Does anyone have foraminal stenosis ?

Man, I would get a second opinion before I would let someone cut into my back. I had fusion of L5-S1 seven years ago for spondylithesis. Did not help a bit. Look around and see how many have "failed back surgery syndrome". There are a lot.

So sorry to hear that your fusion didn't help which is why I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid that, even if it means taking Oxycodone. So how do you manage your pain now ?

@annie1
I had L3-L5 decompression and fusion on 8/2/2024 due to congenital spinal stenosis, DDD and neurogenic claudication. Some of my stenosis is foraminal and definitely had central stenosis. Prior to surgery, I had pain, weakness and numbness in my lower back, hips, buttocks, legs and feet. It may have contributed to my getting bilateral gluteal tendinopathy and bilateral hamstring tears. Some symptoms have been relieved after surgery but I now have nerve pain/weakness in my hip flexors which makes it hard to go up stairs or stand/walk for long. My hope is this will heal over time and that PT (starting next week) will help me stretch/strengthen my muscles and improve blood flow to help with healing. I try to walk my dog 2 times daily but it is hard some days to walk far/for long due to the hip flexor nerve pain.

My surgeon’s PA said it takes 3 month to heal from surgery and a full year to know the effects post surgery. My hope is my nerves in my hips are regenerating which is causing the new nerve pain and that it will get better over time. I have had lumbar stenosis for 12 years and it got really bad the last 4 years (worked a desk job over 30 years). My L4-L5 level was so bad you could not see any space at all around my spinal cord due to severe compression.

I'd look for a new Doc. Seems he should have caught this addressed along with the other issues he addressed. It doesn't just "show up' in 4 months

Also, he didn't even order a new MRI to validate his theory ! The pain management guy in his office ordered it. I really don't want fusion anyway. I have osteoporosis which does go well with fusion.

I think he did acknowledge that it was there before, but he just did the decompression in the L3-4 area because he said it was the worst place. I just read about a surgery called foraminotomy. Have you heard about that ? I would do that perhaps but don't want fusion.

How long was your recovery after the fusion ? The thing I'm worried about is that I have osteoporosis and that dosen't go well with fusion, but the surgeon keeps minimizing that which I don't like. Even google says fusion is risky for people with osteoporosis.

@annie1
I was told 3 months but a full year would show the overall outcome of surgery. I still have some nerve pain in my hips/hip flexors but not sure if my nerves are regenerating from being compressed so long (~12 years).

You really want to strengthen your bones and see what options are best for people with osteoporosis. Drilling hardware into weak bone doesn’t sound like a good option and not sure if they have other spine supports that do not require drilling.

I had a double fusion in 2022. My osteoporosis was so bad that the doctors had weekly meetings about me to see if I was a candidate. I'm glad I had it. Recovery was rough, but I got through it. I still have lower back pain so I'm waiting for the specialist to get back to me. My new MRI showed extensive post-op problems and a whole lot of words I couldn't understand. LOL

I had spondylisthesis, foraminal narrowing and spinal stenosis. To treat it I had the laminectomy, foraminotomy, and he fused L2 - S1.

I'm glad I got a second opinion. 1st, I went to a neurosurgeon who was only going to fix L4 - L5. He totally missed the spondylisthesis at L3- even I could see it in the xray. (Hot shot neurosurgeon only got an MRI which didn't show it.

The 2nd and 3rd opinions agreed on the extent of degeneration and that I absolutely needed the L2 -S1 repairs along with fusion.

I went with the 2nd opinion , who was an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spines - and had the best reputation in town.
It's been 9 weeks now. I still have healing to do but I can stand, I can walk, and I can bend over... all things I couldn't do without extreme pain before the surgery.

I wish you well!