Possibly ASD at 26 years old?
I’m looking for anyone who’s had a similar experience after a long spinal fusion.
I had scoliosis surgery in 2017 and was fused from my upper thoracic spine down to L1. I’m now about 9 years postop.
I’ve worked as a lash tech for the past 4.5 years, which involves long hours in a forward flexed posture. About 5 weeks ago, I had a severe flare up after work that left me barely able to sit, stand, or walk. A CT scan at the ER showed some disc bulges at L3-L4 (1 mm), L4-L5 (3-4 mm), and L5-S1 (1-2 mm), along with mild facet hypertrophy.
Most of my symptoms have been on the right side: lower back tightness and stiffness, hip and buttock pain, occasional numbness in the upper glute area, and extremely mild intermittent sciatic tingling down my leg. I’m currently waiting to see a spine specialist.
The good news is that I’ve been improving. Some days I’m almost symptom free, and overall I feel better than I did a month ago. I haven’t even started physical therapy yet.
What I’m struggling with mentally is the guilt. I keep feeling like my career accelerated wear and tear below my fusion and that I somehow did this to myself. I know adjacent segment DEGENERATION is common after long fusions, but I can’t stop wondering whether I would still be asymptomatic if I had chosen a different line of work. Now I fear I’ve given myself adjacent segment DISEASE and it’s irreversible unless I get surgery. I‘ve been sick to my stomach with chronic anxiety, I literally wake up and cry every other couple days. Please help, anyone?
Has anyone developed symptomatic issues below their fusion, improved with conservative treatment, and gotten back to a relatively normal life? Did you have flare ups that eventually settled down? I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something similar.