SFN and Operation to Ease Pain

Hello Ron @thankumayo, Sorry that your neuropathy pain on the bottoms of your feet has gotten worse. I just have the numbness and that's bad enough so can't imagine having the pain you describe and trying to sleep. That's a tough question and hopefully someone with experience can share with you. I did a search and did find members who have posted about L3/L4 decompression surgery if you want to scan through the comments while you wait for others to respond - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/.

Another thought if you haven't seen or tried is Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR). @jenniferhunter started a great discussion on MFR that you might find helpful here:
-- Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

@johnbishop
Thank you for responding. I feel you pain and have a few friends with your issue. Some because of years on their feet and another with diabetes. You may want to look intuit.
I read some of the articles. I neglected to tell you I had an L5-S1 fusion and it did not help.,plus a SCS from Boston Scientific.
I have had so many different opinions with neurologists and surgeons and podiatrists, it has been confusing. I have tested positive and negative with skin biopsies for SFN.
I do believe I have it small fiber neuropathy but it is aggravated by irritated nerves. I will search to see if I can find someone with SFN.
Accidentally, I found a podcast, 'The Neurotransmitters" moderated by Michael Kentris. There is a Mayo Clinic Dr. named Marcus Pinto on a few of his podcasts that will be helpful answering
neurological issues. Check it out. Thanks Ron

I have not been diagnosed with SNF but I have suffered severe nerve suppression in a large part of the lumbar area due to stenosis, disc and other deteriorations. I experienced symptoms of numbness and pain in my spine, right buttocks, leg and foot-not quite the same as you but close enough. My neurosurgeon emphasized that the PHYSICAL pressure had to be reduced or eliminated in order for the symptoms to be reduced or eliminated, which made total sense to me. All the needed corrections entailed two surgeries and I am now 7 months out from the second, with a years time of healing being the norm. Since that is the case I am not sure of total success, but so far it seems fairly promising. For me, surgery was my only workable option in my opinion since no other modality could properly address the nerve compression. Although the most invasive it is the most effective for relieving this type of nerve trauma.

What type of pain are you experiencing on the bottoms of your feet? I’m asking because I, too, deal with pain on the bottoms of my feet. In my case it feels like I’m walking on stones when walking barefoot on floors. I’ve been wearing Walk Hero shoes, advertised as slippers, but they’re really indoor/outdoor shoes that I can’t live without. They ease my pain. I live in them.

Tingling and burning balls of feet and the sides of the feet.
It feels like you took a 50 miles hike and your feet are wore our.
Since I posted the Amari and EMG shows I have compression in the L 3. The L3 is unlikely the be the cause. That pain ust comes from the L 5 S1. I thought that was the case but my doctor says no . I have small fiber neuropathy. No cure . The goal is to find what causes the pain. and avenues to reduce it.
Have your bloodwork looked at. See a good podiatrist to get answers and a good neurologist.
I have done all of the above.
Good luck and I’ll be glad to share my if I can help

@rockon79 appearance that you’re on the right path.
In my case i’m probably going to postpone the operations for the decompression because it’s a good chance. It will not have an effect Thanks

So much is known yet so much is still to be discovered about our spines. This deficit is further complicated by unique individual responses. For some spinal surgeries have directly resulted in sexual and elimination (both urine and fecal) and other seemingly unrelated difficulties while others suffer none. I fully agree that this type of decision must be thought out very carefully based on the best professional understanding and advice. My neurosurgeon explained the situation in detail and backed that up with extensive testing. I was told that the bony spinal canal encasing that spinal nerve had severely pinched and otherwise aggravated that nerve due to it's and other deterioration in the lumbar area. I was told, if not corrected this could lead to not only more awful discomfort but possibly the loss of walking. I was also advised that only surgery could physically remove that problematic bone structure. Even with all of that I was still emotionally averse to surgery, causing me to investigate other modalities that looked good on paper but realized could not effectively remove the offending bone. I am definitely not super pro-surgery, but in my case there were no other reasonable options, whether I liked it or not-and that's the point-it had to be done. I write this because many put off these major operations because of similar apprehension, and I get it-but what else can be done when nothing short of surgery will work!?