re: Back Surgery-Bulging Disc

My neighbor how isn't maybe 40 who I have talked to and hung out with had the surgery a couple days ago.

I spoke to him on Saturday and he said he need a cig and a beer and his GF shot that shite down.

he took the neck brace off yesterday and I took my dog out last night and saw him on his porch and asked him a few questions and he answered like a 3 year old kid was. he was def on some killer pain medicines and I just walk away

they try epidurals or recommend RFA?

Speaking from experience, tell your son to put if off as long as possible.

That said, I had a disc repair back in 2000. I put off surgery until I literally could not walk again. It was outpatient - in at 5 AM, out by 3 PM.

I still play golf and do what I want to do. Once in a while (maybe once or twice a year) my back will seize up, but usually 24 hours of resting it will get me back to normal.

I concur on the overweight part another poster mentioned. If your son is more than 20 pounds overweight, then he needs to shed the excess baggage and tone up his abs. That, more than anything else, will enable him to avoid surgery.

Best of luck to him.

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Do yourself a favor and take him to see Dr. Kelly Scrantz in BR at the Neuromedical Center. Best neurosurgeon in the state.

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Bingo! He did my wife's surgery and after numerous injections (that did absolutely no good), we had Dr. Scrantz operate! She got 100% relief from her leg pain!

So 15 years after you go under the knife, it all goes south?

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Why people would live in terrible pain just because they are scared of surgery doesn't make sense

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There's evidence from a study I looked at recently (I'll get hold of it if you are interested in specifics. I don't know the title or the author offhand) showing that two groups of low back pain patients were taken, half were given surgery, half were given conservative treatment. At 6 months, the surgery group reported significantly less pain. I believe the next number looked at was 12 months. At that point, there was no significant difference in the number of people reporting pain in either group.
Radicular pain is probably a +1 to the surgery column, but conservative management along with weight loss, regular exercise, and PT typically has the same outcome as the surgery group.

Again, the type of pain + his age (if particularly young) point toward intervention a little, but if you were to do CT/MRI on every Tom, Dick, and Harry to walk through the door, you would find that about 1/3 of them have a bulging disc and do not have any associated pain at all, leading us to believe there's a fair chance that the disc being out of place is coincidental.

It is for all of these reasons that many (including myself) choose to delay surgery until activities of daily life are no longer bearable. Also, understanding that chronic pain is just part of some people's future is a tough thing to accept, but it is another fact of life. Reducing the pain can be done physiologically (exercise), pharmacologically (NSAIDs regularly + breakthrough stuff if it's intolerable), and surgically (including steroid injections here more so than the previous category, and only after all these treatments have failed should one consider laminectomy-like procedures, without an obvious injury/insult as the cause of the pain, though even then, conservative management has many merits (case-specific))

Avoid surgery if at all possible.

I had a L5 disc problem, that made it impossible to stand for long periods at one point. A good chiropractor and physical therapist did wonders for me. Do whatever you can from a fitness, wellness, and core strength component before going under the knife.

Didn't think I'd be able to play golf or backpack ever again, but enjoying those activities again.

There are MANY factors to consider.. from a tiny hard to detect birth defect pinching spinal nerves that inflamed the disc to who knows. I had it really bad. I had numbness up and down my leg and most of my foot. My right nut felt like it was in a VICE. I got fusion surgery 17 months ago and I'm still fricked up with same issues, but just 20% less pain, mayybe. Muscle mass is fricking depressingly turning to mush. I just hope it's going to get better. I don't take meds. I can't believe surgery didn't do more.

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My son is needing back surgery after trying conservative procedures first. The pain is in his butt and radiates down his leg.

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How old is he? Had the surgery when I was 19 but I also had a herniated disk along with a bulging. I recovered really quick.

I would have to agree with the posters suggesting a trip to Baton Rouge. Lafayette's not a great town for neurosurgery. That said, I asked my physician friends for this same recommendation recently and all said Cormier from Neuro and Romero from Ortho.

Good Luck