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Did surgery help your low back pain/sciatica?



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Hi every one! I have just started my 6 month monitored weight loss required by my insurance company. My estimated surgery date is in January 2016. I am in a lot of pain daily due to a herniated disc in my lower back with pain radiating into my left hip and thigh. I was wondering if the VSG has helped anyone with similar pain. I've had many epidural injections in the past and was considering surgery for it until I started my WLS journey. I'm hoping the pain will subside with weight loss. Please share any similar stories. Thanks so much!!!

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Oh I hope it does. I have all sorts of back injury related crap going on. I neeeeeed this to work or else it's surgery for fusion or disc replacement.

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I am still waiting haha. I lost 30 lbs, and the pain at the lower back is there I think I have to lose more completely for it to go away. But hopefully it will.

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I don't see how it can't help. I have low back problems and visit a chiropractor a few times a month. My low back issues are a combo of my weight making my spinal curvature hyperlordosis as well as my sacro/illiac joint being out of alignment, which is probably unrelated as much to my weight.

Edited by Yaberhoo

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Just had my second back surgery Oct 2014 (fusion, for disk issues). I'm only doing the pre-surgery diet and have lost 12lbs and just from that have noticed my back pain is less and less, and I work at a desk 8 hours a day. It's definitely going to help.

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I was having an issue with my nerve in my back could not wash dishes standing up now 4 weeks post op no more pain down a total of 38 pounds

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With all the extra weight I had major back pain and could only stand for short period of time before having to sit. I am down 88 pounds at this point and have much more energy and virtually no back pain! It gets better and better as I go.

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My 62 lbs. loss has not helped with my lower back and referred hip pain, but it has helped with knee pain. I'm a work in progress on managing the back pain since I cannot go back to my old, familiar, worked really well arthritis medicine. Seeing my rheumatologist tomorrow.

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I don't have any major back problems but I did have problems with sciatica at least twice each year. Now that I've dropped some of the excess weight I haven't had sciatica in the past two years. Hope the surgery helps with your pain and back issues.

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    • Aunty Mamo

      Iʻm roughly 6 weeks post-op this morning and have begun to feel like a normal human, with a normal human body again. I started introducing solid foods and pill forms of medications/supplements a couple of weeks ago and it's really amazing to eat meals with my family again, despite the fact that my portions are so much smaller than theirs. 
      I live on the island of Oʻahu and spend a lot of time in the water- for exercise, for play,  and for spiritual & mental health. The day I had my month out appointment with my surgeon, I packed all my gear in my truck, anticipating his permission to get back in the ocean. The minute I walked out of that hospital I drove straight to the shore and got in that water. Hallelujah! My appointment was at 10 am. I didn't get home until after 5 pm. 
      I'm down 31 pounds since the day of surgery and 47 since my pre-op diet began, with that typical week long stall occurring at three weeks. I'm really starting to see some changes lately- some of my clothing is too big, some fits again. The most drastic changes I notice however are in my face. I've also noticed my endurance and flexibility increasing. I was really starting to be held up physically, and I'm so grateful that I'm seeing that turn around in such short order. 
      My general disposition lately is hopeful and motivated. The only thing that bugs me on a daily basis still is the way those supplements make my house smell. So stink! But I just bought a smell proof bag online that other people use to put their pot in. My house doesn't stink anymore. 
       
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Oh yeah, something I wanted to rant about, a billing dispute that cropped up 3 months ago.
      Surgery was in August of 2023. A bill shows up for over $7,000 in January. WTF? I asks myself. I know that I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and verified this and triple checked that, as did the surgeon's office. All was set, and I paid all of the known costs before surgery.
      A looong story short, is that an assistant surgeon that was in the process of accepting money from my insurance company touched me while I was under anesthesia. That is what the bill was for. But hey, guess what? Some federal legislation was enacted last year to help patients out when they cannot consent to being touched by someone out of their insurance network. These types of bills fall under something called, "surprise billing," and you don't have to put up with it.
      https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises
      I had to make a lot of phone calls to both the surgeon's office and the insurance company and explain my rights and what the maximum out of pocket costs were that I could be liable for. Also had to remind them that it isn't my place to be taking care of all of this and that I was going to escalate things if they could not play nice with one another.
      Quick ending is that I don't have to pay that $7,000+. Advocate, advocate, advocate for yourself no matter how long it takes and learn more about this law if you are ever hit with a surprise bill.
      · 0 replies
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Some days I feel like an infiltrator... I'm participating in society as a "thin" person. They have no idea that I haven't always been one of them! 🤣
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    • ChunkCat

      Thank you everyone for your well wishes! I totally forgot I wrote an update here... I'm one week post op today. I gained 15 lbs in water weight overnight because they had to give me tons of fluids to bring my BP up after surgery! I stayed one night in the hospital. Everything has been fine except I seem to have picked up a bug while I was there and I've been running a low grade fever, coughing, and a sore throat. So I've been hydrating well and sleeping a ton. So far the Covid tests are negative.
      I haven't been able to advance my diet past purees. Everything I eat other than tofu makes me choke and feels like trying to swallow rocks. They warned me it would get worse before it gets better, so lets hope this is all normal. I have my follow up on Monday so we'll see. Living on shakes and soup again is not fun. I had enough of them the first time!! LOL 
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Still purging all of the larger clothing. This morning, a shirt that I ADORED wearing ended up on top. Hard to let it go, but it was also hard to let go of those habits that also no longer serve my highest good. Onward and upward!
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