Anyone have experience.

[powerfemale]

I have had PD for 5 years. I have developed a lower back disk problem that will probably need surgery. Anyone have experience of back surgery with PD.? I also have diskenasia. Please share experience. Thanks

[ronn]

Yes, I had a lower lumbar problem and submitted to surgery in March,. 2016. The surgery was done under general anesthesia. It was expected to be a simple operation, done late in the afternoon with an overnight stay in the hospital. Instead, my family tells me, I was kept for 6 days during which time I arroused the enmity of the entire nursing staff and was finally released, in a semi- conscious condition, to my family. The two years following have been "interesting". As an octogenarian, having been married to a womderful woman for 65 years,

having raised 4 daughters and see them happily married, I can ask no more of life.

Sorry, I digress. Your concern is with the advisability of pwp submitting to surgery under general or regional anesthesia. Some, good research was done on this a few years back, but the medical profession seems to have, for the most part, ignored their findings. One of the better analyses, at that time, was "The Hidden dangers of Going under". (Sorry, I don't remember the author.) (PF from ronn.....I have no expertise in this subject, only the experience of having lived the consequence of a reaction to anesthesia.

[dopedope in reply to ronn]

amazon.com/Vitamin-K2-Calci...

[park_bear in reply to dopedope]

This is a great book and I am an advocate for taking vitamin K, but this has nothing to do with hospitalization and general anesthesia for people with Parkinson's.

[dopedope in reply to park_bear]

you're right, picked it from my library. i thought it was discussion of calcium protocol. how vit k takes calciumfrom places in the body like heart, where doesn't belong and moves to where it belongs, bones. possibly takes care of calcifications, like spurs, stregnthns bone, prevents disk problems, possibly.

[beauxreflets]

My experience a few years ago : After a MRI scan to investigate and find compressed & slipped discs, it was recommended I should have surgery; but I decided first to visit a Sports injury Physiotherapist and requested that he stretched my spine after a massage and point me in the right direction with some Exercises, and to my relief the problem eased.

I then designed floor exercises based on the Physiotherapists advice to help stop a return of the problem…I now do the exercises on a regular basis and ensure I drink enough water to help the Discs rejuvenate from daily pressure etc.

That was at least three plus years ago and I have not looked back; perhaps grateful for his words that surgery is the very last option for anyone to consider.

My exercises are described here sites.google.com/site/beaux...

I hope you can find relief through the best means for your particular difficulties and situation.

[glenandgerry in reply to beauxreflets]

Thanks for this. My PWP has had 4 spinal injections over the past 5 years for spinal stenosis. He's in agony at the moment with sciatic pain going through his hip, leg and foot. His ankle is very swollen (similar to when he had his second knee joint replacement 3 years ago) & we don't know what to do to alleviate it 😕 He doesn't drink enough water as he worries about his bladder, so it's a viscous circle. Will try and see if he can manage any of the exercises you suggested. He is presently seeing an osteopath once a week, so far with no success this time. He's taking very strong pain killers to no avail, although the pain does go when he's in certain sitting positions, but I really don't know what I can do to help!

[Hidden in reply to glenandgerry]

I understand what your PWP is going through. I had one spinal injection for screaming pain almost now 1.5 years ago. I have been pain free. I worry the pain may one day reappear.

[Hidden in reply to glenandgerry]

Cortisone injections may help for some spinal pain. However, if the problem is caused by a restricted space for nerve bundles to travel then ultimately surgery may be needed. I have had an operation on C6/7 foramina to ease nerve compression and there were no problems with my PD in relation to the surgery.

mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...

medlineplus.gov/ency/articl...

[ramondo4]

Hi powerfemale, I had a very successful back op three years ago, ( disc removal ) the hospital were not concerned about my PD and I had no problems with anaesthetic. I am 79.

[JohnPepper]

I had a disc removed from my lower back in 1977, before I was diagnosed but long after the first Pd symptom had started in 1963. I was advised then to not allow the surgeon to fuse the vertebrae together. I followed that advice and never had any more problems for the next 22 years.

In 1998, six years after being diagnosed,I damaged another disc, lower down in my spine, due to walking fast in a stooped posture. I did the same with that one and have been free of any back problems ever since.

Good luck!

[powerfemale in reply to JohnPepper]

What treatment did u have..?

[JohnPepper in reply to powerfemale]

Do you mean after the operations? If so, as I said, I started walking the next day after each operation. It was painful getting out of bed but once out, I was able to move quite freely. It felt as though the stitches were tearing, as I got up or back into bed, but it did no damage at all. The surgeon who did the second operation said there was no scar tissue on the site of the first operation.

[bjmettler]

I was diagnosed with PD and Degenerative DIsc Disease in 2014. Surgery to fuse 6 vertebrae ( L 5,4,3,2,1, T12) was in 2015. Surgery lasted 6 hours with no issues. I am so thankful to be active again. All my focus now is on PD.

[Henry1244]

Hi I also have pd for last five years and I have a lower back problem also. Actually that’s the reason in ended in hospital for treatment. It was whilst there the pd was noticed I’m in the uk and am only now having my back treated as it was put on the backboiler so to speak until we got control of the meds for pd etc.

[powerfemale]

How was your back treated.? Mine is disc related...?

[dopedope]

no, but something queer has happened to me several times, that suggest to me that maybe your disk problemis the original sight of your pd.

i injured a particular disk a long time ago and it healed in time . since then it made itself felt on two occasions, the last time it was when i started withdrawl from levocarb. it was a long drawnout pain that left after a while. can't escribe it, mayybe like something was forcing through and made it, i' say.

[jackedmonston]

I had two blown disks in 1999, about a decade before PD was diagnosed, but maybe not before I had it. Disks are like filled Life Saver candies. When they bulge out and hit the nerve (often called herniated) they can cause a lot of pain; but in two-thirds of cases, the bulge retreats on its own within a year. Waiting can work.

On the other hand, when the wall breaks and the stuff in the center (the doc said it was like the gristle on a chicken bone) flows out to hit the nerve, it's a permanent condition (I call it a "blown" disk).

I resisted surgery for two months, during which i could not sit for more than five minutes without pain. When i had it, I could not stand on my left leg, even with morphine. I could not have lived like that. One day after surgery I walked out of the hospital without any pain or pain meds beyond ibuprofen. All he did was clip the gristle so it wasn't touching the nerve.

I understand that other disk and spine problems (like stenosis) are more complicated, but if the MRI says its "just" a blown disk, think about booking a room at the surgical unit.

[adrienneb]

I had spine surgery three years ago. Was diagnosed with PD five years ago. I had slippage of the lower part of the spine (spondylolisthesis), which resulted in sciatica and loss of ankle reflexes This was a congenital problem, which prior to PD had not caused me any problems. There was no relief from PT, steroid injections, or anything else. I had no problems with the surgery, which resulted in immediate relief from the sciatic pain. My PD went crazy for a couple of months afterward, then settled down. Now I have some back pain, associated with my off periods, and I am sure that the PD makes my symptoms worse. Knowing now what I did not know then, I would still opt to have the surgery if I had the same symptoms. The quality of life without sciatic pain is so much better! I hope all of these stories help you to make a decision, powerfemale. Best of luck to you!

[etterus]

Powerfemale... I am a retired PT that would still be working at 70 if I could. I truly loved the career and was in the process of pursuing a credential of an orthopedic manual when PD took my hands from me.

I think there are questions that you need to ask yourself and pursue the answers with your surgeon first:

How long have you had the pain

How did it start

Where is it

Does it radiate

Is there numbness and tingling... weakness

What aggravates it

What relieves it

WhT has been attempted to treat it so far

What diagnostics has been performed

What did they conclude

What is the prognosis

What is your general health

What is your activity level "????????????????

[powerfemale]

Thank u to all that responded. Good to have read positive results.

[ronn]

Here's wishing you well. PF, in whatever you decide to do. I am somewhat amazed to be the most negative comment among those responding, but you are obviously seeking answers to the pertinent questions. All of us here at "POCD Central" will be waiting for good news.