Neuropathy from lumbar stenosis?

@westcom I was a patient that surgeons couldn't correlate the imaging with my symptoms, and 5 of them got it wrong before I came to Mayo. The spinal cord compression in my neck was causing pain all over my body. It's called "funicular" or referred pain. My Mayo neurosurgeon knew about this, and if fact, I found out about it because of one of his papers. Here is a link to medical literature that describes it.
http://europepmc.org/article/PMC/3111492
I think that if you have something happening at a couple different levels at the same time, it might bring this on. I have a bulging lumbar disc, and I had cord compression at C5/C6. After cervical fusion, it stopped all the pain. When you have listhesis, and one level is slipping over another, essentially that makes the spinal canal smaller at that location and it could put more pressure on the spinal cord if there is no fluid space left around it. I had 2 mm of slipping and when muscle spasms moved that, it caused me to limp with an uneven gait. I couldn't get any surgeon to help me until I came to Mayo. I sent a copy of this literature when I applied to be seen at Mayo.

Do you have surgery scheduled now?

@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.

@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.

@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.

@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?