Discogram more painful than 3 lvl fusion?

[real_army_wife]

Thanks for your reply, Judy! I told the nurse that I now will have to rethink the 1-10 pain scale, since that was beyond excruciating. I know that I will NEVER have another one of those, no matter what!

Originally Posted by jsewell

Real Army Wife,
I too had a discogram on multiple levels of my thoracic spine. I agree it was the worst pain ever. I was able to remain on the table but not without tears, wimpering, crying, and moaning. I had problems with a level in my thoracic spine which was no longer allowing me to stand very long or walk very long without needing to lay down . Even in the airport at the horror of my 4 kids. I too gave birth to 4 kids, have had a total hip replacement, lots of spine surgery with many complications, lung surgery etc. Still that was the worst pain EVER. I am not fused through different surgeries from C4 thru L4 and in 3 weeks will have surgery from T5 thru L5.
Nothing i have ever done or had done has compared to the sheer pain of that discography. So don't fear the surgery. It is painful to get out of bed after the surgery, the physical therapist will have you log roll and get up a certain way, but still think of the discography and you will know you can do anything. I always said nothing was as painful as childbirth until that.
At the time i rated T 6-7 a 20 out of 10. I underrated some of the other levels until it came to the other one which was really bad. I could not call the really bad levels a 10, had to be a 20!!.

I did have surgery to remove the disks at those levels. For a few months i still had the same pain and was thinking it was all for nothing, but believe me it all cleared up and i have not felt any of the pre surgery pain.
Don't worry and ask any questions you have
judy