Connect
← Return to Year Long Progression of Neurological Symptoms. Exhausted. Angry.
Discussion
Year Long Progression of Neurological Symptoms. Exhausted. Angry.
Brain & Nervous System | Last Active: Aug 24, 2022 | Replies (33)Comment receiving replies
You had surgery to free your spinal cord which sounds like the surgery they want to do to me as a last resort. They called the surgery a Laminectomy or Decompression. The surgeon said sometimes by cleaning up the spinal cord area, will take away the numbness that I have. Since then, I have developed incredible nerve pain in my right foot, ankle and achilles area.
Replies to "You had surgery to free your spinal cord which sounds like the surgery they want to..."
Connect
@emf21 There are different ways that the spinal cord can get compressed. In my case, the cord compression was caused by a disc that collapsed and spilled the contents into the spinal canal, and then bone spurs grew there next to it. To decompress this, the damaged disc is removed leaving a space that needs to be filled by something like a donor bone spacer or a surgical implant that takes its place. My surgery was an ACDF for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.
Compression can also happen because of an enlarged ligament that runs the length of the spine when nothing is wrong with any of the discs. In that case, surgeons can enlarge the space inside the spinal canal by cutting through some of the bone covering and lifting it up. That is what a laminectomy does. Here is a link tat describes it.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/laminectomy/about/pac-20394533
You're right, surgery is a last resort. When the compression is bad enough, and nothing else helps, it is the only way to improve the situation. The best results in spine surgery also happen before permanent damage has occurred, so that time table is something to discuss with your surgeon. I understand the pain because I was there too, and my surgery did take away all my pain.