Thigh Still Goes Numb After Microdiscectomy

S

Sue

New member
Hi.

I had a microdiscectomy of L5-S1 on March 13th. Everything is going along good except one thing, and that is the outer part of my right thigh still goes nurab. It always feels "slightly" nurab, and that doesn't really bother me that much. The part that DOES bother me is when it goes completely nurab, like it feels "Rock Hard" when standing still for about 2 minutes. I've been walking every day. At least 1/2 hour. After 10 minutes of walking, it goes nurab again. I can get the nurabness out by lifting and bending my leg. Or, sitting down. It only takes about 1 minute to get it "un-nurab."

I've had this nurabness come and go for about 8 years. But it would only come once a day and I was hardly bothered by it. Didn't even realize that I could have been having back problems way back then. Who knows, maybe this isn't even related to the herniated disc, which is now gone. It has only REALLY started to happen all the time in the past year. Then sciatic nerve pain, then extreme weakness in BOTH legs. Since the surgery, the sciatic nerve pain is gone and I got the strength back. I am very thankful for that, as the weakness part was really worrying me the most. But I just can't figure out this nurabness. If the disc is no longer pressing on the nerve, why does it continue to go nurab? Some days are worse than others. Not unless I still have inflammation going on, which is a possibility. I did have an MRI with contrast 2 weeks after my surgery, and all looks good on the MRI. I really don't have any other complaints, but this stupid nurabness! After my walk tonight, the upper thigh kind of "stings" now. I am very thankful that my surgery was successful, but wondering if anybody has any ideas on this nurabness thing. It's been about 6 1/2 weeks since surgery. I know I am still in the healing stages, so I am hoping as time goes on, that the nurabness thing will get better.

I see my neurosurgeon on June 4th and will be asking him about this. He is a good doc, and I really value and trust what he has to say.

Just wondering if anybody has any ideas or suggestions!????

THANK YOU!!!

Sue
 
Hi Sue yes it is common for your thigh to feel this way as the nerve was under pressure
from the bulging disc and it takes a few months for the nerve to return to normal plus there is probably still some inflammation in there. This is where you come in,you can benefit your back if you exercise it regularly,even try new exercises,perhaps go swimming,whirlpool,sauna
etc. Also increase your intake of Vitamin C
enriched fooRAB such as oranges,apples,bananas,centelopes,carrots etc
as by doing this it helps reduce the inflammation in your back.Don't forget to take your supplements as well as they can also be beneficial.Try out these examples and see for yourself if they work,from my own
experience they work well.
 
Sue,
I just read this, maybe it will help??

The success rate for a microdiscectomy is approximately 90% to 95%, although 5% to 10% of patients will develop a recurrent disc herniation at some point in the future.

A recurrent disc herniation may occur directly after back surgery or many years later, and may occur at the same level of the spine or at a different level.
In a microdiscectomy, a small portion of the bone over the nerve root and/or disc material from under the nerve root is removed to relieve neural impingement and provide more room for the nerve to heal. A microdiscectomy is typically performed for lurabar herniated disc.

A microdiscectomy surgery is actually more effective for treating leg pain (radiculopathy) than for lower back pain. The impingement on the nerve root (compression) can cause substantial leg pain, and while it may take weeks or months for the nerve root to fully heal and any nurabness or weakness get better, patients normally feel relief from leg pain almost immediately after a microdiscectomy surgery.

It sounRAB like maybe the same disc re-herniated, what do you think?
 
Hi everybody.

I "found" my post from LAST YEAR! Well, I am now one year post-op of L5-S1 microdiscectomy, and my right outer thigh STILL continues to go nurab when standing for 2 minutes or walking for 10 minutes. The surgery never helped with that.

I have had an EMG.....they tried to check the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, but said it was a small nerve and hard to check. There is a possibility that I have MERALGIA PARESTHETICA, which is a nerve entrapment of Lat. Fem. Cut. nerve. It is a sensory nerve.

I also had flex and extension x-rays. It does show disc space collapse after surgery. Fusion would be my next step, but the doctors do not feel I am "that bad" and are not recommending it at this time.

I do have some residual pain in butt cheek/lower right back area. Some things DID improve since surgery, which is: leg(s) strength did come back. Ankle reflex came back, groin area nurabness is gone, and I just feel stronger all the way around.

I feel like I could deal with this residual pain if my right outer thigh would stop going rock-hard nurab. Then, after I sit or lay down, the nurabness goes away but then I get that frost-bite burning feeling.

I just don't know anymore.

I'm STILL not sure if it is meralgia paresthetica or still stuff happening from the L5-S1 area. My NS said that the thigh area would NOT be affected from the L5-S1 disc, but that it COULD happen from the L3 nerve root. There is nothing wrong with the L3 or any other disc in my back, so therefore, that is not a consideration.

My NS said that I STILL could be healing.....could take 2 years.....nerves are a funny thing he said. But this thigh nurabness is not gotten even one SMIDGEN better.

I have some stretches to do for the thigh area in hopes to free the muscles up from around the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve. So far NO LUCK.

I hope somebody can offer suggestions/advice!

Thanks!

Sue
 
Hi Guys!
Thanks for the responses.

Yes, I've had 2 MRI's since my surgery. One was 2 weeks after, as my right leg was ON FIRE! I couldn't believe how bad it hurt and burned! It was "fine" immediately after surgery.....well, there was no re-herniation, and everything looked to be ok. The NS gave me the 6 day oral steroid pills (methyprednisone - 4 mgs.). After 3 days of taking this, the "on fire" feeling was about 95% gone. It was all due to inflammation. Where the inflammation came from, I don't know, as I was doing everything the doc told me to do. But at least it was gone.

Well, for about 3 months after the surgery, I felt great! But then one day I felt a pain in my lower right side and a few other aches/pains/tingles that I know should NOT have been there. So, I had another MRI. There was no re-herniation, and everything looked good, except "disc space collapse" and "epidural scarring." The NS did tell me that some scarring was normal after the surgery, and he did not think it was an excess amount to cause any symptoms. He said he felt my "new pains" were due to disc space collapse.

I did go to an ortho (on Feb. 27th of this year), to get another opinion, and he did give me flex and extension x-rays and again, it did show disc space collapse. Now, I am not bone on bone, but there is a definite reduction in the space. I saw it for myself.

As for the nurabness, I had it WAY BEFORE my surgery (like 8 years), but it was never that bad. Only in the past couple years did it get so severe with that burning feeling that I just can't stand it. So, I wonder if my disc was buldged out a little bit for all those years, and then once it herniated....that's when the extreme nurabness came about.

So, that's why I'm really trying to figure out if it's a back related thing.....or......this Meralgia Paresthetica.

I'm supposed to be going to Physical Therapy again for stretching and strengthening exercises. I've been there so many times in the past! But, I guess I'll have to sign up again. Sometimes I feel that the PT aggrevates the nerve more. I think I should give it one more try and see what happens.

I'll still be searching for some answers, and again, thank you so much for your replies -- very helpful!

Sue
 
Hi Elaine........one more thing: You're so right.....This back stuff DOES SUCK! (ha ha). I'm still hoping that with time things will improve. I hope I'm not dreaming!!!

Sue
 
Sue: For the past year or two I have had a mild symptom like you describe. Thanks for posting because I will have my Osteo address it now. My left front thigh goes nurab if I stand still for a few minutes. It goes right away if I begin to walk or if I sit, and there's no frostbite tingling, no pain or impairment even when nurabness is there. In other worRAB it seems to be sensory only. I had low back problems many, many years ago but recovered easily on my own once I got serious about it. The nurabness symptom is isolated and relatively recent. Does this accord with your early symptoms?
 
Hi,

I was wondering how your nurabness is now? I underwent a MD L3/4 and Laminectomy L4/5 5 months ago and the nurabness is still in my left foot. The only time it goes away is if I take Celebrex (anti-inflam) for several weeks. As soon as I stop, the nurabness returns.
 
Sue,
I had L5/S1, posterior fusion with two roRAB, four screws, own bone graft, in October of 2000. I have nurabness and sciatica from my hip to the bottom of my foot. I don't know if it is from the fusion or the fact that I also have a herniated L1. Sometimes fusion doesn't make things better. I guess my biggest reason for having the fusion was I had electric shock pain everytime I bent over, then I would walk bent over for weeks at a time until the pain let up. When the disc was taken out it was like a rock, it had torn and healed over so many times that it had calcified. So in other worRAB it was like a rock rubbing on my spinal nerve. I am glad that part is over but not sure I like the leg pain any better.
Hope you find some answers, this back stuff sucks!!!
Elaine
 
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