I had the ACDF and the surgery went ok, however it ended up taking quite a bit longer than the neurosurgeon had planned because he said that once he got inside that i had severe osteoporosis. I suffered with for about 3 years at least before I opted to have the surgery. I had disc herniations at c 4-5 and 5-6. Anyway, they treat me for osteoporosis….. Now months post-op from ACDF I still have terrible pain. My neurosurgeon keeps telling me that he cannot see why I am still in pain. He says everything looks perfect. Has anyone else experienced this same ACDF pain post op?
I went back to work this past week. I am ACDF post op and my complaints at this juncture is my chin is still numb along my incision, some swallowing issues sometimes I get some burning in my chest close to my armpit, burning in my tricep and burning in my elbow. My shoulder is getting better with the PT but I overdid it today and created some muscle spasms, but my worst physical complaint by far is how stiff my neck is. I’m very depressed that I elected to do the surgery. I really thought all my pain in my shoulder was caused from my c4, c5 -c6 herniated discs, but I still have that pain with all these new terrible symptoms.
I had C5/6 & C6/7 ACDF surgery on 9/17/2009. I was diagnosed with herniated disks and foraminal stenosis in 1999. After several epidural injections, months of PT and drug therapy, with no relief and increasing pain, I was told that surgery was the only option I had left. I also was a hairdresser, which added to the problem. 3 weeks after surgery I attempted to go back to work. BIG mistake. The pain I had prior to surgery was considerably less but, with PT came new and different pain that kept getting worse. I was then referred to a pain management doctor and put on a variety of pain meds, anti inflammatories and muscle relaxers as well as getting trigger point injections in my back and using a tens unit. PT seems to worsen my pain. After more tests it was now discovered that my pain was now coming from my shoulder. With laparoscopic surgery, it was now determined my rotator cuff was torn. After that surgery I began PT, again, with no relief. I stopped PT and still had severe pain. After 8 months they did an X-ray while injecting dye to see if my rotator cuff was still torn... And it was. So I had another surgery to re-repair my torn rotator cuff. That was in June 2011. I quit doing hair and rested for 4 months. I attempted to work in a call center in October 2011 but, by December I had such severe neck and back pain and horrific headaches that I was let go for missing too many days. I went back to my neurosurgeon in January and my fusion still looked good but, I was told that the fusion causes the discs above and below it to become stressed . I am back in pain management and have had nerve blocks an ablasions with NO releif , in fact the pain is the same if not worse than it was before my ACDF surgery. I can't work. I'm on a fentynal patch and norco everyday. Now they want to inject my head and neck with Botox. I'm at my wits end, which is why I am here. I wanted to see if anyone else was going through this and make sure I'm really not crazy. This pain is SO exhausting that I've applied for social security disability because there are days when I literally can not get out of bed. I hope there are people out there that will get relief, unfortunately for me, I have not.
Hi, I know this post is old but I'm gonna take a chance. I am going thru the same thing. I had fusion in June and the shoulder in nov. At this time I am still having pain, stiffness, and range of motion loss. I've been referred to pain management for injections and meds but I'm kinda scared to do it. How are you doing now?
I had ACDF to c5/6 and c6/7 in October 2013 and when I woke up I knew that the op hadn't worked. When the surgeon came to see me he said that the spine had practically fused itself and to get to the discs he had to pull me apart in a traction machine. 5 months on and the pain is worse than when I had the op. Its in my neck, shoulder, arm and its not just running down one nerve, its all of them. I have been on Oxycontin, gabapentin and co-codamol which doesn't even touch the pain. I was re-scanned a few weeks ago and apparently everything is okay apart from the narrowing of all the disc spaces in the c spine. I'm at my wits end. I have been discharged from the pain consultant and the neurologist and they are going to refer me to a pain clinic. I feel like chopping my arm off. The pain is that bad. The upper back and neck muscles go into spasm. My arm twitches a lot. Is anyone else like this.
Hi I'm in the same situation I had a acdf from c3 to c7 six months ago and I'm still taking liryca and Percocet every day because the pain is even worse than before surgery and the neurosurgeon says everything looks good in the MRI and ct