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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.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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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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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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