What No One Tells You About Healing After a Microdiscectomy

Back surgery recovery involves unexpected challenges that doctors rarely explain beforehand, from extreme boredom to the misconception that you'll immediately wake up pain-free. I share personal insights and practical tips to better prepare mentally and physically for the recovery journey following microdiscectomy.

• Prepare for boredom during recovery by planning brain-stimulating activities beyond passive TV watching
• Understand that waking up with pain doesn't mean your surgery failed—nerves can remain angry and inflamed for months
• Expect pain to potentially return at 2 weeks (due to inflammation) and 6-8 weeks (when movement restrictions ease)
• Recovery follows a non-linear pattern with many ups and downs—not a steady improvement curve
• "No bending, lifting or twisting" doesn't mean becoming completely stiff—small movements are actually beneficial
• Consider practical bathroom solutions like toilet seat risers and bidets for easier post-surgery hygiene
• Prepare for significant mental and emotional challenges, including anxiety about reherniation
• Explore resources like "New Possibilities" book and Bed Back and Beyond YouTube channel for guidance and inspiration

For more preparation tips, check out my "How to Prepare for Your Microdiscectomy" video with a room-by-room walkthrough on my YouTube channel, Bed Back and Beyond.

Transcript

Preparing for Post-Surgery Boredom

CK 0:00

Let's talk about the things I wish I knew about back surgery recovery before I had gotten it.

Waking Up Still in Pain

CK 0:11

The very first thing I wish I had known to prepare for was the boredom. I was so bored and you're going to be bored. You will most likely be home alone while your friends and loved ones are at work, and the first two weeks are pretty boring because all you can do is lay down and walk, lay down and walk. If your plan is just to watch a bunch of TV, let me tell you that that gets old quickly and it does nothing to stimulate your brain. I ended up on YouTube watching tornado videos, tsunami videos, airplane crash investigation videos, and I even ended up on tarantula feeding and mating videos. And now, if I was brave enough, I wish I could own a cobalt blue tarantula. If you happen to be a tarantula fan and you have a pet, send me some pictures. I would love to see it. I'm looking at you, james, but go into your recovery with a plan in place. Look at this as an opportunity to learn something new. Maybe you want to learn Spanish, maybe you want to learn more about a particular interest that you can become an expert on. There's Wikipedia, there's Masterclass. There's so many resources out there for you to learn something, and you're going to be home alone with plenty of opportunity to learn. So if you head over to bedbackbeyondcom, I have a resource tab with a couple suggestions of places that you can go to to stimulate your brain while you're recovering.

CK 1:40

The second thing I wish I knew was waking up in pain doesn't mean the surgery was a failure. Not everybody wakes up pain-free. I wasn't one of those people and I woke up thinking "did I just go through this surgery for nothing? It took me about six months to finally feel better after my surgery, but there are people that it takes a full year for the sciatic pain to go away. Let me show you why. If you look at this MRI picture, there's the disc in the middle and then there's two round spots on the side. The round spots are the nerves. The one on this side is nice tight dark circle. That is a normal nerve, but the one on this side is fuzzy and gray.

CK 2:25

This is a nerve that is angry, and it's angry still at 11 weeks post-surgery. I think we get it into our brains that as soon as the herniated disc goes away, the nerve will just go back to being fine, but it's not. It's pissed off and it has a grudge to hold and some of them will hold on to it for a long time. So this nerve is still angry and that anger is going to keep the pain there. And also, if you look at this photo, there's fluid in the space where the herniated disc used to be. That's normal post inflammation fluid, but it's pushing on the nerve. It will go away eventually, but it's compressing the nerve so it's causing pain Again.

Pain Return is Normal

CK 3:07

This is 11 weeks post this patient's surgery, so you're not necessarily going to wake up pain free right away. You have to give your body time to recover and give your nerves time to go back to normal. The next thing I wish I knew was that the return of pain is normal. Some people do wake up completely pain-free and ready to do cartwheels after the surgery. That wasn't me. But then at two weeks they're like hold on, my pain's coming back. Or at six to eight weeks, hold on. Why am I having pain again? So if it's like the two week range, that's pretty normal for post inflammation to rear its head again and to cause some pain in your back. Obviously, call your doctor and tell them you're having pain. They can give you something, maybe like a steroid or a pain med to help take it away, or a pain med to help take it away. But don't go to disaster right away. Two weeks is normal and then the six to eight week range is when usually our moving restriction gets taken away. But you haven't used your muscles in six weeks or however long you were injured. So your brain still thinks you're injured and your muscles are weak and your body's doing something called guarding. So now that you're trying to move again, everything starts screaming and wants to resist. You have to retrain your brain and your muscles to let them know that it's okay to move, but unfortunately that does bring pain back. That's what physical therapy is good for. If you get prescribed physical therapy, I think it's great for retraining your brain and your muscles that it's okay to move again.

Recovery is Not Linear

CK 4:48

The next thing I wish I understood was that this healing process is not linear. You're going to have lots of two steps forward and one step back. You're going to have weird pains, pains in different places, and one step back. You're going to have weird pains, pains in different places. It's normal to have hip pain start or tailbone pain start. It's normal for your legs to swell, for your muscles to spasm, for you to be so tired that after 15 minutes of doing anything you suddenly need a nap. It is quite the experience. So please don't think you're going to just get better and better every day and suddenly, two weeks later you're going to just get better and better every day and suddenly, two weeks later, you're pain-free and can move on with your life. A lot of people experience this roller coaster of recovery. It is totally normal. Please go into your surgery knowing that it is not linear.

CK 5:39

The next thing I wish I understood was about the no bending, lifting or twisting rules. I went into it thinking that meant to act like stiff as a board and I wasn't allowed to move anything. Some doctors are even saying no bending or lifting for two weeks and others are starting to say just live your normal life, don't pick up anything heavy. Please follow whatever your directions your doctor gives you. But understand that no bending or lifting or twisting doesn't mean you can't move at all. It means no extreme twisting, no extreme bending over. You can do a little. This is not going to ruin your surgery. So if you suddenly look to your right because someone called your name. Don't think I just ruined my surgery. In fact, it's better for your muscles if you move just a tiny bit.

Bathroom Solutions After Surgery

CK 6:31

I stayed so stiff that by the time it was six weeks and I could move again, My muscles were misfiring in the wrong order, and it was painful. that's how PT helped me so much was to get my muscles retrained. If I were you, I would go onto Bob and Brad's YouTube channel and look up the seven bed exercises to do after a laminectomy. They're just things you can do while laying on your back and they're all like lifting your feet or moving your legs to keep your muscles moving. Of course, always check with your doctor and get clarification, but don't treat it like you're strapped to a board. A little bit of movement is okay.

CK 7:12

Something else I wish I knew before surgery was how to make using the bathroom a lot easier. Going into the bathroom sent me into a panic because I thought how am I going to clean myself off Now? Remember I was thinking I couldn't even move a little bit. So check before your surgery. Reach behind yourself and see how much little movement you can do with just the tiniest little bit of twist. I'm telling you that is okay, but standing and sitting on the toilet can be uncomfortable, so there's something called a toilet seat riser that you could just place it right on top of your seat and it makes sitting and standing so much easier. I happen to have a handlebars that someone lent me next to my toilet and that was a lifesaver. Don't even consider getting that toilet paper wand I hated the thing, I couldn't figure it out. Just see how far you can reach and a bidet. Most people on the Reddit forum are saying get a bidet, it makes cleaning up so much easier.

Mental and Emotional Recovery Challenges

CK 8:10

The most important thing that I wish I had been prepared for after my microdiscectomy is the mental, emotional challenge that comes with this recovery. Once you're over your injury and you've gotten the surgery, all you have to do is sit around and or lay around and think, and if you're not distracting your brain, you may go into an emotional spiral. For me it was very traumatic. Not everybody experiences this, but I'm pretty sure I had PTSD and depression and anxiety and all of that. Any spark of pain would send me into a panic and I'd start crying. This recovery is difficult. Your back when it goes out, it affects everything and if you're not prepared, all you're going to do is worry about reherniation, even though only 10 to 15% of cases reherniate.

Resources for Back Surgery Recovery

CK 9:01

Last year, I read this book called New Possibilities Understanding and Unraveling the Mysteries of Chronic Pain because I was interviewing the author, a chronic pain specialist, for the podcast Bed Back and Beyond. As I was reading that book, I thought to myself where was this book in 2019 when I had my surgery? It has so much helpful information about the guarding that our body does subconsciously, about how we react to pain and why we react that way. I really wish I had had this book when I was recovering. So if you haven't gotten a book yet and you're looking for one to help with chronic pain, consider New Possibilities. It's such a great resource.

CK 9:44

Another resource for you is my YouTube channel, bed Back and Beyond. I saw over and over again on the Reddit community and on the Facebook communities are there any success stories out there? So I created a YouTube channel where I collect success stories from people with just like me and you with herniated disc so positive stories of recovery. Head over to Bed Back and Beyond and check that out if you are looking for and scouring YouTube for helpful information. I even have a how to prepare for your microdiscectomy video where I do a room by room walkthrough giving you ideas on how to best prep for your microdiscectomy, to make it as easy as possible for you. I wish you the best of luck. You're going to do great.