Low Back Pain Going into Hip and Leg

You haven't mentioned external applications of DMSO. It may seem too simple, however it has been invaluable for me. Used over time for pain relief it has helped me prevent surgical interventions.

@harvey2007 and @krisjb1
My name is Nancy and I am one of the Mentors at Connect. I have read comments from each of you and one common thought came to me. You each are dealing with pain originating in your spine, but there is nothing to say that the causes are similar. When surgery is presented as an option we can look at the pictures, and hear explanations of the reports. A clear explanation will make sense as we consider cause and effect of the pain. But there is another piece of information that could be critical to our decision. Left uncorrected, and if allowed to progress, what is possible outcome based on the location of the damage? Chronic pain? Paralysis? Incontinence? Other? The level of your problem and the severity both factor into that answer. Some of us also deal with poor quality of bone, and even the surgical options available to the surgeon can vary widely. In a nutshell, the question becomes more than surgery, yes or no? I suggest that you have a good support person help you navigate these waters and go with you to these appointments. It can get pretty confusing. Your Primary Care Physician might also be someone who could help you sort it out. Is there anything in my comments that can help you move forward with your decisions?
Peace, Nancy

Check out rethinkpain.com. They work with trying to repair nerves.

As I read through the posts here... uggh.. back pain has many diverse symptoms.. many things that aggravate it.

There are options for pain relief.. from pills to surgery. .. rarely a complete resolve of pain. It is difficult to sort out what might work best for yourself.. what works for one does not work for all. Often one surgery of the spine leads to another.. above or below where the previous surgery took place. Pills and injections.. can be good and bad. PT.. if with a good physical therapist can be excellent choice. Physical exercise is great if done correctly and not overdone. Mental exercises are also a great choice in overcoming pain.

I have had two back surgeries.. unusual.. in the same area.. the L-S joint. A few years back the back pain and sciatica acted up.. same area. I was seeng my pain specialist for my rib pain. He wanted me to try PT for my back. I told him it was my foot causing the back pain, but he wanted me to try PT anyway. After 3rd trip my back was worse and I followed what my back was saying and stopped.

The podiatrist that did my Morton's neuroma surgery a few years before kept giving me shots every 3 months or so and would say “next time you come I will order an MRI if it is still bothering you”. After 3rd time hearing this I decided I needed a different doctor. I chose an orthopedist specializing in feet. He gave worse injection ever that did nothing but hurt and never mentioned a MRI. One trip and I was done with him.

I asked a nurse friend if she knew of a good podiatrist in her town (which is an hour's drive from my home) .. or any town. She knew one in her town. I went to him. He said unfortunately I am required by insurance to give you another injection. He ordered a MRI. It showed I had another small neuroma. He said he thought I was a good candidate for physical therapy.. whew.. thought he was going to say surgery. It happens we have a great physical therapist in my town who knows all about foot PT. Within three weeks he had my foot where I was no longer limping which was throwing my back out of kilter. Point of this story it is not always our spine that is the main source of pain.. something else can be causing your back to not be aligned. Foot, knee, hip..even stomach.. . all plays a part.

For the past year or so I have been having excruciating pain at times... sometimes it is less. It is a bit lower than my spine surgery.. radiates into the groin, upper inner leg, and into the right buttocks. Dull, achy, sharp.. sometimes burning or electrical. Sometimes trouble starting urinating and emptying bladder. I went to my pain specialist. Once I got a couple of sentences out of my mouth he knew what was going on. He said sacrum disfunction.. also known as SI joint dysfunction. He said I need to undergo a couple of injections to verify. The first one gave relief for about two weeks and second one a bit over six weeks. I had SI joint fusion done this past Tuesday.. by my pain specialist... got there a few minutes before 9am and left a few minutes before 11 am. I was awake the whole time. Yes, they did meds to deaden area. I had some pain while he did the bone graft, but was given more pain med and it worked immediately. I have to heal.. let the bone graft fuse complete. (which should happen within six months) Behaving myself in the bending department is hard. No lifting more than a gallon of milk.. no twisting for two weeks... and walk.. walk.. walk. Our dog is getting a workout. 😁

I have tried to stay well. Covid was extremely bad in our county this time last year. I had thumb surgery January of last year and more in June. I wanted to heal from that before handling another physical problem.

My mom's health was deteriorating at the time.. she was in a nursing home/rehab center after a stroke. She was doing better until covid hit and we could not visit her. I called her every day, but sometimes the nursing home would not answer the phones.. three numbers, which one was my mom's phone which they always put out of her reach. Mama passed away in August.

Emotional wellness has an effect on physical wellness. Covid has had an effect on us mentally. In a round about way covid took my mom. Loosing her has been emotional.. even though we try to push away thoughts of “we should have done this or that” they stay with us. We know in reality that there is nothing we could have done differently.

On deciding what to do with your pain.. keep journals of what makes it better or worse. Stay active and enjoy life despite your pain.. do not let it suck the life out of you!! Smile.. even when you do not feel like it. You will never know what your smile means to someone else. I treasure a smile I got way back in high school.. I will be 70 in a few months. How can one remember a smile from over 50 years ago. Easily. Thinking of that smile makes me smile. .. so I have thought of that smile whenever I've needed one. I told my classmate a few years back how much his smile meant to me.. he said he had no idea a smile could mean so much.

Don't Find Joy in your life... Make JOY IN YOUR LIFE!! My mother-in-law was always active and age slowed her down and she could not do much physically... her balance was almost completely gone. She was an artist, but lost her interest in painting. She was a fisherwoman.. but that was past now. She asked me for ideas on what she could do. I knew she liked to watch people and she loved boats. I told her to have dad (I called my f-i-l dad) to take her to one of the boat landings and watch the boaters come and go. They tried it and they both loved it. They did that almost every day for the last 3 years of her life. She said it was a good idea. It was not much, but she wanted something calming. She enjoyed her g-grands, but a quiet relaxing activity was needed with her husband. After she passed away my other dad focused on his g-grandchildren. He was always a child at heart. My mom.. no effort on her part to make joy in her life. She enjoyed watching her g-grand girls and loved her dog. I could sometimes get her to look at photographs and discuss some of her childhood. Mama used to love to read.. especially her bible, but her vision would blur. She did not want me to read to her.

Advocate for yourself .. if you do not feel you can have someone help you. I have trouble hearing and the problem of one word can send my mind off somewhere else (as you can tell by this writing that jumps everywhere) My husband .. oh my how I am blessed to have him in my life!!.

When you do have doctor visits make a list of questions and bring a pen to write notes on that piece of paper.. bring someone with you.. another set of ears is valuable.

My pain med has kicked in so bye.
ZeeGee

Thanks Nancy.
But what do you do when 5 surgeons, all from distinguished hospitals, all tell you that you need different treatments. They not only disagree on the surgical procedure, but even which nerves are the cause - everything from L3 to S1.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, you may have helped me discover my problem, and will ask at my next appointment the end of May. I had a fusion at L4-5 in January and am now in the last month having pain in my lower hip area. I also have problems with my bladder. The surgery team was consulted over the phone and think I may have strained a muscle or ligament and prescribed another muscle relaxer, until I can see them in a few weeks. I know since I went to 3 other surgeons before choosing this one that I may have SI joint problems. Each doctor thought it was something else causing my pain but the one I chose gave me the most confidence he was right by showing me exactly where my issue was on the scan. He also ran more tests before making his determination. The other surgeons did not, and also didn’t even go over my original MRI with me.
Your comments about life’s joys amidst all of our difficulties this past year have helped me as well! Thanks again.

@harvey2007

I see you have had injections… I assume from a surgeon's or orthopedist's office?

Have you tried a pain specialist? As with any doctor some are better than others… Yes, they give injections and prescribe medication too, but they also do other things. Mine is a very good evaluator. He will tell you off the bat if he can help or not. .. and who can best help you. I have seen mine off and on for almost 25 years. I have never had an injection from an orthopedist that has helped. With my pain specialist.. I would say a 75% success rate for getting me to a pain level I can tolerate.

It sounds like you have seen several surgeons and each say you have a different problem. Who to believe?? that is very difficult to sort out.

Are you being clear in expressing your symptoms? Is there miscommunication? Is someone attending the doctor appointments with you? I highly suggest you have someone go with you.

This is what I do to help sort things out for me.

Number one is to take my husband with me. We write down our questions and my husband note takes as we talk with the doctor.
My husband also helps by asking additional questions at the appointments.

For a doctor to better understand me I keep a journal. What type of pain… shooting, stabbing, aching, burning, sharp.. etc. What makes it worse, what makes it better. How it effects my life.. the can do and cannot do list.

I also write down what I ate, what exercises I did. Doctors cannot help you if you are not doing things to help yourself. Eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, and exercising all play a part in your pain. Sometimes I do not eat well and I do not absorb nutrients well.. so important the doctor knows my health history. I need to express to my doctors that I am doing things to help myself.

If I have several doctor opinions and they differ on what the solution is for me…. I write out what each doctor said, ask friends who have gone through a similar experience, ask my trusted doctor's opinions. I then pray for guidance. If you are not a prayerful person the rest should help you think out the best decision.

There is no one solution fits all.

@ga29
I am sorry that my thoughts jump so.. they do it worse when I am tired. It is a bit hard to sleep still. The pain is getting a little less each day. I have been sleeping on the sofa because I can find the spot to sleep a bit better. I have the back of the sofa to keep me aligned. I sleep with a pillow between my legs… it helps too. The getting up and down is hardest, but getting easier each day. Hopefully, back to bed soon.

It is my understanding than a lot of doctors misdiagnose SI joint dysfunction for a disc or another problem. Granted you are sore from injections (for the diagnosis) for about a week or so depending on how well the doctor is at his job. I had less bruising with second injection and think maybe that is why I had longer result with it. The first injection he had problems getting the needle to go where he needed it to.. a little wiggle and he got it there.. but that caused more bruising. I think I am justmade a bit different than most.

I actually thought my bladder problems were from something else. They disappeared when my body responded to the trial injections. It was nice to have relief for awhile. I think part of the bladder issue is I plain hurt too much to do the Kegel exercises. Most web sites did not mention the problem, but a few did. Also some awful pain would strike like lightning in center groin. Fortunately never happened in public. My doctor mentioned that one.. he said many are too embarrassed to mention it. You cannot be shy about what is going on.

One of my first thoughts when this bad pain started was that the hardware from my back surgery had slipped. When the doctor did the first injection he said the fluoroscope shows everything in place and no other problem. That hardware.. since day one has felt like it is pinching me. Right after surgery they are telling me it is scar tissue. I don't make scar tissue quite that fast. My pain doctor says even though the hardware is in place it may be loose and rub on a nerve. I think it makes sense. Of course if I twist any it is worse.. so I try to avoid that. My disc was totally gone and I had an implant. I think I chose the wrong surgeon. There was not much choice here back then in surgeons and still isn't. I had no idea Mayo Clinic had a clinic in Jacksonville then or I might have tried there.

Research well and have a list of questions and something to write notes with when you go back. Make sure you mention all symptoms no matter how embarrassing they might seem.

Best of luck and keep me updated.

ZeeGee

@harvey2007 You certainly present quite a dilemma. Do you mind telling more about the time frame in which you received these opinions, and if there were any differences in the information they had? Also, was there any agreement at all in their opinions? Nancy

Thanks Nancy.
All surgeon opinions within the same month- same info, same images.
They all differ in opinion - either about which nerves are causing the pain or about the best procedure. One said L3-L4, a couple said L4-L5 and L5-S1, one said just L5-S1. Procedures recommended go from double fusion to single minimally invasive discectomy. Absolutely no consistency. And when I tell the surgeons how they all disagree, they tell me “ 5 surgeons, 6 opinions” and laugh. I guess they think it’s funny.