DrugBuyers.Com: BACK SURGURY- good or bad idea?

My back pain started when I was around 18 and continued getting worse until 1996 when I no longer could take it anymore. The doctor told me that my disk at L5-S1 was mostly gone with bone hitting bone and the disk above it, L4-L5 was bad as well. So at that point I could no longer take it and went for a Spinal Fusion from L4-L5 to L5-S1. After my surgery it seemed like it was getting better, but after a year, the pain started getting worse. I went back to him several times, but he couldn't see anything wrong, so I went to another doctor, this time a neurosurgeon. He did the standard tests, MRI, Cat Scan, Milogram, and he really did not see anything bad enough for surgery. So he recommened me to a pain clinic which started at Physical Therapy to epidurals and Nerve burnings and lastly with no relief from those he put me on the Duragesic Patch. I was on that for 2-1/2 years till the pain got so bad and started running down my leg that he redid the tests and found out the disk L3-L4 had exploded and recommended surgery right away or I might become paralyzed. So in 2001 he removed some of the Titanium hardware and replaced it to include the new problem. To bring you up to date, since then I have tried Physical Therapy, walking,etc, and I just can't do anything at all without some sort of pain pills. I am currently taking Hydro 10/325, but now I have noticed that my left leg is becoming numb. I go to see a doctor on 11-1 to find out if another disk is going bad.What I now do not know is if I would have tried to put up with the pain before my first surgery, would I have needed it at all. I can't recommend surgery to anyone. I can only say that use it as a last resort. Only when you cannot go on any longer. That is also what each doctor told me as well. Try all the avenues first. Physical Therapy, epidurals, nerve burnings, and whatever else is new that I am unaware of.

Take care and I wish you luck