Spinal stenosis and ablations

@loriscorsone if I was in significant pain I might consider another surgery but I’m not. I keep myself active and moving walking 2 miles daily and gym 2x weekly. I was once offered by a Jefferson neurosurgeon to replace my stainless steel bars with titanium so I’d be able to have an MRI if ever it was necessary. I said no then and still say no. As a former nurse and medical coder I’m not a fan of over doing surgery on myself. I’m managed to only have the one fusion surgery in 1990 and I’ve had no others since that time.

Hi, I had a spinal fusion 6 years ago, but unfortunately the surgeon chipped a bone when putting in metal cage. The chip was removed 4 days later with another surgery. This has all led to permanent nerve damage to L5 on my left side. Many spinal fusions can work! Got to research the surgeon. I have a very good pain specialist, we have tried pain injections, (what everyone is calling Ablations - we call Lumbar Pulsed RF Rhizotomy + Root Sleeve Injection) every 5months or so, I did get relief, but not for long maybe 6 weeks to 8 weeks. I also take Lyrica and Physeptone which does help a lot. I have just trialed a Neural pain Stimulator Implant for the past 4 weeks, this is called 'Saluda', made in Australia, and it has worked! At least 60 - 70% decrease of pain. I am going to now have the permanent implant done. I did trial a device called Boston 2 years ago that didn't work at all. So everyone, keep searching, keep positive and try new things.!

I am getting my first epidural steroid injection tomorrow so will ask my doc about the Lumbar Pulsed RD Rhizptomy (aka Ablation?) that you mentioned. He said Medicare approves injections up to 5 (I think!) times a year, but I am hoping just to need one.

I have used Lyrica at night but if I take more than 25 mg it gaves me terrible foot and calf cramps at night. I have not heard about Physeptone- yikes, I just looked it up, it's methadone, an opioid. But if it works and nothing else does, good to know. I tried tramadol with absolutely no effect.

However the comments from others on potential permanent nerve damage from crushed lumbar nerve exits is of interest. I will discuss with my back doctor.

I see on the internet one small study about ablasion and neuropathy. It seemed to help those with neuropathy tremendously. Does anyone know anything more about the possibility of ablasion for this condition?

I had it done for the 4th year in a row,but this time about 3 weeks after i am weak in both legs.I don't know if its that or my nerves are pinched.Dr. wanted to refer me to his Surgeon but i said no.Don't want no back surgery.Pain management Dr. sent me to get mri and said my nerves were more pinched than before 4 years ago.

I had the same problem and the Mayo did a OLIF and a L5-S1 TLIF. I feel great 10 weeks out now. Almost to the 3 months. I am down to having a sore back that is getting better each week. I wouldn't be scare of back surgery as long as you do your homework on the surgeon.

I also had diagnostic nerve blocks for lumbar stenosis. The injections were horribly painful. I was yelling in pain and the doctor never stopped stabbing me! I won't go near a spinal injection ever again. As for ablation, the same doctor tried to schedule one for me without ever discussing it with me. I refused. After what I went through with the nerve blocks I am certainly not about to let someone electrocute me with needles that heat up to 124 degrees centigrade to cause 2nd degree burns! That's how an ablation destroys perfectly healthy nerves. Look it up online. The procedure does nothing to help the diseased skeleton. Then the nerves often grow back. A significant percentage of people get short term or no relief from nerve blocks and ablations. The studies are out there on the Internet from reputable hospitals and professional medical journals. There are older studies that give better rates of success, but those are based on the doctors' responses. The newer study based on patient responses gives much lower success rates. The doctor who tried to pressure me into an ablation admitted in person to me that they can't even see the nerves they are trying to deaden or destroy! I came to the conclusion that spine doctors who do a lot of blocks and ablations are incompetent sadists in love with a quick procedure that makes them lots of money. What ethical person would risk paralyzing a person by using destructive techniques performed blindly that can't be relied on to work? The doctor I had lied to me and told me he had done hundreds of blocks and no one had ever had a problem with pain. He also called the procedure "minor" and promised that I would be "relaxed and comfortable"! Ha! He used a benzodiazepine sedative, which does NOT stop pain. It puts the patient into a temporary state of mental illness called dissociation. The patient still feels the pain, but the doctor is counting on the other effect of benzodiazepines: amnesia. In other words they make you helpless and confused so you can't say stop. It's a deceit, and they know they can do it and get away with it because it's your word against theirs afterwards, and since you had the drug they can just say you remembered wrong. The drug did nothing but paralyze me while I was wide awake. I could not defend myself or even speak. Never again!

Wow, I am so sorry you had those bad experiences. I have had numerous nerve blocks and ablations and they were nothing like that. Mine we all done with conscious sedation, either Versed or propofol. The only pain I felt was a small prick for the numbing medication he used to prevent pain from the big needle. They were all done under fluoroscopy where the doctor can see exactly where he is going and what nerve he is targeting. Maybe you need to find a more qualified doctor.

I agree they will not cure anything but they can make you comfortable until surgery becomes absolutely necessary.

I am relieved that you had good experiences. Versed was the same medicine my rotten doctor used on me. Still not ever doing that again. Thank you for your nice message.

I had the ablation on my lumbar and on my cervical. The lumbar lasted about a month for me before the pain came back. The cervical lasted about 6 months. They did a ViaDisk procedure on my L5/S1 where they injected live cadaver cells into the center of the disk hopefully causing the disk to regenerate itself. After that, my pain went from bad to unbelievable. The doctor said it was from the nerve being disrupted by the procedure and did some more shots to settle it down. No luck. They are now doing an MRI to see what the next steps might be. It could be fusion or a spinal cord stimulator. But something has to be done! I am in so much pain that I can’t walk any distance or do anything that requires movement. Bear in mind that I am fused from C3 to T1 and all but one of my lumbar are fused. I have severe spinal stenosis.
Good luck. I know that lots of people have had good luck with labations.