Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Any post back surgery hikers?

I have a herniated disc that is torturing me and surgery is staring me in the face. I've tried everything I can to avoid it. I was just wondering if any of you out there have had back surgery and continued to hike places like Whitney!
I'm super active and I'm getting really *****ed out about the possible limitations on my lifestyle. Somebody help me feel better about this!!

i had a herniated disk in my neck in november and was fortunate that the pain ultimately subsided. Yowch -- I don't wish that pain on anyone. my entire right arm was tingling and on fire and totally useless. now I'm left with a little tingle in the right index finger, which I'm told will go away with time and some exercise to get the arm muscles flowing again.

necks and backs are different parts of the vertebrae but the herniated disk issue is still the same. sounds like yours did not take care of itself. i've been told by more than one person to get a second opinion before you undergo surgery and that sounds like good advice, even if you have to pony up your own cash.

on the upside, two people have told me that after surgery, the pain was gone IMMEDIATELY. and the relief of that pain was well worth the surgery risks. there is some apparent fusion of the vertebrae that sandwich the disk and thus you may have less flexibility in the future. also carrying heavy loads or exercise might need to be modified and you should ask before loading up the back and heading up the trail.

please note that these are my own thoughts and in no way should substitute from you reading and gathering more data, and ultimately trusting a physician. I recall typing in "herniated disk" in search engines and finding a lot of general info sites that add to your knowledge.

make sure you go to a pure spinal guy, as I heard some general orthopedics will do the surgery in pursuit of insurance money. again, hearsay from others.

it's serious and good luck.

I had two c-spine fusions last February and was able to climb Whitney the following August. I wouldn't say I was one hundred percent, but I still made it up in under six hours. I assume you're talking about a lower back problem. Depending on how motivated you are, usually you are 80-90 percent in 3-5 months and then up to a year to really come back all the way. But everyone is different and it depends on the specific surgery you are having. There is definitely a risk factor to spinal surgery too, so make sure you've tried other solutions before resorting to the scalpel. Good luck.

Thanks! I'm starting to hear what I want to hear. This is scary and I was over overreacting thinking I was going to have to shut it down for the rest of my life.

It is lower back.

If surgery is your only hope than go ahead and do it. I had back surgery for a herniated disc in 1990. I still have some muscle atrophy, but I go back packing every summer and have summited Whitney about 2 dozen times since then. I even did 2 summits in one day last summer. Stay optimistic and work hard at your rehab. You'll be just fine. Good luck. See you on the mountain.

I had lower back "decompression" surgery in '96. I had a nerve transmission "base-line" done prior to surgery, and then the nerve specialist was in the O.R. advising my surgeon when any neural impingement was occurring. I got immediate relief of the pain (left hip and down left leg), but wasn't totally recovered for 2 yrs. My Dr. advised best treatment for recovery is walking. If I had to do this over again, I would definitely look into the new surgery techniques of minimal invasion. My lower back area is still weak, due to the cutting of muscles to access the discs. Good luck!!

I am a physician, and here is what my experience with several hundred patients (I'm not the surgeon) tells me: 19/20 patients do NOT need surgery. However, non-surgical approaches take months (2-6) for resolution. Generally, a person is 100%, if they can be patient. That is the hardest part, beyond question. Reasons to do surgery are neurologic imparement (as determined by a physician), pain that cannot be controlled, or non-resolution with conservative measures.

The advantage of the surgical approach is that the pain is gone NOW. There is certainly a recovery period of months, at least, and most people have some residual stiffness. However, there are failures of surgery, and these people tend to be miserable on a long term basis.

My feeling is that the best approach is to have a non-surgical specialist (neurologist, Rehabilitation doctor, rheumatologist) make the decision that surgery should seriously be considered. Some internists and family practitioners are expert at making this decision.
An MRI is NOT useful in making the decision.....it is primarily useful in telling the surgeon where to cut. The decision about whether a disc is herniated is determined on the basis of history and examination, not MRI or x-rays, although these may be done to either reassure the patient, or confirm an unclear situation. These days, we really try to avoid radiation exposure, when possible. I've seen many recovered disc patients who were never imaged. (remember that 40-something % of people, age 50, who are normal, will have an abnormal MRI)

As for who should do it, in most communities, there will only be a few people at most who do these. It may be a neurosurgeon, or an orthopedist, depending upon their interest. Or, have it done at a major center that does a lot of this.

The standard disclaimers apply.

I'm an ICU RN at a facility that does neurosurgery, among other things. Ken's adice is good, talk to NON surgical docs for a second, third, fourth opinion. Also, I've seen too many people that need surgery wait way too long out of fear, or the old advice that it should be the absolutely last choice. Every case is individual. If there was any one piece of advice I could give, it's check out the doc as much as you can. There are some surgeons that I would not take anyone to that I cared about, they are just scary in their skill and follow up, but it's pretty hard to find any professional that will tell you the bad ones. There are a few web sites that may be of some benefit, though unless you know someone in the biz it's generally hit or miss.

Try http://www.questionabledoctors.org/

Thanks for all the help!!

b mountain:

my mom had surgery on a herniated disc that was dissintegrating and had shards in her spinal column (ouch). She was totally nervous abt. the surgery. I found a friend of a friend at our church who was a nurse at the same hospital on the same floor where mom was scheduled to have her surgery; this RN dealt only with patients who had just had this surgery. I asked her if it was her mom, who would she have do the surgery (this is a diferent question than "who do you think is good, a question the medical profession sometimes has a hard time with, as many will not dis a fellow doctor). The name she gave me confirmed what another nurse friend of my moms had told her, but both of them said mom would never get in. Mom ended up waiting longer, in pain and immobile in bed, but got in to this surgeon (and had her surgery the day I summmited last year). She's doing ok, not great, but for a reltively inactive woman in her 60s, ok. She still is improving month by month, 8 months later.Point of story: find ways to find the best surgeon, and then find ways to get to them. This RN told me that the speed of recovery and the quality of life after would be in direct relation to the skill of the surgeon. Good luck!