Post Cervical disk surgery

weickenand · Guest

Diagnosed with herniated disk; cervical disk fusion surgery on Sept 21st, 2006. My question is after surgery continue to have pain in both arms, upper back and sort of a numbness, tingling feeling on top of my head. Is this normal? and if so when should I expect this to end?

Note: I think surgery was for C4-5 and also remember after surgery being told I had a "leaky" something but, now I can't recall what they meant by this and this "leaky" was causing me additional problems and had probably contributed to my headaches. I don't know if this information is helpful but, thought would include. thank you for your time and your feedback.

Guest · Guest

I had cervical disk surgery on 8-21-06. c 6 was removed and 5-7 were fused. I had a very respected Surgen who tells me most of his patients are back to work in 6-12 weeks. I have been off narcotic pain relievers since 10-15-06 less than 8 weeks after surgury at my request. I was looking to get back to work A.S.A.P. I have been lying to the Doctors about my pain scores to get released to work. I am currently taking Lyrica 100MG 3x and Tramadol 50mg 1-2 3x. The truth of the matter is my pain is worse now than it was before Surgery. My neck locks up from time to time, Shoulders hurt all the way accross the back. I can only sleep in a chair or laying completely flat on my back with only one pillow. If I roll to the side when sleeping I have a sharp pain in the middle of my spines that wakes me up. I Have tingling from time to time in both arms and often wake up with my hand asleep. I am a 50 yr old male that can't afford to be disabled or lose my job so I don't always tell the truth abot pain scores even though I was always truthful and brought up to know honesty is the best policy. Can anyone tell me how long a surgery like this is suppose to take to heal or get full benefit from?

raz2006 · Newbie Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 9

Hello, I'm a funtional person with some weakness and pain the right neck, shoulder, and arm. An MRI showed a large herniated disk on the right side C 5-6. The surgeon says I need sugery( Anteior Cevical Disk) asap. Is it worth it? From what I'm reading, I'm concerned....

karenroas · Newbie Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 1

I was a bit hesitant with my surgery which I had 1 week and 1 day ago. After much research and no other options, I went through with it. It has been the BEST thing I have ever done. I dealt with tingling/numbness/and constant shoulder blade pain for about 6 months. My herniation was very large and impinging on my spine. I had no other choice. I went in for surgery, spent the night at the hospital and came home. I was up and around the first day but very tired and sore throat. 6 days after my surgery I felt wornderful. Most importantly, I have had absolutely NO PAIN since before the surgery. I do feel a small lump in my throat when swallowing but that will diminish with time. HUGE SUCCESS!! Good luck!!

Guest · Guest

I to had surgery (double cervical fusion with instrumentation) back in March and felt great for the first week after. 10 weeks post op and I feel just as bad if not worse then before. Sad

Guest · Guest

I too am post cervical disc fusion at C5-6 level, tomorrow (1/29/0 Cool

marks three weeks post surgery ( I fell down some stairs the day before my 40th birthday which really messed up my big 4-0 plans). I feel much better then I did before surgery. I had suffered with neck, shoulder, and arm pain on the right for four months. As I am a medical transcriber professionally I could not deal with that. I was out of work for the entire four months and still out due to recovery. I do feel better but occasionally feel a very, very slight tingly feeling in the right elbow area and the arm feels slightly "tired" after too much use ( I am right hand dominant). Prior to surgery, the pain was so great it would bring tears and many ,many sleepless nights. I will be returning to the surgeon for follow up soon and intend to ask if this is a normal part of the healing process. I do hope so. Even if it is not, I do not regret going through the surgery as I feel 98% better than I have in months. I am down to taking pain medication only at night when I feel necessary (prior to surgery I took two to three pills a day and was always in a fog) which is becoming very infrequent. Surgery itself is not that bad at all. I was discharged from the hospital the next day and as stated by the previous responder, a terrible sore throat when swallowing for five days. I drank milk shakes which helped make things feel better and ate a pudding, yogurt and mashed potato/gravy diet for five days. During those five days, my fiance and mom would crush my pain meds and mix them with the pudding or yogart in a dixie cup. I would take a bite of that and then a bite that had no pills in it to kill the taste. It just made it easier to take the pills. By the sixth day, I was able to eat a steak which my fiance was more than happy to cook for me. The scar is barely noticeable. I still use the neck collar when I am out and about and not driving or vaccuuming but have been up and about doing light housework. I am hoping to return to work after I see the surgeon for follow up. Prior to surgery, I had over two months of physical therapy and finally an MRI which showed what the problem was and then had an epidural by a physiologist which helped for approximately 12 hours before all the symptoms returned. When the symptoms returned, my decision was easily made to have surgery. When I saw the surgeon, he scheduled me for surgery three days later. If you have a large herniation, I recommend having the surgery done. My surgeon told me I had a much higher risk of becoming paralyzed if I were to be in an accident if I did not have surgery and the risk of becoming paralyzed during surgery was very, very low. Five days of a sore throat is more acceptable than losing the ability to walk in my eyes. As far as I am concerned, he has given me my life back. Though I am not totally independent yet, I will be very soon and I thank him from the bottom of my heart. I couldn't even grocery shop on my own before surgery without taking pills on the way home from the grocery store because I hurt so much from pushing the cart.

Post Cervical disk surgery

LIFEFORM SOCIAL COMMUNITY NETWORK