Want to know if myelopathy is still a form of neuropathy

@nanashelly
Good Afternoon,
Myelopathy is just a general term that there is a problem with the Spinal Cord.
For example, my Dad broke his neck and had a fracture of the 5th Cervical vertebrae with dislocation, so technically it’s Myelopathy, Traumatic Myelopathy, but the specific diagnosis would be C-5 complete Quadriplegia.
If nerves are involved for whatever reason say some peripheral nerves you may have Neuropathy, I have Peripheral Polyneuropathy (Poly=many) caused from Seizure medication. My Dad had Autonomic Neuropathy which affected his ability to regulate his body temperature.
More than you wanted to know probably and we haven’t scratched the surface.
Jake

@nanashelly Are you seeing a neurologist or rheumatologist those Dr,s can help If your seeing your primary I,d suggest you follow up with either if the ones I mentioned

Thank you, I'm going to call my PCP and suggest that she would send a referral to a neurologist. Thank you!

Wow, where would I be able to find out a lot more of info on this topic? Thank you for all your help

@nanashelly Glad to hear that I'm sure you,ll get help there good luck

@nanashelly Myelopathy would be diagnosed by a neurologist or spine surgeon as some damage to the spinal cord. I had mild myelopathy because of spinal cord compression from bone spurs with cervical spinal stenosis in the central canal and had corrective surgery at Mayo. It did not show up on MRI. With more advanced myelopathy, it does show up on MRI as a whitish area in the spinal cord and can be permanent damage. If you have myelopathy and scoliosis, you may want to see a spine surgeon who's area of interest is in spine deformity. Here is a short video from my spine surgeon at Mayo about scoliosis.

Thank you so much for your information, I had severe scoliosis they found it when I was 12 and wore braces until I was 16 and nothing happened so I ended up having surgery and this was in the 1970's. They fused almost the entire spine and put a rod in and they left 4 or so that were not fused. Now I have had 3 others one of them 5 yrs ago tried to fix my flat back and messed it up so 2 yrs ago I found a Dr who deals with spinal deformations and he did surgery and he was able to fix my flat back and after surgery is when I started to feel the numbness, tingling, pain and electrical shocks and it has moved all the way up my legs.

@nanashelly You have certainly been through a lot and when pain becomes electric shocks that can get bad. With all your surgeries there will be fascial scar tissue that might be a contributing factor. Myofascial release with a physical therapist can help if it is an adhesion from scar tissue. There are also some nerve entrapments that can happen in the pelvis due to alignment that would cause sciatica pain type symptoms. The time that I had electric shock type pain, it was from the pressure of fluid from an epidural injection that had no place to go that put pressure on a nerve root in my neck. Have you contacted your surgeon about the pain? I do know there can be hardware failures and screws can pull out. The lower end of the spine is bearing all the body weight that adds more forces onto the hardware. I think you should get some imaging to see if anything has changed since your last surgery. My spine surgery was in my neck, so I don't have the same area affected, but I have watched a lot of online presentations at spine surgery conferences that talked about pedicle screw placement with hardware and what they call global spinal balance which has to to with the angles of the pelvis in relation to the spine and where your center of gravity is. With a flat back syndrome, the center of gravity is not in the right place. The angles, depth, and placement of crews is critical in how well they secure the hardware, and can cause failure if not done correctly. Because of deformity, sometimes surgeons are removing part of the bone to correct the angles in relationship to the other vertebrae before they fuse the spine in that position. You may also want another opinion from a spine deformity specialist. My surgeon (in the video about scoliosis) would be a specialist with expertise in this area. I would ask for an explanation with imaging as to what might be the source of your pains and if that pain is spine related or not. Here are some links with information.

https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/identify-treat-lumbar-plexus-compression-syndrome-lpcs/
https://trainingandrehabilitation.com/true-solution-lower-back-pain/

I was diagnosed with Myelopathy of the lumbar area. It started out after my 3rd major back surgery. First was my right foot numb, tingling, feels like it's being shocked and painful. It then started moving up my right leg and so far it has slowed down above the knee. My left leg is also effected from the ankle all the way up to the middle of my thigh. I have tremors in my hands, my balance and coordination is completely off (I'm in therapy for it), I have incontinence problems. I don't know how much longer I can handle it the pain and not being able to get around very easy just doesn't have me very optimistic that my quality of life is going to get any better. If anyone out there is in a similar situation please let me know so I can hear other people's stories and how you are handling it. Thank you

Hi, @nanashelly - you will note I merged your post with the previous discussion you started on the topic of myelopathy. I can imagine that your pain that seems to shock in your legs, tremors, balance and incontinence would be distressing.

A few other members who may have input on your symptoms post-spine surgery include @lylafell @lourdes27 @gailb @amberheilman @wilcy @johnbishop.

Have you gone back to see the spine specialist who did your most recent surgery for a consult?