Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

Good Morning!

I went to the neurologist and neurosurgeon this week. The purpose of this visit was to review tests to see if they could determine why I have neuropathy.
Long story short, my neurosurgeon can do surgery to help me be able to walk for longer periods of time.
There is a slight chance that if I were to have the surgery, the pain may reoccur.
For the first time in over a decade, I am pain free (except for the usual aches and pains of getting older)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband and I discussed this (as a possibility before the appointment) and decided that I am NOT willing to take the chance.
Being pain free is more important to me than being able to walk longer distances!
However, the neurosurgeon thinks there is more going on in my spine causing all this.
He has me going for another test and in 2 weeks we will go over ALL the reesults of ALL the tests and the neurologist and neurosurgeon will consult.
To be continued......

Happy days!
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

@jenniferhunter I wish I was as knowledgeable as you! That’s excellent information. Thank you! He didn’t mention what form of narrowing it is. I do know that l5-s1 are completely collapsed, no space in between at all. I had an mri in August after my 2nd surgery and the report stated nothing about the disc, or what’s left of it being collapsed. But the surgeon that work Comp is making me see is saying it was and just wasn’t reported. So they had the August mri to kinda compare the October one to after I fell. I’m so confused on everything, I’m tired of being in this pain and just want them to help me.

@grandmar
I'm so glad you posted an update. I appreciate your persistence in looking for answers. You are wise to seek opinions and evaluate what is best for you. I can understand your reluctance to do anything that might result in more pain.

Do you mind sharing what type of test you will be having next?

@grandmar
I'm so glad you posted an update. I appreciate your persistence in looking for answers. You are wise to seek opinions and evaluate what is best for you. I can understand your reluctance to do anything that might result in more pain.

Do you mind sharing what type of test you will be having next?

@jenniferhunter I wish I was as knowledgeable as you! That’s excellent information. Thank you! He didn’t mention what form of narrowing it is. I do know that l5-s1 are completely collapsed, no space in between at all. I had an mri in August after my 2nd surgery and the report stated nothing about the disc, or what’s left of it being collapsed. But the surgeon that work Comp is making me see is saying it was and just wasn’t reported. So they had the August mri to kinda compare the October one to after I fell. I’m so confused on everything, I’m tired of being in this pain and just want them to help me.

@hopeful33250 I will be having an mri so he can look at the nerves and get a closer look at everything as well as a cat scan so he can see if there are any small fractures that he can’t see on the X-ray.

Hello everyone, Thank you for letting me a part of your group. I look forward to connecting with you.

My battles include fibromyalgia, neuropathy, tinnitus, back/pelvic pain, chest pain, daily headache, fatigue, diabetes, depression and anxiety. But while I live with chronic pain, I have chosen to accept the pain (never giving up on solutions but not doctor chasing anymore) and take control of the pain instead of it controlling me. Easier said than done, I know. But with help from my local doctors and the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center (highly recommend), I have the tools I need to lead a functional life. A life still much different than my life before chronic pain but a life I can still enjoy.

If you live in the Des Moines, Iowa area, I welcome you to come to the support group I started last fall. You can find more information here:https://chronicpainsupportgroupdesmoinesia.weebly.com/.

@jdodd81 I'm a spine surgery patient for a cervical problem and I have thoracic outlet syndrome. I'm curious, what was the reason to do surgery and not address a collapsed disc in the operated area? What direction did the disc herniate and could it have gotten worse since your procedure? The burning pain is a concern, and your surgery was just last month, right? Have you asked your surgeon about this?

The numbness and tingling in your hand could be something like TOS and stress and the inflammation in your body from just having had surgery will increase the symptoms there. I'm guessing that you are not very active right now and walking might be difficult or painful, and that you may not be trying to maintain good posture in all you do. With TOS, a forward head posture, slouching shoulders or bracing against pain can aggravate it, and it's a postural nerve entrapment between the collar bone and rib cage of nerves and the blood supply to your arm. It may have more symptoms at night because of your arm position while sleeping. If you had an injury like a whiplash as a cause of spine problems, you may have TOS and it is more common in spine injury patients.

When you are healed enough for physical therapy, you might want to consider Myofascial release therapy for surgical scar tissue in the fascia. Here is a lot of information about MFR, and a link to find a therapist in this discussion That I created about MFR. This might be something else to ask your surgeon about.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Here is some information about TOS https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353988

@jdodd81 Thanks. The problem with being a work comp patient is that the company's "expert" doctors are hired to discredit the patient to prevent the legal liability to the company. They don't want their insurance rates to go up because of a claim, and some companies are self funded, so they are actually paying the medical bills out of their pocket. They might be picking a doctor based on a lower cost to them instead of surgical expertise and experience, and you should not let them make that choice for you.

Work comp also has a award for "Loss of use" of the body part that is based on a scale and a percentage of your salary and accrued years of work. They may not offer that to you unless you file the case with your state's board that handles work comp, and you definitely need an attorney for that. The company has already consulted their own attorney about this. A spine injury can also cause problems years down the road. I am an example of that due to a whiplash 20 years ago that caused the resulting disc collapse and bone spurs leading to spinal cord compression and resulting surgery. You have to think of what is best to do now that will give you the best outcome for your future. Also not all doctors are equally skilled, and some cause problems with surgery. That's why I think you have to do your homework before you choose a surgeon to operate. You will live with the outcome of that. You need to fully understand all the details of any surgery you are considering and the risks and benefits, and the success/failure rate for this specific doctor and the hospital. That is published information. Make sure the surgeon does only spine surgeries and find out how many of these procedures they have done, and ask what other procedures exist for this problem, such as fusion or artificial disc replacement. There are some orthopedic surgeons who do a bit of everything, not just spine surgery and as a result have less experience in it.

Ask questions about what will happen if nothing is done with the collapsed L5S1 disc. If it is "bone on bone", it can fuse itself with bony overgrowth and will be stuck in whatever alignment it has and that may not be good. All of that affects your mobility and employability in other jobs in the future. I know that companies can be held responsible for making something worse in a pre-existing condition in a work related injury, and you need an attorney's advice on that. You have to advocate for yourself and your best outcome that is possible because of what you choose to do now. I do know that surgeries at L5S1 are the most difficult place in the spine to fuse because it is bearing all the body weight, and a twist of the spine can cause screws in the hardware and implants to pull out. That is a common reason for a re-operation at the same level. That's also why you should have the best surgeon you can find. The precise angles of how they place the screws (called pedicle screws) and how dense your bone quality and how much bone you have makes a big difference in holding the screws. I have watched several surgeons presenting talks about this online and read some medical literature. I don't think you have to have treatment or surgery from the surgeon your company selected. Yes, they have to evaluate you, but you should be able to pick your surgeon for any procedure. I had my neck spine surgery at Mayo and was very impressed and had great results. 5 local surgeons refused to help me, and having experienced what really great medical care is, I won't go anywhere else except to Mayo if I need further spine surgery. Here's my story and my surgeon. If you have other questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I would highly recommend him if you consider and can come to Mayo. https://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2019/01/09/using-the-art-of-medicine-to-overcome-fear-of-surgery/