Will go for minimally invasive micro laminectomy next, tired of treating symptoms and not the root cause.
In that procedure surgeon will remove parts of lower vertebrae that is pinching the nerve bundle, nerves that progress down each leg.
Success rates of better than 70%, it's a gamble. But willing to accept that rather than end up on addictive pain pills for life.
3 to 6 months recovery period before active lifestyle again, cannot risk disturbing the "fix". Giving up flip turns in lap swimming for quite a while. Supplemental covers the other 20% that medicare won't pay.
Cash paying patients suffer $35k to $45 K for the procedure.
Medicare pony's up only about $6,500, which the surgeon must accept, no extra cash changes hands.
Supplemental covers the 20% that medicare will not pay.
Don't completely trust any anesthesiologist (pain management) or neurosurgeon (for surgery) or chiropractor or random folks advice to do yoga/stretch. Spend quite a bit of time understanding the anatomy, read up on everything and maybe you will find the right set of exercises to help relieve pain. Troubleshooting disk/spine/nerve issues is very hard and most doctors don't have any time to investigate it deeply. They just look at MRI. There are lots of people with the same problems showing up on MRI, but they are pain free.
I have not requested serious pain pills, applying clove oil (eugenol) mixed with benzocaine all over the lower back and buttocks, (lidocaine 5% is useless) wait 10 to 15 min, then can arise in morning from bed for a day's work, yet nagging pain most of day. I refuse OTC NSAID's as they can damage the heart over time. My spinal X-ray looks like an F1 racetrack. Doc says scoliosis, yet no one in my family has this genetically. At some point it just get's so frustrating you start to realize that surgery may be the only way out. Spoke to an 80 year old once who said he had the procedure, they had him up and walking the hospital floors after he awoke from the anesthesia, let him go home next day (I guess his was uncomplicated and straightforward).
But there are some good ones. I had one 15 years ago - a lady from Japan who was an absolute wizard. She changed my life completely - not by "doing" anything, but instead teaching me how the body actually works and helping me to awaken many dormant muscles. The closest I've found since then is moveu.com - weird guy, but he knows his stuff and has the right approach (that only we can fix ourselves, and he can only educate us on how to do so).
Sorry to hear about re-herniation. Thats what I am concerned about. I have multiple disc herniations, one with cauda equina. Multiple neurosurgeons have recommended surgery, but each is going to do a different procedure. I understood as they don't fully understand whats the root cause, everyone wants to do the procedure they are comfortable with and what they've been doing. One wants to cut the disc, another remove lamina, another fusion and something else. I decided its not worth taking the risk when they don't know what they are doing. There are so many reports of failed back syndrome, revision surgeries, cascading failures (because it increases pressure on adjacent discs).
> with the caveat that many physios don't seem to know what they're doing either
Yes, this is true of nearly any profession. We just have to spend significant time researching and troubleshooting with an engineering mindset.
Steve Kerr's advice after his own back surgery complications (albeit microdiscectomy, not a laminectomy) make me hesitant:
"If you're listening out there, if you have a back problem, stay away from surgery... Rehab, rehab, rehab. Don't let anybody get in there."
But if you have nerve problems caused by an issue with your spine, you probably want to address them before they become worse or irreversible, and back surgery may end up being the only option.
You acknowledge the parent commenter knows more than you, but you decide it's somehow helpful to post contradictory information anyway sourced from someone else who also likely knows more than you.
Don't get me wrong. I support state-sponsored health care, especially after moving from the US to Norway over a decade ago. Just the peace of mind not having to worry so much about financial ruin because of health issues relieves so much stress - even stress related to just keeping yourself healthy is less (If I get hurt while jogging, it isn't a big issue, for example) But fixing the US system is bigger than just payments or insurance for all. Gotta fix things like education costs, the burden of unpaid internships, and things like that, too. I wish it weren't such a complicated problem and I wish there were the political desire to do such a thing.
