If you just over did it, a day or two will help. It literally takes months for a fusion to heal. It takes months for the internal swelling to go back to normal and sometimes longer to have the nerves calm down. Any stress or strain set you back, but life has to come first.

Take your meds, see if you have any anti inflammatory meds to fix that swelling.

Hi i had a surgery of my L4-L5, s1 in the end of august, i still have some pain, and my doctor said that when you perform surgery on the back, neck it will always be prone to flare ups, the surgery weakens the back forever, with time it will be longer in between flare ups but it will always be weaker then a back that never had surgery.

I would go back to doctor and ask him some hard questions, if he recommends you to go back to work, i was a restaurant manager and my surgeon said i can never go back to that type of work, it is way to physical for me, now if you have a job that is not to physical yea sure you should be fine.

but you should still have restrictions on what you do know, and trust me i know how it feels when you just want to get back to normal and get things done, and why not you felt ok doing them but then bam you hurt the next day.

A few days ago i felt good so i decided to get the crayon off the wall that my niece did, it was everywhere by the end of the night i was in so much pain it took a couple of days doing nothing to get back to normal.

so what i am saying is, now that we had the surgery we still have to baby it, small steps we have to change how we once were, do things different. I decided that it was better for me to hire someone to come over every other week for $50 bucks and do the things that are a big no no to me, and i am still learning on what the no no's are, apparently getting crayon off the wall is a no no.

I am sorry, i know you want your life back, you have a life it is just different now, and you have to think before you do physical things, should i do this, and if i do what will happen.

take care
becky

I had a fusion at L5 - S1 back in Sept 2005 & at 1 month I was just starting to add more & more walking to my recovery routine. 4 weeks is too soon to be going back to work after a 2 level fusion & you should be taking it very easy on what you do. I whad to wear my special back belt for 6 months after my fusion & couldn't drive for 6 weeks. The 11th commandment of back surgery, IF IT HURTS, IT'S WRONG!
Slow down & let your body heal or you will have serious problems if the fusion dosen't fuse. It takes 12 to `18 months to get a solid fusion after surgery.
PS. I just had a 2 level disk replacement surgery last week Thurs. after 7 days I can only walk from the bathroom to my bed with a walker.
GOD BLESS!
Cindie

Thanks everybody. I am feeling somewhat better. I think I will be ok at work. I am a teacher of older students (8th grade). They are nice and helpful students. I have small classes and I only work until 12 noon. I can't take anti inflammatory meds because of my heart condition, but I do have plenty of other pain meds I can take right now. I am just trying to cut back because I want to work some and drive some. As long as I take it easy I am ok. I have been used to going pretty slow for the past couple of years because of my heart condition. It did scare me the other day when I woke up with the nerve pain in my right leg. You all have been helpful with good advice.

I just went throught this with my brother. He had surgery earlier this summer and like you was progressing very well, was walking up to two miles a day even. He went back to work and his drive is an hour each way. Suddenly he was in excrutiating pain, doubled over with spasms, and needed crutched to get around. We thought it was a bone infection and the insurance company was denying the mri and insisting that he go for physical therapy. My advice? Contact your surgeon, he may want to do an mri to check things out or atleast an x-ray. He may then put you on steroids to reduce some swelling because you may have pulled something. My brother overdid it, thank God it wasn't a bone infection. Surgeons don't usually tell you what you should and shouldn't do and what it takes to heal. Muscles and nerves regenerate at a very slow rate, something like a 1/4 inch per week? You really do need to take it slow and easy, but do call the doctor! Good luck and keep us posted! xoxoLyn