u/sanchiseemo

10 weeks PO and only just received my recent MRI images. I was honestly expecting to see NO prolapse at all, so I was freaked out to see it looked almost the same as before!? I still have a pretty big prolapse at L4/5. The surgeon clearly removed just enough disc to decompress my nerves (both left and right were squashed), but the disc itself is still very much prolapsed and actually impinging a tiny bit on the left nerve root.
I feel like I logically understand that this must be because you can't remove too much disc without compromising it and creating a potential whole new host of problems etc - but I just wanted to find out if other people had the same? Did your post-op MRI also still show a bulge?

3 months PO and still have some sciatic pain on the right side of my body when I stretch the nerve root (E.g. by leaning to the side or slightly forward - so it's not constant, just flares in provocative positions). Surgeon wants to do a steroid injection to see if that calms things down, but it feels too soon - I'm worried it may further irritate the area, and it may be good to wait to see if it resolves naturally? My physio also freaked me out a bit by saying she's never had a patient have a steroid injection AFTER surgery.

I'm 8 weeks PO and have had continued nerve irritation on the right side of my body (had compression worse on the right nerve root) the whole time. It is worse in specific movements that even slightly stretch the nerve pathway.

My surgeon sent me for a contrast MRI, which showed no new bulge but scar tissue around the right nerve root specifically, which could be the source of irritation.

I am very nervous and trying not to spiral about the worst case scenario of scar tissue tethering to / fusing to the nerve root.

Did anyone else deal with this, in any capacity?

The majority of my sciatic pain improved post-op, but I now have this thing where if I lean sideways then the opposite leg gets pain in the calf into top of foot? I lean to the left, and get pain in my right calf and foot. My slump test is still provocative on the right side as well, causing burning pain in my right foot. I am waiting on some MRI results but wondered if anyone dealt with this.

I had my MD a week ago, so I'm very much still on the road to recovery. Prior to surgery I suffered a pretty traumatic 10 months of pain, with the pain increasing to mind-dismantling levels and my entire life shrinking around me. I'm not out of the woods with the pain yet, and my friends keep telling me to focus on the positives or takeaways that will emerge from this entire experience. Obviously I don't really have any just yet, because I'm still in the middle of it. The takeaways form in hindsight.

But it did make me curious - for those of you who went through this ordeal and are further down the road than me, what did this entire experience teach you? What were the "positives" or takeaways, the life lessons? How did it shape you for the better?

Looking forward to how I might feel one day.

1.5 weeks post-op here. First few days the acute nerve pain seemed resolved, and then it returned, albeit in a lesser intensity.

Thing is, it's not constant - it's aggravated by the exact same positions as previous. I had extension-intolerant pain. Right now, if I extend my spine (AKA arch my back, or lean backwards), I can actually make the nerve pain increase. Exactly like before.

But if nothing is actually TOUCHING the nerve roots anymore - why is the nerve pain increasing with the same old provocative positions? Is it some kind of "nerve memory"?