Recovering Hemilam/discectomy still in pain with new symptoms

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dbo1232

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I am two weeks out from a hemilaminectomy and discectomy at the L5/S1 level and am going insane. I am only 25 years old and have always been fairly active in sports and life in general and originally hurt my back in my younger teens playing baseball; went to classes the next day and had extreme pain and my left leg began giving out on me. Well the symptoms returned off and on over the next years, until about three months ago I had another recurrence of pain and loss of sensation that always was acutely onset, but this time it decided to stay permanently. My family doctor sent me to a pain management specialist where an MRI was performed and diagnosed degeneratice disc desease along my whole lurabar spine, slight scoliosis, a hairline vertebral fracture, spondylosis, and a large herniation sealing off most nerve passage through the L5/S1 level along with smaller herniations above.
So I went through three epidurals which did nothing for any underlying conditions, in fact, the third actually made my condition worsen dramatically. Along this whole time I has several falls due to the giving out of my left leg, which scared me more than anything, due to the fact that totally loss of muscle control and sensation is pretty damn scary. Of course this whole time I was on narcotics, which only seemed to dull my pain and make urination seemingly impossible. Vicodin, percocet, hydromorphone; they only seemed to dull out the pain to some extent.
Long story short I was referred to a neurologist who suggested the surgery and sought a second opinion to confirm, which it was. So now I am two weeks post op and now dealing with loss of sensation, burning, and pain on both hips and legs, as opposed to just the left. I am constantly light-headed and dizzy, always extremely cold in my extremities (which i have always been a hot natured individual), have a soaring pulse staying at around 120 bpm (which is very unnerving), and the sensations I am having in my feet are differing from the sensation I should be having (i.e. cold feels wet, hot feels basically nothing). Only taking vicodin and flexeril at the moment, which I was taking pre-op with no ill side affects. Just wondering if anyone else out there was exposed to any of these ill afffects post-op and wondering if I need to get another MRI asap to see if I have reherniated or worse. Forgot to mention the neurologist said he was extremely 'aggressive' with the surgery, removing 60% of ths disc and removing a significant portion of the lamina at that level. Any thoughts, suggestions?
 
Forgot to mention I am having alot of muscle spasms in my arms, legs, and just recently neck. Thanks.
 
Here I am yet again, just found my MRI report. Lurabar stenosis and osteo arthritis, to boot. Yay me.
 
dbo,

I just found this site today, and have had a few responses which have been encouraging. I too was very active in high school as well as college in sports. I also hurt my back at a very young age. The horrible pain truly started for me in about 2000. I was caught without any insurance and could hardly have a Dr. Look at me. I went 2 1/2 to 3 years with three injections before they did my first discectomy. It took nearly a year before I was on my feet and walking confidently again. My leg also would give out. after I had recovered from the surgery itself, it took a lot of physical therapy for me to regain my balance and strength. At about my six month point I started receiving pain that I would describe as lightning shooting down my leg. I was sent to a new physical therapist for hydro therapy. Basically I walked on a treadmill underwater. They also had mean moving in different directions in the pool. This seemed to help me the most. I can understand your frustration, and aggravation. That physical therapist explain to me that the pain I was experiencing was what she called phantom pains. They seem to change day by day and I never thought I would feel any better. After a year I was back on my feet and back at work. My advice for you is hang tough give your body time to heal and work hard in physical therapy. Although I have had two more back surgery sense I always try to remeraber the recovery from that first surgery. It's a long road that few people understand. Try to keep your chin up, walk as much as you can. I am currently homebound recovering from my third surgery. I am struggling a lot with depression in cramping of other body parts. I am unable to drive anywhere. Keep focused on what is most important giving your body back. As far as the hot and cold extremities that's all due to the drugs that they used on you. The hardest for me was after surgery I was finally out of pain and stopped taking all the drugs they had me take leading up to the surgery. I later found out that I had become addicted to those drugs and coming off of them was very difficult. I consulted with a pain management Dr. Who referred me to a drug rehab Dr. He gave me a whole different regiment of drugs to help clear my system. This was a blessing because the last thing I wanted to be was a drug addict. I even ended up in the emergency room with a hot and cold sweats and throwing up. That's the point why went to see the drug rehab Dr. Try researching what other drugs you can take that are not narcotics. I will be praying for you.
 
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