Spinal stenosis and ablations

Thank you for the hugs. Hugs back to you.

There is no amount of money that can compensate for chronic, severe pain. I would for forfeit winning the MegaMillion jackpot to be pain-free. And, I am nowhere in the amount of pain that soe folks out there apparently are in.

You might want to talk to a back clinic or neurosurgeon who perform SCS and have some success . You can ask them if you can contact a prior patient or two who had the same problem that you have. Some physicians will do that. You'll do a trial first which lasts between 5 to 7 days. If you get at least a 50% reduction in pain, they will suggest that you get a permanent one installed. The trial is uncomfortable but tolerable. Good luck.

Thank you so much for this information.

I (75) had lumbar surgery in 2015 for stenosis. My spinal cord was so narrow that the surgery was considered urgent or I would lose the use of my legs. The following few years I was better, but the surgeon warned that I would need more future surgeries, and that has proven to be true as I now have sciatica and weakness in my left leg. Shots and ablations have not helped at all.
Upon moving and visiting a new doctor it was discovered that I needed neck surgery for the same reason. The stenosis was affecting my balance. (The poor balance caused me to fall down some stairs and my quadricep tendon was severed and I spent a year recovering from that surgery). The neck surgery was completed 7 weeks ago and my balance issues are almost gone.
The next surgery will be lumbar to try to fix my very weak left leg.
My point is that depending on your personal diagnosis surgery is necessary and helpful in many cases. Several friends of mine have had several surgeries and they are now able to go hiking without pain. That is my ultimate goal.
It is essential to search for reputable surgeons first!

I am curious about ablation. The doc who gives me an epidural once or twice a year never mentioned it. I saw a new sports med doctor and ask if there are options besides epidural and surgery for stenosis. Can’t remember all he said but one was ablation, having to do something with the arthritis in the spine along with the stenosis

I’m a pretty active person - epidurals mostly do help me so far. I think what helps me most of all is doing core work a minimum of twice a week. More would probably be better. Either that or my pain receptors are dead 😊 my primary back doc is surprised that, based on my MRIs, I don[t have any pain when she runs me through the usual “does this movement” hurt routine. Just my two cents. Bulk of exercises are pretty much the typical ones a person gets at PT.

Of course, now I have an ankle thing that I have yet to have any doc figure out, which limits the length of running or walking I can do. But i’ll pursue it with this new doc I’ve gone to. New eyes on the problem may help.

I've had spinal stenosis in my neck for about 10 years. It causes significant pain in my hands, the more I use them I've had numerous epidurals with reasonably good results. I now have a new pain mgmt Dr. He is going to perform a RFA ( radio frequency ablation) procedure in a month. He said he had gotten excellent results. I am very interested to see how effective it will be. I have had to use opioids and otc meds to manage the pain. I'm hopeful that this procedure will significantly reduce my need for such.
Ablation basically burns out the nerves that transmit pain. It supposedly is effective, to varying degrees for upto about months.

Best of luck to you!! It has some really good results, from the research I’ve done.