Can surgery help pain and not just sciatica?

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I have 3 levels of bulging disks, stenosis, and arthritis. (L3-S1). I so far, only have a small amount of sciatica on my left side. Its just some achiness under my butt where the thigh is. My right side is a lot worse as far as pain goes. My hip is really painful and so is my whole lower back. its makes walking and standing really rough. Is there any chance surgery will help the pain, or will it only help sciatica? I dont have nurabness at this point. But A LOT of pain. I have had a series of 2 facet joint injections and SI Joint injections. And now have had 2 epidurals and will have the 3rd and last one in 3 weeks. Then i guess we see what the next thing will be. Thanks.
 
I guess what I would be hoping for is less pain in the lowe back and hip. I have no nurabness or any of that yet. But I am hoping that the beginnings of sciatica on my good side under my butt doesnt progress. What I would wish for is to be able to stand without being in so much pain and walk.
 
I wish the same thing...my entire pelvic girdle feels so achy and now I'm wondering if my hips are now causing me problems as well. My spine surgeon said my hip arthritis got worse since last year, though I have no spondylolisthesis in my spine, which is good. My scoliosis is slightly more progressed, too..but he said it's not enough to cause any of my pain. I had surgery in '06, but mine was primarily to try to relieve my leg pains and walking distance. I still have spine arthritis, and arthritis elsewhere, which I think is being aggravated more now...due to having bone from my spine cut away. Now there is even more stress on all the other joints. But I, too....have a hard time walking again, though my pains now are not all the same that I had before surgery. I am now taking alot of meRAB, some a few times a day, to help me get through sitting all day in classes. If I go to a store while on these meRAB, I can get thru walking around for about an hour on better days. But I do notice with weather changes, alot of my pains get worse as well - which is usually arthritis related. Though my nerve pain gets worse with different weather also. I soo know how you feel, though. I personally have just accepted it all as....that's the way I am, it is what it is. All I can do is deal with it every day in the best way possible.

If you have surgery to free a pinched nerve and that pinch was what was causing your pain, then it's possible you can become pain free after surgery. But there is also a risk of getting worse and/or staying the same. IT's always a chance one takes.
 
Sorry you are having such a bad time. The whole thing can be so depressing and overwhelming. I was always so proud of my lower back when I had my neck fusion. So quickly the back went to hell in a handbasket. Go figure.
 
Yea, I know...it's like a huge chain reaction or domino effect....and no matter what is causing it, it is no fun living with pain.
 
Hi, it depenRAB on what's causing the pain and if you have any other conditions. Many times nerve pain can be helped, as well as muscle pain (like if you have spasms due to a pinched nerve, etc..if the nerve gets freed up, and feels better, then the muscle spasms will most likely stop also).

However....if you have arthritis in your spine and/or hips (or anywhere else), no surgery can help that. Arthritis can only be "managed". My spine surgeon told me that before surgery...he wanted to make sure I knew that I would still have arthritis pain. But all the pains I had from stenosis were gone after surgery. I actually did pretty good for about 5 or 6 months...then I got severe sciatica again....and also found I had alot of scar tissue inside. And the scar tissue is now causing me problems, plus my arthritis pains are awful sometimes. Ooops, one more thing, that I keep reading on medical sites - surgery for stenosis is mainly done to help stenosis pains (nerve pains, claudication)...but NOT for low back pain.
 
When i had surgery in march of this year it as of now has helped alot and it has been 3 months. My spine was really unstable from a prior fusion not healing so of course it fixed that and leg pain has vanished also.
 
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