u/Sensitive_Luck_3221

I usually read this community to keep myself from freaking out. During the first days after my surgery, I posted about my experience, and all of you helped me understand that recovery is not linear.

Looking back, that was one of the most important things I learned: having a better day followed by a worse day doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong (I hope so).

Then, I’ve been regularly telling ChatGPT how I was feeling, almost week by week. I recently asked it to put everything together into a single summary to help me organize my thoughts and keep track of my progress as follow:

I had an L5-S1 microdiscectomy on July 18th because of a disc herniation/protrusion that had been causing symptoms for a long time. I had been dealing with nerve compression for roughly 3 years, so I knew going into surgery that the nerve might take quite some time to recover.

Surgery / first few days

Immediately after surgery, I was very focused on protecting the area and avoiding movements that could cause problems. During the first few days I spent most of my time lying down and tried to avoid sitting.

The radicular pain I had before surgery changed significantly, but I still had some residual sensations around my glute and leg.

Week 1

During the first week I was extremely cautious.

The biggest thing I noticed was that recovery didn't mean simply waking up one day completely pain-free. There were different sensations compared with what I had experienced before surgery.

I started walking and gradually increased the amount of time I was walking.

Week 2

During the second week I started to understand the difference between the pain caused by the herniated disc and what seemed to be residual nerve irritation.

I still had some tingling and strange sensations in my leg. I also sometimes had a feeling of heaviness/swelling in my legs that improved after walking for several minutes.

I also started reading a lot about microdiscectomy recovery and other people's experiences, mainly because I realized that recovery isn't linear.

Week 3

Around week 3, I started having periods when I barely felt any pain.

However, after a few good days, the glute pain could come back. This worried me quite a bit at first.

The pain was mainly localized to the glute and didn't necessarily feel the same as the pain I had before surgery.

I started realizing that having a better day followed by a slightly worse day didn't necessarily mean that something had gone wrong.

Week 4

Around week 4, I had some of my best days so far, with the pain almost completely disappearing.

Then I spent more time sitting and the glute pain came back somewhat.

That really made me notice how much the symptoms seemed to depend on how much I was sitting and how active I had been that day.

I also experienced a few brief sensations around the lower back/perineal area that worried me, but they didn't progress into anything progressively worse.

Week 5 — now

I'm currently around 5 weeks post-op.

I still sometimes wake up with an annoying ache in my glute. It can improve considerably as the day goes on.

If I straighten my leg, I can also feel a sensation in the back of my thigh, almost like tension or pulling. This made me think a lot about the nerve still recovering and the possibility of residual nerve irritation.

At the same time, looking at the whole picture, I'm clearly much better than I was before surgery.

I'm no longer experiencing the same constant, debilitating pain that led me to have surgery. What I have now feels much more like residual pain/nerve irritation that fluctuates depending on position and activity.

I'm going back to work next week, around the 6-week mark.....

Hi everyone. I’m currently on day 4 after a lumbar microdiscectomy and wanted to share how my recovery has been going so far, as I know it can be helpful to read about other people’s experiences.

I had my surgery on Saturday. The pain I had before surgery has improved significantly, which has been a huge relief. I’m currently not taking pain medication at home because the postoperative pain has been relatively mild.

I still have some tingling and altered sensations in my leg, especially when I get up and walk. Sometimes my leg feels heavy or as if it is swollen, although there is no obvious visible swelling. The sensation seems to become more noticeable when I’m standing or walking and tends to improve when I lie down and rest. I’m assuming this may be related to the nerve still recovering after being compressed, but I’m trying not to overthink every sensation during these early days.

I’ve been walking for around 30 minutes in total per day, divided into several shorter walks. I’m trying to be as cautious as possible and avoid bending, twisting, or lifting anything. I’ve also been spending a lot of time lying down and changing positions throughout the day.

Sleeping has been a little challenging. I naturally move around quite a lot during the night, sometimes without realizing it. Even though I use a C-shaped pillow/body pillow to help keep my legs and hips aligned, I sometimes wake up and notice that I’ve changed position or slightly rotated my torso while sleeping. I’m trying to avoid excessive twisting, but it’s difficult to completely control your movements while asleep.

For now, I’m mostly sleeping on my side with a pillow between my legs, and I’m trying to listen to my body and take things slowly. Overall, I feel that the main pain I had before surgery is much better, but the residual tingling and the strange heavy/swollen feeling in my leg are still something I’m getting used to.

I know everyone’s recovery is different, but I wanted to share my experience at this early stage. If anyone has been through something similar and has any advice or experiences that might be helpful for the recovery process, I’d really appreciate hearing them.

Thanks!