ADRSupport Community - New here and looking for help...

Hello All,

Chris here and I am looking forward to interacting with all of you. Nice to see where people like us have a place to go and talk about our conditions.

So let me begin with my story, it started in 2002 when I noticed pain in my right leg and found out after an MRI that I had a herniated disc (L5S1). Tried everything but just got worse. Finally in 2006, after battling for 4 years, I decided to get a disectomy(sp). WOW! Great results, so good in fact, that when my L4 herniated in 2008 I had discectomy done there as well. No problems after that surgery as well.

Flash forward to 2011 and L5S1 re-herniates and it sucks! So I have had a few injections, which haven't helped all to much. Also my L4 is starting to give me trouble now, great times I tell ya. I know my next visit my dr is going to push for fusion. I on the other hand am willing to try for a disectomy again (on the same side), but have heard they really aren't successful when doing the procedure twice on the same side. But after doing some extensive research, ADR is becoming more and more of an option in my mind. However I would love to hear from people who have had ADR.

So with that, anyone on here had ADR for L4 and L5S1? If so, give me the good, the bad, and the ugly please.

Recovery time?
How is your life today?
How long have you been living like this?
Are you scared the plastic discs will wear out?
What are the life span of the discs?
What happens if they do wear out, what is next?
etc, etc

Any help would be much appreciated. Please excuse any grammatical and spelling errors.

All the best,

Chris