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Spine lumbar fusion surgery. Anyone else?
Spine Health | Last Active: Aug 9 1:03pm | Replies (81)Comment receiving replies
I had a L3toL5 fusion done with a decompression and a TLIF at L4/L5. The surgery went well except for a hematoma that started a few days after surgery and they had to go back in and clean it out And fix it. The pain I was experiencing in my leg before the surgery was gone. But during my recovery (I am almost 3 months post op) at 2 months post op, the numbness in my lower leg and toes has returned. Has anyone else had this happen? A new set of X-rays, CT, and MRI all came back normal. Dr. Has no idea why numbness is returning, other than it can come and go. I just want to be able to walk without assistance from the walker and my wonderful wife.
Replies to "I had a L3toL5 fusion done with a decompression and a TLIF at L4/L5. The surgery..."
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@biddled1 Hi, I am new to this forum. I had an L4-5 TLIF surgery 5.5 months ago. My symptoms were extreme leg/foot numbness which came on intermittently and quickly, then would subside, then it started creeping into my saddle region. I also developed severe left leg pain. I had had years of moderate low back pain. The numbness was new and concerning, so I had the surgery. It took care of the numbness and leg pain, but I am left with much worse back pain, both above and below my fusion area. I did develop some new foot and toe numbness about 6 weeks ago, which I tied to started gabapentin. So I stopped the gaba and the foot/toe numbness has markedly decreased. My surgeon is reluctant to blame the numbness on the gaba, but he also sees no other reason for the numbness. Are you by chance on gabapentin? I am also wondering if anyones else has experienced increased back pain following a "successful" fusion? A recent MRI shows nothing new and confirms the hardware is secure.