoping that in a few more months I'll be off them. And if I'm not, I don't really care so long as my pain continues to reduce. My physio thinks there is still plenty of scope for further improvement as my posture is far from perfect and if I'm tired or not concentrating I resort unwittingly to my old slump.
So my message is two fold - if your recovery seems to be slower than you expected and much, much slower than everyone else's -
don't give up hope. It has really amazed me how much pain was caused by poor posture and muscle tightness and how much it's possible to reduce it with the right therapist, the determination to find one and the discipline to spend 30 to 40 boring minutes every day doing excercises. I sometimes even wonder if I shouldn't have rushed into ADR but there's no point in going down that road, it's done now.
On that note - must go and do my excercises....
Vicky
I'm unlikely to visit this site very often so if anyone does want to reply or ask me anything - please email me at vickyjoseph99@yahoo.co.uk
I hope every ADR patient gets there in the end, preferably a lot quicker than me. Good luck to you all and for those of you who supported me in the early post-op days by telling me endlessly that some people take a long time - a special thank you.