# anterior cervical discectomy and fusion



## HeavyB (Feb 10, 2015)

anterior cervical discectomy and fusion anyone else had one.


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## Conceal30 (Feb 10, 2015)

i havent had one, but have a lot of knowledge about the procedure given my profession. Whats your question?


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## HeavyB (Feb 10, 2015)

THey want me to have one done I have bulged disk c4 c5 pushing on my nerve... .I have lost a bit of strength on my left side and get light headed at times along with sleepiness. Trying to figure out if it is recoverable after surgery.


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## Conceal30 (Feb 10, 2015)

recovery is long, 8 weeks you will get some restrictions lifted but you need to be careful for 6 months. most peoples biggest complaint is the loss of range of motion but its a small price to pay to relieve the pain and other side effect and possible permanent damage if its not done. you can make a full recovery and go about your normal life as long as you dont play football for a living.


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## chocolatemalt (Feb 11, 2015)

My step-dad had a posterior discectomy and fusion.  Very happy with it.  He had constant pain down one arm due to nerve impingement and was popping aspirin like candy for a couple years to deal with it.  Many corticosteroid shots did virtually nothing and he got almost completely sedentary, sitting in a chair in front of tv with snacks, trying to dull the pain.  All this was cured after the surgery but with some small loss of motion that doesn't bother him.

They inserted a sterilized bit of cow bone -- nothing but calcium matrix for the neighboring vertebrae to invade and incorporate.  Pretty cool.

There is a risk of course.  But the risk of doing nothing could be much worse.


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## chocolatemalt (Feb 11, 2015)

coneal30 said:


> i havent had one, but have a lot of knowledge about the procedure given my profession. Whats your question?



Can you tell us your profession?  In any case it's cool to have more medical-related pros here... we need em to sort through the bs!


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## HeavyB (Feb 11, 2015)

coneal30 said:


> recovery is long, 8 weeks you will get some restrictions lifted but you need to be careful for 6 months. most peoples biggest complaint is the loss of range of motion but its a small price to pay to relieve the pain and other side effect and possible permanent damage if its not done. you can make a full recovery and go about your normal life as long as you dont play football for a living.



Yep I was told 16 weeks before I could lift again. I dont lift heavy anymore to start with so should be ok. I dont have alot of motion on the left he told me I would get some back.. No football anymore doc blames football on the condition thou.


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## Bareback (Mar 31, 2015)

I work with a Neurosurgeon who always tells me that surgery should be the last resort.  I don't know your age or what else you have tried, but an alternative would be injections.  After hearing the stories I've heard it would scare me to death to get back surgery.


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## scott29 (Apr 1, 2015)

I had discectomy and fusion c4-5 in september, and then in october they had to go back in (through the front both times) and open up the nerve canal to my left shoulder.  I can say that at this time I have made probably a 99% recovery with only a fraction of weakness in my left shoulder. That though, is getting stronger every day.  I have no loss of range of motion in my neck,  and I can say that after eating oxy contin for 3 years and being in pain for over 10 years, it was the best move I ever made.    I had my work done at Rebound neurosurgery in Portland OR,  they do all the work on the Portland Trailblazers and the other pro teams in town.  They are quite good.   I am 49 years old,  gym rat for over 30 years.  I still lift heavy and have no restrictions.  Hope this helped.


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