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When it comes to your spine, you’re right to be cautious about having any work done on it. Sometimes, however, spinal problems that cause severe pain and limited movement require medical intervention for you to live your life normally.

At Acadiana Neurosurgery in Lafayette, Louisiana, we specialize in spinal treatments, and our number one goal is to help you regain pain-free movement.

To that end, we offer several pain-relieving spinal procedures, including spinal fusions. As you consider your options, we’ve pulled together five myths and facts about spinal fusions that may help with your decision.

1. Spinal fusions are only for severe back injuries

While spinal fusions are sometimes used to correct fractures along your spine, we also use this technique to resolve many other painful back conditions, including:

• Degenerative disk disease
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spinal stenosis
• Tumor
• Infection
• Scoliosis

The goal of a spinal fusion is to prevent abutting vertebrae from moving against one another, irritating the nerves in the area, and many conditions can lead to this painful friction.

2. Spinal fusions cause immobility

While you won’t be joining the US gymnastics team anytime soon, a spinal fusion doesn’t “freeze” your spine entirely. Your spine is made up of 33 vertebrae and, together, they provide you with a fairly wide range of motion. When we fuse together two vertebrae, you’ll still enjoy considerable movement — the immobility is localized to just the vertebrae that are fused together.

It’s also worth noting that the pain that brought you to this point has probably greatly diminished your movement, which means a spinal fusion will likely help you regain mobility.

3. A spinal fusion isn’t 100% guaranteed

This statement is true. While the results of spinal fusions are good, they aren’t 100%. Of those who undergo a spinal fusion, around 80% experience significant relief from their pain, while the remaining 20% feel little to no difference. The location of your spinal fusion has a significant impact on these results — the best results are fusing at your L5-S1 level (L is lumbar, S is sacrum, and together it’s the lumbosacral joint).

4. Spinal fusion is the last resort

When we turn to a spinal fusion, our goal is to stop your pain by limiting any friction in the area that may be irritating your nerves. Leading up to a spinal fusion, we use several techniques before resorting to surgery, such as ablations, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medications.

While we always look for nonsurgical options first, we hesitate to call a spinal fusion a last resort. We work with every patient to find the treatment that will best restore pain-free movement, and a spinal fusion is one such treatment.

In the unlikely event that your spinal fusion proves ineffective, rest assured that we continue to work with you until your problem is resolved to your satisfaction.

5. There’s a lengthy recovery after a spinal fusion

Any time you have surgery, you should allow time for your body to heal. The same is true of a spinal fusion. The primary goal of your recovery is to get your vertebrae to fuse correctly, which can take three to six months to complete. That means that you’ll need to limit your movements, especially lifting, bending, and twisting.

During this time, you’ll undergo physical therapy, which will help your recovery enormously. A physical therapist helps you strengthen your back and gives you at-home exercises to help your spine recover gradually and safely.

Should your recovery progress smoothly, you’ll be free to participate in more strenuous activities after six months.

So, to answer this question, it depends on what your definition of “lengthy” is. If you’ve been a prisoner of debilitating back pain for years, six months hardly seems like a long time if the result is freedom from suffering.

If you have more questions about spinal fusion surgery, we invite you to call us at Acadiana Neurosurgery, or set up a consultation using the online booking tool.

References:

https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/lumbar-spinal-fusion-surgery

https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/spinal-fusion/

https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/spine-fusion-risks-and-complications

https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/spinal-fusion-surgery-recovery-one-three-months-post-operation

If you’ve had a concussion and your head still hurts or other symptoms continue a few weeks or months after the injury, you could have post-concussion syndrome (PCS). At Acadiana Neurosurgery, we can evaluate your symptoms and help you develop a plan to heal as quickly as possible.   

What is PCS?

Recovery from a typical concussion should only take a week or two. Post-concussion syndrome is a mild form of traumatic brain injury (TBI), where some of your concussion symptoms linger for weeks or months, sometimes even longer.

About 10% of people who suffer sports-related concussions and a third of people with non sports-related concussions develop PCS.

Symptoms of PCS   

When you come into Acadiana Neurosurgery, you should always discuss all of your symptoms with your doctor, so we can help you get the treatment you need. Common PCS symptoms include

• Dizziness

• Tiredness

• Insomnia

• Irritability

• Memory loss

• Reduced concentration

• Blurred vision

• Sensitivity to noise and light

Researchers are still figuring out what causes PCS

It’s not clear what causes PCS, and it’s still a mystery why some people who suffer concussions develop the condition while others don’t. One possibility is that in some people the impact that caused the concussion also caused some other damage to the brain, and symptoms like depression and insomnia might be caused by the stress of having a serious injury.

A PCS diagnosis is more common in women than in men, possibly because women are more likely to go to the doctor when they don’t feel well.

Age can be a factor, too. Past age 40, people with a concussion are more likely to develop PCS.

Diagnosing PCS

Unfortunately, there isn’t a specific test for PCS. At Acadiana Neurosurgery, we examine you and ask about your symptoms. We may also order imaging tests, such as an MRI or CT scan, to check for bleeding or other brain issues that could be causing your symptoms.  

Treating PCS

There isn’t a treatment for PCS as a condition. Instead, the doctors at Acadiana Neurosurgery treat your specific symptoms. Most people with PCS will recover within a few months to a year. For some, it can take longer. Treating symptoms can help you feel better while you heal.

Your doctor may recommend pain relief for headaches, exercise and psychological counseling for depression and anxiety, and brain training with a specialist if you’re having problems with your memory or with problem solving. If you’re experiencing dizziness, you may be referred to a specialist, such as an ear, nose, and throat doctor.

What to bring to your medical appointment

To understand how you’re feeling and how best to treat you, your doctor will want to know all your symptoms and what may have worked to relieve them so far. Bring a list of all the medicines you’ve been taking, including nonprescription drugs and any vitamins and supplements.

You should also prepare a list of your symptoms. If you’ve been having problems with your memory, ask a family member or friend who sees you often to come along to the appointment.

Make a list of questions to ask your doctor about PCS. These might include:

• What, if any, tests do I need?
• Are there any activities I should avoid while I recover?
• Is it okay if I drive?
• Can I drink alcohol?

If you have more questions about post-concussion syndrome, we invite you to call us at Acadiana Neurosurgery, or set up a consultation using the online booking tool.

Brain aneurysms are the stuff of legend, with stories of people who are fine one moment and in excruciating, life-threatening pain the next. While there may be some truth to this, the larger truth behind a brain aneurysm is, thankfully, far less dramatic.

 

Here at Acadiana Neurosurgery, Dr. Jason Cormier have extensive experience helping their patients manage and treat their brain aneurysms, with the goal of avoiding the more serious complications.

 

In order to help you better understand what a brain aneurysm is, and what it is not, we’ve pulled together the following list of six myths and facts about this brain condition.

 

1. An aneurysm is a ticking time bomb

While a brain aneurysm does present a potential problem, it’s far from a foregone conclusion. In fact, the phrase, “having an aneurysm,” implies that all aneurysms burst, and that is simply not the case.

 

An aneurysm is a small weak spot in a blood vessel in your brain, usually near the base of your brain, that bulges out due to the pressure of your blood pumping through. Some reports suggest that six million people in the United States have an aneurysm, and most of them go through their entire lives unaware of the condition. Only in rare cases, about 1% per year, does the pressure build up, causing the aneurysm to leak or burst, which is when the condition becomes very serious, and potentially fatal.

 

2. It strikes out of nowhere

Technically, a brain aneurysm develops over time, though in some cases you may be born with poorly-formed blood vessels. In either case, an aneurysm, especially one that is near to bursting, is typically long in the making.

 

3. A ruptured aneurysm is always fatal

The good news is that a full 60% of those who experience a rupture survive. The bad news is that two thirds of those who survive a rupture are left with varying degrees of permanent neurological impairment. We say varying degrees, because it depends upon the extent and location of the ruptured aneurysm.

 

4. There’s no warning

While there are some cases when a brain aneurysm ruptures and quickly leads to death, these are very rare occurrences. Of the few who experience a ruptured brain aneurysm, there are telltale symptoms beforehand that indicate that your blood vessel is in trouble. These symptoms include a sudden and severe headache, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, loss of balance, and impaired vision.

 

Some people experience these symptoms for days, or even weeks, but we urge you to seek medical attention at the first sign of these symptoms. While uncommon, these symptoms can also indicate a large aneurysm that hasn’t ruptured.

 

5. Brain aneurysms only affect women

While not completely true, women are three times more likely than men to have a brain aneurysm. Medical researchers don’t fully understand why this is so, but it may have something to do with estrogen levels, especially when they begin to drop once women reach their 40s.

 

6. There’s no cure for an aneurysm

Since most aneurysms go undetected, most don’t require a “cure.” If, however, you do have an aneurysm that has ruptured, we have several ways to deal with the problem, including surgical clipping, endovascular coiling, and flow diverters. How we approach the problem largely depends upon the size, progression, and location of the rupture. Our main goal in these cases is to prevent complications from developing and to manage the symptoms.

 

When it comes to brain aneurysms, there’s a fair amount of misinformation out there. While an aneurysm has the potential to be a serious problem, these cases are not the norm. As with every aspect of your health, if you suspect something is wrong, early medical intervention is your best defense against the likely, and the unlikely.

 

And that’s where we can help. As trained neurologists, we can spot issues that warrant further investigation, giving you peace of mind. If you have more questions about brain aneurysms, we invite you to call our office in Lafayette, Louisiana, or schedule a consultation using the online booking tool on this website.