New member with failed Prodisc
 

94 - fell off roof fracture L2
99 - L3-L4 herniated disc - in hospital 6 days
01 - start of severe leg & back pain
02 - L3-L4 herniated disc - in hospital 5 days
04 - DDD L4/L5/S1
07 - Prodisc L4/L5
08 - return of leg & back pain
09 - Prodisc L5/S1
no relief & pain increasing + other complications

Hi everyone,
Above is the story of my back. I think I have tried just about everything for pain, meds, massage, acupuncture, epidurals, diets, creams , belts, drinks etc… with no great or lasting effect. In 2004 I was diagnosed with DDD and told I was a perfect candidate for Prodisc. Discogram showed L4/L5 for sure with possibly L5/S1 needing to be done. Oct. 2007 I had it done. The night of the operation they got me on my feet and for the first time in years I had no back or leg pain, there was pain from the surgery, but the regular back and leg pain was gone! I was the happiest man in the world. When I got home within a week I was off all meds – I had been on 80 mg of Oxy a day + 6-8 percs. It was great to live without having to take pills. That only last 3 months before the pain started to come back. Within 6 months I back to where I was before, taking pills to get out of bed. Another discogram confirmed L5/S1 was needed to be done. Aug 2009 I had it done by the same surgeon, this time the results was not like the first time. There was no relief in the pain and now the pain has increased in the last year to the point where I take more pain meds than I did before. I’ve experienced nerve problems and things not working right down there and I cannot go to the bathroom without laxatives. My doctors are at a loss. It was my hope when I found this site that maybe someone else has had similar trouble and may have some suggestion? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob

Welcome, sorry you are here though...
 

Robin, what a terrible struggle you've endured; I hope we can provide some comfort and support. If I may ask you to clarify a few things for us:

- What degree of arthritis did you have...do you have...in your spine? How were your facet joints, before and after your surgeries? If you have copies of your imaging studies and reports, that should address these points in detail.

- Do the post-surgical imaging studies show that the placement of each device was correct? Has there been any movement (migration) of the artificial disc in your lumbar vertebrae? This is absolutely critical to know.

- Relating to the above point, did you have a DEXA scan, or any study to indication your spine/hip bone densities?

Sorry to hit you with these questions, but these are obviously very important! I'll save other comments and questions for later...

Other thought, have you had any neurological testing? Rich's questions cover the obvious, something is wrong with your Prodisc, but a neurological work-up could pick out the second most likely stuff such as nerve damage due to the surgery.

Hi Rich,
Sorry I took so long getting back. Attached are my most recent x-rays. No I did not have a DEXA scan, nor was it ever discussed.

Thanks,
Rob

P.S. Also as far as I know my facet joints are ok. I tried facet injections a couple of months ago with no change in the pain.

Rob, sorry to keep coming back with questions:

1. Are these xrays from the CD?

2. Did obtain a copy of the radiologist report? That should provide some descriptive information. If this is from a series of xrays from the same place, they will report on changes from previous studies.

Thx!

Yes, they are from a CD. I don’t have a report. These x-rays were taken to be sent to the surgeon, I have not heard back from him yet.
Thanks

I have a question for somebody
 

When they put in an artificial disc, they choose the sizing with regards to width. This is true, I believe, for my case (Activ-L). The issue is making sure it rests on the boney rim of the vertebra rather than the porous inner portion, in order to avoid subsidence. I get that. My pea brain gets that.

What I don't get is - and forgive me if this is totally moronic, even worse, seeing as I've already had the ADR - doesn't everybody have slightly differing inter-vertebral spacing? And so, doesn't that mean that a one-size-fits-all for intervertebral spacing is a potential problem?

For example, what if the ADR gives you slightly more intervertebral space than you naturally had, so the nerve roots are slightly extended all the time, causing sciatica on both sides for no apparent reason?

Or on the flip-side, the ADR gives you slightly less intervertebral space than you naturally had, so the tissue surrounding the nerve roots is slightly compressed, compressing the nerve roots, causing sciatica on both sides for no apparent reason?

Dave

Rob, you have the right to get your records (at least here in the US), so it's a phone call or a visit to the medical records office to get the reports.

Rob, Dave; re sizes and configs for ADRs. Dave, that's not a dumb question at all but a very important one! In your case, the spacers are are in these sizes:

8.5 mm: blue
10 mm: green
12 mm: black
14 mm: yellow

And color-coded just to make sure (I hope your surgeon isn't color-blind!). If you carefully look at the brochure, you'll find the spacer sizes. Equally as important, you will find the endplate size options, including the lordotic angles associated with each. See the forum with the mfr brochures, then my post from 11-15-2008 with the Active-L PDF attachment. It would be nifty if you could tell which spacer (size) you had by the x-ray, but the imaging software calipers can do that any way...

Rob, pls keep us posted. :shedance:

Thanks for all the help. I’m in the process of gathering all the images of my back and will post once I get them.
If anyone else has been through similar difficulty, I would appreciate hearing your story.
I’m looking for help from anywhere I can find it.