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Neuropathy from lumbar stenosis?
Has anyone experienced neuropathy in the buttock and posterior thighs as a symptom of L4-5 nerve compression from spinal stenosis. If yes, did surgery help?
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I had stenosis in three locations on my spine that caused sciatica nerve damage which resulted in foot drop, leg cramps and significant atrophy and numbness of both legs and feet. I had a triple laminectomy which solved the drop foot and cramps. I do regular strength workouts and pedaling to improve leg strength. The feet numbness has reduced quite a bit but still remains and is aggravated over night. The surgery was about
4 years ago. While the nerve damage will likely never be cured, it is tolerable and I continue to do the strength exercises, a tens device and a red light device to encourage more nerve recovery. Life goes on….
Good Luck to others.
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3 ReactionsHad only minimal symptoms of peripheral neuropathy but my key experienced trauma following a 9 week hospital stay with 3 weeks being in a medically induced coma caused by a gallstone attack that went into acute pancreatitis/ necrosis / sepsis. When I came out of the coma all my muscles had atrophied and I had full blown peripheral neuropathy in both feet with complete numbness / lack of feeling and aching pain. Was on Gabapentin but my peripheral neuropathy doctor took me off of it earlier this year. Any exercise, medication or treatment worked for anybody else ? Besides regular physical therapy I also had a nee laser treatment not covered by my insurance but nothing has seemed to work.
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1 Reaction@jenniferhunter I know we talked before but now I’m reading your comment here. I had the mobi-c replacement and there is fair amount of bone growing behind the disc. I have left leg weakness with some pain as well and I think it’s from that level not being fully decompressed with bone spurs left behind c5,6 and surgeons always asking me if I have any problems with lower back and I do but I never had this problem before it gradually came after the surgery. Wonder your thoughts on that?
@robson78 One of the risks associated with artificial discs is that bone can grow around the implant trying to stabilize it. Sometimes the artificial disks are removed and a fusion is done instead. No one wants to have another surgery, but it may be necessary because the spine can fuse around the disc implant. It is worth paying attention to any progression of bone growth on imaging since your surgery and discussing all of that with your surgeon.
Are you sure bone spurs were left behind or did they grow since your surgery? I had a fusion and there was a slight regrowth of a bone spur because it is right were the fusion went together and they grow from pressure, but it isn't significant and doesn't cause any symptoms. If you do have some spinal cord compression in your neck, it can cause leg weakness. It did for me. That can also be caused by a lumbar spine problem. One predictor of funicular pain is when you have an epidural injection in your neck and it takes away the pain. That was true for me, the injection took away all of my pain temporarily. There isn't a diagnostic test for it, and a lot of surgeons are confused by this. If you have bone growth around an implant, that may be reason enough alone for surgery even if you can't confirm funicular pain.
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4 Reactions@jenniferhunter forgot yo tag you
When I looked at the post op X-rays I noticed that the spurs were never taken out and now there is additional bone growth for sure I was talking recently to more conservative neurosurgeon who wants to see my recent CT scan before doing any surgical work but yes there is option for like a fusion without the plate I guess low profile fusion with him. The mobi-c is just causing instability at that level. I will attach some images
@jenniferhunter I also did patch testing and seems like the skin is reacting to the Mobi-c metals. I wonder what you think on that if the implant should be removed? Because probably causing some of the symptoms like severe fatigue.
@jenniferhunter I wanted to ask you again about your fusion my surgeon offered today to do just a bone block no hardware and to remove the Mobi-c he also said to small block from the back as well I think that may be the best option not to have any metal?
@robson78 Is your surgeon willing to do a no hardware fusion? If you are reacting to metals, that makes the most sense to me, but this is your decision with your surgeon. If you have only bone grafts, you'll need to say in a neck brace for about 3 months until it fuses, and your surgeon needs to trust you to do that. I'm sure you would because you understand the problems and this is your ticket to get away from the issues that you have now. The recovery after fusion is longer than artificial disc recovery. That takes longer to grow together than a broken bone because there is a lot of space that bone has to fill into a matrix as compared to fractures that are put together to heal.
I reacted to metals in my body and didn't know how much that was doing to me until it was removed. I had dental work with metals for many years with crowns and root canals because of breaking my teeth as a kid, and when all that was removed because I got Zirconium (ceramic) implants and new bridgework without metals, my asthma improved a lot until I broke my ankle and got titanium plates. Those are not suppose to cause issues for most people, but some people are allergic. 6 months after getting the ankle fixed, I developed chronic hives and had to stay on antihistamines all the time, and I had throbbing pain and was developing pigmentation on my skin near the plates. I had them removed and got better. If your surgeon is onboard with you to do a fusion with no metal hardware, I think that is a good option. You already know from your patch test. There is a lab in Chicago called Orthopedic Analysis that tests these immune responses to implant materials, but you don't need to do that unless you need to prove there is an issue.
Did you discuss the no hardware option with your surgeon and the need to stay in a neck brace until fused? You'll need to demonstrate that you are a good trustworthy patient because the surgeon will be concerned about risk of failure of the procedure with securing it with a plate.
@jenniferhunter yes he said he can do it with bone block and yes I would not like to have any type of metals in it if possible as the body can react to it no matter what material. He also said that he would like to do another small bone block from the back as well to secure the neck better. I’m very anxious about the revision surgery but like you said it’s probably for better. Do they take those bone blocks from the donor’s?
@robson78 Yes, bone bank bone is donor bone. It is cleaned and sterilized so there are no cells remaining in it. It is just the mineral matrix that is left over and your bone cells will grow into it to populate it. If he shaves off any bone preparing the surfaces, that is used to seed bone growth in a space left inside the bone spacer for that purpose. A typical ACDF puts a bone spacer in from the front. It's not as wide as vertebrae. I can understand why he wants a 2nd spacer in back. He has to make sure that all the surfaces will match up when he does this after removing the artificial disc. Sometimes there is a grove that an artificial disc slides into when they prepare the surface. Will he need to do an incision in the back of the neck for that? Make sure to discuss specifically that you want this with no metal hardware added so you are both on the same page. Did he schedule a surgery date?
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