New here and trying to learn about sciatic nerve down my leg

Im no expert, but Do You have internet? Try YouTube. There is a ton of helpful information about the complications of Lumbar issues, the Remedies, surgeries, therapies, injections, ect. I am preparing to seek injections myself, but dont know who to go to for these. I reside further north from Your area. Best of luck.

Whatever you do don't go to a orthopedic got to a Neurosurgeon.

@builderthad
I had my orthopedic spine specialist/surgeon do my ACDF cervical spine surgery and lumbar surgery. Neurosurgeon and orthopedic spine surgeons are similarly trained and can do cervical and lumbar surgeries. My orthopedic doctor specializes in spine while others specialize in hip/knee, arm/hand, etc.

I have had spine injections (about 8+) and some worked better than others. They need to know exactly where to inject to give any benefit (usually use MRI and X-ray results plus X-ray to guide them). I have never been prescribed oral steroids which can have many side effects. Have you had extensive bloodwork recently that shows systemic inflammation? Have you ever been prescribed Cymbalta/duloxetine, gabapentin, pregabalin, or tramadol for pain?

It sounds like you need to make sure to get updated MRIs of cervical and lumbar spine and X-rays plus an updated EMG/nerve conduction study if the tests have been more than 6 months old.

My symptoms where always back burning pain along with left sciatic nerve pain when sitting. My lower extremity issues are aching limbs with burning sensation at bottom of feet bilaterally,
I have had L1/l2, L3/L4 and L4/l5 laminectomies because of spinal stenosis.
Doctors thought my walking issues where caused by the lower levels. Non of the surgeries resolved what appeared to be neurogenic claudication due to stenosis.
Last surgery was l4/l5 in 2021 and things have gotten worse. I do notice bladder issues when my pain levels spike especially when I have a bad night sleeping.
The cervical issues uncovered make sense to me at this point.
I really never had much upper extremity issues but did notice in last year or so Burning in my neck which I can correlate to getting worse in lower extremity problems.
After my l3/l4 surgery in 2016 didn't do much the neurosurgeon sent me for a thoracic MRI. The radiologist made note of seeing issue at the C6/C7 and recommended Cervical MRI. He never ordered it. If he had done so the c5/c6 would have been shown that shows the worse level of cervical compression.
Another opinion in December got me the cervical MRI.
I lost 9 years in finding out cervical cord issues may have been main problem all along.
Hopefully the ACDF improves my symptoms but regardless it is so bad that it needs to be done.

You have that done at the Mayo?

I had new X-rays dont on the 27th and having new MRI done on the 21 of April. Thanks for the reply. I am going to message them to make sure I am getting both a cervical and lumbar.

Had total blood work done on April 2nd . Everything looks good but the medicine did elevate something but it was mildly.

I am taking 1200mg of gabapentin (4 300mg a day) with no help or I dont think it helps.

No I live in Connecticut and have seen numerous doctors over the years. Each surgery was done by a different doctor. Hopefully this new neurosurgeon stands by me and if I have issues left after ACDF he helps to address those.
I found that once a surgeon works on you and results are mixed they lose interest and recommend shots or SCS which the last did.
You need to advocate for yourself and continue to find answers.

That is why I am here. Thanks again.

@jds54
I am in Rhode Island and agree that it is ideal to have a surgeon you like and trust and it is very important to educate and advocate for yourself.

I have the same orthopedic spine surgeon who did my ACDF in 2022 (c5-c6), who also did my lumbar spine decompression/fusion (l3-l5) in 2024 and who will do my ACDF on c6-c7 in May. He was my 4th opinion surgeon who was highly rated. He is friendly, smiles a lot, listens to and answers all of my questions, is respectful and very experienced.

I had good outcomes for both surgeries and trust him to do a good job on the next. It is sad to hear when people are “kicked to the curb” by their surgeons when there are issues post surgery. You would think they would want to help investigate further what may be causing their patients’ symptoms. Your surgeons should have really listened to your symptoms list and evolution over time. They should have investigated your cervical spine via MRI before thoracic because issues arise that need immediate attention more in the cervical spine than thoracic spine based upon research I had done.

I pray everything goes well for your ACDF surgery and you get some relief. The recovery is not as bad as lumbar spine surgery, but I had open lumbar decompression /fusion surgery which cut through muscle (don’t think it is as invasive as laminectomy).

If you find that you still have symptoms in your lower body after ACDF surgery, I would get updated X-rays and MRI of your lumbar spine to see if you have newly compressed spinal cord/nerve roots/nerves due to bone/ligament growth or herniated discs/slipping vertebrae. You may require some stabilization at some levels with decompression/fusion. I needed it due to sever stenosis at l4-l5 due to my l4 slipping over my l5 (spondylolisthesis).

Thanks for your input. The last surgeon who did my L4/L5 laminectomy in 2021 ordered a Lumbar and thoracic MRI together in September 2024 only for the possibility to trial a SCS. I was totally against the trial because I felt something else was going on. Thats why I reached out to new doctor. I met with his PA who noticed the C6/ C7 on top of thoracic MRI showed same problems as MRI in 2016 except the Radiologist failed to point out that problem this time and she caught it. Within 4 days I had the cervical MRI and showed all of my cervical issues.
I always get a CD of images after scan.
I was shocked to see the images I was seeing.
Over these years of pain I have become adept at reading images and spinal cord is only being compressed at the cervical area now. The 3 back surgeries corrected any spinal stenosis issues. There is some foraminal stenosis at L3/L4 which a couple of Transforaminal epidurals did confirm local irritation but does not relieve the lower extremity bilateral symmetrical leg heavy leg feeling and feet issues. I recently repeated SI joint injections which had no effect,
I can only suspect that it is actually cord compression which effects everything below my cervical problems which is Funicular or Tract pain.
I actually had to suggest to pain management doctors where to try injections because they seemed clueless at times. Healthcare in this country is not in a good place. Everything is about how many patients to see in a day with little effort to help people and listen to issues.
Hopefully I have found a doctor that has listened and this ACDF works out,