Choose Back Surgery As A Last Resort
Copyright 2006 Robert Gould
For years I have suffered from low back pain. For years I have
tried just about everything for the pain except having back
surgery. From physical therapy, traction, chiropractors, steroid
injections, drug therapy, biofeedback tactics, stretching and
anything I could think of to relieve the pain. Through the years
of suffering from pain it would have been very easy on several
occasions to go under the knife and have back surgery in an
attempt to help my back and the pain associated with it.
After seeing several doctors, after a few MRI's, after a CT
scan, and a discogram, the general concessus by most physicians
was that back surgery was needed. In order to get pain relief
from my herniated disc, most doctors told me that surgery was
the way to go. I still was not convinced. I heard the horror
stories, I talked to the people who had back surgery who told me
whatever you do don't do it. I saw the people who had back
surgery who could barely walk, walking with a Cain. I thought to
myself they are hurting worse than they was before. I might be
in pain, but at least I can walk without using a walker or a
cane.
Some of the people that I had talked to that had surgery, needed
follow up surgery to either repair mistakes made in the first
surgery, or to do things they simply did not do in the first
surgery. To me this didn't sound very good at all. After talking
to a lot of people about this, I think I only found one person
that had a successful operation. So I made up my mind not to
have surgery for the time being. I started doing excersises that
stretched and streghthen muscles to take pressure off the disc's
and nerves that cause the pain. I did a lot of mind over matter
tactics telling myself that IM too young for surgery, and that I
didn't even need surgery. I was a single man with a daughter,
and just the work I would miss during the recovery time from
having surgery would be devastating within itself. So I was
determined to put it off as long as possible. I then told my
personal doctor that I had decided not to have surgery. He in
turn referred me to a pain management physician.
After seeing the pain management physician, he also advised me
that I should have surgery. I told him at my age, and after
thinking it all through, and talking to people who have had
surgery, I had decided not to have back surgery until I couldn't
stand it anylonger. I told him as long as my bladder is still in
control, and the pain is bearable, I will be putting it off as
long as I can. This physician didn't seem to like this. He put
me on a low dose pain medicine program for a few months, but
when I told him that I had decided against surgery, all the
sudden he stopped prescribing pain medications.
I could not believe this, it seems for deciding against back
surgery, my punishment was to stop giving me the medication that
did give me the little relief that I desperately needed. So I
felt like I was trying to be pressured into having back surgery.
I told myself this is my back not theirs, they don't have to
live with what happens in a failed back surgery. So to all of
those people that are told they need back surgery, think twice.
Don't get bullied into having a surgery that might make your
life miserable. Remember, its your back, and you have to live
with what happens. So only choose back surgery as a last resort.