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  • Im getting depressed

    Its been a while. I had my 2 two surgeries 2 1/2 months ago and was fused down to my tailbone. I was just wondering if anyone else was still not able to do much. I am still in bed most of the time. I do my daily walks but the idea of going back to work freaks me out. Where were you pain and functioning wise around 3 months?

  • #2
    Heck no. At 2.5 months I was walking every day but also taking a nap every day too. I did a little around the house, did the food shopping and went to my PT. I didn't start back to work fulltime until 8 months; I probably could have started at 6 months. THe first few months back were brutal (and I have a desk job) and I'd come home and take a nap every night before dinner.

    I didn't get off pain meds till 3 months.

    Sounds like you're normal to me!
    __________________________________________
    Debbe - 50 yrs old

    Milwalkee Brace 1976 - 79
    Told by Dr. my curve would never progress

    Surgery 10/15/08 in NYC by Dr. Michael Neuwirth
    Pre-Surgury Thorasic: 66 degrees
    Pre-Surgery Lumbar: 66 degrees

    Post-Surgery Thorasic: 34 degrees
    Post-Surgery Lumbar: 22 degrees

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    • #3
      Oh good. I feel like a loser that I am in bed most of the time still. I am terrified to go back to work myself. I am a realtor so its not too strenuous but anything but walking slowly seems hard. Was your pain gone at 3 months post op?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by annabeller View Post
        Its been a while. I had my 2 two surgeries 2 1/2 months ago and was fused down to my tailbone. I was just wondering if anyone else was still not able to do much. I am still in bed most of the time. I do my daily walks but the idea of going back to work freaks me out. Where were you pain and functioning wise around 3 months?
        After my initial surgeries 20 years ago, I spent most of my time in bed for the first 6 weeks, and then cut down little by little, until I was about 3 months postop, when I was only in bed to sleep at night. After my surgeries last year, I was told to spend as little time as possible in bed, and my recovery was much easier.
        Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
        Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

        Comment


        • #5
          hi anna
          i am so sorry things are so hard for you...
          but i think it may be important for you to speak to your surgeon...
          in all the time of reading forum, i have never heard a surgeon not encouirage
          their patients to stay out of bed....
          i do not remember seeing a name for your surgeon...
          but please speak to him...let him know what is going on...
          also...any major surgery can cause depression....i am writing that as a licensed social worker...
          and isolation by staying home can cause depression...all kinds of things can cause it...
          did you ever hear the expression...."depression is a failure of chemistry, not of character"
          once depression gets started, it can be difficult to reverse...
          but...if you felt better physically, you might start to feel better emotionally....

          please speak to your surgeon...

          other people have gotten thru this...you can too...

          that's just my opinion...
          hope you feel better soon...
          jess
          Last edited by jrnyc; 04-04-2012, 06:48 PM.

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          • #6
            Dear Anna-- Jess is correct (of course!) about depression and talking to your doctor about it. But there are many of us that took a long time to heal and feel better. My recovery is still "in progress", but I was good at one year, quite good at 2, and very good at 3. I have limitations, but that's ok. I'm about to celebrate year #5 on May 4th. I'm getting better and better every year and loving it!

            At 3 months I did not feel one bit ok, but I did not stay in bed during the day, except for taking a nap. At 3 months I had decided I could not go back to my job yet and that was a little discouraging, but ok. It made me determined to work at my recovery! I had been walking every day for about half an hour, kept that up and increased it some. During those first months I found some things to occupy my mind so I wouldn't dwell on my soreness. I read books, I cross-stitched, I visited with friends, I emailed my daughters a lot... I worked on some scrapbooking, although that was a little hard to do. I stayed on pain meds for 5 months, and then still had tramadol to take if I needed it. I still have it if I run into a sore time, but that very rarely happens... not bad enough to need a pain med, usually. By 6 months I realized I would have to take the whole year off from my job, but that's because it's rather strenuous, working with kids and books all day along with lunch and recess duties--elementary school librarian--and that doesn't involve just sitting and checking out books: it's actively acting out stories, carrying books, reshelving from top to bottom, etc. I just didn't have the stamina or the strength. I was extremely weak. Because of that, my doctor let me (later) have PT-- at 6 months for arms and legs and at 11 months for my core. Even so, when I went back, it totally exhausted me. Now I am fine. It just takes some people a little longer to recover. Others bounce right back and seem to have very little pain. I hope you will be like that very soon and not be a snail like me.

            Depression can be caused by a chemical imbalance that needs medical attention (medicine). Or sometimes we just put ourselves into a situation where we focus on our own situation too much, and it looms larger and larger and larger. How bleak it becomes. I DO most definitely remember how, at times, my own 3 months seemed so discouraging. The healing at that time seemed to flatline. But then I would look back and see I had really been climbing, just so gradually it was hard to notice. I HAD made progress. The scrapbook I was working on was of my scoliosis surgery, and I could just look at the pictures and see for myself, quite easily...

            I am really concerned that you are staying in bed so much. You should be spending more time "up"-- sitting and walking. Perhaps you are not taking enough pain medicine. My doctor's nurse said the balance was to have enough medicine that you were able to function, but not enough that you were la-la-ish. (no, those weren't her exact words.) You need to find a balance so you can do things. Even though I took meds for 5 months, I still felt the pain. Just not as severely. Shoot, even now, if I press on my shoulder blades, I can feel tenderness, but not pain. If you are staying in bed because you feel ill, too sore and tired, unable to cope, then you definitely need to see a doctor about it. If you are concerned because you thought you should be all healed by now, don't worry. You are probably right on target. You can do a search and read from lots of people "how long" and see that it took awhile for many to get back to being able to do things and to feeling ok. Sending gentle hugs and prayers for healing-- Susie
            71 and plugging along... but having some problems
            2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
            5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
            Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

            Corrected to 15°
            CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
            10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

            Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

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            • #7
              hi Anna
              you are in no way a loser...you had the courage to have the surgery...it takes guts
              just to make that decision and go thru with it...

              pain can be very demoralizing...people can start to think the pain will last forever,
              will never go away...the mind can play tricks on you...
              and depression, as i mentioned, can be hard to reverse...it can almost start to run
              away with itself...every little thing can become magnified... and big things feel insurmountable...
              i think you need to talk to your surgeon for 2 reasons...
              to discuss the level of pain you are in and whether you are on enough pain meds to allow
              you to be out of bed and more active...
              and....to tell him just how depressed you are feeling...
              i believe the two are definitely connected...but i think you need to tell him about both...
              i know you will heal and feel better as time passes, as Susie said...
              but please contact your doctor...
              you deserve his help....
              as far as work...if you felt better and stronger, it would not seem so scary....

              jess

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              • #8
                sorry... off topic...Susie your private messages are full....
                jess

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by jrnyc View Post
                  sorry... off topic...Susie your private messages are full....
                  jess
                  Took care of it.
                  71 and plugging along... but having some problems
                  2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
                  5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
                  Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

                  Corrected to 15°
                  CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
                  10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

                  Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I was a slow walker at 2 1/2 months.....a real slow walker! Each day, I would get out there with the ski poles and walk around the block. Some days it would take a long time...

                    By the time I started posting here, I was almost 4 months post and started to turn the corner. The extreme pain levels were over, I ceased my hot baths, and was starting to feel much better.

                    I knew that it was going to take a long time.....I took 18 months off work, actually going down to work, but was helping out on the computer as much as possible...It took me so long to make decisions in the early days! (smiley face)

                    My surgeon warned me about staying in bed all day....I had so many problems with sleeping that it wasn’t a problem. I wanted to sleep 8 hours so badly, sleeping like a cat is hard. My cat naps continued for 2 years...fatigue was quite a battle which took a long time to get over. (2 years)

                    Walking is the gold standard in scoliosis surgery recovery. Many small walks through the day are better than one long walk. This stimulates blood flow, keeps the guts working, and builds up soft tissues. My surgeon INSISTED on outdoor walking only.....

                    Try to remember these things since depression is common. I always knew that things would get better as time passed, I would pick myself up brush my shoulders off and continue on. Communicate with your surgeon. They want to know how you are doing and feeling.....

                    Hang in there, it does get better

                    Ed
                    49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
                    Pre surgery curves T70,L70
                    ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
                    Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

                    Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
                    http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

                    My x-rays
                    http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

                    http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

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