Pain after Surgery

[tinypoms]

I had ACDF 3 weeks ago on March 8th. I was haveing terrible pain in my right arm. Right after surgery that pain went away. I was just fine for 10 days. Then, on the 10th day after surgery, I started getting pain in the back of my neck where C6-7 is. That is where I had the ACDF. Sometimes it is a sharp pain and other times (mostly) it is a burning pain. I am so afraid that something is wrong. Why would I have no pain for 10 days and then all of a sudden have the pain? I called the doctor and he said it is not normal to not have pain after surgery and normal to have pain. I go to see him on Monday. I would love to hear what you have to say since you are the ones who have gone through what I have gone through.

Thanks,
Joanie

[Cheryl]

Hey Joanie,

I had lumbar surgery so its not quite the same but I too have a terrible burning pain in my neck at c5-6 and right arm numbness and tingling. They are still in the process of diagnosing this. The PT says that the burning pain may be due to muscle strain post op. Others on this forum have had burning pain due to nerve problems which the doctor also mentioned but I'm not showing other symptoms related to that.

I'm finding that its taking a while to figure this all out.

Sorry if I'm not a lot of help just want to let you know that I can relate to your symptoms.

Cheryl

[mmglobal]

Jonie,

Welcome to the forum... sorry you need to be here. Post-op experiences are all over the place. There are so many variables. Sometimes, people have a better than average first few days post-op because of the extra meds and immobility they have in the days around their surgery. There may be some reason for inflammation and pain that is at rest because of their inactivity. As they start to become active after their surgery, they have increasing activity and decreasing meds. Sometimes it takes a while for the inflammation to become ramped up enough to cause problems, then WHAM!

You are in contact with your doc and will see him in a few days. He'll do some xrays to make sure that everything has stayed put. Try not to horrible-ize (sp?)... it doesn't help.

Good luck... keep us posted,

Mark

[tinypoms]

You guys are just wonderful. Thank goodness for this forum and the Internet. Through this wonderful medium we can get together. Going through this and any operation can be pretty scary and it is so good to have someone to talk to.

Terrible things are going through my head and your reasoning sounds right. I hope this is the case.

Thanks so much for giving me your opinions.

Joanie

[Kanutta]

Hello, I had an ACDF with cage two years ago. I had horrible pain for 3 months after the surgery, probably due to inflammation. Then it subsided gradually, but it took almost a year for met to feel better than before the operation.

I have also experienced substantial improvement during this last year yoo; getting more and more of my life back. So theese things can take time.
It seems that some people are more proned to inflammation than others, it's probably in our genes... at least some spine researchers think so.

So be patient and take it easy, I did so for the first year.
Now I'm nearly back to normal, still with some limitations and pain, but bearable and much lower than before surgery.

My surgeon gave me the same explanation that Mark gives you in his post, that the inflammation takes some time to develop. It's considered as a normal, but can vary in strength and duration from person to person.

Hope it will pass soon for you.

Hugs from Kanutta in Norway