Severe lumbar nerve pain
My history is for degenerative disc disease with past cervical fusion surgeries. I have degenerative scoliosis but did not have any symptoms until this month; they just steadily got worse within 2 weeks and I'm a month into now. I'm miserable and am already on pain medication from unresolved cervical pain. This pain however is mainly only on one side and centered in my very low back, hip, butt and radiates into the front/side of my leg. It doesn't help if I sit and is actually worse when I'm standing. I am looking for others who have scoliosis or lumbar pain from degenerative disc disease. For instance do conservative measures help as I have read that severe scoliosis from DCD is mainly a surgical disease in a peer reviewed document from Pubmed. I do have an appt set up with my orthopedist but wanted to learn from others here. This is making me very nervous as the type of pain I'm experiencing feels too similar to that when I needed cervical surgery. My ortho told me when I was diagnosed that scoliosis surgery is very hard and painful. I need some hope.
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I have chronic and severe polyradiculopathy throughout the neck and in the lumbosacral region. I have moderate degenerative disease in spine and mild scoliosis in lumbar area. I have psoriatic arthritis in the sacrum. That was stable a year ago.
I need the neck evaluated. In 2004 had two bulged discs and a hemangioma of a vertebra. Im having problems there. Severe nerve damage. The lower back is causing horrible pains and spasms in the back, legs and soles of feet. I have not been living these last few years. I have a neurologist appointment for reevaluation next week and a neuromuscular neurologist in early June for another evaluation looking for a diagnosis to get real help. I had two abnormal EMGS.
I just had an epidural on the 7th. Did not help much. In fact having an intense tingling down back, legs and feet. It is waking me up. Not sure if i should call pain management.
The neck caused a lot of symptoms over the last year. The back has been progressing since the start in 2021. My problem is I only complained pretty much to the doctor when it was excruciating. I should have been talking to them a lot sooner. I might not have suffered as much as I have. I am now going to a good nm doctor and hope she can help me.
I think I might need another epidural or something else because when she gave the shot it triggered the intense tinging in the same manner I get them mostly when I’m sleeping for hours. It starts in the lumbar area and works its way down.
Please have hope. We all need to hold onto that. When I feel it slipping I use that at times to stir up fight enough in me to keep pursuing help. Im thinking whatever I have there isn’t a cure. Just these ‘darts’ that are thrown at it to try to do something to relieve the pain and symptom. The underlying problem is there and not going anywhere. It’s progressing. I had a flare that kicked up early February.
Seek answers and ask more pointed, intrinsic questions. I have learned more about the anatomy to point to the pain I’m having. That can be a bit much. Trying to understand what is darn complicated. So, hopefully these doctors can figure it out. I have confidence that while one doctor might not take care of me, the other one will. I need to have that hope. I told my pcp yesterday that I’m losing hope that this will be forever. When he left the room he said, You will feel better, I don’t know when, But you will feel better. I think he was trying to help me better cope by hope. I like that: “Cope by Hope”. So we all need to do that a bit more. It makes me feel better mentally when I have hope.
I hope you get answers that are not as worrisome as you think it might be!
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Thank you @nemo1. I believe we have communicated in the past with respect to a CIDP diagnosis.
I never in a million years would have associated this with my CIDP as in the past it seemed more a loss of motor function-a sudden inability to use a muscle group. That is not the case here. It just seems more likely to fall into the degenerative scoliosis department, given my spinal issues. My ortho is well aware of the CIDP diagnosis and my neurologist knows of my surgical history. In fact, my neurologist refused to do my annual EEG testing knowing I had severe cervical nerve compression until I had the surgery done. My impression is that the "poly" portion of polyradiculopathy has nothing to do with radiculopathy from spine disease and only with the demyelinating source of nerve damage. Maybe we could take this portion of the conversation outside of this one? Thank you for your comments.
Sure!
I’m not sure what came first or what is attributed to what (still a bit fuzzy). The chicken or the egg (spine / nerves).
Good morning. Your post gives the impression you're darn knowledgable about spinal conditions and you are dogged in your efforts to drive to the right decision. Those are excellent characteristics for anyone considering spinal surgery...mainly because these can be big decisions regarding big surgeries.
You certainly can learn from others' experiences even though you already know that what I experienced may not be what you will experience, and so on.
I had cervical work followed three months later by lumbar work. The lumber decision was informed by increasingly frequent dead-leg events (multiple times daily towards the end) accompanied by severe pain radiating from my hips to the front of both thighs. Ultimately I could tell my spine was deteriorating (just described symptoms were getting worse) and the risks of "no surgery" became greater than the risks of surgery.
Have you consulted with a physiatrist? That helped me.
I say keep trying different in doctors. Im Houston and there are a lot of them. I have been to 4 and the injections in my neck helped. My back has been anywhere from nothing to had relief for a year.. My sleeping is a big problem. I invested in a very expensive bed to see if that will help. So many people have this problem. There are 5 in my family who are suffering. It is probably our lifestyle. We are all very swayback too. All of us kids did a lot of heavy work and you just don't realize what this does to the body until it is too late.
I've had more epidurals than I can remember. None have helped with my lower back pain. I guess some peole get some temporary relief, but not me.
Were they epidurals or to muscles? If I have a say I’ll not get this shot again, I never read bad reactions by anyone but the pains that I get in different areas are hurting worse. The pains amped up. I took all the meds I have with the exception of another tylenol. Its so sharp. Even my wrist. It’s puffy so are my ankles. frankly, now I’d be nervous to get another epidural. I am not sure what is causing what.
I had 4-5 bad falls cumulative damage I guess. I never was examined after a fall. Maybe I feel stupid for falling, like how did that happen anyway, dizzy, snow, mud, lost footing.
I was thinking a new mattress might help. Then I think not. I teeter. Googled swayback. I have lordosis of the lumbar spine. I think its minimal curvature.
You are so right. I hope you get more relief and are helped long term with a therapy.
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I wonder what makes one person helped and another not by the shots. Could it possibly not be administered targeting the spot precisely? Who knows. Just wish there was consistent help for all of us.
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@nemo1 I did have a bad reaction to a cervical epidural injection, and I believe I was allergic to something in the mixture. I believe it was PEG (polyethylene glycol). It caused me to have very sharp electric burning pains that randomly shot down my arm into my hand for about 6 weeks. No more. No thank you.
Jennifer
Hi Phil,
I very much appreciate your sharing. It sounds that your surgery was successful and you're precious for sharing your experience with others here. One thing I was not confident about was why my pain was in the front/side of my thigh vs back/sciatica. And also why my hip hurt more than my lower back. I've also been hoping that this could be something all together different. I've read that as scoliosis degenerates it can put so much pressure on the pelvis that it starts to inflame or even tear the ligaments or cartilage in the sacrum. Or is that pie in the sky thinking? Did your cervical issues have any association with your lumbar issues or vice versa? Can I ask if you're surgery was decompression, fused or if rods were used? How many vertebrae were affected and how has that affected you? Sorry for all the questions. I am not familiar with a physiatrist. Is that a prescribed treatment or an adjunct treatment to PT or in place of PT? Thank you again for sharing.