Question about sciatic nerve pain after surgery

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mamakitkat

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Hi Guys,
I have had 4 fusion surgeries L4-S1 in the last 3 years, which have all failed, I suffer from permanent nerve root damage. My dr. had told me about the 12 month time frame also. That doesn't mean that he will have the same result as I have. He has to be patient and do everything he's told to do in recovery then he will have given his body the best chance at a full recovery. As others have said the nerves go thru alot during surgery so it will take time to get back to normal even if there was no nerve compression there coudl still be pain for a whle.

Please remeraber that although you see many failed fusions and unsuccessful recoveries on here, there are many many more 100% successful ones out there. The best thing you can do is to give him a great support system to lean on when he feels discouraged. It takes a long time to recover so dont' be surprised if he gets grumpy and discouraged more than once.

Hang in there!

God Bless

Carol
 
In Feb. 2005 I took a fall on my concrete steps and landed on my back.
Three days later I couldn't walk. After over a year of therapies, shots, medication etc, I had L3/4 L4/5 L5/S1 fused etc. Surgery was June 7, 2006.

My sciatica pain was intense, as all of you know, and it seemed as if I wouldn't be able to walk again. My left side is even worse then before the surgery. Muscles seemed atophied and extremely weak.

The Dr told my wife, that when they opened me up, the nerve roots were flaming red.

In early Deceraber, I started going to the YMCA, they have a nice warm pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna. I look forward to going every day now. The relief is overwhelming.

Just last month, when I got in the water, I couldn't even stand on my left leg.
After just one month, I have been able to stand on it, and even walk in waist deep water, with a somewhat normal motion.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of difference on dry land now, but hopefully as time goes on it will.

I know how depressing it is, to not seem to get any relief or improvement, but keep working at it.

The improvement day to day, or even week to week, seem minute, but at least now there seems to be some improvement,

My surgeon and PT said it will be some 18 month before I have significantly recovered.

I wish all a sure recovery

God Bless

Ken Copeland
 
My boyfriend had his fusion (L5-S1 and the disc above that) 3 months ago. He still complains about pain from his sciatic nerve. Doesn't the sciatic nerve affect the L5-S1 disc and if its gone now, what could the nerve be pressing on? I've read that the nerve could be compressed and it takes a long time to let up but does anyone here have any more insight to this?

Thanks,
Lynne
 
I have had a microdiscectomy at that level to decompress a crushed scaiatic nerve in Oct '05 and I still have pain from it. The pain is not constant like it was before surgery, but when I make the wrong move, it sure lets me know about it. After the surgery, I had the severe scaiatica pain for about 3 1/2 mos. I sure hope his pain goes away.
 
I am four months post op for a L4-L5 ALIF fusion, and I have been experiencing sciatic pain in alternating legs since surgery was done. I also have it in both legs at the same time, which did not occur BEFORE surgery. I have had three epidural steroid injections in the last six weeks; and so far, have not seen any positive results. So, I feel like I am in the same situation.

Can anyone out there please help us. I have become very depressed and discouraged. I thought that I would be weaning off the pain medication by now; but my pain management doctor just increased the dosage on one of my meRAB last appt. Has anyone experienced this nerve pain after fusion, and does it go away, eventually?:confused: :angel:
 
I had a fusion in 1982 without hardware and am facing another fusion with hardware (level above the 1982 fusion). I have been told to expect pain for up to a year after surgery from my surgeon.

My sciatia has been messed up for almost 3 years and according to the surgeon it neeRAB time to heal especially since mine has been compressed for so long. Also during the surgery, the nerves are being moved around and take time to heal and settle down after surgery.

With that said, I would not worry to much about the pain. I believe it is a part of the healing process. However, I would definitely bring up your concerns with your physician on your follow up visit.

Good luck and I pray that today your pain will be a little less if not gone.
 
I had a fusion 9 years ago with hardware at l-5 s-1. The scatic nerve was compressed. I was told then I had a window of 12 months for the nerve pain to get better. 9 years later and many pain treatments later it still hurts everday .The only thing in all the years that really helped with a stimulator. After 4 surgerys the placement was great but it became infected and had to be taken out.
 
I had a laminectomy when I was 17 at l4/l5. I had been having terrible leg nerve pain. It took up to a year for that nerve to heal. When it healed I didn't have anymore trouble until this last bought with back problems.I am 3 1/2 weeks post -op from drainage surgery and my leg pain is horrible. I have nerve pain in my left leg and very pain hip pain on my right side. I have always heard that nerves are the slowest to heal. I think it will take a long to heal the nerves but I would also bring it up with the doc when you two him. I hope it gets better. Remeraber, you being supportive of him know matter what mood he his in is a tremendous help to him. It seems that you are very concerned and doing whatever you can to help him. What a gal!!!!
 
I had the same surgery and the same problem. I had my surgery on 6-6-08 and I have the same if not worse sciatic pain. I'm really worried and hope that my nerve just has to heal after being compressed for a year before I had the surgery. Anyone ever had a fusion and still had pain that in time went away????
 
Hey all,

Even though I can't say for sure however I believe and was told that even after surgery you can experience nerve pain for some time. If you think about it, you were very manipulated in many ways. Think about how hard thewere hammering, and so on in your back and that area. They also have to move nerves, work around them and what not. There's no question that they are bound to be irritated. Usually once you started rehab and it may take a while, but usually after starting that you should start to feel relief from your nerves and the sciatic pain. A good thing to incorporate is accupunture in your rehab. Your surgeon and or doctors will suggest the best rehab treatement for you but if accupuncture doesn't come up, it's a good thing to keep in mind and ask about receiving.

Good luck to you all. I have beeb through 2 major spine surgeries and am unfortunately going to have to have a third. However I believe I do have a pretty good understanding about the back and all the problems that come along with it.
Also, make sure you are telling your surgeon about these problems so that he can make note of it and monitor it all.

Take care, hope this helped somewhat.

Beachgirl ;)
 
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