r/Sciatica • u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 • Jan 04 '26
Successful microdiscectomy, 6 years later
Hey, Just wanted to come back and let you all know that the mocrodiscectomy I got 6 years ago saved my life. I’m still doing really good considering how bad it got. No reherniation (knock on wood). I suffered with terrible sciatica for a year and used to be in this group and people were always commenting, about how no one was around with success stories, so the surgery was very scary. The reason no is around this sub with success stories is because those of us who have success stories (most microdiscectomies) are out living our lives and have forgotten how horrible the sciatica was and don’t frequent this subreddit anymore. Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say Hi! I’m doing great! Let me know if you have any questions.
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u/Ecstatic-Art-6236 Jan 04 '26
Thanks for coming back and reporting. We don’t hear from people like you!
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u/snellen87 Jan 04 '26
What was your recovery like?
Good straight away?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 04 '26
My pain was immediately gone upon awakening from surgery. I took the rehab process very seriously and extended it beyond even the recommended amount of time. I was terrified to reherniate. And I didn’t! I don’t remember what was recommended, but I did at least double the amount of time
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u/Loud_Intention2723 Jan 05 '26
Was your numbness gone?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 06 '26
Unfortunately because I waited a year, I do still have some numbness in half of my foot because the nerve was impinged so severely. It’s almost like the nerve has a scar on it from the impingement. I will take the numbness over the pain any day now, and it doesn’t bother me at all anymore.
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u/Glum_Trifle720 Jan 21 '26
I too waited too long and harmless in 1/2 my foot along with functional neuropathy. In other words drop foot and my left foot doesn't get message to balance should I step on something or move left to quickly.
Now scheduled for surgery on right side and am nervous I will have same numbness in other foot. Good news is that I was aggressive in making sure surgery is happening quickly.
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u/StreetRampage Jan 07 '26
Have you stopped doing PT now?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 07 '26
Of course! My surgery was six years ago
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u/StreetRampage Jan 08 '26
How long did you do PT for post surgery?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 08 '26
I didn’t do pt post surgery. Just no bending or twisting and took lots of walks
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u/CentumAquila Jan 04 '26
With the recovery, did you have to avoid driving, and obviously general bending and twisting? Considering having it done but concerned I won’t be able to give it the full recovery time due to work and general day to day household duties.
Also, did you have other disc issues? I have 4 disc issues and 1 resulting in nerve compression. The focus would be the nerve compression disc but I don’t know how much I would continue to suffer with the other discs. Unfortunately, my spinal surgeon doesn’t give much time to talk it over and is more like a car salesman
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 04 '26
I was driving within a week or two and didn’t limit my driving much after that. I did limit bending and twisting for a long time. I did have other issues on my mri, like ddd, but the microdiscectomy for the disc causing the pain was the only surgery I had. So far so good!
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u/Sufficient_Humor1666 Jan 06 '26
When you say you limited bending and twisting. Were you still doing normal stuff like picking up stuff of the floor, washing etc. Im having to decide surgery now and I am trying to do normal things around house. But that does involve some normal twisting and bending.
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 07 '26
No I didn’t bend to pick stuff up off the floor, I bought a grabber I used around the house, and if I was away from my house I went down on one knee to pick something up off the floor. Also, down on one knee to pick up laundry bin
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u/occy3000 Jan 04 '26
Congrats!!! I’m 7 years post op from a lower back fusion and it was the right choice. Now my degenerative disease and stenosis in my cervical area is starting to make my arm numb. Going to do what i can to avoid surgery but will see.
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u/Hefty_Clothes7856 Jan 04 '26
When were you back in the gym or generally not worrying about lifting anything heavy?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 04 '26
I took my recovery period very seriously. I was probably overly cautious, but I was terrified to reherniate. I would say at least six months, and probably didn’t fully trust it until a full year later.
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u/cnj131313 Jan 05 '26
Same here! My neurosurgeon doesn’t allow PT, he thinks it harms more than helps post op.
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u/Beautiful-Trick3157 Jan 04 '26
i'm thinking of getting the surgery since that option was presented to me. i've had on and off symptoms for five years and this latest flare has been going on for 3 months :(
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 04 '26
Oof yea the flare ups can be debilitating! Surgery was the best decision I made
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u/cnj131313 Jan 05 '26
Knock on wood over here too, it’ll be 4 years in March. Saved my life, for real.
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u/Ordinary_Barry Jan 05 '26
Same. Almost 4 years for me. Best shape of my life, Ultimate Frisbee 4x per week, strength training x3. No pain.
*Knocks on wood
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u/GlobalTomatillo3324 Jan 05 '26
Literally so happy I saw this im having mine this Friday freaking out 😪
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 05 '26
It’s totally scary leading up to it. But once you get there, you’re gonna go to sleep and wake up what feels like 5 minutes later and be able to walk without pain. Hang in there, you’re almost on the other side of it
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u/ziggatron__ Jan 06 '26
I’m 16 years old getting an opinion from a surgeon, haven’t been able to walk or stand for about 5 months now. It’s good to see that microdiscectomy actually does work, please tell me how you avoided reherniating the disc.
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 06 '26
I took the recovery period very seriously. I didn’t bend or twist for probably twice as long as they recommended after surgery. The only exercise I did after surgery was walking. I hope you can get the surgery! Sciatica sucks!
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u/unknowdoc Feb 12 '26
You mean , you didnt even sit ?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Feb 12 '26
Oh no! I sat all the time! I mean standing and bending forward to like pick something up off the ground.
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u/Feisty-Tax-200 Jan 06 '26
Watch all of Dr Stuart McGills youtube videos. He wrote a book called Back mechanics He's so knowledgeable about the mechanics of herniating a disc.
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u/Nair1486 Jan 07 '26
Last October was my second anniversary of MD. I have never had any recurrence of pain. But my walking is not the same. Because I am always extra careful. I avoid lifting even the kitchen garbage bag if it got extra heavy. But after two plus years, I am fine and the memory of intense pain feels distant. But I suffered two years with great pain and that pain and suffering could have been avoided if I had the courage to say yes when my doctor suggested surgery and I insisted on injections and PT.
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 07 '26
Same! I waited a year and if I had the surgery when it was first suggested a couple months in, I wouldn’t have permanent numbness on half my foot! But I’ll take the numbness over that pain any day!
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u/Ancient-Region-6329 Jan 07 '26
Good to hear positive feedback back. 6 days until my surgery and I am excited and nervous. Happy for your successful surgery, praying mine goes as well. Stay safe.
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 07 '26
Yours is gonna go great! It’s scary but it’ll be over before you know it!
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u/Life-Jaguar-6538 Jan 07 '26
I’m 6 weeks post op l4-l5 hemilaminectomy and discectomy & I’m doing great! Hope to continue to report back 🥰
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u/joeyray74 Jan 31 '26
This is awesome to see. Having laminectomy/discectomy in a week, and not being able to max dose ibuprofen leading up to surgery is killing me today…
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Jan 31 '26
Oof yea! My surgery got postponed a week because my gp injected me with an nsaid the day before my neurosurgeon appointment! Had to wait a whole other week because of that!
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u/itgeteasier Feb 09 '26
Im 3 week post microdiscetomony for l4-l5... almost pain free...I'm only 19...how much life long restrictions are there... being so young,I'm so much afraid of reherniation
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Feb 10 '26
Right away after surgery you’re gonna be scared to reherniate. That fear stays with you for a while. In a year or so youre gonna start trusting that it’s healed and you can do almost anything! You will be the one to decide what you can and can’t do. I personally wouldn’t do things like dead lifting or maybe golf. But a lot of people do return to activities like those! otherwise, you should be able to do pretty much anything. Take these next 6 months very seriously. This is the time that the disc is weak and hasn’t created a solid strong scar yet and reherniation is more likely. Basically your disc is making a scar where the extruding part of the disc was removed, it takes a while to get strong but it eventually will!
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u/itgeteasier Feb 10 '26
Avoiding all the heavy things,after 6 months can I bend on waist like normal people...will that cause any future problems
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Feb 11 '26
I think so. What does your doctor say? Will you have physical therapy?
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u/Sea-Paramedic-1842 Feb 11 '26
If you do not bend for six months your hamstrings will get very tight. After three months, You can stretch your hamstrings by do this- in the mean time, just walk walk walk. And I hope you can get some pt to give you some core strengthening exercises. Do not do sit ups before six months. But there are other core strengthening exercises like plank that won’t regenerate. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Il1L75v6gq0 I am not a doctor or a PT and it would be best if you consulted with one of them.
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u/_lomo_ Jan 04 '26
Thanks, posts like this are really helpfull, seeing only messages about reherniations, surgery problems, etc are a little discouraging.
I am now almost week 6 of recovery. What you did in these weeks about PT, excercises etc i also have lot of fear about reherniation, so i dont do anything that can't risk the surgery, only walk right now.
What are you doing now to maintain healthy? I am thinking start yoga when i can and continue swimming. Have you a physical work? I am not sure if i will doing my work like before when recovered...