@peggyn, Good evening. It appears that you are not really happy with the prospect of surgery unless it helps with the neuropathy. Or did I misunderstand? I have had 2 surgeries in that area, a laminectomy and then a fusion. That was long before my neuropathy started. What did happen is that I no longer have any back pain.

The surgeon at the time told me I would need more surgery in another 10 years. Well....because of meeting a lady named Kate who became my fitness teacher, I do two exercises every day to maintain the lumbar spine. Other than some stiffness after sitting a while, my back is perfect and I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.

I certainly wish for you relief from pain and suffering. Now, just have a peaceful sleep. Chriss

Didn’t help my neuropathy

@peggyn Spinal stenosis in the central canal causes myelopathy or damage to the spinal cord. I think neuropathy refers to problems of the nerves outside of the spinal cord which spine surgery would not address unless it was compression of the nerve roots where they exit the spine in between the vertebrae. Spinal cord compression can cause pain in the limbs or body that can be confused with neuropathy because they have overlapping symptoms. That was true in my case. I had spinal cord compression in my neck that caused pain all over my body. I had spine surgery at Mayo, and it fixed all that pain because it was being generated by compression of my spinal cord. I also have some nerve compression issues in my neck and shoulder from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome that I work on in physical therapy. Spine surgery didn't directly address that. The spasms caused by the spine problem had been triggering the TOS, but since surgery, the neck spasms have calmed down because it's all connected. Surgeons tell you that decompression will stop something from getting worse. Your ability to recover after this depends on how long the nerves have been compressed, how bad it is as in permanent damage, and your health and ability to heal. It's better to fix something before permanent damage occurs, and sometimes, it hard to say specifically when that would be. I know surgery is a big step, and I would encourage you to get several opinions. Other surgeons may suggest different procedures as there may be different solutions to the problem. I have heard that lumbar spine surgery recovery is harder because the lumbar spine is bearing all your body weight, and just leaning over will put a lot of stress on the spine. Find the best surgeons you can at large medical centers that have teaching hospitals and medical schools. If you can come to Mayo, I highly recommend it. I had excellent results for cervical spine surgery and Mayo treats a lot more of these types of cases and complex cases than many places. That's why I suggest a large teaching medical center because they have more experience.