J
jdsun
Guest
Has anyone had exploratory back surgery? My situation is this....I've had two very large disc hernations at the same level, L5-S1 and therefore had two discectomies to remove the herniation. I was told the surgeries were successful and all disc fragments were removed. My last surgery was almost 2 years ago and I am still in a lot of pain.
THe day the disc went, my butt went nurab along with an area on the back of my thigh. Two years later, this area is still nurab and the pain is exactly in the same area. THe pain pattern is the same as well. When I lie down all i good. When i stand or sit...the pain starts.
I have been to over 5 surgeons (orthopedic and nuerosurgeons) and they all agree that my MRI's and CT Mylegram scan are all clean. One doctor said he see's a small area of stenosis (?) at the L4-L5 level that could be something of concern, but then after I had 4 other consults he said, no, it's nothing and agreed with the other surgeons that this was nothing significant.
So, I've been living in hell for the past 2 years (actually, the hell began 4 yrs ago with the first herniation). I have all these doctors telling me they seen nothing on the scans that could be causing my pain. They all tell me I must have permanent nerve damage because my hernations were HUGE. In fact, the surgeon who preformed the discectomy, told me I had the largest herniated disc he had seen in his 30 yr career!!
So, all the surgeons tell me there is nothing to be done but pain management. I see a pain doctor monthly and am on so many different medications that barely do anything.
The ONLY thing that works is steroid epidural injections. After I have them, my pain is reduced by 80%. But they are only temporary
So, if you've read this far...THANK YOU! My husband has started to research this with me because it is affecting our entire family. He has found many stories of people who have had clean scans, but there is in fact some disc fragment that the imaging could not pick up.
So here are my questions:
1) Has anyone had this happen to them? (nothing shows on the scans, but there was disc material found??)
2) Are there different MRI strengths? My husband read something about a 3D MRI? Anyone know if this is worth pursuing?
3) Has anyone had exploratory back surgery? The surgeon told me the only way to know for sure if there is something there, is to go look. But then they tell me the risks far outweigh the chances of anything actually being there?
I keep wondering, what if something really is in there causing all my pain and symptoms?
Thanks again for reading all this.
JRABun
THe day the disc went, my butt went nurab along with an area on the back of my thigh. Two years later, this area is still nurab and the pain is exactly in the same area. THe pain pattern is the same as well. When I lie down all i good. When i stand or sit...the pain starts.
I have been to over 5 surgeons (orthopedic and nuerosurgeons) and they all agree that my MRI's and CT Mylegram scan are all clean. One doctor said he see's a small area of stenosis (?) at the L4-L5 level that could be something of concern, but then after I had 4 other consults he said, no, it's nothing and agreed with the other surgeons that this was nothing significant.
So, I've been living in hell for the past 2 years (actually, the hell began 4 yrs ago with the first herniation). I have all these doctors telling me they seen nothing on the scans that could be causing my pain. They all tell me I must have permanent nerve damage because my hernations were HUGE. In fact, the surgeon who preformed the discectomy, told me I had the largest herniated disc he had seen in his 30 yr career!!
So, all the surgeons tell me there is nothing to be done but pain management. I see a pain doctor monthly and am on so many different medications that barely do anything.
The ONLY thing that works is steroid epidural injections. After I have them, my pain is reduced by 80%. But they are only temporary
So, if you've read this far...THANK YOU! My husband has started to research this with me because it is affecting our entire family. He has found many stories of people who have had clean scans, but there is in fact some disc fragment that the imaging could not pick up.
So here are my questions:
1) Has anyone had this happen to them? (nothing shows on the scans, but there was disc material found??)
2) Are there different MRI strengths? My husband read something about a 3D MRI? Anyone know if this is worth pursuing?
3) Has anyone had exploratory back surgery? The surgeon told me the only way to know for sure if there is something there, is to go look. But then they tell me the risks far outweigh the chances of anything actually being there?
I keep wondering, what if something really is in there causing all my pain and symptoms?
Thanks again for reading all this.
JRABun