11 Months Post-OP Success (35 Male)
I’ve noticed a few success stories recently, so I wanted to add one more.
I had a microdiscectomy for L5/S1 in June 2025. Before surgery, I was in the hospital for 5 days due to excruciating pain and being unable to walk. The pain was all down my left side.
A neurosurgeon performed the surgery, and about 95% of the pain went away immediately. The 6-week recovery was intense. I couldn’t sit, and I hated all the nerve/muscle/pain meds because they made me feel strange. I started PT 4 weeks post-op and felt almost back to normal around the 6-week mark.
Long term: I couldn’t be happier with the surgery. I still get some back fatigue in the morning and evening, but no real pain. I do have some permanent toe drop and can’t lift my left toes much. It’s not a huge deal, but I sometimes trip on them if I’m running around the house. Overall, I’m back to biking, water parks with the kids, and normal life with no real limitations.
I did have one strange issue. Around the 2-3 month post OP mark, I became extremely dizzy and had to go to the ER. An ENT thought it was BPPV, but an ear therapist thought it was due to extreme tightness in my upper neck from not moving much after surgery. It lasted for about 2-3 weeks and I had to take off work since I’m a pilot. Curious if anyone else ran into this.
I was very active in the chat after my surgery. This is one of my posts about when people went back to work: https://www.reddit.com/r/Microdiscectomy/s/BQfFTkwhoY