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Acute persistent sciatica 16 weeks after successful laminectomy

Posted by dodders1952 @dodders1952, Apr 7 5:48am

Why do I have Acute persistent sciatica 16 weeks after successful laminectomy after which I had no pain?

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katsy | @katsy | Apr 17 9:20pm
In reply to @fala "This is a super site. I look at it as amazing with the variety, since most..." + (show)
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This is a super site. I look at it as amazing with the variety, since most of us have more than ONE particular pain. (but then I am one of the more "Mature Members" on the site, born in 1935. OK, that said, so you know how desperate I am, I have to keep on going while trying to help the entire body, especially the "problem areas" (so many) We don't want to crowd up 'The Center Stage" for pain!! I am still quite involved in trying to lessen my Peripheral Neuropathy pain but here's the next one:
Question!
I was trying to decide if I should "GO FOR IT" with surgery for my Sciatica. This is such a huge area!! I goes from my lower back to the arch of my foot! After reading these surgical consequences, it has really helped me make my decision for surgery. There is no good report that I have heard or read from surgery! Know any? Seriously, please let me know of a positive result! Now I will go back to the "pelvic tilt" exercises, that didn't seem to work, but I probably never stuck with it long enough! I would like to ask, is there ANYONE OUT THERE that DID do the SCIATICIA exercises and got GOOD results??? PLEASE TELL ME! They are so pesky, ON THE FLOOR, 9 I dread it, ) but I WILL! Thanks guys! Sharing helps! It's all good information!

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I would like to know what you decide to do. I am 83 and contemplating surgery. My sciatic pain is almost unbearable after about 11:00 am each day with much walking. I have an appointment the end of April to see what surgeon says. If he isn’t encouraging about my results, I will likely seek relief using a spinal cord stimulator. I have heard of some relief using that.

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loriesco | @loriesco | Apr 18 9:28am

Stretching you have to make sure you have an exercise routine in place and you are doing stretching and you’re not sitting for too long. If you don’t strengthen your back after surgery, you’re going to continue to have various pains. Your muscles are weak after lumbar surgery and they need to be strengthened, so you need things like yoga, sitting chair, yoga, walking Rehabilitation, physical therapy and MFR myofascial release therapy. My lumbar surgery fusion laminectomy, and all the rest gave me back my life, but it didn’t stop my ongoing sciatic pain of 30 years, which is on and off. Every time I get the sciatic pain back I have to get into an exercise routine to stop the sciatic pain. It’s interact muscles that either come from a nerve root or trapped below your piriformis. You didn’t give enough of a specific explanation to help any further than that so I suggest you go back to the doctor and have a consultation and get referred to a specialist to get a program set up that you can live with. Good luck.

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lat77 | @lat77 | Sep 22 10:15am
In reply to @njbay "I had this happen to me after lumbar surgery (laminectomies, foraminotomies, and discectomy). I was great..." + (show)
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I had this happen to me after lumbar surgery (laminectomies, foraminotomies, and discectomy). I was great for maybe 2 months and was even careful to follow all post-surgical instructions about bending, lifting, twisting, stretching, etc. Then all of a sudden one day I woke up at night, went to step out of bed, and almost fell because I had no feeling in one leg. Then the horrific pain started from my rear all the way down into my ankle. The sciatica pain felt as though someone sliced me open the whole way down and poured rubbing alcohol into the wound. The pain was 24/7 and unrelenting. I had new MRIs done and it was found that I had scar tissue, even though I did everything I was told to help prevent it. (I had to get two MRIS done - one with contrast and one without contrast because I had recently had surgery). Anyway, I went to get another ESI and that Doctor was actually able to flush out a piece of stuck scar tissue during my ESI, which resolved my sciatica pain. So, it is possible you could have scar tissue as well.

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Hello! I am having very similar symptoms after the same surgery, can you please tell me what ESI stands for?

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sailorswimmers | @sailorsrwinners | Sep 23 10:05am

Hi! I am having the same issue=sciatica pain but after years of relief after the laminectomy and discectomy in 2010. I have been taking gabapentin and now Lyrica - both of which kept the pain at bay. Lyrica is easier to take because it is only twice a day vs. 4 times a day with gabapentin. But now the sciatica pain in my left side is really bothersome especially late afternoon. I asked my pain doc for an MRI but she said the one from Nov 2024 install good. Then why this sudden onset of such sever pain? Hasn't something changed?? Perhaps because I was living on a sailboat on the puget sound for a month? And the plane ride back?
So I am going to get a steroid injection on October 8 (2025). I have tried ice, heat. voltaren, lidocaine, ibuprofen, walking, Pilates, stretching (although not really consistent)
Any added thoughts from those with this experience?

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njbay | @njbay | Sep 26 5:52pm
In reply to @lat77 "Hello! I am having very similar symptoms after the same surgery, can you please tell me..." + (show)
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Hello! I am having very similar symptoms after the same surgery, can you please tell me what ESI stands for?

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@lat77 ESI stands for epidural steroid injection.

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bajjerfan | @bajjerfan | Sep 26 8:02pm
In reply to @dodders1952 "Thanks for your reply. I take note of what you say and will look into some..." + (show)
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Thanks for your reply. I take note of what you say and will look into some of your suggestions. I did have sciatica before my operation, but afterwards felt pain-free for several weeks. However, the sciatica has returned on the right hand side. Seeing someone about pain management seems an excellent suggestion thank you.

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@dodders1952

What is the nature of your remaining sciatica on the right hand side?

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