Job13,
Thank you for the excellent information about your ADR and revision. There is very little experience in this area. I'm not aware of anyone else posting their revision experience on the forums except for you and Blairsara.
I've never heard the root cause of post-ADR facet pain attributed to hyperextension and hyperlordosis in the way you describe it. It makes good sense and it seems to fit my situation. In fact I experience most all of the painful symptoms you mentioned in Post #2. I questioned three US ADR surgeons about how alarmingly tall my L5S1 Charite seemed compared to the other levels. They didn't think there was anything remarkable about it. One even described it as a restored natural disk space just as you were told.
One big difference was how I was treated by Dr. Zeegers who performed the L5S1 ADR surgery in 2003. He was very concerned about my post-op pain levels. I wrote to him in the months following surgery. He always responded. Then I saw Dr. Z at a GPN patient seminar and bar-b-que at Mark's 13 months after surgery. He asked me to have a new CT/Myelo and send him updated x-rays. Later he emailed to ask some specific questions about my symptoms. After reviewing the diagnostics he emailed me a report of his findings and next steps I should consider. As with the US ADR surgeons he never mentioned hyperextension and associated phenonema as a possible root cause of facet pain. All of these doctors were looking for problems at L45, or stenosis, or they were expecting the facets to eventually calm down.
Now I'm 4 years+ post-adr with some improvement over the first couple of years. I have pain much like you described (but at a lower level) or gnawing discomfort all the time. I don't do much anymore. At this time I have no enthusiasm for investigating further. I see nothing out there that's worth the risk of invasion.
I get a kick out of your avatar--a screaming cat with automatic weapon blazing and a mushroom cloud in the background. If you're expressing frustration, it works.
I hope your recovery continues to go well. Please let us know the doctors and hospitals you're dealing with for your facet diagnosis and revision.
Jim
1981 L5S1 diskectomy
2003 L5S1 Charite
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